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!