Veg Patch

To read the story of my Veg/Flower Patch in chronological order use the links in the Blog Archive

Tuesday 24 December 2013

A bit of Christmas wind

The observant amongst you would have noticed that I have already posted my yearly review and wished you all a Happy Christmas . I had declared my blogging activities over for this year, but now, suddenly have loads to tell you. 

The title would imply , in my normal slightly tongue in cheek sort of way, that I had some major breaking news about my sprouts.. Sadly thats not the case. 

The weather (Yes, I know weather again) has been nothing short of miserable for the last week. Wednesday last week saw us out in the garden late at night fighting the wind to try and keep our very very long boundary fence from falling over. Jim in his usual, very able way, in the pouring rain, used some old bits of wood to make temporary props to try and keep it up. We went to bed that night wondering what the morning would bring. 

His clever scheme was a success and the fence was still up. A quick phone call and it was arranged that our usual fence fixing man would send a team on Monday 23rd to repair the broken fence posts and install 15 concrete stays against the remaining as yet unbroken posts. 

Over the next few days we have listened to the wind howling and wondered if it would still be up by Monday. 

Then we saw the forecast. Monday was going to be even worse than last week. And not helping our plans was a long arranged trip to see my dad and brother 2 hours away. So yesterday we were up early. I made 4 flasks of hot coffee for the fencers and a box of biscuits. Jim , who knows better than me what a man likes to drink, produced 3 cases of various beer. We needed these chaps to save our fence otherwise the cost was going to be ridiculous. 

We loaded up the car with dog and presents and left the chaps getting on with their work, remarkably cheerfully I might add, I am sure that was the coffee and not the beer . 

Our day went well, a long drive in terrible conditions, was not pleasant, but we had a nice family time. all the while, at the back of my mind I was wondering how they were doing. It wasn't helped by occasional texts from neighbours and the dog sitter telling us how awful the wind was .. 

Then when we were nearly home in the dark and wet and cold, the phone rang and it was the still remarkably cheerful fencer, telling me they had finished the job, but as it was so windy they had used some long bits of Jim's wood to prop the fence , he suggested that we should leave them in place for a week. 

It was now so dark we couldn't see anything much, but torchlight revealed that once again our smaller eucalyptus trees were laying on the lawn

So this morning I went out to let the hens out and this is what I saw. 









The veg patch had taken a lot of wind as well . The hen run cover was in tatters



And my love seat had planted itself in a raised bed




More huge props at this ends as well holding up the fence, one of which they had buried in my flower bed 




And the sprouts, well they are still standing but they are naked. the wind has ripped all the leaves off. 



But as always, in a garden there is something to smile about. There is a lot of had work ahead getting everything back where it should be, but amazingly this little Larkspur is still flowering



Oh and finally just to finish off my morning, Gibson had vomited on the carpet in the summer room.. 

And on that note it time to wish you all a very Happy Christmas ..


Tuesday 10 December 2013

Year two in the Veg Patch comes to an end

Its mid December and very little is going on in the garden . The endless piles of leaves are nearly all cleared away now, one more big wind and the rest should all be down off the oaks. The winter veg are making their way into the kitchen and delicious they are as well, and the seed orders just keep on coming.  At the last count I found I have bought nearly 60 new packs of seeds to be planted in the new year. Goodness know what  I will do with it all but I just can't resist a new flower or an interesting vegetable. 

So I got to thinking , how has this year gone compared to my first year? Well I think I am a much more competent gardener. I have learned a lot more about my patch as well, what will grow best in different areas, and better use of space. This summer I planted a lot more in the beds and they coped well. I have also decided that next year I will grow less varieties of veg, but more of the ones I do grow, as we were running out of some things quickly. 

Flowers for cutting have become a real passion . Our house was filled for months with beautiful blooms , grown in my garden.. Pinching an expression used by the British Flower growing professional, "Grown, not Flown" is now the only way that flowers get through my door. 

And so with little to tell you about at the moment, I have decided to pick the photograph's that best sum up each month of 2013 and few little extras at the end. Enjoy

January 2013
February 2013
March 2013
April 2013

May 2013
June 2013
July 2013
August 2013
September 2013
October 2013
November 2013
Some of our beautiful New Forest ponies
Our lovely beach 
Freda our 1970 TR6
and last but certainly not least

Gibson enjoying a pint
I hope you have enjoyed 2013 as much as we have.