Front Garden Food

Blog Now Dormant

2010-07-08T13:06:00.000+01:00

Afraid I am abandoning this blog in favour of my allotment blog.

The drought has meant having to use far too much precious drinking water to keep the home garden plants alive. At the allotment, I bring limited amounts of water up from the river, and the plants seem to be doing just fine anyway.

Mid-April and things are picking up

2010-04-18T19:30:00.000+01:00

Plants are starting to grow despite the near-freezing nights. There's very little in the front garden right now, since the back is more protected -- just a few herbs and onions.

I plan to move most or all of my herbs into pots and keep them in the front garden during the season. The onions on the left are bunching ones that have overwintered. The ones on the right are Centurion sets.

I've moved the Honeoye strawberries to the allotment. These are Alice and Florence. Some of them are starting to form flowers, so they can't be transplanted for a while, and will stay here in the back garden for the moment.

I've started several pots of Orla second early potatoes. The ones in this coldframe were the first ones started. It's cold enough at night that I've got to shut the frame. The water bottles help keep the temperature stable, which is helpful since it gets quite warm in the back garden during the day.

These four Orlas are inside the plastic greenhouse, and were started a bit later. I've got one more pot in the house, so I need to do a bit of rearranging.

In the aluminium coldframe, there are the overwintered chives and parley, about 20 lettuce seedlings (All the Year Round), and a couple of pots with radish and carrot seeds. It's been so cold at night that the carrots have taken three or four weeks to germinate.

My neighbour gave me a couple of pieces of glass, and I've set them up as a windbreak that's covered at night with a plastic bag cut to be flat. There are lots of bunching onions and onion sets, two pots of overwintered carrots (got about 250 grams of carrots last week now that they're growing again), a pathetic spinach plant, and the last of the fennel herb plants.

The bed is almost empty now. Next to the house, I've put out sprouted buckwheat to see if I can get a cover crop. That should tide that space over until I can put out some basil and amaranth when it warms up. The green on the left are the remaining mustard and kale plants. To their right are a couple of herbs (oregano and lemon balm) that will be dug up and put into pots.

Lots of the herbs died or were badly hit by the hard winter. Near the wall are the remnants of herbs that I'm trying to root to see if anything can be salvaged.

Outside the wall, next to the compost bin, is the comfrey plant that I saved last year. I found it thrown down next to a path with its roots exposed. It would have died had I not brought it home and planted it. Now it's flowering. My good deed for the year.

The red cabbage planted outside the wall in the autumn has started flowering. I decided to leave it for the bees for the moment.

Winter ending soon?

2010-03-05T08:05:00.000Z

The back garden's a bit desolate right now.

At least the sun is shining!

2009 Harvest

2009-11-18T16:11:00.011Z

It's a gloomy, rainy day here in New Mills, so I thought I'd total up our year's harvest (including a few items collected elsewhere). Not bad, really.

Sorry the spreadsheet screenprint below is a bit blurry. All quantities are in grams. There are 1000 grams to the kilo (2.2 pounds, for the metrically challenged). I didn't keep track of everything, but most things are included.

(click for sharper image)
In summary,

14.2 kilos of potatoes (about 31 pounds)
4.4 kilos of various types of greens (about 9.7 pounds)
7.3 kilos of cucurbits -- mostly courgettes (about 14.6 pounds)
4.1 kilos of beans (about 9 pounds)
3 kilos of other stuff, including 1.65 kilos of strawberries (which didn't do very well) (about 6.6 pounds)
Grand total from our garden - 33.2 kilos or 73 pounds of food.

Considering the haphazard way I did things this year, and the fact that almost everything was grown in containers, I'm pretty happy with the outcome.

We are still eating the stored potatoes and fresh greens growing under a polytunnel out back.

My goal for next year is to double production (66 kilos, or 145 pounds of food.) I won't cheat and do it by doubling the potatoes. In fact, I intend to grow about the same quantity of potatoes next year as I did this year.

More good news -- it looks like we may have an allotment next year, with the co-operation of the local council, our local allotment society plans to start a second site. We can grow more potatoes out there. :-)

Early August Back Garden Update

2009-08-09T19:50:00.007+01:00

We had two weeks solid of rain in the second half of July. The back garden courgettes did better than the front garden ones (which have pretty much succombed to powdery mildew). While you can see the brown leaves on these plants, they produced a little during the rainy weeks, and are now back in full production.

A new cluster of flowers has come into production on each plant.

I didn't expect to leave the kale going for this long, especially without any protection from the cabbage whites, but it continues to produce new leaves every week. The white butterflies have reached a new peak this week. I saw five at once fluttering around the garden.

The texture is fine for stir fry, if finely chopped, and for soups and stews. A bit too tough and coarse for salads.

The fennel is massive. I gave away 10 or 12 small baby plants to passers-by, so the whole town will probably be covered in fennel next year :-)

The buckwheat is flowering, so we'll see how long it takes for seeds to form. I think I'll try planting them a bit more densely next year.

The strawberries are at the end of their season. The rain meant we lost probably a dozen to mould. I've moved them out of the netted area now.

The cabbages are under the netting now, but are also getting attacked by the cabbage whites. Unfortunately, the netting over it isn't really meant for insect protection, so the butterflies do find their way in.

I'm waiting to see if the broad beans will start producing again. We had quite a harvest, and then production dropped right off during the rains.

This is some sorrel for salads. I've not tasted it yet, but it's supposed to be a bit tart and lemony. The smaller plants are some amaranth that unfortunately never got planted out.

The warm weather in early July caused all the greens to bolt. The borecole is also extremely attractive to the cabbage whites. I've started new plants in the house, so perhaps I'll be better about netting them properly.

Early July Back Garden Update

2009-07-05T20:55:00.007+01:00

Early July Front Garden Update

2009-07-03T17:38:00.010+01:00

We had our first rain all week today. It was quite heavy at times, and a relief after the relatively hot, dry days. After it was over, I went out to take some pictures.

It's gone a bit jungle-like out there! Some of the runner beans have climbed to the top of their poles (only 6 foot).

The latest additions are some quinoa and grain amaranth plants (in the square pots in the front). I've never grown either before, so this is a real experiment.

The courgettes have really taken off, and are now starting to flower.

The potato forest is getting quite large. Some of the lower leaves are turning yellow. I'm wondering if they're using up all the nutrients in the soil. I've started supplementing all the plants with a seaweed root drench every week.

Despite their scuffy appearance, the nasturiums are putting out masses of flowers, which is bringing the bees in.

The black square pots have cucumbers and melon. Unfortunately, I've forgotten whether I've made a problem for myself if these things cross-pollinate. I know I can't save the seeds but I can't remember if the fruit will taste funny (assuming I get any!) They're starting to put out tendrils.

Butternut Squash Oddity

2009-06-30T17:19:00.003+01:00

The pictures below are not of anything I grew myself, but rather an organic butternut squash that I bought from one of our local shops.

The pictures may look a bit gruesome, but these are the seeds and the rest of insides of the squash. We were amazed to see that some of the seeds had sprouted and were growing inside the squash. I've never seen anything like this before.

What's really interesting is the way the seedlings are greening up even though they had not been exposed to light before the squash was cut open.

Amazing!

Stir Fry

2009-06-25T17:43:00.007+01:00

I realised that I'm only putting in pictures of what I'm growing, and not what I'm harvesting. Here's tonight's stir fry ingredients (except the strawberries!) That's kale, rhubarb chard, spinach, perpetual spinach, komatsuna, and spring onions.

I've adapted a stir fry recipe from the Guardian to suit us. My variation serves 2:

3-4 free range eggs
2-3 spring onions
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp diced ginger
2 tbsp sesame oil (or veg oil)
1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
1 small onion, chopped
Chopped greens to suit (150g shown in picture)
1 1/2 cups cooked rice

Mix eggs, spring onions, onion, soy sauce, ginger in a bowl and stir with a fork.
Heat oil in wok until oil shimmers.
Toss in sesame seeds, cook until they start popping.
Add egg mix and stir with a spatula until egg holds together.
Toss in greens and cook lightly (colour will change and deepen).
Add rice and mix thoroughly.

Mid June Back Garden Update

2009-06-16T15:01:00.022+01:00

Things are picking up out back. The borage is a bee magnet. Next year, I'll plant more in bigger pots.

The long view down toward the wall. The bronze fennel next to the spirea is getting huge. We have bits of it with fish sometimes.

The courgettes are picking up a bit. While the one on the far end is flowering, it seems like the female flowers aren't getting pollinated a lot of the time. The water jugs are to moderate the temperature. They warm up during the day and give off warmth at night.

Looks good, but not much of a courgette glut yet!

Turning toward the bottom of the garden, I've put the weaker strawberries up where they'll get more sun. They are doing better, although I'm still cutting off all the flowers. The kale continues to produce lots of leaves. We've had several stir fries off them, and they're still producing.

The spring onions are almost big enough to harvest. I also planted some buckwheat around the same area, just to see what it looks like.

This picture shows the canes we're using to support netting between the plastic greenhouse and the coldframe. We also put fleece over it when it was cold.

The centeflor tomatoes are getting big inside the greenhouse. I've been babying them a bit.

In the centre "pen" we've got strawberries and tomatoes.

A few red cabbages tucked in between the tomatoes and strawberries.

The broad bean corner is next to the fence. I'm not one for flowers, but the scent is heavenly!

The komatsuna has gone to seed, but the leaf shape and flowers are nice, so I've left them for the bees. The comfrey plant I salvaged is tucked in at the bottom of the picture.

Toward the bottom of the garden, we've got the sheltered areas.

In the coldframe, young quinoa and amaranth and cucurbits.

Got some more carrots growing with a bit of protection.

Bits and pieces in the aluminium coldframe.

These lettuces are almost done for, although the cloche has kept them from going to seed.

A bit of borecole kale, also protected a bit.

More carrots, kale and spinach.

Mid June Front Garden Update

2009-06-16T11:31:00.006+01:00

The front garden now gets more sun than the back. These pictures show the morning sun. With the trees gone in front, there's lots of light in the evening as well.

It's starting to get a bit crowded out here! I've got a few comments from passersby about all the potatoes, so I've moved some other things out from the back garden.

We've been alternating very warm and sunny days with a few cool, rainy ones. The potatoes seem to like it, especially when we get rain every day or two. It's a lot of work carting out enough water for all these pots!

The small pots in the middle are calendula and carrots. Horseradish at the rear on the right.

The beans have been suffering from the cool, windy weather. There's quite a bit of leaf damage.

It's starting to look like a garden now!

Late May Update

2009-05-28T10:00:00.022+01:00

The weather's been a mixed bag lately, but mostly cooler and lots of rain. Quite a change from April. The potatoes don't seem to mind. I think as the leaves grow out, the pots are protected from excessive water. There are now 13(!) potato pots out, with the two horseradish pots tucked in the corner. One rather fragile pot of Cherokee Trail of Tears beans sit on the side, awaiting some poles to climb (hopefully!)

A few other pots have migrated out front as well, and are sheltering between the potatoes.

All the excess nasturiums are in a clay pot (another trough of them is hiding next to the wall). There are also three small pots of Paris Market Baron carrots. This is a small variety I'm trialling this year. Three calendula have moved into a trough that I'd intended for broad beans, but the beans failed to germinate properly.

Moving to the back garden, the borage is tucked in next to the porch and seems to be recovered from the leaves torn off in the near gales a while back.

It's a bit hard to see, but the courgettes are doing ok, although not as well as I'd like. I've dug in plastic bottles so they can be watered without pulling the covers off.

The kale's been blown around by the wind a bit, but I think it's doing better with the cooler weather.

I'm still hopeful that I'll manage to get the first full size spring onions before mid-summer!

In the plastic greenhouse, I've got the six Gardeners' Delight tomatoes from my neighbour plus the smaller Centiflor tomatoes.

The strawberries are sitting in the lee of the greenhouse, and doing quite well. There's a few pots of perpetual spinach and broad bean troughs in front.

Another view of the broad beans, etc.

And the carrots are just visible as well.

The first strawberries are developing!

The plastic coldframe has two deep rectangular pots with rhubard chard.

The red cabbages are sitting in the new aluminium coldframe, along with a few of the younger plants.

The lettuce is sitting on the other side of the coldframe.

Behind the coldframe are the weak second lot strawberries, which are beginning to look a bit better.

There are two types of mustard, Green Wave and Komatsuma, next to the back wall.

Outside the wall, the Jerusalem artichokes are getting pretty tall. The potatoes (in the middle) are just poking up their heads. The calendula don't seem to be doing much, and there's no sign of life from the horseradish.

Inside the house, a few cucurbit seedlings are beginning to take off.

I've also got runner beans and broad beans under the blue LED light.

There are also a few Cherokee Trail of Tears beans.

Mid-May wind and sun

2009-05-13T19:00:00.000+01:00

Back from our second holiday (!) I've begun moving some plants into the front garden. It's hard to tell from this picture, but the trees in front of our house were cut down over the winter. I saw the benefit of more light, but the wind now whips through the garden.

Today the wind has been bad enough to tear leaves off the trees. It feels like Beaufort Scale 6 around here! When I was walking home from the shops, I could hardly make progress against the wind.

By the end of the day, leaves had torn on the borage plants. I ended up trimming them off and moving the pots into a more sheltered location out back. This is my first experience with borage, and I've obviously got a bit to learn. They don't strike me as very good container plants, since there are large leaves at the base which are floppy and easy damaged.

The strawberries are still out back, but they've grown quite a bit. They're flowering, although we seem to have very few pollinators around. No strawberries forming yet.

The next picture shows a mistake -- I ended up with extra strawberry plants (the small, sickly green plants). They sat at the post office for at least a week. I've potted them up, but I don't know how they'll do. They're sitting with two of the eleven potato pots, and a single pot of mustard greens.

The carrots are really too big for these pots now. I'm waiting for some sign of orange on the tips -- they're still green. In future, I am going to switch to larger pots for the Early Nantes carrots. In the same picture, the broad beans that have been sheltering behind the coldframe have grown quite a bit.

Speaking of too big, this mustard is outrageously large, but it's the last of about 10 plants. Tomorrow's dinner will take care of these, then the space can be turned over to the squash plants.

Under another cloche, the komatsuma is beginning to fill out. The flavour seems a bit mild, compared to the mustard greens. I guess we just like a bit of spice in our greens!

The next picture is a bit blurry, but the spring onions are growing fairly well, along with the radishes (a bit gnawed, but ok). I've never managed to get spring onions to a useful size, so I hope these come through.

This next picture is looking down into the coldframe. I've put four dill seedlings into a single larger pot (top left). There are also three tomato seedlings from my neighbour, as well as a courgette she gave me. I intend to move all the courgette plants into a polytunnel in the bed.

Not edible, but I'm surprised that the foxgloves are beginning to form flower heads. Seems a bit cool and early to me. I'll have to look up when they usually bloom. I haven't seen any wild ones getting ready to flower yet.

The thyme is flowering. Surprising since I just dug it up and moved the plant only a few weeks ago.

Outside the fence, the Jerusalem artichokes have sprung up a bit.

The direct sown potatoes are much smaller than the potted ones, which is understandable considering the weather. I'm still trying to work out how I'm going to earth them up.

Back garden view

2009-05-13T14:05:00.001+01:00

The trees leafed out while we were on holiday. This is the view out our back window. Very nice!

Jerasalem Artichoke

2009-04-19T18:05:00.002+01:00

These are now planted outside the wall in a bed next to the compost bin, and seem to be settling in well, despite the neighbour cats' best efforts (hence the stone rings).

Spring onions

2009-04-19T17:54:00.002+01:00

In the small polytunnel. No sign of the radishes yet.

Greens and bits and pieces in the coldframe

2009-04-19T17:52:00.003+01:00

Some komatsuna and kale under the new cloches.

Other things in the coldframe seem to be enjoying the bit of sun we've had lately.

A blurry picture of very small red cabbage seedlings.

Broad beans.

Horseradish

2009-04-19T17:50:00.001+01:00

These are sprouting. Who knows how long it will be before we get enough roots to make horseradish sauce!

Borage

2009-04-19T17:16:00.005+01:00

All three pots of borage have grown quite a bit. Since I haven't grown it before, I'm not really sure what the ultimate size of the plants will be.

Strawberries

2009-04-19T17:11:00.002+01:00

These are really coming along now. I've been a bit worried about them with the sunny days, afraid that the greenhouse is getting too warm for them.

Spinach

2009-04-19T17:08:00.001+01:00

Still coming along under the cloche. I need to plant more of this.

Lemon Balm

2009-04-19T17:06:00.002+01:00

These are also taking off. I was reading about a lemon balm tea recently that I will have to try once these are a bit bigger.

Honesty

2009-04-19T17:03:00.002+01:00

The honesty plants are happily blooming away now. I'm glad to have something nice for bees this early in the season. It appears that they are also a member of the crucifer family.

Mustards under cloches

2009-04-19T17:01:00.002+01:00

These are growing fast enough now that we've had some in a stir fry. I think the leaves are a bit tough, and not as nice as when we had them in the autumn. But what do you expect for plants that overwintered outside!

Courgette plant

2009-04-19T16:59:00.003+01:00

The courgette from my neighbour, transplanted into a larger pot, and now spending day times outside, and night times in the greenhouse.

Gardeners Delight Tomatoes

2009-04-19T16:56:00.002+01:00

The tomato seedlings from my neighbour seem to have survived their traumatic transplanting. I've got six plants now which are now spending day times out in the garden.

Parsley

2009-04-19T16:54:00.004+01:00

Several small parsley seedlings.

Potato pots!

2009-04-19T16:52:00.005+01:00

Finished planted the last of the chitted potatoes today. Long overdue. We now have a total of 11 potato pots planted.

The first plants are coming along now. They're all from our veg box.

Post Holiday Update

2009-04-01T15:41:00.006+01:00

Back from a fortnight's holiday, hoping that most things survived in the garden. The coldframe was covered with fleece while we were gone. From the lack of rain where we were on holiday, I worried that they would dry out. However, typical Peak District rain kept everything well-watered (probably too well-watered, in the case of the spring onions and mustard).

Borage and radish look fine in the coldframe.

On Sunday, we set up a couple of the rigid plastic cloches I got. I moved some mustard seedlings that survived the winter out in the bed into the cloches. They're relatively cold hardy, so we'll see if they take off with a bit of protection.

When we set up the cloches, I worked on shifting the existing herb plants back near the wall (where the slugs will hopefully feast on them first!) This bronze fennel plant is already in the correct position, and has started growing quite well. I hope it's not knocked out by a late frost. This is the first one I've had, and I've read they are a bit tender.

I also took the spinach seedlings that had started and moved them out of the pots, and under one of the cloches today.

On Friday, the new strawberries I had ordered from Thompson and Morgan arrived. I've been moving them into tall pots over the past couple of days. I tried six inch pots last year, but they seemed to dry out too quickly. My hope is to keep them in these larger pots for two years. I mixed half purchased compost with finished compost from the bin. We'll see if that works.

I set up the portable greenhouse to protect them a bit first after the transplant shock. I hope to move them outside in a couple of weeks.

No pictures of the other on-going project: putting chitted potatoes into containers. I've set up three pots so far, each with two potatoes from my organic box. I'll start doing the proper seed potatoes next.

The compost bin has been yielding lots of finished compost for the pots. I've got a second new bin filling now, so hopefully there won't be a shortage later. It seems a bit extravagant to use a 50/50 mix with purchased compost, but I'm trying to reduce my reliance on purchased inputs.

Saturday Update

2009-03-07T11:41:00.014Z

Updates on everything planted so far.

The dill, while the oldest, are still the weakest plants (here in the south-facing window).

The borage is coming up, and is indoors in a south-facing window for the moment.

Same for the spinach and mustard, although the seedlings are a bit smaller and weaker looking.

I also had a garlic clove start sprouting. It's probably not a spring garlic variety, but I put it in a pot anyway. Just something to burn up that excess gardening energy!

I also grow quite a few non-food useful plants, like this aloe that's been wintering indoors.

The veg box potatoes chitting in the north-facing window.

These are the commercial seed potatoes that are a bit behind the veg box ones. Also the pots with the jerusalem artichokes which unsurprisingly aren't showing any sign of life yet.

Outside in the cold frame, the carrots are growing a bit, and the radishes are nestled amongst them.

Hard Frost

2009-03-05T11:54:00.000Z

No picture, but a hard frost this morning.

Video - Peak Moment: Back Yard Sustainability

2009-03-02T14:07:00.007Z

An inspiring video for renters and others who don't own their land. Unfortunately, here in the UK, most people can only dream of having this much space.

He mentions packing seeds in your bug-out bag, something I had never thought of. Even if you can't grow them yourself, they'd be good to trade.

Reading - Colin Tudge: So Shall We Reap

2009-02-28T10:49:00.005Z

I'm nearing the end of this book. I am tempted to go back and read it again and make more notes, although I've got other books of his to go through as well.

To paraphrase a bit: Biologists say that organisms do not run themselves in a hierarchical fashion. DNA is in every cell. There is no 'homunculus' in the brain, but rather a 'neural net.'

"Each bit of the nervous system communicates primarily with the bit next to it, and somehow the whole coheres. The neural net, in general form, is remarkably like the markets that Adam Smith envisaged." (1)

Many are fascinated by the Internet, envisioning it as a way of bringing the minds of the world together. It seems obvious that the beauty and useful of networks is the discovery of our age.

It seems strange, on the other hand, that our economies are still organised in the same way as in the 19th century robber baron era. Large organisations are demonstrably inefficient (instinctively for those having the misfortune to work in them). Now we realise that they are dangerous as well.

The enormous, "too big to fail" banks are dragging our economies down with them. The "too big to fail" US auto industry is sucking up resources and attention that could go into a more efficient network-type economy.

"...the hierarchical structure of the MICG [monetarized, industrialized, corporatized, globalized] model - everything run by a few corporations, as Egypt was run by the pharoahs is grotesquely out of date. Corporations may or may not be useful but society as a whole certainly does not need them, any more than bodies need homunculi." (2)

1. Colin Tudge, So Shall We Reap, p. 406.
2. Tudge, p. 407.

Impulse Purchase

2009-02-27T13:54:00.003Z

Our local garden centre had a sign out for seed potatoes. I couldn't resist going in for a look, gave into temptation, and got 2.5 kg of Desiree seed potatoes (a red-skinned maincrop, according to the British Potato Council). Far more than I need, but perhaps I'll be able to give some away, or share out my pots with the neighbours.

Since I'm still an absolute beginner when it comes to potatoes, I have no idea if this is a good variety to choose or not, but it looks like it's versatile in its uses.

Cold frame outside again

2009-02-24T16:27:00.006Z

Anticipating an overflow of plants from the house, I set up the plastic coldframe that I got from Wilkinsons last year. You can see there's not much to it.

I've used milk jugs filled with water as thermal mass, attempting to moderate temperature changes a bit. I know clear jugs aren't very effective, but they are readily available and seem to help.

The water jugs also serve to weigh the cold frame down, since it's very prone to blow away in the strong winds we have here in the Peak District.

I learned last year that the frame is best secured in place by wrapping a grid of strapping tape across the bottom, doubling back to stick on itself. (I should have photographed that before I put everything in it! You can see a bit of the tape on the lower left, to the right of the jugs.) Once the tape is on, then place cardboard over the tape to distribute the weight and secure against the wind.

There are three tall pots of carrots, which have been growing for about six weeks. The blue LED light really wasn't suitable for them, and it didn't seem to work splitting the light across six pots. Below the carrots are a pot of parsley and one of chives that have been sitting in rather low light on the back porch.

Blue Light Special

2009-02-23T13:33:00.000Z

This winter, I've experimented with using a LED light to grow greens indoors. The pots are next to the (south-facing) kitchen window, so they have got some natural light, although not that much, considering how far north we are.

The lettuce is Winter Marvel from Real Seeds (scroll down to the winter lettuce section). This variety did quite well in the garden under cover until we got greedy and ate it all!

I've read that plants need blue light for vegetative growth and red light for flowering. Since I'm growing lettuce, I tried blue light only. Some say it may be better to use a mix of red and blue or full spectrum LED. More technical information is available here.

I've noticed some leaves twisting upside down and turning their undersides to the light. It may be that the bulb is too close to the light. However, I've been harvesting leaves off these plants for weeks now and they keep growing exuberantly, regardless of which way the leaves face.

Normally I avoid eBay, but I made an exception this time and got my blue LED light from Hidden Hydro. While the bulb is quite expensive, the running costs are pretty low for this one bulb. Our energy monitor says it uses 0.09 kwh/day or 31.39/kwh a year. That means it costs £5.17/year to run the bulb 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

I'm thinking of ordering some more bulbs to make a bigger setup that I could put on top of our kitchen cabinets (space limitations!).

Start Right Here, Right Now

2009-02-22T17:40:00.001Z

I took photos of our empty front and back garden to see what it all looks like mid-winter. Most of the garden space is paved, and we rent this house, so everything will have to go into planters, pots and troughs.

The front garden is completely paved, and is to the north of the house. On this side of the house, the sun casts less and less of a shadow as it moves toward mid-summer day (a long way away right now!)

Fortunately, the stone wall on the left doesn't have gaps for slugs and snails (unlike the walls in the back garden).

We live on a private road, so there's not many vehicles moving back and forth.

The back garden with a couple of leftover compost bags from last season.

The side bed is mostly planted with herbs. I'm going to move some into planters in the spring and try vegetables on the strip farthest from the (slug and snail infested) wall.

Looking away from the house, toward the south.

Outside the back gate.

And a space I've been saving for perennial plants.