0 comment Saturday, June 14, 2014 | admin
Thus spake the child on Yule Day. My first response in my head was "My gods! Who are you and WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY SON???" However upon further affirmation from ex it seems has sampled the "little trees" and finds them nom-worthy, to my utter surprise. And now I find myself debating growing some broccoli for us next year.
I suppose I should be planting more veg. I have admitted grown out of eating the stuff due to a very finicky ex who would freak out if you varied from the eating routine of beans on toast, then further into an even more finicky child. I just never really bothered trying after a while, and since prepping veg for myself is sadly a monumental task of energy (I don't peel tatties anymore, for example, I just mash them skin-on) I stopped making veg in any way whatsoever. A sad state of affairs, but I supplemented child's diet with lots of fruit.
However over the year I have noted sproggo's growing interest in veggies - peas, carrots, potatoes, and now broccoli are things he actually asks me for now, and I'm having to remember anew to order in. Although, this also preps ideas for the seed list for 2011.
I haven't had much luck with brassicas - the only thing I seemed to grow was caterpillars. However I'm inspired to give it another go since I've now got some fleece. I'll make it a mission this year if I can manage it, and add a bit more veg to my plan.
Mission for trees however is a go, and I've just placed an order for two minarette trees (duo-pear, duo-apple), a mulberry, some tayberry vines, and bits and bobs to help with planting. I'm even getting a deal on the price due to time of year and some extra strawberry plants for free. Score for us! I'm not sure when the minarettes produce (probably a couple of years) but I'll have to do a fair bit of tending first, worth getting sproggo into the habit of tending something even if it isn't giving you food right away - patience is what trees are all about.
So even thought we're still in the thick of winter, my mind is on spring, and how I produce even more veg than before, whilst still well aware my garden will need to be as portable as I can make it. I've still got the move in the back of my mind but I know how slowly it takes social services to do anything, so it may not be till July that I'm actually able to move on. That's in the middle of my growing season, so I'll have to grow wisely this year, with early crops in their static positions, and later crops in pots and tubs I can take with me - potatoes are getting their growing bags this year so I can free up my bigger pots for trees, leeks are being planted in window boxes, carrots will be more portable and shoved in wherever I can manage - small round variety for early cropping, the larger carrots come with me shoved in wherever I can manage to get them to grow.
Space is a premium as I don't have much portable grow-space and I'm leery of getting more until I know the details of moving, but I'll manage with what I've got. The ever-present worry of where my topsoil will be coming from, I'll handle in the coming New Year, but as my gas and electric bills have been halved due to much frugality and fuss over the year, I've got a bit more cash to work with. As a matter of fact, since it's the last thing people are thinking about at the moment, I've just scored some growbag "kits" for potatoes at a really good price. They should arrive in a few weeks and I can start chitting them, so will be saving egg cartons for that. Figured I'd take advantage now before the VAT increase really starts to sting.
Broccoli will be forthcoming, my son, if we can grow it together!
I suppose I should be planting more veg. I have admitted grown out of eating the stuff due to a very finicky ex who would freak out if you varied from the eating routine of beans on toast, then further into an even more finicky child. I just never really bothered trying after a while, and since prepping veg for myself is sadly a monumental task of energy (I don't peel tatties anymore, for example, I just mash them skin-on) I stopped making veg in any way whatsoever. A sad state of affairs, but I supplemented child's diet with lots of fruit.
However over the year I have noted sproggo's growing interest in veggies - peas, carrots, potatoes, and now broccoli are things he actually asks me for now, and I'm having to remember anew to order in. Although, this also preps ideas for the seed list for 2011.
I haven't had much luck with brassicas - the only thing I seemed to grow was caterpillars. However I'm inspired to give it another go since I've now got some fleece. I'll make it a mission this year if I can manage it, and add a bit more veg to my plan.
Mission for trees however is a go, and I've just placed an order for two minarette trees (duo-pear, duo-apple), a mulberry, some tayberry vines, and bits and bobs to help with planting. I'm even getting a deal on the price due to time of year and some extra strawberry plants for free. Score for us! I'm not sure when the minarettes produce (probably a couple of years) but I'll have to do a fair bit of tending first, worth getting sproggo into the habit of tending something even if it isn't giving you food right away - patience is what trees are all about.
So even thought we're still in the thick of winter, my mind is on spring, and how I produce even more veg than before, whilst still well aware my garden will need to be as portable as I can make it. I've still got the move in the back of my mind but I know how slowly it takes social services to do anything, so it may not be till July that I'm actually able to move on. That's in the middle of my growing season, so I'll have to grow wisely this year, with early crops in their static positions, and later crops in pots and tubs I can take with me - potatoes are getting their growing bags this year so I can free up my bigger pots for trees, leeks are being planted in window boxes, carrots will be more portable and shoved in wherever I can manage - small round variety for early cropping, the larger carrots come with me shoved in wherever I can manage to get them to grow.
Space is a premium as I don't have much portable grow-space and I'm leery of getting more until I know the details of moving, but I'll manage with what I've got. The ever-present worry of where my topsoil will be coming from, I'll handle in the coming New Year, but as my gas and electric bills have been halved due to much frugality and fuss over the year, I've got a bit more cash to work with. As a matter of fact, since it's the last thing people are thinking about at the moment, I've just scored some growbag "kits" for potatoes at a really good price. They should arrive in a few weeks and I can start chitting them, so will be saving egg cartons for that. Figured I'd take advantage now before the VAT increase really starts to sting.
Broccoli will be forthcoming, my son, if we can grow it together!
Labels: Garden