Happy New Year: Reflections for 2019

Things never stand still in gardening. Every year, we plan to change structures, build new things and try new plants. The creativity of gardening is one of the things I really love. 2019 was no different! Developments have included, fitting an IBC tank for water storage, building polyhouse cloches over beds to grow heat-loving plants, installing another pond, building a brick bbq, a rockery and the latest challenge of completely taking apart the summerhouse to recycle and rebuild a larger structure. That last project is still underway!

What were our best crops?

Every year some crops do well and others fail. It is part of the challenge of the gardening. This year was our best year ever for garlic. Also most fruit did brilliantly, especially the figs and plums which gave a huge harvest. We adopted 6 rescue hens in late Spring to live with our 2 older hens. They have been laying well and keeping us in good supply of fresh eggs.

What didn’t go well?

The squirrels completely ate my entire sweetcorn crop. My cherry tree blossomed beautifully, but the birds got to all the fruit before we did! I had an entire bed of celeriac that didn’t form a solid root. However, I did learn that you can eat celeriac leaves and they are actually quite tasty!

Plot 4 was awarded a ‘Highly Commended’ Award by the Council in their annual competition of all grounds within Trafford. We won the ‘Best Home Produce’ section at Granville Park’s Annual Show and also the Tallest Sunflower Competition at the ground.

Probably our biggest achievement this year was starting this blog in July. We are really proud of it’s development and winning the best blog/website award from Kitchen Garden Magazine. We love sharing our Growing, Cooking and Making exploits with you all!