The Kitchen Garden

I have been pre-occupied with the Kitchen garden and food growing since the beginning of my journey in Horticulture. I am always drawn to the veg and productive part of a garden. Normally over and above the shrubs and borders on offer. I love seeing the way the veg have been ordered (or not if you go for the Higgeldy approach of stuff it all in) and what is on offer and how could I do it differently?

Our Heale volunteer @rachelwillis555 has lent me a wonderful book, which I have dipped in and out of, called The Country House Kitchen Garden 1600-1950 published with the National Trust. It recalls all sorts of fascinating facts about the role of a Head Gardener through the years and it is amazing how things have changed. Through some of the records kept by the Gardeners at the time, we seem to have moved on but only just!  And I can certainly see where the modern Gardeners role has come from by reading such historical accounts. One thing I have noticed is how we haven't always moved on for the better. In times gone by the HG would not only be growing more variety of plants for the garden and to sell but would have more time, more helpers and invest time in (and be expected to have the skills to be able to work with) Bee keeping. "Bee houses may always be rendered agreeable, and often ornamental objects: they are particularly suitable for flower gardens and enliven a kitchen garden, communicating a particular impression of industry and usefulness". There would be teams working in glass houses producing the finest and exotic fruits; Grapes, Figs, Pineapples. Work was hugely labour intensive but also productive.

We have certainly lost productivity in many ways. Both of my clients have my help to grow fruit and veg and still buy to fill the gap. Of course now we have more choice and there is less need to produce because we can just pop to the supermarket.

I am interested in the rise of the Restaurant which aims to have the Kitchen Garden at the heart of its operation in the modern day. These are the Restaurants I prefer to visit. The Ethicurean in Bristol will always be my favourite. A huge, beautifully situated Walled garden with a fantastic and experimental restaurant attached to it in the old glasshouse. The food is almost entirely sourced from the garden or locally.

Another is Pythouse, near Tisbury, again a beautiful Walled garden, maintained to serve the restaurant  with veg, herbs and flowers.

I visited The Pig, Brockenhurst, this week. A Hotel which claims "it all starts in the Kitchen Garden". Upon arrival you can meander along a brick path to view the Walled garden and take a look in the greenhouses, where I found lots of micro greens ready for service. Just outside by the pond, there were the Bee hives! And Chickens and many beautifully tended raised beds filled with spinach, Beets, Leaves, Turnip, Swede, Lettuce. Managed very well.

Inside my lunch was from Carrots raised just outside (a bright orange Carrot Rissotto), salads grown in the greenhouse, herbs too.

This type of veg growing is fantastic to see but ultimately is for those of us who can afford such luxury (Yes I am lucky to be able to sometimes, I am aware!) and not for the masses. The masses have to find a spot big enough to grow their own or maintain an allotment for themselves.

So, have we moved on with our a Kitchen Gardens, have we lost them in many ways and are we creating them anew because it is a trendy way of selling the idea to a new generation? I am not sure. I do find it fascinating though and I will continue to love every detail of the way we used to grow veg whilst all the time trying to move onwards and upwards!

New beginnings

So, I am guessing I am not the only one feeling a lack of motivation in the garden today! I always find it hard to get going again after the Christmas/New Year lull but I know it will come.

I have been reading about the Norwegian term for the gap inbetween Christmas and New Year called Romjul. I love this idea. In the UK we tend to think we must always be working, tired and pushing on no matter what. The Norwegians (amongst many cultures I am sure) embrace the down time and slow down to a meditative pace and take healthy walks. Well, sounds lovely if you can. I think we could all try and do that from time to time. But the Christmas period is so special because it is cold and wet and what else REALLY matters during this time other than friends and family. I feel very lucky indeed.

Despite feeling sluggish, in addition, I always feel excited about the gardening year ahead. The seeds need sowing and something will always thrive even if some fail. Nature working its magic.

I leave you with a photo from the Summer. Heale veg garden in full flow. Ammi majus, Lathyrus, Nicotiana, Plectranthus. A beautiful reminder that it will all come again, the dark days will disappear and the sunshine will be here before we know it.

November

This week in the gardens we have begun tidying and putting to bed. I love the task of cutting down the Gunnera and giving them little tent houses for the Winter. By using the leaves as protection against the weather, you feed the plant too. HG and I did look a little sinister walking across the gardens brandishing machetes as the sun went down! 

Dahlias have been cut down and labelled, ready to be lifted for over Winter. Dahlia tubers are susceptible to rotting if you leave them in the soil. We have got away with it before but sometimes it is not worth the risk. Once you have cut the Dahlia down (usually after the first frosts once the leaves have turned blackish), you dig it up and turn it upside down to dry. An amazing amount of water is retained in the hollow stems. It literally pours out sometimes. I have loved the Dahlias. All sorts of colours and shapes.

We have composted Rhubarb and are now forcing it. Time also to prune. We worked on Blackcurrant and Blackberry which is trained onto a fruit cage. Removing old wood which has flowered and tying in new shoots for next year. A rewarding job. I do love tidying!!


The gardens are opening up once more. As we remove plants and foliage, views are expanded. The Veg garden becoming part of the bigger picture again. 

Soon be time for the new plan of the veg garden and where to dig/not dig. The cycle continues.....

Farewell Plot 18b

It is with much sadness mixed with a big sigh of 'phew' that I have finally given up my allotment at Plot 18b. Six years and it has been a delight. It is where my boys ate worms, had stick battles, went fishing with canes, laughed, fought and wondered. Where I began to garden for my family, experiment with veg and where I began to learn alongside my RHS course to retrain as a Gardener.

So for me, Bugs and my Robot Top ( as it was known by my boys) holds a lot of memories. Happily, I wrote a blog which is an amazing record of photos and feelings experienced by the four of us over those years.

Now I work in the Horticulture industry and my boys are growing, needing me in different ways, I find time has been squeezed. I can still grow in our small garden which is enough for now. I manage Beets, Carrots, Salad, Edible flowers, Kale, even Turnips! One day I envisage a new request for a plot, where I will spend my days happily watching the insects and birds and quietly working the soil.

This week at my work gardens, I have been loving the warm Autumn weather, just glorious. A time to pull down crops and re-consider the crops for the hungry gap. At Heale we have lots still on the go: Leeks, Cabbage, two types of Kale, Salads and Rocket and Chicory. The Nasturtiums are such a flash of colour, clambering over the wigwams in the ornamental squares of Box. So too are the Ipomoea and the Gourd flowers hanging over the arches.

In my other work garden, Dahlias and Verbena fill a 'hot border' alongside Fiery Crocosmia and bright Rudbeckia.

Much more to come as Autumn continues, I love the leaves of the Liquidamber that are just on the turn now and the Gunnera will show it's red soon enough.

Lucky for me I can now get my fix at work. I find tremendous peace and calm from the garden, which was once found at my special 5 rod plot. I can leave my little patch of allotment and find new ways in which to grow, hoping that someone else will find as much happiness from the same soil as I did.

Hello September

Moving into September, how the heck did that happen?! Things are feeling on the turn in the garden. Chillier mornings but hot days. Leaves turning orange already or dying back. We have already begun the task of removing Single Cordon Sweet Peas and their canes. They started in the ground as plug plants in April and so 5 months ain't bad at all.

Once the ground has been cleared, HG is already on the move with the next crop.  A dig over of the ground, rake and now we await Beetroot and Rocket as a new crop in a month or so. knowing the sowing/harvesting of crops is such a skill. making sure the ground is used successionally, with no wastage. If a crop fails, HG knows exactly what to do to fill in. What a huge knowledge he has! He has suggested Giant Winter Spinach, so I will get onto that for next week!

Flowers that are still very much going, are Nasturtium 'Chameleon', Ipomoea, Tithonia, Zinnia, Daucus and Sunflower. So much still thriving and in the haze of the low sun, it all looks rather dreamy.

This morning and 7.45 am, the Veg garden was a delight. Birds flitting between crops, sitting on the Apple tunnels chatting away. As I cropped Beans today, amongst the Beans, looking to the sky, I heard the familiar flapping of Swan wings as two Swans flew over my head......special indeed.

This week I have enjoyed cropping Beets, Chioggia (beautiful pink and white stripes inside), Golden and Boltardy (standard purple globe). I also strangely love cropping Raspberries as they are plucked from the plant. What a thing.

I snuck out with the family over the Bank Hol to London town and took my boys up 35 floors to the Sky Garden on top of the Walkie Talkie building. What a view! a real treat. Always good to remember just how much I will always love London, my home for a long time, yet it cannot compare to the space and countryside Heale affords. Two very different beasts.

Back to it

I have had a mini break from gardening to spend some time with my two boys on their school holidays. It is amazing how a mini break can refresh, give a new perspective and make you see things new.

I am umming and aahing about keeping my plot at the moment. I waited 18 months for it back in 2010 and have enjoyed so many fab family times up there. Times to learn, make mistakes, enjoy the rewards, cook sausages with the boys and show them worms and mud. It is where I learnt to love growing and where it all began for my career change post kids. A visit yesterday and it was hairy as hell! Still I manage to find Cucumbers, Courgettes, Raspeberries, Broccoli and Blackberries, oh and Potatoes hiding amidst the weeds. Still my love. Still I will keep it going despite the lack of interest from my family now they are growing up!

Back to work and I think the Veg garden at Heale is looking darn good right now. So much variety in flowers and veg. I cropped all sorts including Cucamelons and Purple Sprouting Broccoli. We have just cropped all of the Charlotte Pots. I am awaiting the beautiful Runners which have clambered to the top of their supports. I managed to refresh the Rocket through picking and trimming and it is good as new for another few weeks. The sights and smells when working with veg are just the icing on the cake. All that work and then you pick Parsely, brush past Crysanths, prune the Mint, Prune Apples and feel the prickles of the Cucumber stems.

All to remind you why you are outdoors and why you are persevering.

I planted Squash atop our huge Compost heap today. Climb to the top and you are looking over a very old wall. A Buzzard flew over my head and called out soaring in the blue sky.

Sharing and growing

The nicest thing about growing has got to be sharing as well. Whether it is chatting about where best to grow a plant, what to choose for a certain soil or how to cook with your favourite veg. It brings people together.

In the garden today, a lovely visitor was telling us how she uses Fennel seeds and stores them in her airing cupboard! Then she added them to Vodka and Strawberry to make a special occasion desert.

On my Allotment after work I had a lovely encounter with a fellow grower named Steve. He is a Pro Gardener too but spends an awful lot of his spare time growing far too many vegetables for him and his Wife to eat.  Steve just loves to grow, try new things and then give it away. He loves to chat about different varieties and pass on all of his tips on how he has developed plants.

Lucky me , I came home with Steve's Elephant Garlic, Carrots, Cucumber and Courgettes.

At work today I planted out Leeks "Porvite'. I love this task, digging up the pencil thick Leeks, trimming them, placing them in a hole and filling with water. They soon perk up like little Soldiers in a row. I cropped a lot of veg today, Broad beans 'Karmazyn' which have peachy/pink beans and Peas. I cropped artichokes and left some to punk it up as they flower with purple spiky tops. Carrot, Beet, Courgette, Salads, Nasturtium flowers as well.

What a delight.