I should probably mention that I'm a very fair weather gardener. I hate mud, cold and rain. My garden has been completely neglected since the first frosts and is now a mess of weeds, leaves, dead grass and the skeletons of last season's plants. I have planted garlic but it doesn't appear to be doing anything so far. I wonder if it survived the cold snap we had in December.
At some point I need to get a move on and rake up all those leaves, weed the vegetable beds, remove the plant corpses, scatter chicken manure everywhere, and generally make use of the garden waste scheme I signed up for (at a cost!)
I forgot to mention that I'm in charge of the garden at the pre-school I work in. I'm very excited about this, if a little daunted. We tried to grow a few things last year but for one reason or another it didn't come to much. Most of our plants were harvestable over the Summer holidays and we came back in September to dead lettuce, dehydrated soft carrots and epic French beans. This year, though, I'm on the ball. We have a new L shaped raised bed at perfect 2-4 year old height, and we have some fruit bushes and strawberry plants from last year, along with a huge cherry tree that provides lots of shade from the sun. I've ordered some seeds and this season I plan to grow early new potatoes (which are currently chitting in the boiler room), a natural den (cane wigwam supporting French beans and sweet peas that the children will be able to play in), early carrots and peas, lettuce, Summer ball courgettes (they're orange balls from the word go and can mature into pumpkins, which they undoubtedly will when left over the Summer holiday!). I'm also waiting for the go ahead to order some dessert apple cordons. It's funny to think that the children that will benefit most from harvesting these are probably only newborn babies right now..
Sunday 23 January 2011
Tuesday 4 January 2011
A shiny new blog
Hello! I'd probably better start by introducing myself. I'm Celeste, I'm 30 and I live in Gloucestershire. I work with small children 3 days a week, do a few hours as a freelance researcher at the weekends (I am one of the 63336) and spend the rest of my time looking after my two small daughters. And when I'm not doing any of those things, I really like gardening.
If someone had told me ten years ago that I'd be such a gardening addict that I'd be starting a blog on it, I would never have believed them. For me, I think my interest in gardening started when I had my children. Gone were the days of ready meals and shortcuts in the kitchen. I wanted to be able to make tasty, healthy family meals with fresh ingredients. Plus, it's good for children to learn about where food comes from. My parents grew a lot of our vegetables at home when I was growing up, and I didn't appreciate it at the time, but I do now. My first growing season was 2008. Jamie Oliver was on TV, saying that it REALLY IS as simple as planting some seeds in some compost and then - tahdah - vegetables! My baby was past the screaming all day stage and would quite happily potter around while I got on with things. So I bought some grow bags and seeds and got started. Within a few months I was hooked, and a proper veggie patch had been installed in my garden. Three years later and I've had all the shrubs pulled out to make room for squash plants and fan trained trees, I've had the vegetable patch extended, and I'm building quite a collection of trained fruit trees.
As well as vegetable growing, I've become really interested in preserving. The two go hand in hand, and my Grandma kindly passed on her old preserving pan, sugar thermometer and other paraphernalia. Some of the things I've made have been delicious, and others have been, quite frankly, disgusting messes. But it's fun to experiment. When I find a recipe that works, I start wondering if I could grow all the ingredients for it in my garden, so that it really is homemade, even the fruits and vegetables.
It was that thought that inspired me to start this blog. I thought it would be useful, if only to me, to keep a record or what I'm growing, how everything's doing, and what I do with the end products. Following the journey from seed to jar, if you like. I can't wait to get started again!
If someone had told me ten years ago that I'd be such a gardening addict that I'd be starting a blog on it, I would never have believed them. For me, I think my interest in gardening started when I had my children. Gone were the days of ready meals and shortcuts in the kitchen. I wanted to be able to make tasty, healthy family meals with fresh ingredients. Plus, it's good for children to learn about where food comes from. My parents grew a lot of our vegetables at home when I was growing up, and I didn't appreciate it at the time, but I do now. My first growing season was 2008. Jamie Oliver was on TV, saying that it REALLY IS as simple as planting some seeds in some compost and then - tahdah - vegetables! My baby was past the screaming all day stage and would quite happily potter around while I got on with things. So I bought some grow bags and seeds and got started. Within a few months I was hooked, and a proper veggie patch had been installed in my garden. Three years later and I've had all the shrubs pulled out to make room for squash plants and fan trained trees, I've had the vegetable patch extended, and I'm building quite a collection of trained fruit trees.
As well as vegetable growing, I've become really interested in preserving. The two go hand in hand, and my Grandma kindly passed on her old preserving pan, sugar thermometer and other paraphernalia. Some of the things I've made have been delicious, and others have been, quite frankly, disgusting messes. But it's fun to experiment. When I find a recipe that works, I start wondering if I could grow all the ingredients for it in my garden, so that it really is homemade, even the fruits and vegetables.
It was that thought that inspired me to start this blog. I thought it would be useful, if only to me, to keep a record or what I'm growing, how everything's doing, and what I do with the end products. Following the journey from seed to jar, if you like. I can't wait to get started again!
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