Our new garden

We moved into our  new house three months ago and it's a very different garden from what we've had before: the last one had no lawn, very big flower beds and an enormous patio/terrace, complete with big fish pond (both big pond and big fish) and hot tub.  So we used to have an allotment on which to grow fruit and veg.

Now I'd like to be able to grow the fruit and veg on site - it's much easier as going up to the allotment was fun and it was nice to meet people with whom we had something in common, even if it was only growing stuff.  But sometimes it would have been nice to pop out for five or ten minutes to tend to the growth, rather than plan an hour or so.

We thought we'd start small here, so have dug over part of a flower bed and put three raised beds at the side of the back lawn.   

Note new compost bin!  It's a special one which has an easy-to-remove front for unloading, which is always a sore point.  I'm not sure that it's going to stay there, that was the only suitable space at the time.  

At the back you'll see the old (leaky) water butt which served as a temporary compost bin but wasn't nearly big enough. It's now be put at the back of the garden, under the neighbour's cypress llelandi, which I'm sure nothing will every be able to grow.  It's been filled with leaves which we're regularly watering in the hope that in a year or so they'll turn into useful mulch.  Usually I put the leaves in plastic bags, make holes in them and hide them under a suitable bush or tree but we don't have any of these in this garden.

In front of the 'leaf' bin I've planted some comfrey, a useful plant which is not only great for making compost - either put in the compost bin or water down and make soluble feed (but it stinks! rather like the feed made from old nettles).  It's also useful for putting on strains and bruises. (see '12 reasons to plant comfrey':  http://www.permaculture.co.uk/videos/least-12-reasons-plant-comfrey-symphytum-officinale-your-permaculture-garden)

And you may see in the photo, at the back of the garden, are several bags.  They're horse manure which is sitting happily rotting away, ready to be used eventually.  The manure's not new so it doesn't stink out the neighbours.  Some of it's gone into the compost bin in order to help things rot down.  Horse manure often has a bad press because of weed seeds contained therein but if the manure rots down well the heat should kill off any weeds (http://horsetalk.co.nz/2012/09/28/horse-manure-easy-guide-to-composting/).

Anyway, to return to the veg garden.  In the side bed we've planted potatoes as the ground there's very clay-ey and claggy, and potatoes apparently break up the soil, which should save us some tiresome digging. And potatoes are so easy to grow, so long there's room: plant them, bank them up, harvest them and eat them.   Adding lime to clay soils is supposed to improve the soil, also anything which will bulk it out - leaf mold, bark, compost.  Will look more into that one ... (see also RHS site: http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profile?PID=620)

In the beds we've planted:

No 1: strawberries - and we've noticed pigeons, so the strawberries will have a net put over them at a suitable height, not too low or the birds will peck their beaks down through the holes.  Like us, they love strawberries.


No 2: broad beans, which as you can see from the photo, are doing well.  They were bought as plants as we're short of time this year.  I'll be putting protective canes and wires/netting round them soon to stop them from falling over.

We've also bought some pea plants, carrots and some Brussels sprouts, which will be moved somewhere more spacious in due course, somewhere with very solid ground as wobbly sprouts give less tight sprouts and that'll never do.  On windy sites people often stake their Brussels as well.  

Question: (1) why are they called Brussels sprouts; ans: because they were first cultivated in Belgium; (2) what do people in Belgium call Brussels sprouts?; ans: I haven't found out yet but in Germany they're called 'rose cabbages', what a pretty name! (For more info on BS: http://www.foodrepublic.com/2013/02/19/11-things-you-probably-did-not-know-about-brussels#!slide=12)

In this bed I've also planted some beetroot, and a couple of spinach plants brought with us.  


No 3: empty at present.
When we return from our holidays I plan to plant some runner beans, also lettuces, spinach or chard.

In the 'holding bed' on the other side of the garden I've 'heeled in' (http://voices.yahoo.com/how-heel-plants-6866462.html) some fruit bushes and some raspberry canes.  Not sure where they're going to end up but they're having a nice rest in there and hopefully growing well and putting down excellent roots, ready to be enjoyed next year.