November 2019 in pictures

It has been a relatively mild autumn so far with only a couple of frosty nights so far, but it was definitely time to pick any chillies still on the plants outside and bring indoors to ripen. And while I was tidying up the strawberry beds I found some beetroot stragglers. They were not massively big but there was enough for a couple of meals and the leaves were a welcome addition to our green veg.

The kales come into their own at this time of year and I'm wondering how long I can keep the larger of the two, shown on the left, going. Both have been in the ground for over a year.

I always have to remember that I have Jerusalem artichokes in a growing sack as the leaves have now died back. There are always some left behind ready to spring into action in the new year.

At the front of the house I decided to see how field beans would fare. I have tried various heat loving plants in this area but very few survive without constant attention and watering. In the summer, the patch is hit by full sun and quickly dries out. The rosemary bush loves it and you can also see some garlic coming up next to it. This was missed when I picked the few bulbs that grew there in the summer. 

In the winter, the sun is low and we usually have enough rain to let the plants look after themselves so I am hoping the beans will do well. The seeds looked to be from two different varieties and they are growing at different rates. Although, usually grown as a green manure they can be eaten and there is an interesting article comparing field beans and broad beans on the Garden Organic website - Growing field beans for human consumption 

https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/growing-field-beans-human-consumption 

Also at the front of the house is the last of the rudbeckia (self-seeded). It is in a sheltered spot against the wall and shielded from the worst of the cold weather by a neighbour's bush and a wheelie bin. I was tempted to cut the flowers and bring them indoors but it such a pleasure to see a splash of colour outside at the this time of the year.

October 2018 in pictures

There was plenty of veg coming in from the garden this month: beetroot, beans, radicchio, cabbages, kale, Swiss chard, and the last of the courgettes. Towards the end of the month we picked the remaining tomatoes. Most of them were green, some will ripen indoors, and the rest we'll chop up and add to various recipes. 

The foraged sweet chestnut harvest was not as abundant as last year. There were fewer fruits and many of the "nuts" were small and not worth collecting and processing. The long hot, dry spells we had this year were probably to blame. 

September 2018 in pictures

We had an abundance of tomatoes of many colour, sizes and shapes and some of them heritage varieties. Jersey Devil is one that we shall definitely be growing next year long with Orange Banana. Both are substantial, meaty tomatoes with a great flavour.

Runner beans and climbing beans were also doing well.

We grew radicchio for the first time this year and had  several plants dotted around the garden. One, however, was overlooked when it came to gathering heads and leaves, and it quickly went to seed.  We also had a range of swiss chard varieties popping up in various spots, some of it self sown.

The squashes were disappointing partly because I was late putting them in but also, I suspect, because of the long hot, dry spells we had. Not sure is more regular watering would have helped much 

September 2017 in pictures

The autumn harvest started in earnest including an interesting range of varieties of squash and tomatoes. 

Unknown variety of monster squash growing
against the kitchen wall

Black Krim tomatoes

Brown Turkey figs

Cherry Bomb chillis

The recent storms had already weakened two of the posts of the fence between us and one of our neighbours. Heavy winds overnight on September 12th/13th resulted in three of the panels coming down flattening the potatoes in the growing bags and seedlings in the adjacent ground. This is not going to be fixed for several weeks, which means we won't be able to plant out all of the winter and spring veg seedlings. 

Typical autumn lunch! Pie from Reading Farmers' Market and veg from the garden

Mapping the Garden - Zone 1

I have been intending to map our garden permaculture zones for about two years but have only now just started on the project. The idea is that the map will serve as a reminder of what was and is already in place, what grows well and what doesn't, and will also help me adjust the plantings. Although this is starting out as an ordinary blog posting I will make these maps individual blog pages so that I can easily update them and add more photos.

Rather than tackle the whole garden at once I thought that if I mapped the different areas separately I would be more likely to finish the project. For the first map I choose the area between the end of the kitchen/bathroom extension and the ancient garden shed because it is one of the smaller patches in the garden. When I started to map it in detail, though, I realised that the area may be small but there is a lot going on here.

The boundaries are a six foot wooden fence to the left, a 4ft 2in high brick wall on the right, an old home made garden shed that was erected in the 1940s and the end of the bathroom extension.The wall is used by many of the local cats as a walkway and they then drop down in front of the shed or into the neighbour's garden to continue their daily prowls. So we have a small zone 5 incursion at that point.

There is an earth/gravel path between the north side of the shed and the wooden fence that leads into the main part of the garden (zones 2-4). There are two raised beds in front of the shed on either side of the shed door, and concrete paths along the end and to the side of the bathroom/kitchen extension. When we moved into the property there was a thin layer of concrete in the middle that was badly cracked and broken in places. We replaced it with gravel and stepping stones some of which were made from the concrete we pulled up.

We have two water butts fed by rainwater coming off the rooves on the back of the house and the extension. We should really install a third to make the most of the run-off (we do have the space). The roof of the garden shed slopes in the direction of the raised beds and, ever since the guttering came off, rainwater runs directly onto the raised beds.

The main productive area is the right hand raised bed in front of the shed. This is how it looked for many years during the summer.

21st August 2013 - rosemary bush still flourishing

The runner beans do well here but to pick the beans on the plants nearest the garden wall I have to step on the bed, which is usually a no-no because it compacts the soil. I realised even before I started harvesting, though, that there is a permanent, narrow track just in front of the beans. This is created by the cats using it as as short cut through the garden, so I decided I might as well walk on this part of the bed as well!

The rosemary bush in the middle flourished for many years and provided us with a regular supply of the herb until it died at the beginning of 2015. Luckily I had taken cuttings the previous year so we now have several new plants in pots.

The other herbs in the ground are ramsons, chives, lemon balm and oregano. These are supplemented by hairy bittercress and nettles. The herbs in the pots vary as I move them around from one spot to another to test out the best environment for them.

28th March 2015

This is the same area in March 2015. The rosemary bush has been replaced with a pear tree (Concorde), which I had bought in autumn 2014 and kept it in a container while I considered where its final location should be. The demise of the rosemary made the decision for me.

At this time of year the available herbs are chives, ramsons and lemon balm as well as some hairy bittercress.

Comfrey was added to the upper right hand corner in late 2014 and is now well established.

During May and June, the herbs and the comfrey begin to take over and are pruned back. None of it goes to waste. The herbs, including the nettles, are dried for cooking or teas and the comfrey leaves are used to make fertiliser (see Comfrey juice decanted). The ramsons have usually died back by now and set seed.

15th June 2015 - herbs and nettles taking over

In October the beans are still going strong as are the herbs and nettles.

10th October 2015

This is how the patch looked on 29th May 2016

29th May 2016

The beans are beginning to climb and the pear tree is now established. The herbs and comfrey have already been cut back once and the golden oregano needs thinning out. The pots on the right and left contain mint but most of the one on the right has been eaten by something I have yet to find and identify. It has started to recover and grow back. The pot in the middle contains lovage.

Tea Bag Index results

In 2015 we took part in UK Tea Bag Index experiment and one of the pair of tea bags was planted in the middle of the right hand bed. The Tea Bag Index decomposition rate was found to be group ii and the C:N ratio of the soil was also in group ii, both slap bang in the middle for garden soils.

Bean experiment

Yes, I know, it is way too early to start growing beans in the UK. I have been testing the viability of seeds in the Reading Food Growing Network's seed swap boxes. It seemed such a shame to waste the bean seeds that germinated so I decided to "pot" them up. And, yes, those are toilet roll cardboard inners. 

I'm not sure where this experiment is going but the main problem that I can see is one of pollination - if I manage to keep them growing indoors. Planting them outside is a non-starter for a few months.

I'll post updates on the progress or failure/death of the experiment!

Update August 2016: Although they started off well and growth was steady, when it came to setting "fruit" the experiment was a disaster. They plants were potted on and kept indoors so there were no insects to pollinate them and my attempts to mimic the process using a tiny paintbrush were a total failure.  

Lunch: an eclectic mix of flavours and ingredients

Today's lunch - usually our main meal when we are working at home - was an interesting mix of flavours and ingredients. Some came straight from the garden, some were dried or preserved garden produce and some shop bought.

So, starting at the top of the plate and moving clockwise, here is what we had.

Injera style sourdough flat breads (rye and spelt flour)

Red cabbage (bought at the local farmers' market) with fennel seeds (garden)

Various beans (some garden) with homemade tomato sauce (made a couple of months ago from garden tomatoes), onions (garden), garlic (garden), dried herbs (garden).

Green and puy lentils, swiss chard (garden), shallots (garden), garlic (garden), ginger and spiced with garam masala.

Home made, oven baked onion bhajis (onions from the garden).

Raita made with home-made yoghurt but shop bought, out of season cucumber [Gasp,  shock, horror!]

Sprinkling of coriander leaves (pot on window sill)

Bean seeds for next year

The last of the bean pods have been harvested for seeds. I am always loath to leave some of the biggest and best beans on the plants to mature and dry but I know it is worth it for the sake of next year's harvest. This photo shows just some of the varieties I have collected from the garden. The problem is that labels were lost many years ago so I have no idea which varieties they are apart from "runners", "climbing" and "dwarf".

The season is not completely over yet and the weather has been so mild this autumn that I am still harvesting runner beans. I'm not gathering a massive amount bit a handful is enough to add variety to a mix of veg in a risotto or a casserole.

20th September 2015, Harvest and lunch

Today's harvest from the garden. The yellow courgette, which had been hiding underneath a mass of leaves, is more like a marrow in size but was still delicious. The yellow courgettes have been truly prolific this year.The other veg I gathered are swiss chard, runner beans, hungarian wax pepper and a long thin hot chilli (can't remember the name and the label as gone AWOL)





For lunch we had spiced chicken with some of today's veg harvest. The veg mix included the last of the squash that had been picked a couple of weeks ago. See the entry under 7th September on the Harvests 2015 page for a photo of the beast. I have been told by friends that it is a non-orange skinned form of pumpkin. Whatever it is it was delicious and we have another one sitting in the kitchen ready to be eaten.

Runner bean success - permaculture (possible) fail

This year I've been looking at how we can use our garden more effectively using permaculture principles and experimenting with vegetable plantings. We have an ancient shed, apparently built around the 1940s, and in front of one part of it is a raised bed in which we grow herbs. I wondered if we could grow runner beans against the side of the shed with the help of canes and some netting. Apart from slugs and snails nibbling away at two of the plants it was a great success.



But there was a slight problem. In order to pick the beans I had to trample on the bed to get to them. Permaculture fail, I'm afraid.



I then remembered that the ground immediately in front of  the beans was already trampled on by the local cats who use it as a thoroughfare. So perhaps that is a "path", albeit a very narrow one, I can use to harvest my crop. Maybe not such a permaculture fail as I first thought.