Greenhouse Gardening
The new “productive garden” as we’re calling it, is coming along nicely. The raised beds are now built, filled with compost and ready for planting. The greenhouse is filled to bursting with seedlings. I’ve become obsessed with growing things from seed!
I don’t have an obsessive personality, I like to think that I can be focused but not obsessed. With beekeeping that quickly became an obsession and I knew I had found something more than my usual varied hobbies. Gardening has never been an obsession, it’s been a pleasure and a pain; I’ve desired a beautiful garden but dreaded all the work required to make it so! That is until I started growing my own veggies (and a few flowers too) and now I am rather fixated on the goings on inside the greenhouse! What started as an idea to aim for some form of self sufficiency has become an experiment in “what can I grow?”
As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, the plan is to follow a no dig philosophy and also to create a garden that is beneficial both to us and that supports a vibrant ecosystem, thus meeting my desire to improve the wildlife situation on our patch but also to remove the necessity for any chemical use. In the greenhouse I have flowers and veggies germinating. I’ve chosen some flowers because they are edible, some because they attract particular insects and others just because I like them! Veggie choices started with “we like this veg” and then became a “how much can I grow?” situation!
The “productive garden” contains the training apiary, a natural pond (which sadly dries up mid-summer if it gets really hot), the chickens and the main veg patch and a separate fenced and soon netted fruit patch. We’ve a couple of established trees which provide some shade and nice nesting and perching areas for the birds. I am also adding lots of water butts, because our water is from a borehole and isn’t on mains supply, I want to ensure we’re not using up our drinking and washing water in the garden!
The garden isn’t yet fully fenced due to the cost so we do get visitors of all sorts including Henry the pheasant who thinks he owns the place and who frequently chases cars and vans off the property! Two collared doves who look like they may be starting a family soon, a couple of squirrels, some deer and hedgehogs. We also have mice and many birds from tiny wrens through to kites and buzzards. As for insects, we’ve a good and varied population so far but I’d like to see more. We have insect hotels on the walls and random posts as well as insect “piles” as I like to call them which consist of bricks, twigs etc. We have some areas left wild whilst others are more tamed. There will be some observing and considerate responsive action to take if the wildlife (I’m thinking birds and deer) get a little keen with the buffet!
The idea is that we work with the environment and have a garden that is attractive to look at whilst also providing nourishment to us and our wildlife. As the years progress we’ll see how it goes but I’m hopeful. In the meantime my focus is on what I can try to grow next; watermelons seem fun!
