Garden update: winter is coming

So the last time I talked about the garden we were doing pretty well - tomatoes, chillies, courgettes, beetroot. Fast forward a couple of months and the garden is winding down somewhat, mostly thanks to these early sunsets and chilly mornings. Mind you, it's not stopped our tomato plants! Last weekend we picked a whole bag full, all green but they're ripening very nicely on the kitchen windowsill.

It was actually the last veg haul of 2015 as last weekend we also decided to cut back our giant tomato and chilli plants, in the hopes that they'll conserve their energy and, along with some TLC from us over the winter months, come back to life in the spring. I've no idea if this is possible but hey, this whole thing has been a trial and error adventure so we thought we'd have a go. Although we'll be able to keep the chilli, tomato and various herbs indoors, there's no way to save our mighty courgette plant which is a shame. Nor is there anything to do about the cauliflower and broccoli, we'll just have to see how hardy they really are.

Looking back to my first post about the garden, it pleased me a lot to find it's been just over a year since our little project started out. A year of hard graft - hours of digging, clearing, shredding, planting, tending, watering. And was it worth it? Hell yes! We most definitely filled our boots this summer with home grown produce and learned a lot throughout the process.

Here's to the next part of our veg growing escapades, I've got my fingers crossed for our fledgling tomato cuttings...

I'll leave you with Joanna Newsom's song, 81, as it's been rattling around in my head the last month or so and some of the gardening lyrics feel quite relevant :)

"I found a little plot of land in the garden of Eden...I tilled it with my two hands and called it my very own..."

Adventures in vegetable growing!

As mentioned in my previous post, attending to our vegetable patch has become a fairly big part of my free time. If you follow me on instagram you'll have been inundated with pictures of our veg growing progress. The tiny seeds we planted have come a long way over the last four months and, although the herbs were ready earlier, veg has started to appear!

This is going to be seriously old news for anyone who grows their own food but, the satisfaction of digging up your own potatoes or cutting off your own courgettes or plucking your own tomatoes, you just can't beat it, it's bloody brilliant! Our tomatoes have been the biggest revelation. Sure they don't look as uniform as the ones in the supermarket but by god are they flavoursome!

Our first couregtte // herb haul (basil, corriander, fennell, cammomile and chives) // beetroot! // first load of potatoes

Now, growing veg isn't hard, you plant the seeds, water them regularly and make sure they get lots of sunlight. But we've learned a few things along the way, including: get your carrots in the ground quick or they'll end up tiny; protect your cabbages - ours got completely munched within a week of planting them; potato plants are supposed to die, that's when you know they're ready to dig up; don't plant runner beans near a hedge - they won't get enough sunlight (silly us); the best way to take a cutting from a tomato plant is to put the cutting in a jar of water and wait for the roots to grow, then you can plant it in soil; your battle with weeds is never over; and lastly, take lots of pictures, it's cool to be able to look back on how everything changes.

our beast of a courgette plant

Mitch moved one of the tomato plants outside and it's doing better than the ones inside my nan's conservatory (it's actually got six toms growing on it now), so we've moved a couple more outside.

one of two tomato cuttings showing some roots :)

  Last weekend's fruits (or should I say veg). Still gutted about the carrots.

I'm very aware that it's massively unlikely that Mitch and I will buy a property with a garden (to buy a property in London at all is proving to be a mean feat), which is why we're so enthusiastic about the opportunity to grow stuff at my nan's. In terms of our future London abode, I've got my fingers crossed for a balcony (somewhere for the tomatoes, herbs and chilli plant to hang out). Ultimately though, my end game is a house (preferably near-ish the sea) with a decent sized garden with a bit of lawn for lounging, wild flowers for the bees, a fruit tree of some sorts and lots of room for veg growing. Ah garden lusting - something I never thought I'd do, this late 20s thing is ace!

Have you been growing food this summer? I'm nosy to know what other people grow :)

garden update - grow your own

It's been six months since my last little update on our allotment project (aka my nan's garden) and a fair old bit has happened. Weekly visits to the plot did trail off between December and February but since March we've been there - digging, shredding, digging some more and, fairly recently, planting...

Because it's fun, I've got some before and after shots for you. Here's what it looked it like back in November:

..And here's April and May:

Mitch cleared the pile of rubbish and gigantic load of garden waste next to the old garage and it really makes the garden feel bigger. Fortuitously, the neighbours at the back also had a sprucing up session, putting up a lovely new fence and trimming back their trees. The latter of which allows loads more sunlight into the garden.

We planted mustard cress (I'm told is good for the soil) and it thrived which is a v.good indicator that the soil is in great shape! We've chopped it all down now to (soon) make way for some seedlings.

About six weeks ago we planted a whole bunch of things - some of which survived: rocket, basil, two varieties of tomatoes, carrots and, my favourite, a chilli plant! We also put some spinach and potatoes straight into the soil. 

And, just under two weeks ago, we planted another lot of seedlings. It's probably too early to count our chickens (or rather veg) but so far so good for the brocolli and cauliflower, watch this space! 

garden progress

Last month, Mitch and I started working on a neglected bit of my nan's garden with the aim to turn it into a vegetable patch. We've been going every weekend (apart from when we went to Falmouth) and it's really starting to take shape.

Before:

And after - sans the beast of a hedge which was obscuring the rest of the garden and house:

Before:

After, a LOT of digging:

I'd thought that clearing the brambles was hard but digging up roots, turning the earth and raking was waaaay more knackering. Thanks to the last few weekends I've come to associate Saturdays with aching limbs! Hopefully it'll all be worth it though.

Some of the bricks dug up from the earth.

We actually planted something this weekend, not anything we can eat mind you, but some stuff (mustard seeds) that'll be good for the soil. Fingers crossed they'll sprout!

home turf

What with neither of us working last Tuesday, Mitch and I went to give blood and, whilst waiting for it to open we did a little exploring around Twickenham riverside. I say exploring but, seeing as I've lived in the area for most of my life, it was more to show Mitch around.

He's already been over to Eel Pie island so I thought York House gardens along the riverside was a good place to start. Fun fact: when I was younger I used to think that it was a good place to get married, right on the grass in front of the statues and fountain. Incidentally, the statues are meant to represent the sea nymphs from Greek mythology. After the gardens we had just enough time to look around teeny tiny Twickenham museum which I'd never been to before (for shame).

I tend to find that new people visiting an area you know very well can help you rediscover it. Truth be told I'm still a bit grumpy about leaving Brixton but my home turf really does have its plus points, the proximation to the river being one of them. It's also got some lovely pubs, particularly The White Swan which I'd completely forgotten about until some friends were over from Peckham. So yes, thank you visitors, where I live isn't in the bustling centre (I get enough of that during the week) but it's got merits of its own which I won't be taking for granted anymore :)

a bit of green space to call our own

My maternal grandmother is 90 and lives just a 10 minutes walk away from my parents' house (aka, my current dwelling). She has a gigantic garden which, now that she's older, she rarely, if ever, uses it. The garden itself is divided into two sections: the lawn and flower beds (closest to the house) and, what was once my grandad's vegetable patch at the back. Although my nan has a gardener who cuts the lawn occassionally, the back part of the garden has pretty much been abandoned and, helped by the fact that there's a big tall dense hedge separating these two sections, left to grow wild.

A couple of weekends ago Mitch and I had an idea that, with my nan's permission of course, we could clear away the jungle of thorns and weeds and restore the old veg patch. Perhaps, we could even have a go at growing stuff again...

My nan said yes. So, last weekend we began.

This is what it looked like. Most of the brambles were around knee-to-waist height, some were up to my shoulder! We started to cut the hedge back too as it's crazily overgrown. Whilst clearing up, we found tonnes of weird insects (an orange neon woodlouse-type bug!) and terrifyingly large spiders. Largely thanks to Mitch making a start single-handedly on Saturday, by Sunday we'd cleared most of the plot, including a v.stubborn, seen-better-days, pampas grass plant. Here's how it's looking at the moment.

We're hoping to work on it once a week and I'm aiming to track our progress. If it's a success, it might be fun to look back on. Watch this space!

BHW bits & pieces

The bank holiday weekend went something like this...

On Friday night Mitch and I went to see El Dorado at the Arcola Theatre just off the Kingsland Road. It was meant to be a black comedy but it was seriously dark so I didn't laugh much - it was v.good though! A small but compelling cast, minimalistic set with excellent use of sound and lighting. The bar attached to the theatre was pretty cute too and sold the tastiest crisps I've ever eaten. Afterwards we went for pizza at Bite (they picked the best cheeses for their four cheese pizza - not enough places are ballsy enough to wack on some gorgonzola).

Saturday saw us head to Rivington Street to buy Mitch's wedding suit. I had a feeling that going to a proper tailors would be hella intimidating but the guy at Mr Start was v.patient and super helpful. We were also given beer to drink whilst Mitch tried stuff on which was cool and kinda reminded by of wedding dress shopping. In the evening we went to a friend's birthday. Not only did he make his own bread but the most a-mazing dip (cream cheese, tomatoes, mushrooms and other stuff - I need the recipe). It was a hilarious night of plenty of booze (including Mitch's signature punch), food and a good old game of mafia.

Sunday started out very chilled - lunch with my nan, some sewing (finished the top of my friend's baby quilt) - but come the evening it all went down hill. Moriarty hadn't come out to play for the last two nights so on Sunday I decided that that was long enough. I took the lid off his cage to find that he was curled up in his nest and v.poorly indeed. I know it must sound crazy, getting upset about a hamster but he's our little hamster and seeing him like that was unbelievably upsetting. Frantic googling of his conditions lead us to the same advice: take him to the vet. Amazingly Mitch found a 24 hour one so we made Moriarty as comfortable as possible in a shoe box and drove him over there. The vet was impressed with how active he was (Moriarty had perked up somewhat in the car and waiting room) and prescribed him antibiotics and some 'recovery diet'. On sunday night I couldn't sleep and I woke up with my stomach in knots. Moriarty made an unusually early appearance on Monday morning and thankfully, seemed much improved. By the evening he was climbing the roof of his cage - the medicine seems to be doing the trick!

Certain that Moriarty was in a better way state than the night before, Mitch and I went out to buy a few essentials for our long weekend in the Lake District (and a rucksack which I didn't really need but it was only 12 quid and I bloody love it). The rest of the day was spent being incredibly productive and ploughing on with wedding-related stuff.

So, although Ronny O'Sullivan didn't win the snooker and the bank holiday weekend felt, at times, more like an endurance test than a relaxing long weekend (I certainly didn't feel well rested coming back into work on Tuesday), I'm just glad that it was sunny and Moriarty is on the mend.

goodbye blossom

It seems as though the blossom is coming to an end. The white and pink petals are carpeting the pavements of suburbia like confetti. It's amazing how the blossom can still look pretty even on grey, rain soaked concrete. The fleeting nature of blossom, and the flowers of magnolia trees, is part of the reason why I love it so much - a brief few weeks of soft bright beauty before the green leaves of spring take their place.

It'll be a bit quiet on the blog for the next few days as my sis and I are off to Budapest today. I'm almost packed, just swotting-up on a couple of handy Hungarian phrases :)
Szia - bye!