Summer In The Farm Garden

My last post about the garden was in early spring and I cannot believe how bare it looked back then.

We had been in lockdown for around two weeks then and a lot of time has been spent in our growing area since then.

More raised beds were added and I planted things in anything I could find. I ordered a greenhouse but it would take over eight weeks to arrive due to Covid-19 so I reserved a spot for it and did my best to grow everything else as well as I could.

The tomato and chilli plants remained on various window sills in the house until they could be transplanted to the greenhouse.

Not being able to physically get to a garden centre had its challenges so everything I have grown this year has come from seed packets I already had or ones I got free with gardening magazines-including the tomatoes.

I did order some seeds and plug plants online but that was it.

It is too early to really go into successes as many things are still growing. I have discovered that I need to invest in netting next year for my brassicas. White fly has absolutely obliterated them. All turnips, kohlrabi, cauliflower and most of the broccoli has been eaten alive but I couldn’t really do anything about it with the situation.

We still ate fresh broccoli and I am still hopeful we will get some cauliflower but I suppose time will tell.

My flower bed looked lovely with nasturtiums and dahlias. My sunflowers were amazing for a time but the leaves went brown and they seemed to wither prematurely so I am not sure what happened but, while they were blooming, they looked amazing.

I am most pleased with the sweet peas. They are prolific, smell amazing and look so lovely in my garden.

The greenhouse came and, after bits missing and broken glass, it was finally ready for plants. I need to address the floor situation this winter but the tomatoes needed to get out there so I moved them in and hung some chilli plants in hanging baskets from the roof.

I had also bought four watermelon seeds. Only three germinated so I planted them in the greenhouse too. There are lots of flowers on there at the moment but I am yet to see much growth in the fruit.

My roses have also been amazing and are already trailing around my arch.

The actual exterior of the garden doesn’t look as ascetically pleasing as it could but I have had to put sheep hurdles up to stop the farm dogs going to the toilet around my plants.

It is still very much trial and error for me and quite a bit of a learning curve but I can honestly say that without my garden this year, I would have been in a very difficult place indeed. It has been my sanctuary and I honestly think the children have loved it too.

We have harvested strawberries, sugar snap peas, herbs, broadbeans, potatoes and we have so much more to come. A lot of the fruit and vegetables didn’t make it back to the kitchen but it doesn’t matter, they have learnt about growing your own and they have tasted more than they ever would have if the food had come from a supermarket.