The Moosey Vegetable Garden
Me in My Vegetable Garden 2009
Oh dear. I've never been very good at growing vegetables. I've tried many different ideas - potato patches in far-flung corners of the garden, tomatoes easy to reach in patio pots, and so on.
The main, designated vegetable growing area has always been on the back lawn, tucked in near the Olearia hedge. For many years I've tried my best. I've added compost and organic matter, planted lettuces and spinach, tomatoes, peas and beans, onions, carrots, pumpkins, courgettes and so on. Nothing too exotic there - simple veggies that I know Non-Gardening Partner and I will eat. I've watered by hand or with buckets brought from the water race. But...
Confession time...
Some years I just haven't had the inspiration. So, quick as a flash, I've used the ground to plant spare dahlias, dig in roses that I'm shifting around, and to provide temporary accommodation for daylilies and other perennials. Even shrubs have been popped in for safe keeping. And one cannot grow vegetables easily amidst all this stuff!
Garden Extended...
The winter of 2009 saw one of my finest efforts. I extended the garden area, after seeing an inspiring vegetable garden in Washington DC. I planted a sweet little English Lavender hedge around the sides, and brought it loads of compost and mulch. Then in a solemn memorial moment, I spread around the last ever load of manured straw from my Plymouth Barred Rock hens. Years later I kept on finding little striped feathers in the mulch. Oh dear - I missed those lovely chooks!
My Vegetable Garden in 2009
Brick mini-paths curved through the plot, just wide enough to walk over. I placed a huge pot planted with raspberries in the middle. Oops! Those raspberries sent out alarming suckers. And the strawberries did much better in pots on the patio, where there was much more sun.
Vegetables
It was terribly exciting when NGP put in a new hose which properly reached my vegetable garden. I promised the plants that I'd be really responsible and water them daily. But then I wrecked everything by dumping lots and lots of bonfire ash on the soil. The tomatoes were not impressed.
Fresh peas...
Calendula
Snacking on fresh peas used to be a my reward for a hard day's gardening. And for a few short weeks my vegetable garden would offer me these green delights - if I got bored, or just hungry during the gardening day, I would pick the pods and happily munch. Yum!
Lettuces and Potatoes
Overall, I've had my best results growing lettuces and potatoes. Tomatoes have always been a bit 'hit or miss'. Night-time temperatures can cool off in mid-summer, and the fruits can be too slow to ripen. It's the same with Pumpkins, which start growing madly but don't quite make it before the first frosts.
All in all, the pretty Calendula flowers were much better doers than my vegetables. They still self-seed happily, companion plants to the ghost vegetables, hee hee.
One year I put in some little leek plants. That was an inspired choice - not for eating, but rather for the beautifully ornamental seed-heads which were produced in autumn. The bumble and honey bees love them. New seedlings would always appear each spring. The leek patch is still there, thriving.
Leek Seed-Head - not an Allium
In 2012 I used a third of the so-called vegetable garden to create a brick Herb Spiral. That fixture certainly takes pride of place, and I love it.
New Potato Patch
It suits my cooking style (a bit lazy) so much better to grow salad greens, tomatoes, strawberries, etc. in large pots on the patio. Feeding and watering is much easier, and there's all day sunshine. I can still find room for some potatoes. The exact location might vary, but I keep trying!