My Garden

A couple of weeks ago we set about preparing to sow our 3m x 3m plots in the Model Vegetable Garden. Last year, our Grow Your Own Veg campaign proved immensely popular, especially with the supporting book by Carol Klein and BBC series, as well as our own on-line micro-site and garden activities. For... Read more..

Because we’ve been away the last couple of weekends and haven’t managed to spend much time on the garden or on the allotment, jobs were beginning to pile up – and both my girlfriend Clare and I were beginning to get just a tad twitchy about the situation. So this weekend we were going to get on with... Read more..

Yet another forecast for a mixed bag of weather meant that this weekend I needed to get cracking early – just in case, just in case things turned really nasty and put the kybosh on my plans. As a result I was out in the garden by 8o’clock on both days. The weather wasn’t as bad as I’d expected – Saturday... Read more..

Boy, how they're itching! Last weekend I spent absolutely nil time in the garden and there is lots that needs doing. The recent lot of rain hasn't helped - poor light levels have drawn everything up, only for the weather to bash it down again. My non-gardening sins of last weekend were due to... Read more..

My itchy fingers from last Friday were well and truly scratched over the weekend - I had a good catch up at home and at the allotment. My main bug bear was the number of tomatoes, peppers, courgettes, cucumbers and squashes that needed to be potted up into their final growing pots. So, armed with a trusty... Read more..

Planting out French beans on the 3x3 plot today in a fairly strong wind on our open site brought home forcibly the need for good, strong supporting frames for climbing veg to grow over. The beans - a type of borlotti bean to supply beautiful red-splashed pods for eating as well as beans for drying -... Read more..

Despite some other commitments this weekend, I've managed to catch up with my backlog of veg jobs. I picked the last crop from the broad beans that had been inhabiting the growing frame at home (that's where they were overwintered) and then cut down and pulled up the plants - stripping off all... Read more..

Spent the early part of the week repairing damage from Sunday's gales and heavy rain - propping up the broad beans, tying escaping peas back in, staking battered cut flowers. Last week's blog about plant supports turned out to be uncannily appropriate... We have been regularly harvesting lettuce... Read more..

The Welsh Wizard has done it again! Another Gold Medal was awarded to Medwyn Williams and his perfect vegetable display. "I'm on top of the world," said the boy wonder. "The display was considered for Best in Show and the RHS President said it was absolutely stunning. Vegetables are... Read more..

Right! This is getting silly! I know each year in the garden is different – but I just wish they were different in a good way. Two years ago we were over-run with tomatoes, peppers, courgettes and aubergines and the freezer was swollen with ratatouille. Last year was the ‘blight year’ and tomatoes and... Read more..