Ooops!

I planted some onion sets in the tub that had cucumbers growing in it earlier in the year. The onion sets are doing well but I had forgotten about the daffodils that were already established in the tub and which are now also doing well :-( I'l leave the tub alone and see what happens.



I suspect that the onion sets will lose.

Logs and leaves

This autumn I was busy pruning back some of the bushes at the bottom of the garden and hacking back some of the branches on the overhanging sycamores. I've kept many of the small branches and larger twigs for pea sticks and supporting canes for the coming year but what to do with the thicker branches? I decided to stack them up against the back fence while I thought about it and the initial log pile was somewhat modest.



It then occurred to me that they could serve a useful purpose over the winter as a hibernaculum, so I carried on adding logs and branches and then some of the fallen sycamore leaves that usually cover the garden at this time of year. It now looks quite impressive.



Am I am going to do anything else with it next year? Possibly. As I was finishing the log and leaf pile I came across an article on building a Hugekultur bed (How to Build Irrigation-Free Raised Beds with Hugelkultur http://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-agriculture/how-build-irrigation-free-raised-beds-hugelkultur.html). Hugelkultur beds can be as large or as small as you want (How to Build Hugelkultur Irrigation-Free Raised Bed Gardens (Video)   http://www.treehugger.com/lawn-garden/how-to-build-hugelkultur-irrigation-free-raised-bed-gardens-video.html). This looks as though it could be the perfect solution to the problem of disposing of the wood and to making a small problem area of my garden suitable for planting.

Construction is planned for late spring. In the meantime any wild life that would like to use the log and leaf pile as a snug, hideaway over winter are more than welcome. Perhaps I should put up a sign: Winter hidey-holes available -  rent free!

Rain, rain and more rain!

After a good start to the gardening year we have had nothing but rain, rain and yet more rain here in Caversham. Despite that - or maybe because of it - parts of the vegetable garden are flourishing. Potatoes and peas are doing well as are the herbs and lettuces, but there is only so much salad and lettuce soup I can eat and I am running out of ideas for consuming the abundant greenery!

Tomatoes are slow this year as are the cucumbers. I made the mistake of planting out my cucumber seedlings too early and they were quickly battered to the ground by heavy rainfall. The second batch seem to be doing well now but it will be a late crop this year, if any at all. Surprisingly, the aubergines seem to be surviving and the chilli peppers are racing ahead.

Monsoon conditions of course bring out the slugs and snails but I haven't noticed any appreciable difference in the damage caused compared with previous, drier years. I did spray part of of my vegetable plot with Nemaslug as an experiment, but there doesn't seem to be any difference between the two areas in terms of plant destruction, which has been minimal. It could be that the slugs from the untreated area moved into the treated ground once the nematodes had done their stuff and died or the nematodes infiltrated the unsprayed ground. I also use a number of barrier methods which possibly helped (see 20 Ways to control slugs in the permaculture garden or on the allotment | Permaculture Magazine http://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/20-ways-control-slugs-permaculture-garden-or-allotment) or maybe the slug and snail predators have been out in force banqueting on the blighters! Whatever the reason, I certainly have not seen the scale of devastation reported in the Transition Culture blog (The Four Slugs of the Apocalypse http://transitionculture.org/2012/07/13/the-four-slugs-of-the-apocalypse/). I'd be interested in hearing what other UK gardeners are experiencing re mollusc infestations.

As an aside, if you have a particular interest in slugs and snails (apart from wanting them off the face of the planet altogether) the Field Studies Council has a number of identification guides including Land snails in the British Isles (2nd edition) - FSC : http://www.field-studies-council.org/publications/pubs/land-snails-in-the-british-isles-(2nd-edition).aspx and the much older (1983)  A field guide to the slugs of the British Isles http://www.field-studies-council.org/fieldstudies/documents/vol5.5_156_a.pdf.

Time to clear the garden and order seeds

It is raining here in Caversham at the moment but last weekend we had a couple of hours of sunshine - enough time to clear most of the debris from the garden. There was a lot that was not suitable for the compost heap - thick branches from the bushes for example - so they went into the green waste bag.  It is now full but our next collection date is February 1st. So, if there is any more garden waste for recycling over the next few weeks it will have to sit in a refuse sack and then transferred to the green bag once it has been emptied.



There is not much left in the ground now: swiss chard, spinach, parsnips, scorzenera and jerusalem artichokes in one of the bags at the back.  The other two bags will be planted with early potatoes and once they have been harvested  courgette plants will take their place.

It's also time to finish ordering seeds for the coming year. I usually order tomato and chilli seeds from Simpson's Seeds. Simpson's started out as the Tomato Club and specialised in unusual tomato varieties. They now sell a wide variety of vegetable and flower seeds, and in recent years have expanded their hot chilli collection. There are no pretty pictures in the printed catalogue but the web site more than makes up for that.  The other companies I use are Marshalls, Mr Fothergill's and Thompson and Morgan.


My next task will be to draw up a schedule for sowing seeds  both indoors and  outdoors.

Welcome to a Caversham Garden

I set up this blog a year ago with the intention of blogging the successes and disasters of growing vegetables in a small back garden in Caversham. My husband and I have been "growing our own" ever since we moved to Caversham in 1982 and many of our friends have encouraged us to share our experiences with others. Well the blog didn't happen in 2010. We are both self employed consultants and are also actively involved with various professional bodies. For my part, I have now stepped down from most of the committees I was on, which means that I have no excuse whatsoever not to get this blog going!

This will be a sort of diary of our gardening year: from ordering the seeds through to harvesting and eating the produce. It will cover disasters as well as successes and l might also include some of my favourite recipes.

Comments and your own experiences will be welcomed.