Lockdown gave me a chance to work on my garden more than usual. CBC made me a raised bed for growing vegetables, at the back of our garden (which I blogged about here).
I was able to water my vegetables morning and evening in the hot weather because I didn't have to head out early to school every day and therefore was able to do better than I did usually.
In the raised bed, I planted:
- San Marzano tomato plants
- Black Russian tomato plants
- Welsh onions
- Runner Beans
- Dwarf Beans
- Climbing Beans
- Yellow Courgettes
- Peas
- Turban Squashes,
- Cucumbers
- Swiss Chard
- Rocket
- Patty Pan squashes
- Miscellaneous Tomato
- Radishes
In addition, outside of the raised bed, I have grown the following plants:
- Raspberries
- Strawberries
- Rhubarb
- Blueberries
- Candycane Peppers
- Tomatoes
- Peas
- Nasturtiums
- Alpine Strawberies
- Cucumelons
- \\Potatoes
- Sweet potatoes
Whilst some haven't been successful as others, I have managed to harvest something from all those plants.
I wish I had shared more of my early harvests on here like I did on Instagram but I thought I'd share a few harvest photos as I was so proud of them
Undoubtedly, my most prolific growers have been the raspberries- hundreds of them and all huge!
Sadly, the tomatoes were late in growing and 2 weeks ago, I had plants teeming full of unripe green tomaotes that would surely ripen but I have been hit by tomato blight after the dry weather followed by wet weather and have lost about 60 large tomatoes if not more... I am gutted to say the least. If only I had picked them 2-3 weeks ago and left to ripen inside. I ended up pulling up most of the plants yesterday.
The runner beans have been late but prolific and considering the plants were freebies from someone round the corner, I am chuffed.
The only successful Turban squash above but it has a big chunk out of the other side.
If you're wondering about the leek- I regrew it from an end of one I bought!
The tomato pictures are making me sad in retrospect.
Considering there was just one plant- I had a lot of courgettes.
I've had various salad leaves as well.
There are lots of raspberries in the freezer- yummy!
CBC is a real convert to home grown Cucumber.
Whilst my Chard bolted fairly early, several times, I've still eaten a fair bit!
What have you grown successfully this year or in the past?
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This is the first year I've had problems with tomatoes too. You've done incredibly well.
ReplyDeleteOne of the upsides of lockdown must surely have been the attention and tender loving care we were able to lavish upon our gardens! You've done incredibly well, Kezzie, and I've enjoyed seeing the fruits of your labour on Instagram. Eating fruit and veg from your garden must be so rewarding. I do wish I had the space to do the same! xxx
ReplyDeleteWhat am impressive array! We had far more failures than we did triumphs and I've got about a million green tomatoes to sort out this week but hey, it cost us virtually nothing and kept us entertained throughout lockdown so I'll be trying again and again and again! xxxx
ReplyDeleteIt all looks delicious. We've had a very good crop of tomatoes [free plants], runner beans, raspberries and kale [a new one for us], but the courgette yield has been much lower than usual. We had to grow the courgette from seed [normally we buy the plants] and when Mr GBT pulled it up yesterday he found it had not grown very good roots. Today we've ordered 2 more water butts in anticipation of next year. Arilx
ReplyDeleteOh, I am jealous of your raspberries! I love them, and we didn't see too many in the grocery stores this year. Well done on all your veggies, Kezzie! Sorry to hear of your tomatoes, but now you know for next year.
ReplyDeleteWow! Way to go, good gardener! All of your produce is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the crops you got. It's true about gardening, it consists of ups and downs but the ups compensate for the downs. No season is ever the same which is why it is so exciting!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your produce. You have such a variety. It's satisfying to grow your own and to eat freshly picked crops. :)
ReplyDeleteCongrats on growing all of these. That's amazing!
ReplyDeletep.s. I didn't grow anything this year apart from replanting a few of granny's succulents, I haven't done any gardening at all.
ReplyDeleteI'm amazed at the variety of produce you've pro-duced! The raspberries look heavenly. Well, pretty much everything does! Well done!!
ReplyDeleteI have never successfully grown anything - unless you count keeping supermarket rosemary alive. I'm very impressed with all your produce.
ReplyDeleteYou've done so well! Lots of produce harvested. As far as I understand it, blight affects the plant not the fruit so it's still ok to eat the fruit/potatoes just the plant will due and won't grow anymore. Best look it up to be sure. Green tomatoes can be taken in to ripen. xx
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness you planted so many different things! My brother has had an allotment for years and always tells me 'some things will flourish and others won't amount to anything, it's just the way it goes'. My beans were a disaster this year but my peas were delicious! I grew too many tomatoes given that I don't eat them and homegrown cucumbers are so delicious, supermarket varieties don't even begin to compare.
ReplyDeleteNext year I'm going to grow half the amount of toms and much more spinach and lettuce leaves.
xx