Thursday, December 18, 2008

Veggie Explosion

I took these photos a little while ago...our squashes refuse to be contained!



Our corn is taller than all four of my my children! And it has started to form tassles!





And our beans are similar to the Jack and the Beanstalk! David wanted to see if he could get them to grow up the pergola and into the house on the burglar bars so he tied string on the top of the teepee...almost there!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Back breaking work

On Sunday morning we were up with the sparrows and in the veggie patch by 6.30a.m. We were trying to beat the heat. We dug in loads of compost and Bounce Back.

We then planted the two blueberry bushes. In front of the berries we have a large block of sweetcorn planted.




My daughter planted patty pan seedlings we grew against the fence so theat they can trail up there.




My sons helped to plant the seed and sweet potatoes after we had made trenches for them.






It seems a bit strange to just be planting outside of a raised bed...but let's see what the increase is in a few months time.

Saturday, December 13, 2008

The thing about blueberries...

I popped into a nursery I used to go to when my daughter was tiny. I used to put her in the papoose and wander around there, HARTS nursery in Ottery.

I was delighted to find many varieties of berry plants...so I bought blueberries, black berries and booysenberries. But with blueberries you need to buy two plant of different varieties to cross pollinate!

In this picture you can also see a Cape Gooseberry with the blueberries, which a friend dug out for me.



Second area all ready

The area we cleaned out on Monday is ready for tomorrow's planting. We had to fence it again because of the dogs, but we are not doing raised beds. Instead we have dug in lots of compost and bounce back. At the end of summer I hope to grow some green manure into this area too. We are going to plant the berries along the fences to break the hardness.

View of the area from front gate



Closer


Monday, December 8, 2008

In for a penny...in for a pound!

Today we had the second section cleaned out. We are going to only grow corn and potatoes here this season.



We had been making a compost heap in the far corner which the chickens got stuck into and had a cut worm and earthworm feast! Yuck!



Tomorrow 2 cubes of compost is going to be added and I managed to get seed potatoes from a local nursery. I also purchased some berry canes to grow along the fence at the back!

What to do with rhubarb...?

My rhubarb is growing well in a pot and I had an excess of eggs and a friend had given me lots of her cow's cream....so I made rhubarb creme brulle with it using Jamie Oliver's recipe.












Delicious!

December Garden

Our garden is flourishing in the warmth of summer....

Who needs a flower garden?

Take a look at these gorgeous masterpieces...

Wehn we pulled up this section of garden for veggies, my younger daughter was sad that we would be loosing our flower garden! But she took these pictures of the flowers that we now have....