harvest time

I don't think I've done an update on our little garden since way back in June. Our vegetable plot was coming along nicely and we were looking forward to sampling everything once it was ready.

We had mixed results with our produce in the end. The cabbage went the same way as the cucumber (devoured by snails) and although our courgette season started well with some lovely big juicy ones, the snails and slugs soon tracked them down too and we didn't see many more reach full size before being munched away.

Here are some pictures of some of the things we did get to eat...

Our first shiny courgette // One of many handfuls of beans which we enjoyed through August & September // Our tomato crop has not been quite so bountiful // Another lovely bright courgette

I exaggerate a bit with regards to our tomato crop. It has been a bit better than one green tomato, but we have had nowhere near as many as expected, especially as we had about 10 tomato plants (or more) on our patio. They just didn't seem to get going properly this year, and looked a little feeble. I hope we have better results next year.

Below is a photo of my flowering Cima di Rapa, grown from the seeds I received in the secret seed swap. Doesn't it look pretty?

Unfortunately over the last couple of weeks the caterpillars have got to it (disaster!) and now all it's leaves have been stripped away and I have very little hope for it's recovery. I think caterpillars may have overtaken snails as my no.1 gardening enemy. No Cima di Rapa for us this year anyway.

The good garden news is that the season isn't quite over yet, and we have a couple of squashes going strong on the patio. Let's hope they manage to grow big enough to eat before the weather turns wintery.

Aside from harvesting this years mini crops our thoughts have been turning to next year and we have already planted out some bulbs for the early spring months.  We layered them up (bulb lasagne!) to make the most of the space we had and I'm excited about seeing them pop their heads out of the soil when the time is right. 

Daffodil // Tulip // Iris // Snowdrop

I've also been gathering seeds from the garden, ready to plant out next year (or for future seed swaps?)

We had loads of Nigella flowers this year so I collected a bunch of seed heads up once they had stopped flowering and dried out a bit. I also collected some dried sweet pea pods, nasturtium seeds and the last of the runner beans.

All ready for next spring. It's nice how much gardening is about forward planning.

green fingers

Sorry for my absence. I've been spending a lot of time outdoors and have just arrived back from an early summer holiday. My gardening obsession is still in full force though.

Here are some recent botanical based images from our house and garden taken from my Instagram feed.



Planting out the beans on Ben's birthday // Pest control - collecting the snails for relocation.



African daisies (Osteospermum). I like their purple undersides // Love in the mist (Nigella) - we have these everywhere!



A new pot for a tiny succulent // Aloe vera (I've been meaning to get one of these for ages)



How the garden grows. Our veg patch before and after our holiday // Bringing the garden indoors - a mini bouquet.

Now that we have a lot of things planted outside the garden is looking nice and full. Unfortunately we have already lost our cucumber plants to those pesky snails, but the cabbage, courgettes and beans are growing nicely (despite being a little nibbled). And we have a lot of tomato plants on the go. Four different varieties!

We planted out some more seeds yesterday too. Some wildflowers have been scattered around the garden, and the Cima di Rapa and Cicoria I received in the secret seed swap have been potted and placed in the greenhouse.

I'll keep you posted on how things get on.

planting progress

I am well and truly obsessed by growing things at the moment. It's so satisfying to see the weekly progress of the plants we are growing, as well as adding new additions to our indoor and outdoor gardens.

I've been documenting some of the progress around here:



The biggest growth spurt has been with my avocado plant (pictured left). We potted our weird avocado sprouts back in February before we moved, and while there hadn't been much growth over the last couple of months, it suddenly kicked into action over the last couple of weeks.

The leaves are getting visibly bigger by the day and it seems to be enjoying it's sunny spot on the kitchen windowsill. I still have faith that Ben's will get going at some point too - although it still looks like it did back in February. Perhaps a little greener?

On the right above is a Money Plant I was given about 10 years ago by Derek's sister Grace. It's been living with my mum for a while, but she insisted I take it home with me last time I visited. It's grown massively since I was given it as a little cutting, but unfortunately it's got a bit out of control and has grown too tall for it's own good and was struggling to stand upright in the pot.

I decided to take some cuttings to try and grow some mini versions, which I can tend to as they grow.



I've taken a couple of cuttings, and placed one in soil and one in water to see how they get on. Fingers crossed!

Speaking of propagation, Ben has been trying his hand at it too, and is currently trying regrow some celery and pak choi from the bases of old ones. You can see the celery on the right in the image below.



Since this photo was taken some mini stalks have begun shooting up from the base - so it looks like it's working! Our friend Beth told us about this technique, and she's well on her way to some new celery already.

I'm intrigued to know what else can be propagated like this, and how successful it is. Has anyone tried anything similar?

Talking of new shoots, my Italian cucumbers that I got in the seed swap are beginning to grow. Good news!



And that's not all, my little Chuppon is also going strong, and the mint plant is starting to grow from his backpack.



Look at him grow!

There'll be more plant updates soon I am sure.
I really like growing things.

secret seed swap

As I mentioned in a previous post, Lyndsey let me sign up as a late entry to the What You Sow secret seed swap last month. I haven't done a swap for a while so I was really pleased to be taking part, especially as I have a new garden to get growing in.

I really enjoyed preparing my package to send out. I picked out radish, rocket and aubergine seeds (some of my favourite vegetables) and added in some Limnanthes seeds too, as it's nice to have some flowers in the garden.

I illustrated each of my packets with paper collage pictures of the plants, and typed out some labels for the back.




I hadn't heard of Limnanthes before, but it is nicknamed the 'poached egg' plant because of the appearance of the flowers, which won me over immediately.



I was pretty happy with how they turned out. Nice and colourful!

And I received an equally colourful package in return from my fellow secret seed swapper. Just look how cute they are! Thank you Gabriella.



Beautiful packets, and a great selection of edibles, a lot of them themed around Puglia in Italy.
I've since found out that Gabriella has a great blog called Mangia Bene - filled with 'edible stories from a British Italian kitchen', hence the Italy connection.

Cicoria are bitter greens used in Puglia's national dish, and Gabriella described the Cima di Rapa as Puglia's equivalent to purple sprouting. She also included Carosello Mello Lungo which is an Italian cucumber, and some nasturtiums which are pretty and edible too - perfect!

I had a day off work yesterday so I decided to sow a few of the seeds (some nasturtiums and some of the cucumber seeds). Nice to do some gardening on such a lovely warm day.





And here they all are, sitting in our mini greenhouse alongside the runner beans (which are beginning to sprout!)

Thanks once again to Lyndsey for organising such a great swap. I'm looking forward to taking part again next year.

plants for the house

I acquired a few new plants for the house this weekend. All of them were sort of by chance, but I'm very pleased with my new collection.

A neighbour on my road was giving away some plants so I helped myself to a couple. There is a pretty strong and healthy cheese plant (monstera delicosa) and a little spider plant which looks like it needs a little more looking after. To make it look more cheerful I have put it in this nice blue pot I picked up in a charity shop in Worthing on Friday.



Ben and I are also trying to grow some new plants from these avocado seeds. I've seen it done already by a couple of fellow bloggers so fingers crossed! Here's a helpful guide I found if any of you want to give it a go too.

I also want to try and grow a pineapple - but we'll see about that one...