Becoming Domestic

The plot of land we’ve had added on to our tenancy at the back of our garden has been a vegetable patch for many years as it was owned by the keen gardener next door neighbour and landlady. Emily Dennly had lived here since she was 5 years old when she came to live with her grandmother, the only child of the woman who built the two semi-detached houses in the late 1800s.

Emmy’s friend Janet, who continues to be a great source of inspiration and knowledge, has lobbied Miss Dennly’s nephew (our landlord) for this house to have the veg patch. She knew Emmy through the local walking society, has been a professional horticulturlist all her working life, keeps bees for their honey, makes chutney and teaches me as much as I can absorb about plant names, pruning tips.

We now have the opportunity to grow and eat huge amounts of lovely fruit and veg. My daughter Eden and I really enjoy gardening together and eating vegetables so we’re going to have a whale of a time. Darren has happily taken on the chore of chief digger which just leaves Mo to be inside reading or watching the tv (or wailing about how he wants to be indoors if you insist he comes out for some fresh air, sunshine and running around). Eden gave me the following list of veg we should grow as soon as I read her the letter from the letting agent telling us we were officially allow to garden the piece of land at the top of the garden:

• Sweetcorn on the cob
• Brocolli
• Corgettes
• Peas
• Tomatoes
• Raspberries
• Strawberries
• Potatoes
• Carrots
• Beans
• Leeks
• Onions
• Garlic
• Cucumbers
• Cauliflowers
• Cabbages

Have you ever heard of a 3 year old who likes vegetables *this* much? Bless her for living up to her garden paradise name.
Anyhoo I’ve been Googling for some easy to digest info on how to get cracking on planning and implementing a new veg patch and have found out really quickly that it is really easy and really fun. There’s a few great hints and tips about how to get loads of things from a smallish plot (by growing a number of tall growing things like beans, cucumbers, melon [see melon anguish]. Oooh I can’t wait to get digging over, planting seeds, making cloches, mulching and then eating!

Janet has told me we need to create a pathway down the middle, to make sure we only plant things we like and to sow the rows from north/south so the sun shines on each side of the row throughout the course of the day.

Posted on November 24th, 2006 under Country Living, Downshifting, Frugal living, Gardening • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback