Tuesday 9 June 2020

Gardening to Nourish and Feed Both Body and Soul

Hello Friends!

I don't know if anyone else found this, and it's probably just because we had such lovely, summery weather following on from such a summery merry month of May but yesterday morning, when I was watering my pots, there was that old, familiar smell in the air, quite unexpected, hinting that autumn is slowly creeping around the corner.  Like I say, probably all to do with how fickle the weather has been, very hot then plummeting by ten degrees Celsius overnight to feeling very cold, and nothing more than that, but when you find yourself putting your vest back on and turning the heating on in June, you begin to wonder whether or not you imagined it.

A garden is a source of nourishment.  The very act of gardening nourishes the soul as you care for, tend, and nurture seeds and plants to maturity and their intended purpose.  Then, if you grow an edible garden of any kind, even just a few simple salad vegetables on a windowsill, you are not only nourishing your soul but also your body with produce you know you can trust to be the best it possibly can be.  What can be better?

If you garden, you do not need a gym, or a therapist, and you get flowers, fruit and vegetables.

One of the things I used to do several years ago, working alongside my father, was to grow most of the household food for about eight months of the year, I did my best to continue after he passed away, but in recent times I have been overwhelmed and I had to stop.  As a full time care giver, it was as much as I could do to keep up with the mowing, never mind weeding, digging, sowing, growing on and maintaining a vegetable garden.  Something had to give, and we all know it takes no time at all for nature to regain a foothold and turn even the most well tended garden into a wilderness.

This year, I had planned to get on top of things, beginning by hiring someone to come in and help with the heavy digging and moving of trees and shrubs, and to generally help get things sorted to a point where I can manage, but we all know what happened next, and it put a whole tool box full of spanners in the works for everyone.  Now that the only gardening company in my village is able to work within very strict guidelines, he's up to his eyes with seasonal mowing and won't be available for many months for the kind of work I need doing.  So, I am puttering along, doing what I can until he is available at the end of mowing season.

There is a long, narrow section along side the south facing pine end of the cottage.  It gets full sun in the summer for about eight to ten hours a day, so gets very warm and seems to me an ideal spot to grow things in pots and containers.  There was an old shed tucked away in the corner, it had to be dismantled last year for safety's sake, especially with the windy west Wales winters, but the chap who took it away didn't come back to finish the job, so it's quite untidy right now, and even as I work to tidy it up, a lot of the rubbish is of the ilk that can only be taken to the tip {Civic Amenity and Recycling Centre} and right now it's not open to trailers, which is what I need.  I may end up hiring a skip in a few months, when we are able to do such things again.

I digress.  The space is paved, no earth; it isn't big enough for anything other than storage out of sight; it's also a sun trap, so too hot to sit in; it's not visible unless you are standing in it, so I can't see the point in filling it with flowers.  So, I have filled a few recycled containers and pots with compost, sown seeds, tended, watered and weeded, and have had a few small harvests already, turning it into a food producing corner.

I have very basic things, such as mixed leaves, lettuce, beetroot, watercress, salad onions, courgettes, strawberries and hopefully tomatoes.  It's not a lot, I would starve if I was relying on this, but it's something positive and nurturing to do during lockdown, and getting my hand back in to growing food again.

I am keeping these trays as baby leaves, not planning to let them get large.  Successive sowings will be key to keeping them tasty.  I love salads, and a fresh picked bowl of leaves is my idea of heaven.

Radicchio, Chicory, Mixed Leaves
It's made me realise, once I have reclaimed my two former fruit and vegetable areas that I now have a whole new area!  It's so warm I think I may be able to grow peppers, chillies and even aubergines along side the cottage, especially if we continue to get good, warm days.  It will be an excellent spot to put one of those small wooden upright cold frames as a place to bring on seedlings.

Salad Onions
It's also made me think of how to use a similar area, but much bigger, along the north facing side, which although shadier still has good light for five months of the year, plenty enough to grow salad crops in raised beds which then frees up the other areas for all sorts of things, and who knows, maybe I can grow enough to keep me in vegetables for most of the year?  However, if they all germinate as poorly and slowly as the spinach and salad onions I will not have much to show.  I sowed two lots of salad onions, and only one lot germinated.  Only one, single spinach seedling to show so far too.


One thing I have had a problem with is cats.  They seem to think I have kindly put out some nice, new litter trays for them, and I lost my beetroots twice.  I used tent pegs and twine to make a net that I hoped would deter them, but no, it didn't, so what to do?  I went into the garage to search out some chicken wire or old netting, that should do nicely, but I found three old, rather rusty, wire shelves left over from one of those little plastic greenhouses.  Absolutely perfect!  They fit over the two target boxes as if they were made for this purpose alone.  No more cats, and beetroot and watercress now growing nicely.  Sometimes, it pays to be a pack rat hoarder!

I hope those miniscule green specks are the Watercress

Beetroot and repurposed wire shelf to protect from marauding cats
I have three courgette plants that will be ready to put out under cloche cover in a couple of weeks, so I must prepare three large containers.


The fruits are looking as if I will have something to harvest too, naturally I would like a bit more, but anything is better than nothing as I get my hand back in, and I am establishing strong, healthy plants for next year too.


First of the raspberries


Blackcurrants
Before I go, I have to share with you the small helper.  Treasure loves to help, especially if it means he gets to dig around in the wet earth, the muddier the better; after all, he is a small bear, and if small bears do anything better than anyone else, it's playing in the mud.  We do need to get him some more appropriately sized tools!




Until next time
Stay Safe, Stay Well
Deborah xo




21 comments:

  1. Your salad leaves look amazing.
    I've gone off gardening again in the last week or so, it's been so cold and windy here - waiting for it to warm up again.

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    1. Thanks, Sue, the leaves are tasty. I think the lack of germination and erratic growing are due to the unseasonably chilly weather.

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  2. What a lovely positive post. You have been busy and the salad leaves look great. We've been planting some vegetables too - tomatoes, courgettes, herbs, runner beans, potatoes, cabbage and swede. But the cats are a problem here too as soon as they see the freshly dug soil :( Last year OH covered it all in a similar way to you - will suggest he does the same again!

    Treasure is having fun. Timothy now wants to get involved when I next garden!!!!!

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    1. Thank you. Since typing this, the blackbirds have attacked the strawberries! It's a never ending battle, if it's not one thing, it's another. It sounds as if you have a good potager going there too. I apologise for Treasure inciting Timothy to wanting to play in the mud, er, I mean to garden.

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  3. Deb, I love this post, though I must admit to feeling jealous of all the sun you enjoy in your garden. As you know we don't have enough to grow a proper vegetable garden, so I always try with a tomato plant and peppers. Your greens are beautiful and I'm sure tasty! And the berries are surely going to be a hit! Treasure is darling to help you out in the garden. A gardener can never have too much help! xoxo

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    1. Thank you, dear one. I wish I could send you a lovely, sunny spot. As you know, in the past I have grown so much more. I think of myself as an opportunist, looking at how to best use the space I have. Now it's all about maintaining what I have achieved as I move on to the next bit. xoxo

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  4. What a lot of work gardening is! I have a very small flower garden and I am exhausted whenever I work in it. Plus the deer munched on it big time the beginning of Spring. You seem to be seasoned and organized and it is paying off. 💖

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    1. Thank you. Oh, I wish I could say I was organised, but I am working towards it, slowly. Deer are a big issue for many, I know, and they can be soul destroying. Here, my main garden rivals are slugs, cats, and birds, all reasonably manageable, but can wreck havoc if you drop your guard for a moment.

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  5. I am SO impressed! That's a lot of food to grow and you are so clever to convert that one area to a food growing area. The plants all look so healthy. I think our strawberries are on close to the same cycle. You are inspirng me to do more next year!

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    1. Thank you, Jeanie. It gets so warm and so much sun in the summer and yet had nothing in it. Such a shame to waste so much space. I know things don't grow quite as well in pots as they do directly in the ground, but every little helps, and right now we need all the help we can get!

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  6. You really area achieving a lot despite the box of spanners. It has been a help having some gardening to fill the lockdown period.

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    1. Thank you, Sue. I am confident that once I can get the weeding done and the ground properly cleared, with careful management I will be able to produce almost all my food, certainly for a good eight to ten months.

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  7. I think it's great that you found those rusty shelves that solved your cat problem. I find it very satisfying to use something that I put away for that "just in case" time.

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    1. Thank you, Marilyn. I am such a pack rat I can often find something useful to use. These shelves excel themselves!

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  8. I really enjoyed your post, having only recently found your blog because a long time ago you left a comment on mine which I had not replied to (I didn't see it at the time) but now have! I too have got back into gardening, in particular growing food, since lockdown, and although it's not all been successful I have re-learnt such a lot, and have enjoyed myself immensely. I too hoard anything that might come in handy!

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    1. Thank you, Lizziel. Yes, I think lockdown has got a lot of us thinking about growing our own and gardening again. I look at the land around my cottage and wonder what to do with it all! Dig it and grow food seems the best solution.

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  9. Everything looks great. And I'm glad you have Treasure to keep it all in line. It is wonderful that the wire shelves will keep the cats out of your garden. They can just do their business elsewhere.

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    1. My Dear Friend, you know my pack rat habit so well, but for once it has paid off! xoxo

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  10. I know you compare your garden today with your gardens of yesterday, but your today garden looks healthy and well on the way to a nicely varied harvest all summer long. It can only grow more prosperous. I would be over the moon if I had that much actually growing by my own hand! And all the while you have had to battle wildlife, neighborhood cats, and even the setback of an historic pandemic! Well done! I look forward to watching your garden grow with you. xo

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    1. Thank you for your lovely comment. The taste of fruit or vegetables from plot to plate in minutes cannot be compared to anything. Even if all you have is a balcony, you can grow a few small pots and tubs of food.

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  11. Marvellous! Thank you so much!

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