the green gal

Nature at its best

What glorious weather we've been enjoying! I hope it's been sunny where you are too.

This weekend my hubbie, doggie and I went to visit my brother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew. Having spent a lovely afternoon at their allotment I was inspired to get cracking on my own veggies. So, I have now planted my second early potatoes in their stack of tyres, four rows of red onions, a row of spring onions and a row of leeks. I'll add more rows of spring onions and leeks in the next few weeks so we can enjoy our crops over a longer period of time, plus a few other veggies like beans, tomatoes and salad leaves, and hopefully some strawberries too.

Last year I had moderate success with my crops so this year I'm hoping to do better. I think I've learnt from the mistakes I made last year, we'll have to just wait and see how I get on! For those of you who are interested I use organic peat-free compost and don't use any chemicals to help things grow. If nature and I can't do it on our own, it isn't worth doing! If you're interested in finding out more about organic growing, take a look at the Soil Association's website.

If you've never tried growing your own food I urge you to have a go. There's something quite soothing about handling soil, planting seeds, watering and tending to them. And of course eating the products of your hard work is hugely rewarding. You don't need huge amounts of space (I don't), a windowbox is enough to grow salad leaves or herbs, most things can be grown in pots and, as I've demonstrated, potatoes can be grown in old car tyres! Growing your own food costs a lot less than buying it from the supermarket, plus you know exactly where your meal has come from.

The other great thing about gardening is that it gets you out in the fresh air and (hopefully) the sunshine. Studies have shown that being in nature lifts the spirits and makes people feel happier. So, now nature is well into its stride with flowers blooming, bees buzzing and butterflies swooping about all over the place, I thought I'd give your eyeballs a treat with some images of nature doing what it does best…

1. Parade Magazine, Nature Conservancy Contest Winner, 2. Fields near home, 3. Nature pearls, 4. Blossom close-up, 5. Conch (or Whelk) Shell- Nantucket, 6. Spring Lamb, Spring Flowers

Breathe in the spring air

It's a beautiful day here, I hope the sun is shining where you are too. And, as is only fitting on a sunny spring day, I have been behaving in a most typically Sunday way.

1. Took the dog for a long walk in a nearby wood. Saw lots of little tufts of green leaves so hoping they'll turn into bluebells soon.

2. Went to the garden centre and bought lots of organic peat-free soil for our raised veggie beds. Last year we totally underestimated how much soil compresses down over time and our vegs didn't have enough soil to grow in. I've learnt my lesson, have thrown on lots more soil and will wait for it to settle down before sowing.

3. Planted my chitted first early seed potatoes in a low stack of tyres. This worked really well last year as you just keep adding soil and another tyre as the plants grow. Plus, it frees up the beds for other crops. I got my tyres from our local garage. The owner told me that all of their old tyres are recycled but growing potatoes in them sounded much more interesting! You can read here how I got on with my veggie endeavours last year.

4. Hung a load of washing outside on the line to dry, wind blown dry clothes are somehow lovelier than those which have air dried in the spare room.

5. Completely unrelated but I just spent a v enjoyable half hour photographing the reels of thread I bagged at my favourite antique/secondhand store yesterday. I already have wool that matches perfectly (no prizes for guessing my favourite colours) so snapped them too. I may not have photographed them outside in the spring air but the warm sunshine was flooding into the room making the light the best it's been for photo taking all year.

6. Will soon be off for another dog walk, then a read of the papers with a drink or two in the local pub, followed by a bowlful of homemade leek and potato soup at home. Pretty much a perfect Sunday! Hope your weekends have been equally or even more lovely.

Gardening lessons learned

Hello and welcome to my new look blog! It's a bit shinier looking than the last one and I've added a couple of extra things including some pics of things I have made. Does what it says on the tin. There's not a lot there yet but it will be added to in time! Hope you like it! BTW, anyone who had an RSS feed, I didn't manage to carry you over from my old blog so you might want to set that up again, sorry!

So, to gardening. As you will know I have ventured into the land of veggie gardening, with mixed results. Thought I'd give you an update as to how my little crops are doing and sum up what I've learned so far.

• Maincrop potatoes in their tower of tyres are still growing, had a few pretty flowers that my dog hasn't quite managed to jump up and bit off, little madam. They're hardy things as she REALLY wants to chomp her way through the leafiness.
• Onions are a bit sad, I'll come to that in a bit.
• Salad leaves were doing well till a few white cabbage butterflies laid their eggs and now the leaves look more like Swiss cheese than salad.
• Purple-sprouting broccoli are doing a great job sprouting enormous leaves but no actual broccoli. I'm reliably informed by veggie grower extraordinaire Emma Cooper (http://coopette.com) that they probably won't sprout till spring. 
• Peppers are growing v slowly, paint dries at lightning speed in comparison.
• Courgettes, only one plant left but that's got lots of little dinky courgettes growing on its very long stalk!
• Tomatoes, 43 of them to be precise, are okay, took some advice from Tuesday's Gardener's World and lopped off the top of one plant above the fifth truss (get me with my lingo). Two are turning orange so I have high hopes for the other 41.
• Strawberries served me very well but are now on their way out. Most of the leaves are red and the last two strawberries will be gobbled up tomorrow.
• Garlic is nearly done, stalks need to go a bit more yellow.
• Last three aren't technically veg but let's not be rigid!

So, what have I learned in first foray into gardening? A lot! To the experienced out there the below will seem pretty obvious but remember back to the first crops you planted, did you get it all right first time around? (Shush if you did.)

• A hanging basket is ideal for strawberries, no nasties get to them and they look pretty dangling in the air.
• When you fill a bed with compost, press it down because in time it will settle and look like you put in half the amount. Because I didn't do some bed squashing my onions don't have enough soil to grow in, hence their sad look.
• Purple-sprouting broccoli takes up a lot of space. I mean a lot. Courgette plant kind of amount. A lot.
• You have got to cover up salad leaves. Otherwise they will get eaten by the wildlife. For definite. (Any advice on the best and most practical way to do this gladly received.)
• Tomatoes look good, and grow well, in a window box, just be sure to fill it to the brim with soil.
• Growing potatoes in tyres works! Okay I haven't dug them up yet but look at the piccie, whatever's going on in there has to be good!
• You really do use a lot less water with a watering can rather than the hose.
• Growing your own veggies is fab. It's rewarding, it's cheap, it's interesting, it benefits you and your environment (local and global), you learn loads plus you get to eat the efforts of your labour. 
• People who don't garden are easily impressed with anything you have managed to grow. Or I have polite friends.
• Gardening books are inspirational (see below) but you can't beat advice from real-life humans too (thanks bruv!).

On the subject of tasty gardening books, I'm going to give you the chance to win a gardening book, hurray! Grow Organic is a sumptuous DK book (see here for an Amazon link http://good.ly/a82bt) and I shall give away a copy to a randomly selected person who comments on this post before midnight (UK time) Wednesday 12 August.

Has Spring sprung?

I think the answer is most likely no, but at least we had a preview of it today! The sun shining, daffodils swaying in the breeze and reports of the first lambs of the year being born, really makes me want to put the winter coat away and declare it's time for a change of wardrobe! Like I have enough clothes to do that anyway.

With having my own garden for the first time and a tangle of wisteria branches clinging to the house's front wall, I'm itching to get pruning and planting. But it's February, so it's too early, isn't it? With no Gardener's World to seek advice from (what are the BBC thinking with the scheduling) I have to assume that there's still a risk of frost. Camping in snowy Lincolnshire last April is still vivid enough in my memory to know that the lovely British weather can throw up plenty of surprises before it's time to plant the tubers. 

Guess I'll keep my secateurs holstered for the moment...