The Veg Plot.

[garynortheast]

And....I now have an allotment to supplement the garden. Glutton for punishment, me.

[garynortheast]

Had my first potatoes for dinner yesterday. Can't beat home grown spuds out of the ground and onto the plate within 45 minutes.

Veg garden is looking lush at the moment. I'll sort some up to date pictures tomorrow. First two beds of the allotment are also now dug, planted, and mulched. Kale, perennial white broccoli, brussels sprouts, courgettes, and rainbow chard all coming on nicely.

[admin]

Must be very satisfying Gary

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[garynortheast]

Busy on the plot again. Built a timber retainer which I have been backfilling with soil, ready to plant fruit bushes and, this winter, bareroot dwarfing rootstock fruit trees as espaliers. Where the mound of soil is, is where I shall build my final raised bed in the back garden, so once that is all in the retainer I can get on with that.







Built and filled my roots bed, and sowed carrots and beetroot in it. I'm really liking the way the nasturtiums and the salad leaves have taken off in the breeze blocks.



The garlic and onions are growing like crazy. There are some very sizeable bulbs on the onions, and neither crop shows any sign of slowing down yet.



This is the bed sown with the spuds which were left over in the bottom of my neighbour's supermarket bag. I have had a few of them but I shall leave the rest in till later as they look to be maincrop spuds. They're quite white and floury so they'd be good roasting spuds.



....And the bed of maincrop (Sunset) and second earlies (Charlottes), divided by a just visible row of red onions.



I had the first of the Charlottes last night. I reckon they're my favourite spuds, buttery yellow colour and a lovely texture and flavour.

Runner beans (Scarlet Emperor) on the left are just starting to show flowers now so it won't be long before I'm eating the beans. The climbing French beans (Blauhilde) aren't far behind either.



The combination of some rain lately and the warm weather has really accelerated growth in the garden, happily.

[admin]

That's looking great Gary

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[garynortheast]

Thanks John. I'm generally pretty happy with the results thus far. However there's a lot more yet to be done.

[garynortheast]

Just come back from the allotment. I discovered a large number of raspberry canes in the undergrowth at the bottom end of the plot, all loaded with fruit! I've also come back with loads of new potatoes from spuds that must have been left in the ground by the previous allotmenteer. All welcome freebies!

[garynortheast]

I'm eating more and more out of my veg garden now. Spuds, lettuce, radishes, rainbow chard, red kale. Been eating new potatoes for about 3 weeks. A couple more plants to go and I'll be lifting the first of the maincrop spuds.
Had some of the 2nd early Charlottes again this evening.



Front beds are a mix of veg and flowers. Kale, chard, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, rocket, radish, Cosmos, and tagetes (French marigolds). It's all looking pretty lush.



Onion crop in the back veg garden has been exceptional, Some of them are absolute monsters.





The allotment is still a work in progress. I've cleared several beds and planted them with kale, perpetual white broccoli, brussels sprouts, squashes, courgettes, achocha, and rainbow chard. Should be harvesting the first of the courgettes before too much longer.

[Bibio]

your doing a cracking job Gary. wish i could get my backside into action and get something done like that.

[garynortheast]

Originally Posted by Bibio

your doing a cracking job Gary. wish i could get my backside into action and get something done like that.

Have you got a garden Lance? If you have, just start with one little bed, and put easy stuff in. But be warned, once you start it's hard to stop!

A good part of why I do this is necessity. A state pension doesn't go far and I can save hundreds of pounds over the course of the year by growing as much as possible of my own food. There's also the fact that it's completely chemical free, and it tastes so much better than most of what is available in the shops.
Then there is the whole gardening for mental health thing as well. It's been really good for my personal mental health.