Many of you will know from following me that last year (almost to the day) we bought our first house together. We moved in the week before the first lockdown and have been stuck here ever since. Aside from the odd visit from Dave’s mum and a couple of local friends for a handful of garden only visits, we’re yet to welcome our friends and family to our new home. What we have been doing though, is making the most of the time here to really get a head start on our huge garden and in particular, our organic vegetable garden area.
Our garden is roughly 200ft long and on a slight downward slope. Behind us is a public park which is flanked on the opposite side by farmland. It means we have really wonderful views from the back of our house and we still don’t know quite how we managed to bag such a fab spot which feels far more than the few miles it is from Bristol city centre.
On viewing the house, we knew straight away that we’d have chickens and also, a large organic vegetable garden. We made the move to organic food a few years ago and haven’t looked back. We always grew tomatoes and herbs on our balcony at the flat and knew that whilst we’re never going to become fully self sufficient, it’d be nice to try. I don’t know that we realised quite how much work we’d need to put in but here we are almost a year later and I thought I’d share our progress to date as a starting point to what I hope will become monthly garden updates on here.
In the beginning
We inherited a garden which had been barely touched for years. The house had been in one family for two generations, with an elderly woman living her, before becoming a rental and so, it’s no surprise that the garden hadn’t seen much love for a long time. The first thing we did, along with our neighbours, was to rip out the hedge and get rid of the giant tree which was blocking light across the whole row of houses. It completely opened up the space.
One thing we really wanted was a greenhouse – integral to our plans for an organic vegetable garden. Dave found one on gumtree which we collected, dismantled, from someone’s front drive. Without instructions, he painstakingly levelled the ground and built it from there. We only recently got it fully glazed so last year it wasn’t much use as a warm growing space!
Last summer, we grew a few bits and pieces – dwarf beans, lots of squash, lettuce and courgettes. We also planted an herb garden near the house with rainbow chard and radishes which we’ll repeat this year but without a fully glazed greenhouse we didn’t push the garden to its full potential.
Dave built a level seating area with attractive gravel and a dark blue wooden edge which we can’t wait to make use of next year. It took him a loooong time but we’re both really pleased with the finished result. No more balancing your chair and table legs on a slope.
Our garden now…
Sometimes I look out the window and feel a sense of overwhelm. The garden is just so big. It needs so much time and effort. But this year, we’re on it. We’re excited to learn and grow much more and Dave seems to be in love with Monty Don (that’s a story for another day). So I say bring it on…
The biggest triumph back in November, was moving the chickens from under our Apple tree to an area of garden that was previously completely overgrown with brambles and dogwood. Our little flock has grown and we wanted them to have much more space but at the same time, we’ve gained garden. It was a LOT of hard work but the reward is brilliant. We have extra space (as if we needed it) and the chickens are safe and happy in their brilliant new Omlet run. Obviously theres still some landscaping to do around it before it’ll fully blend into its surroundings.
Looking forward
Dave’s subscribed to Gardener’s World and we spend our evenings watching My Family Garden on youtube. What can I say? We’re hooked. This year we have huge plans for the garden – with a second seating area, two new flower beds and a big push on growing as much of our own organic veg as we can.
The garden is still a mess and very much a work in progress but we’re headed in the right direction. We now have four 3x1m no-dig vegetable beds and two 1x1m beds specifically for fruit bushes. We have a plan in place and windowsills and a green house full of seedlings.
We’re currently growing:
- Tomatoes (x2 varietie)
- Chillies (x3 varieties)
- Kale
- Ginger
- Carrots
- Potatoes
- Watermelon
- Onions
- Marigolds
- Dahlias
- Echinacea
- Morning Glory
- Zinnias
On top of that we have lots of spring onion, lettuce and celery from kitchen waste, some chitted potatoes, gooseberry, blackcurrant bushes and a rhubarb crown! It’s going to be a busy old year!
Over the next year, I’ll be posting regular updates on our organic vegetable garden too!
I think the best advice I can give is to take pleasure in what you do, what you grow, what you enjoy rather than feel guilt at what hasn’t been done (yet). We faced the same when we bought our London house. In fact, there was a greenhouse, but it was inside a shed which was itself inside another shed–no we had no idea either–but nothing was salvageable. Whilst we worked on the rest of the garden, it took us several years to reach that scary bit at the back, finally get rid of all that old rubbish, and replace with a new shed and a new greenhouse. Now we’ve moved again, and this time the garden is immense, but we know we’ll never be the types to maintain a show-garden. Instead we enjoy what we have and do what we can.
Wow I only have a window box / pots on a balcony that’s NW facing available! I quickly gave up on growing edible things, but I persevere with flowers to brighten it up. Good luck with your growing, I can’t wait to see what you end up with!
Just wow – I am in awe!! Firstly of your amazing vies, secondly of the size of your garden, and thirdly of your gardening prowess! My ex husband had an allotment that was obviously a lot smaller and I now how much commitment and hard work it takes. Hats off to you both! Love the pic with the kitten slinking around the greenhouse <3