There’s been quite a lot of discussion this month about what (and where) we are going to plant. It began when we started to chit our potatoes, since it became clear that we have to move more of our vegetable gardening into the front garden due to a lack of space. Initially, we were planning to put just a few potatoes in the centre of the front garden beds, mixed within flowers and herbs. However, one thing that has been on our minds is the need to apply a proper rotation system to all of our growing space. Otherwise, we will undoubtedly hit problems at some point – especially since we are growing in rather crowded conditions at times.
We have therefore been working on our master plan for 2011. Those of you following the blog in previous years will note that there’s little change in the layout of our gardens, except for the following.
1) All of the side garden vegetable beds will now follow a strict four-year rotation cycle between legumes, brassicas, roots & onions, and solanaceae. For the solanaceae group, we’ll continue to grow outdoor tomatoes and potatoes - but also plan to try some early cropping aubergines. The outcome of this may be highly weather dependent so let’s hope we have a long hot summer.
2) The front garden will follow a three-year rotation between legumes, roots and onions and solanaceae (most likely potatoes). We have no plans to grow brassicas on the front garden, since all of our neighbours feed the birds (i.e the pigeons) and so we’d need to mesh over the front garden to protect these crops. Sunflowers will also be grown in the corner of the front garden, along with various wild flowers. The herb beds are fairly well established now and our target for them is to use them in the kitchen more often.
3) The front garden and side garden now include benches. This is so that all of the gardens have a seating area to provide more relaxation time. Up until now, we’ve forgotten that part of gardening should be about relaxing, and therefore want to create a number of quiet spaces around our home so we can take time out.
4) The borders around the lawn in our back garden are gradually getting larger. This is because we value the food the borders can provide more than the lawn space. These will contain some more tomatoes (along the sunny fence) and a mixture of salad crops, herbs and flowers.
5) The back garden also has space for fruit bushes, which will include the blueberries we started with last year. They should fruit this year and the Earliblue variety looks in top form, so fingers cross we’ll be eating our own crop soon with zero food miles. We’ve given up on the strawberry bed since we cannot justify giving them the space they need and, when they’re in season, we can purchase these locally.
6) We’ve (temporarily) given up on finding space for some chickens (or quails). These were planned a few years back, but we haven’t managed to stabilise our lives enough to take these on. We’re therefore thinking that the ramshackle shed in our back garden could be converted into an office (since we work from home). It would be great to write this blog from a base in the garden. We’ll see what time allows for as then year proceeds.
Apart from that, the main plan of action is to be as organised as possible with sowing and planting so we can make maximum use of our space. We also need to be much better at using the gardens through the winter by growing enough parsnips, leeks, kale and so on. Each year, we always plan to grow enough beetroot for storage in sandboxes over the winter. We have plenty of space in the garage, but never enough beetroot. They’re always way too popular when they’re in season.
Another thing that’s missing is rhubarb. This would be in season now and is a great winter vitamin boost. Now that the side garden is more established, we should be able to find a quiet corner for this. It’s expensive in the shops and would be great to have on the doorstep.
We’ll leave you with the plan of our tiny gardens. It’s crossed our minds that we should consider joining the allotment waiting list. This would double the size of our vegetable garden overnight.
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