I collected this bounty from my garden yesterday.
Happy 2014 to all of you, my amazing readers! Thanks for your continued support.
I thought I’d kick off the New Year with a little gardening post.
I love my garden. My daughter and I spend hours pottering in it, planting seedlings, deadheading flowers and watching our plants grow.
Three years ago, I decided that an edible garden was the way to go. After realizing I was spending a fortune on produce like basil, spinach, Lettuce, tomatoes and fruit; I figured, why not try and grow these myself?
I called in a landscaper to advise me on which varieties of fruit, herbs & veg would best be suited garden. I was amazed at the amount of different produce he suggested. Calling in a landscaper to help is expensive, but totally worth it. You see; they know how different plants respond to your specific type of soil, wind conditions and light. It’s an art.
Eating fruit, herbs and veggies that you’ve grown is an amazingly satisfyingly feeling. And I swear, produce from your garden really tastes better than anything shop bought – especially tomatoes, basil and granadillas.
This is my garden after I’d planted all my fruits, veggies & herbs.
My daughter Miyo with a HUGE artichoke, fresh from our veggie patch.
I think the Passion fruit or granadilla flower is among one of the most beautiful.
This is what I’ve learnt about gardening:
- Plants are strong and really want to grow – all they need from you is regular water, pinching out and a little good soil. And love obviously helps.
- Lettuce, flat leaf parsley and chives all like morning sun and lots of water.
- Cats like nothing better than to pee in your vegetable garden. Amazingly, most fruit & veggies can survive this onslaught. I chatted to my landscaper about this, and he recommended removing any poo immediately and watering the area. There’s really no way to stop them!
- Herbs like basil, spinach & coriander and really hardy and love sun. Mine all get harsh, hot afternoon sun and thrive.
- Rocket is so easy to grow. In fact, it can become like a weed. The minute you see flowers on your rocket (or basil) remove them. Not doing so will result in long, spindly plants and small leaf growth.
- Cape gooseberries may not be the prettiest of plants, but are probably the easiest fruit to grow. And the yield from just a few plants is amazing.
- A granadilla vine is a must in every home garden. Granadillas are quick, vigorous growers that can beautify an ugly wall in no time. They do however need to be pruned often to keep them in check. Mine covered a wall in less than 6 months. They have the MOST beautiful flowers; produce so much fruit for about 5 months of the year and are evergreen, so always look lush and green.
- Tomatoes hate it when their leaves are wet – this can cause mildew on the leaves and eventually effect growth. Always ‘ground water’ tomatoes – water just the soil under the plant, never the leaves. The also applies to lavender, rosemary and roses.
- If your space is small & you have a patch of grass that just won’t grow, try fake lawn. That’s what we used and I bet you couldn’t tell from the picture above. It is the BEST! No watering or mowing, just a quick brush & rake to get rid of dead leaves. It was actually cheaper than regular grass, if you can believe that! BEST DECISION I EVER MADE. Oh, and it always looks good.
- Everybody needs a rosemary bush in his or her garden.
I leave you with these two quotes about gardening from brainyquote.com:
I think this is what hooks one to gardening: it is the closest one can come to being present at creation – Phyllis Theroux
I like gardening – it’s a place where I find myself when I need to loose myself – Alice Sebold.
