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Posted by: Vicki on 07/04/2011

Where Bill discovers that his onions have started growing in the garden

It seems appropriate on the hottest days we’ve had so far this year (and apparently also the mildest start to spring in a decade) to talk about the garden as I’m sure plenty of you have ventured outside to get your hands dirty.

In the past few weeks we have created six terraces in the bottom half of our steep garden with reclaimed railway sleepers (half the price of new). We’ve planted out our first vegetables – a few rows of garlic, onions and shallots - in one of the beds. Just yesterday I spotted some green shoots and I can’t really describe the feeling of relief! Despite growing veg when I was a kid, I’ve found as I’ve matured into adulthood that my fingers have turned from green to poison: very few plants survive my attentions, usually thirsting to death or drowning in their pots as I hopelessly misjudge how much water to give them.

So the ambitious programme of vegetable propagation we’ve embarked upon has me ever so slightly terrified. To give them a fighting chance, we’ve started most of the seeds off in trays that are now on our windowsills bathing in the spring sunshine. Thanks to a tip from m’colleague Ann Sheldon, I sourced most of the seeds from the Real Seed Catalogue. The company promotes rarer seed varieties and also those that produce plants that have their own fertile seeds so that growers aren’t forced to buy new seeds each year. One of the worst aspects of the seeds most of us buy from big agribusiness is that the seeds produce one infertile crop that can’t reproduce.

We also bought a little wooden tool that turns strips of newspaper into biodegradable pots for larger seeds. I’ve double and triple planted the seeds to make sure some germinate and when the weather’s warmer, we’ll plant the paper pots straight into the ground after thinning out multiple plants. Fingers crossed for lovely aubergines, broccoli, Brussels, cabbages, carrots, chillis, courgettes, cucumbers, garlic, leeks, lettuces, parsnips, peas, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes and squashes.

We also planted a few trees around the edges of the garden, including an apple, pear, plum and green gage, plus we’ve planted elderflower to mix in with the seriously cut-back ivy hedge. We’ve missed the spring gooseberries, but we hope to get some to add to the hedge in autumn. I also sneaked a loganberry bush into one gap in the hedge. We’re thinking about other berries in the sloped upper part of the garden, and we still have to decide where the herb garden goes. We have a big rosemary bush already and lavender, both of which I’ve pruned back for the new growing season.

I hope I do a better job with these babies. One thing I’m doing is talking to them. I stop short of singing, but I might play them some music…

So come on, my lovelies: grow!

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