Vegetable garden - extended and growing fast
Posted by DavidM in Gardening | 31 May 2008
My cunning plan to take over our whole garden with my vegetable patch continues with not only the greenhouse adding 48 square feet of growing space, but with extending the veg patch by another 10 feet.
Realistically that's it for now - I reckon the growing area is now around 30 feet by 10 feet and I don't have time to manage any more than that.
I've also extended the range of produce I'm attempting to grow. As well as the potatoes, onions, shallots, carrots, green beans, runner beans, courgettes and tomatoes that I grew last year I've added garlic (stupidly easy to plant and grow), peppers and chillis in the greenhouse, broccoli, brussel sprouts and strawberries. I also invested in 12 asparagus plants that could last for 10 or more years.
With the recent warm weather and this weekend's downpour the plants are growing furiously. The potatoes are at full height although the potatoes themselves are still small. The garlic, shallots and onions are doing well as is the asparagus. The tomatoes are in the greenhouse now and coming along nicely. Finally, the strawberries survived their transition from my father-in-law's garden and have nice green berries forming.
Others though have been disappointing. The runner and green beans are slow coming through and I only got one brussel sprout plant to take. Similarly only three peppers sprouted from a commercial pack of about 12.
Overall it is looking good for this season's crop. As the patch is bigger I've grown more of the key things like potatoes and tomatoes with the aim of producing enough to last through the winter season. That way I'll be minimising our food miles and the resulting impact on the environment. I also get gentle exercise, fresh air, the tastiest vegetables I've had in years and the satisfaction of knowing I grew what I'm eating.
