My vegetable garden

Started in 2003, my vegetable garden, at the local allotments, broke the mould. Typically plots were based on traditional methods, with much digging, weeds were widespread, and whilst those who had well established plots and time did well, many other struggled.

I had just had a back operation and so my outlook was very different. I was keen to put into practice, albeit on a small scale, my professional knowledge of soils, minimal tillage and weed control combining this with my long held desire to get back to growing vegetables that I had done years before.

Now you can follow my own experiences through the year.

• current activities
• successes
• learnings
• and even my experiments
• produce

My vegetable garden beds

Update on my vegetable garden - Summer 2009

2009 has been a bumper year for many crops - with sufficient sunshine crops have grown well;

• courgettes and outdoor cucumbers are tremendous allowing storage and gifting respectively even now in September
• potatoes have been blessed with few holes and great taste and productivity<\li>
• 48 globe artichokes were too many, but we enjoyed many<\li>
• peas as sugar snaps and mangetout were delicious<\li>
• spring/ summer fruits: strawberries and raspberries were fantastic allowing countless feasts, jam making and freezing of puree<\li>
• autumn fruit - joy! - we have autumn strawberries to go with our established autumn raspberries - yummee!
• our freezer and cupboards are bulging with goodies with more to come

My small green house, installed in July 2008 has been a boon for bringing on early seedlings and is safe from the pests that attack new sowings outdoors; slugs, birds, mice and all. 2009 has seen even greater success and rapid establishment through producing stronger young plants to transplant.

After that the tomatoes, Marmande and Gardeners Delight grew strongly and are producing regular red tasty fruits at present. weeks

Follow my progress in the easy vegetable gardening newsletter.

Sign up to 'Easy vegetable gardening', our free newsletter, which provides monthly articles and tips, notifies you of new additions to the website and progress on my own vegetable garden. Please don't sign up unless you are over 13 and have parental consent if under 18 years of age.

Return from my vegetable garden to the home of easy vegetable gardening