In the garden : All change

So I moved house and I don't have a massive garden anymore but that shouldn't stop me growing some fruit and veg.

So what did I learn from last years growing season?

- Plant early and stagger the crop

I ended up with a load of tomatoes that weren't ripe and had to leave them behind but of the tomatoes I had I ended up with a lot all at once

- Grow things you'll like and use

I grew a load of Cucamelons last year which look kind of cool and they'd be great for jazzing up a Hendricks gin cocktail or adding something different to a Pimms cup but I didn't really use them so they went to waste.

- Grow more fruit

Most of the time when I went into the polytunnel last year I just wished I'd have done strawberries at the very least.

- Get into a routine of checking on the plants every day

I was really good with checking on the plants and keeping up with my watering and trimming, as little as 10mins a day is all it needs.

What are the plans for this year?

This year I'm going to have be a little bit clever about what I plant and when because I've got much less room.

I've got less room but I've got my little helper this year, last year my little boy was too little to help out but this year he can help me water the plants. He really enjoyed some of the tomatoes from last years crop.



So this is the first round of planting, I've gone for 2 types of tomato instead of the 7 types last year, I've chosen 2 cherry tomato varieties. I've also gone with basil, chives and pak choi.


The plan will be to plant the tomatoes along with the herbs in some decorative planters, I learnt last year about the importance of training the tomato plants so I should get a much bigger yield this year.

The pak choi will be transferred to a trough once it's big enough and once it gets a little warmer I'll be adding radish and carrots to the trough. I'll then do some broccoli and cauliflower in the trough later in the year.

Once it's warm enough I'll get some Strawberries in hanging baskets and maybe I'll invest in a small redcurrant bush.

I'll plant some sprouts so I can do a Christmas day harvest.

My salad this year will be done a little differently, I'm planning on trying an aquaponics system in my study with a 50gallon aquarium, this will be plumbed into a growbed for the salad, I've not decided if I'm doing a raft or a fill and drain bell syphon setup yet.

Anyway from me and my little helper that's it until the next update