Swiss Chard, Lollo Rossa and Posies

So much for more regular updates - I have been so busy keeping up with the garden and various other projects that I haven't had time to blog! I will remedy that by keeping future posts short and sweet, like the pea pods that I can't stop munching on!
The marrow is taking over, the cucumber plants are creeping towards the swiss chard. The pumpkin is heading for the path. The tomato plants are all flowering and the self-seeded ones in the cold frame are doing well, alongside the coriander and nigella.

The beans, all blighted by black fly, are now covered in ladybirds and have made something of a recovery. There are dwarf beans almost ready to be eaten. I've eaten all the radishes I planted and most of the beetroot. The mixed salad leaves and spinach bolted whilst we were on holiday so I pulled it all up and have planted a whole raised bed of beetroot instead. Can't get enough of the stuff!
The swiss chard has been plentiful and delicous and is stil going strong. I've been delivering carrier bagsful of chard and lollo rossa lettuce, and the odd posy of flowers, to various friends and family. This has been a very satisfying side effect of growing veg and flowers. The kohl rabi is ready to be harvested. I need to work out how best to cook it. Ideas and advice are welcome! There is quite a crop of poisonous-looking mushrooms growing alongside the kohl rabi and in the raised bed with the tomatoes and last of the beetroot. I will have to try and work out what they are but I will certainly not be eating them!

The sunflowers are starting to flower but I think it will be another week or so before they are really ready. The cornflowers are blooming next to the chard and the marigolds, cosmos, nasturtiums and dahlias are all doing well. There is nigella self-seeding everywhere, one of mum's favourites. The poached egg flowers and alyssum that Sam planted are all flowering and the arch is still full of honeysuckle and velvety violet clematis.

The apples are growing and I spotted the first blackberries yesterday.

The main problem is still keeping the bindweed and brambles at bay, and a cat has started messing near my squash, so I will have to do something to put it off.

I am wondering if I can squeeze some broccoli in but have a feeling the answer may be no...

Raw Earth

I had about three hours today while my niece babysat Sam, so I raked and cut and cleared and clipped and finally I can see a big patch of ground.

I haven’t posted for a while but I’ve been busy in the garden, here and there when I’ve had a couple of hours to spare, and sometimes when I’ve had no time to spare I’ve still been digging and sweeping and looking and thinking.

I’ve given up on keeping my focus on the end of the garden, although that is still my main priority. I’ve spent a lot of time out there this year. I’m getting to know her quite well now, and am seeing her as a whole environment. So to clear and nurture one part seems rather allopathic when I am a holistic kinda gal at heart.

And, if I’m being honest, which I am, no holds barred for a moment, this project was never going to be just about clearing some space to make a veg patch, although that is what started it all, and is still the main physical objective.

This is about transformation and challenge: My transformation, my challenge; My spirit, Sam’s spirit; the locus genii and the spirit of my mother.

Today I re-housed a tiny lizard; disturbed an enormous toad and then tried to put the roof back on his house until I have somewhere else he might like to live. I raked over two red-ant hills and another colony was destroyed when I pulled up a plank of wood.

That is one of the tensions of gardening. The wildlife in the garden has settled and proliferated and now I am uprooting and unsettling in the name of cultivation and care. Do all gardeners make a contract with the wildlife that shares their space? I will re-organise and re-shape but then I hope to offer as much opportunity for the wildlife in the garden to stay as was. I hope I can manage this.
I remember listening to Gardener’s Question Time on Radio 4 years ago, and one of the listeners’ questions was how to get rid of worm casts on a lawn, and whether it would be possible to get rid of the worms! This was obviously met with reserved BBC-style hilarity and an explanation of why this would not be a good idea.

So, as in life there are all kinds of gardeners, gardening for all kinds of reasons. But the above story does raise a question about how connected we are with our environment. And if we do have a connection, what kind of connection is it and what does it mean?

Last week I planted a Japanese anemone and a perennial geranium, ‘hocus pocus’, by the apple tree. Today I soaked some Winter Aconite corms in water for a few hours and then planted those in the same place. I am trying to add a mix of plant species that will provide colour and variety throughout the year.

The michaelmas daisies were still buzzing with bees today and I managed to get a couple of good bee photos. I have been filling up the large border by the patio with bee-friendly perennials and will continue to make sure the bees are well catered-for in this garden.

The importance of this must not be under-estimated with the critical situation our bee population is in. If you don’t know about this now is the time to get educated. The implications of the devastation of our bee population cannot be overstated. I will write about this again here but see the excellent Help Save Bees web site here for a feature I wrote which gives some idea of the issues.
Everything I do takes longer than I thought it would- such is life- but I am still amazed at what I achieved in three hours.

I have done every single bit of it myself so far. My dad has taken a few loads of bramble cuttings and general garden rubbish to the local recycling centre but I have done the rest. For the time being it looks like it will continue to be my own solitary project.

I’ve had a couple of offers of help but so far it’s just been me. I look forward to the help when it comes – I am sure I will be ready for it! But at the moment this is time to connect with the earth, build a relationship with this place, think and make new connections in my brain and have some precious time out from everything else.
I am doing this as well as being a full time lone mum to Sam and a full time student, so I’m on a slow-but-steady pace. Wins the race.

Put your money where your mouth is...

I visited Wilkinson’s the other day and went slightly mad buying bulbs and seeds. As well as flower bulbs for the large bed by the patio, which I have been gradually building up all year, I have bought garlic, white and red onion and several packets of seeds: butternut squash; sprouts; purple sprouting broccoli; carrots; broad beans; peas; beetroot; tumbling tomatoes to grow in hanging baskets. This seems like a good start and I would hope to add runner beans, courgettes, cabbage, salad leaves and some herbs to that to give a good selection of seasonal produce. I am also hoping to get strawberry plants and raspberry canes too.
It has made me look at planting dates and think about sowing, hardening off and planting out etc. My mind has been well and truly boggled, especially after this morning when I started to look at options for how and where to grow. I would like some raised beds but can’t think too much about this until I have cleared the plot and dug it over. Only then will I really be able to look at options for growing. I am aware that I need to test the soil too.
So I have plenty to think about but it is very exciting. I am intending to companion plant and also bought some nasturtium and marigold seeds. I also got alyssum and a wildflower mix to plant as they will encourage bees and other pollinators and just because I love them. As I continue to hack away at the brambles and bindweed when I get a spare hour, the garden that still exists underneath is beginning to re-appear. These incredible thorny plants, which have grown up through the old concrete paths, are all over the whole garden. Concentrated in this patch, I have got some serious digging to do, although I have been assured (and know from previous experience) how dastardly-difficult it is to remove the roots that go deep and spread everywhere. That’s ok – as long as I can keep them at bay I am confident that it will become a more manageable challenge as this part of the garden is cultivated. I don’t want to use weed killer as I am keen to stay organic.
There are a couple of big piles of brambles that I have cut down which must be removed once again to the local recycling centre. The new compost bin has been delivered but there is still no space for it until I have stripped away a good deal more of brambles at the back of the pear tree.
This week, apart from my ongoing mission to cut down all the brambles, I will be taking a look at what gardening equipment is hiding away in the garage and see what else I will need before I can start growing.

Compost and rumination

I have just ordered a compost bin through http://www.recyclenow.com/compost/ This is from the WRAP home composting scheme. The cost of the bin is subsidised, so was much less than its normal retail price.

There is still a tonne to clear before digging can commence, but yesterday Dad cleared some more and just in the space of an hour it looks different again. Sam has now been down to have a look at all the 'Ouch!' being cleared away. He enjoyed visiting our friends' allotment in Bristol so much he has been asking to go back. I asked him what he thought about us growing vegetables and fruit in the garden and he is very excited about it- especially the picking raspberries and strawberries part.

The subject of compost is a huge one and the more I look into it the more interested in it I become. I am liable to go off on tangents and get caught up in the complexity of one particular area, and I cannot afford to do that at the moment. My time and focus is limited and already spread thinly enough as it is. But it is something I will come back to.
So I will add that thought to the heap of subject matter currently occupying my brain, let it rot down a bit, and then see what happens when I get writing again.