It’s official; I’m
the best gardener ever!
It’s time for a bit of reflection in the garden. I
personally have seen big changes over the last twelve months because it was the
first time I set about working on our new garden since moving into the house. I
can hardly believe its two years since the move. In the first year I just
watched things grow, I wanted to see what came up where before I dived in with
the spade and dug everything up. I needn’t have bothered waiting as it turned
out because the only surprises (if you can call them that) were mountains of
wild garlic, rampant crocosmia and broken glass from an old greenhouse.
Good ideas
The time I took staring apparently aimlessly at the garden
paid off though and I had a good idea what I wanted to do by the time I snapped
out of my trance.
I needed to keep a
large area for the dogs to run around in. It seemed more logical to fence off
an area for the tunnel and veggie patch than to keep the dogs fenced in. It
worked well as the top of the garden is dog free and they don’t feel penned in,
I do sometimes but that’s the price I pay for keeping the area doggy mess free.
Clearing
The patch I set aside for the polytunnel and veggies was
totally overgrown with rhododendron, self set sycamore trees and the bulbs as
well as the glass so I had to sieve the whole lot to be sure to get everything
out. It took a few weeks with my hand held sieve in the early months but it was
very meditative and enjoyable and well worth it. It gave me a good start with the crops and
especially in preparing the ground for the tunnel.
Just in Time
It wasn’t long before the tunnel was up and full of
seedlings, I just got it set up in time for the start of the growing
season. The tunnel served us well and
there wasn’t really a time when the ground wasn’t producing something delicious.
I learnt this year that if you are growing brassicas in a polytunnel, put up
netting to stop the cabbage whites getting in. I was left with just the stalks
of broccoli and kale this year. It was fun to see the butterflies floating
around at first but the caterpillars can really put away the greenery!
Highlight
One of my highlights of the year for me was getting the van
load of vintage Carley’s Bridge terracotta pots delivered to my door. I have enjoyed planting the pots up, putting
them into the garden as ornaments (the broken ones) and selling them to other
people who enjoy beautiful, rustic handmade clay.
I have sold the pots to gardeners as far afield as
California and talked to some serious plant growers who find them just the
thing to grow specialist plants in such as auriculas. I don’t have many intact ones left, just a few
for anyone interested, but I have hundreds of cracked and chipped pots and
although they would be unsuitable for selling I will get years worth of
pleasure out of them as it’s the imperfections that make them interesting, they
will still hold a plant and if you turn them the right way you can’t see the
chips. I like to think that with these types of pots things live ON them as
well as IN them.
Ringweeder
I also enjoyed the Ringweeder Kickstarter project set up by Vincent
Suozzi in New York. Vincent developed a device that fits on the index finger to
help weeding and the idea has really taken off and has over 800 backers.
Vincent has posted out one of them for me to trial along with a handy pouch and
a pair of Ringweeder gloves. If it works well I might take on selling them in
place of the terracotta pots.
My ultimate highlight of the end of the year must be the
gift I received. At long last I have been recognised and its official I’m the
“Best Gardener Ever!” It must be true because they’ve printed it on my mug! It’s
definitely gone to me head...well lips.
