Friday 24 February 2017

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017.

I know it's only February but I've already had enough garden excitement to last me the whole year! 

Firstly I enlisted the help of the husband and we emptied the compost bin.  There's really nothing as satisfying and glee-making as homemade compost, it worked perfectly and made beautiful compost! 

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

We spread the compost over most of the main garden raised bed, with really thin layers of autumn leaves and hay underneath, to create a bit of a mulchy, nutrient and structure adding, and protective layer. 

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

But the excitement didn't stop there!  I weeded and refilled my front garden lasagna raised beds, scattering the veg plant leaves over the soil, then autumn leaves, hay, compost and finally a layer of some topsoil I had left over from when I first made the beds.  They're all ready for planting up now. 

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden
 
And then Joe decided to demolish a funny little walled area at the back end of the garden.  There was a tree stump in it and a double layer of bricks in a square round the edge, and then some big chunks of mortar to chip away too.  I'm pleased he did this, because once we've got the paths sorted out I want my little tool shed to go in that space.  I don't have a before photo, but this is the space now. 

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

We also dismantled the compost bin, it was too big for us, and a bit rickety around the joints.  Mum passed on this round compost bin to us, I remember it coming from my Gran's garden, and she died when I was in my early teens, so it's obviously a quality, long lasting item!

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

And even more excitement - we rented a skip and Joe dismantled the old green shed.  It was about to fall over and looked disgusting.  I'm so glad to be rid of it.  We'll save up for a new studio shed (which may take some time!), Joe did a jewellery degree and he wants to get back into it and have the space to do it.

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden


Behind the old shed was about 2 feet of rubbish (4 children's bikes, bags of rubble, buckets, boxes, bags of junk, a wheelbarrow!) and a bank of soil mixed in with rubble.  We think the rubble is from the old coal shed.  Once Joe's dug through and removed the rubble we can hopefully take the bank way back, prune the hedge and give ourselves some extra garden.

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

I planted some bulbs, allium and oxalis, and some bargain echinacea - 3 plants for 99p from Aldi.

I planted my first veggie seeds too, in cut down loo rolls in this fabulous cupcake box I nicked from work to use as a propagator.  I've done a bit of everything I'm most excited to grow, just to get started, and I'll plant more over the coming weeks.  Here we have kale, pink chard, yellow mange tout, lazy housewife beans and minipops sweetcorn.

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

All my seedlings live in the conservatory for now.  In the terracotta pots are peppers, tomatoes, giant bulgarian leeks and a couple of lipstick peppers that have hung on since last year.

I've planted some pretty polyanthus too.

Diary of a suburban edible garden, February 2017. From uk garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardenblogger #polyculture #ediblegarden #suburbangarden

How are your gardens this month?  I hope they're as Exciting as mine! 





6 comments:

  1. This blog post couldn't have come at a better time. When we were away we resolved to give growing our own another bash and neither of us have a clue. I've got a full compost bin, piles of autumn leaves and so raised beds will be mine! xxx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yey! Happy gardening - I love growing my own I think it's the best thing!

      Delete
  2. I'm very happy with my garden at the minute, all my bulb planting has paid off, we have a ton of teeny flowers popping up all over the place.

    After not putting enough time or enthusiasm into growing food last year we said we wouldn't do so this year, but I may just plant up a couple of tubs and work from there. This year we are focusing on filling out the borders a bit now the overgrowth has been removed so I'm looking forward to having somewhere nice to spend time rather than mess we've had in the past.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your bulbs sound lovely, I always love it in spring when they pop up! I should probably take a leaf out of your book and actually get the garden sorted so it looks nice (like the paths and patio and fences) but we have to save up for that, so I'll content myself with my veg seeds for another year!

      Delete
  3. GENIUS idea for the cupcake holder! We've had those in school a few times! Must remember to nab if they ever come again! It's looking wonderful! I really would like to have some raised beds!!! If the house we've put an offer on manages to happen, the garden isn't huge (although a nice little garden, but will have to find room!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's always room for a raised bed (or two!) whichever home you end up I'm sure you'll have a lovely garden!

      As soon as I see a cupcake holder enter the building at work I put a post it note on it to say save it for me, my colleagues are used to me by now!

      Delete

Thanks for visiting!

You can also find me on Twitter @secondhandsusie and Facebook facebook.com/secondhandsusie