Garden round up

It's been a funny old gardening year. Started late, because of various distractions. Andy took a garden sabbatical (I think he was traumatised from the demise of our polytunnel) so I had to see to it all single handedly, in spare moments. And, at the risk of destroying any illusions that we live in a tranquil, rural paradise - we have been living next door to this;

The bush in the left hand corner is in our garden and the strip inbetween is our neighbour's garden. It began in late spring, and our little old terrace of cottages shuddered and shook as the wrecking ball demolished the ugly 1960's retirement home which had previously stood there. All day, nearly every day (even at weekends) since then, we have lived with the accompanying noise of big diggers, industrial tools, shouting navvies, chainsaws, drills - well, the usual cacophony. So time in the garden has been infrequent and as needs be.

But despite all that, we've had a pretty good year. Picking funny little harvests and wondering how to bung it all together.

Eaten string beans when we wanted. Lots of them.

Custard squash were a triumph: what a great little vegetable they are - and when they are young, can be eaten skin and all. If you store them, then just cut them in half, roast them and scoop them out of their rind bowl.

Potatoes were meagre and very disappointing; we have had barely any rain here all year. I tried to keep them watered with my bucket - no hoses here - but it was a sparse result.

So the garden quietly slips into scruffy dishevelledness. A few things linger, thanks to the unseasonably warm weather, but it is time for a winter rest.

Oh, but tomatoes - the tomatoes excelled! The seriously cold snap must have killed off any blight we had lingering, and they have thrived.

All the plants are now stripped back to stalks and fruit. Despite a night's frost last week, the plants are still strong and healthy.

And I continue to pick ripe tomatoes in November, which is extraordinary.

I also like to leave green tomatoes to gradually ripen indoors - they will last into late November at least, just left to hang.

We are still living next door to a building site, except that now some of the houses have been built - which means that this time next year, we will have new neighbours. The time to move has definitely come.

But at least I still have some last nasturtiums to enjoy.

Garden resurrection

Long term readers may remember that the heavy snows at Christmas and my neglectfulness caused our lovely polytunnel to implode. It was quietly heartbreaking and we didn't get round to clearing it until April. Andy dismantled it and I tidied up the debris. Our little back garden looked desolate. But I sowed a patch of broad beans, just over there to the left, covered with netting. Because you've got to really, haven't you?

Sowing seeds and sorting out the many winter casualties took some weeks, due to other commitments and lack of motivation; it looked as if the broad beans might be the only veg we harvested this year. This sparse looking snapshot was actually taken in June, not so long ago.

Gradually things got planted and repotted, pruned back and rescued. Our small yearly harvests will be late, but just as welcome. From here, it all looks somewhat weedy and jungly. And it is true, there are things growing where things shouldn't be - apart from pesky weeds, there are tomatoes in with the broad beans, thrown up from seeds dropped by the tomatoes in last years polytunnel harvest. The strawberries take care of themselves and grow everywhere, eternally fighting with the twitch grass and Clover's big ginger bottom which regularly sits on them.

I always forget what thugs squash can be - these *little* patty pans needed tying back, before they swamped the dwarf beans.

So I've forced them up and back with string and poles, to give the beans a chance. And finding another rogue tomato growing between the bean rows!

Tiny patty pan squash, just an inch or so wide.

Then the beans were given a bean frame, and the tomato plant growing amid them was carefully replanted to it's own spot nearby.

These two humongous, lovely lettuces are from the 'cut and come again' mixed salad leaf bed sown in this patch last year. Now they are grown up lettuce and ready to be picked.

This rambling patch of green is a hugger mugger potager of salad, courgettes, more dwarf beans, tomatoes, chard and the odd rogue potato. Despite the close planting, everything is doing well.

Almost time for non-stop courgettes.

Hiding somewhere in there are our first wax beans - just a few more days.

For the first time ever, I resisted the urge to plant a zillion tomato seeds; we bought a few various ones from local table tops and the rest are simply 'volunteers'. 'Gardener's Delight' is living up to it's name and look, oh joyous day, there are actually ripening tomatoes! After years of blight, this is a marvellous thing.

They are placed around a raised bed of peas, which are not doing as well as I'd like, considering they were grown in our own compost, but after a week or so of rain they are coming on.

As I left it far too late to purchase special potato seed stock, I reverted to my childhood method of simply planting old shop spuds which were sprouting. They're doing very well, in trenches and one batch in a sack - my first time at trying this. I'll be interested to see which method has better results.

This is one of my 'Blair Witch' charms, to look after the garden; one hare's skull and three portions of what I think are badger spine bones - could be deer. (If you think that's bad, never look inside my pockets...)

So although it all looks a bit disorganised, this is really a densely packed living larder.

I even have a fairly respectable pot herb garden again, and of course, sweet peas and nasturtiums. Can't do without those.

And finally the broad beans are ready. This is a really great variety, Suprifin, which I'll definitely be planting again. Just in front are three 'volunteer' tomatoes from last year - popped up in the ground and were shown mercy. Variety unknown, but probably Brandywines.

Deep in the bean patch, I am so pleased! Lovely big pods, heavy crops and plants just the right height; nice and tall but not too tall, so no staking required. Perfect.

Picking our first crop the other night, I was very glad that I'd mustered myself to rescue the remnants of the garden. This is why we do it.

It just wouldn't be summer without a few homegrown treats.

Little Harvests

The garden is gently decaying into autumn dishevelment. It's been a good year; we've experienced a steep learning curve with the polytunnel and grown a staggering amount of tomatoes. We've had disappointments; too few green beans, a whole packet of Dumpling Squash which refused to germinate, not enough space to grow as many potatoes as we need. Slow Acorn Squash which are only just flowering - too late. Made mistakes; garlic which we misplanted and failed. Put courgettes in the tunnel when they didn't need to be. Planted them out once the broad beans were over and we had the space.

But these are part and parcel of gardening and no year is perfect. We hope to learn not to make the same mistakes twice (but often do). It's good to look back and see how our year went. Our once yearly pea indulgence - one whole packet scattered and grown closely in a small square.

Broad beans - we were ambivalent about this type, the Sutton; they didn't grow tall enough and the pods could have been longer. Nonetheless, fresh broad beans are heavenly, no matter what.

Growing a minuscule crop of round carrots in a tub.

They were quite small, a bit holey in places and funny shaped. Only enough for a few each, but they were the carrotiest carrots we've had since the last time we grew carrots.

Finally managing to grow one of my favourite flowers, sweet peas, in a big pot; they don't grow well in the garden and we need the space for veg. I luxuriated in having a regular posy of them to sweeten the air.

From August we have had mostly our own potatoes - not huge amounts, but just enough to keep us going. Duke of York reds -

Salad Rattes - a somewhat mean crop I thought, considering we planted two rows.

And good old reliable (not to mention delicious) King Edwards.

Our Boston Marrow squash were a big success. If a certain LB is reading this, then here are the results of your seed packet from America - thank you for the pleasure we've had with them.

We were rather proud.

There isn't really enough storage space to preserve these beauties safely, so they rest in majesty on the stairs.

We picked modest batches of strawberries all summer long.

And my new fig tree came complete with one magnificent, succulent fruit.

Tomatoes we had plenty of! What a beautiful crop it is to grow. From over-ripe sweet 'chezzers' -

- to big, bold beefsteaks. German Strawberries, golden orange and perfect for roasting -

A bountiful crop of Principe Borghese plum tomatoes - one of the best types we have grown, very prolific and one to remember for next year.

Buxom, blushing Brandywines, grown from seeds sent from the USA by Janet -

All these - and one small cucumber which somehow managed to grow in their midst, despite being crowded out.

However we grew far too many - we didn't have to dedicate the entire 14ft polytunnel to them. I think we've exorcised the memories of the last few years of blight now. Split tomatoes have their uses though.

Waiting for a cold winter's night when we will need some bottled summer.