Garden bliss

Things look good in the veggie patch...

Zucchini Cocozelle

Here's the first (young) harvest of the season...

Hard times in the veggie boxes

Well, it's been a tough season in the veggie patch thus far. It started (I think) with poor quality commercial soil mix in the raised beds. This led to a lot of weak seedlings, which were then enthusiastically attacked by slugs, snails and whitefly. I tried correcting the soil problem with lots of organic matter, but had to contend with another pest in the form of my dog, who kept wreaking havoc in the boxes by hauling her 24kg frame into them and eating blood and bone 😝.

The things growing in pots are in a different growing medium and doing well. So, we're starting to see a tiny amount of yield.

The good thing about gardening is that it's a marathon not a sprint. I will correct the soil under the cloak of autumn/winter and then be ready to go again. 

Happy basil

The basil on our window sill is doing well. I am enjoying watching it grow. I will enjoy it even more when it's ready for harvesting. In the mean time, we get to pinch bits out of the top and eat them in the spirit of making it grow full and lush.

Baby veggies

Tatsoi, lettuce and broccoli, oh my!

Broccoli a-go-go

English spinach (I feel a smoothie coming on in about four weeks)

The Veggie Box

We've recently had this old apple crate installed as a raised bed in our garden. It's only 120x120cm, but the benefits are that it's free and clear of our dog and her toiletry habits and the height allows me to do my favourite kind of gardening without bending over. For some reason, bending to weed etc wreaks havoc on my neurological pathways, activating my MS symptoms something awful.

So far, I have planted six broccoli seedlings and, from seed, English spinach, carrots, rainbow chard, coriander, beetroots, lettuces, and leeks. Everything has germinated and seems to be coming along well (the broccoli is already getting inundated with cabbage moth eggs; fortunately, with a crop of six, I can obsessively clean the leaves). Next month, I will plant garlic and snow peas. This is going to be one full planter box. We are already talking about buying two more...

Pictures of veggies coming soon

Baking as therapy

Yesterday was a bit stressful. In order to alleviate my nerves, I baked this cake. I'm not sure that it significantly de-stressed me, but it was fun and easy and tasted great. It was also a good way to use up the excess of plums we always seem to accumulate in autumn. The offering was well received by other members of the household. Half the cake has now been sent off to lovely partner's workplace, so that I don't scoff the lot.

Yummy plum cake