[waterbuffalofarmer]

The garden is almost done and what a wilderness it has been, I haven't had a lot of time to garden this year due to being ill, lambing the sheep and rearing calves, gradually weaning them now. The garden has been neglected and is like, or was like, a wilderness. This week i have managed, between breaks of bad weather, to mow and cut back all vegetation (like hacking through a jungle) Managed to get the beans out until the slugs ate them, so having to put grit around the bases and egg shell which will keep them away and thankfully I sowed a few batches so I have another batch ready to go out Trying to organize a place for tomatoes, only growing cherry toms this year as I haven't had the time for practicing with different varieties, still there is always next year. Now for pics, I will try and upload some when all is done! How is everyone else getting on?

[Fleecewife]

Ooh yes, pics please 

Gardening is hard work, especially when one is more than 3 times as old as you are  .  We used to toil away growing all sorts of stuff, enough to fill the area we had under cultivation (which was huge).  We've learnt from that, when we had to give away a lot, and chuck the rest on the compost heap.  This year I'm hoping we've got it sussed.  The veg area has been divided in two, so we can rotate year to year (it's meant to be 3 but that would mean each area would be smaller than we want).  We have covered one half with a thick tarpaulin, held down tightly enough that even our terriers can't dig underneath it.  Later in the year we will pull that cover back and spread a thick layer of poultry house cleanings, then cover it over again and leave it til the spring.  Past experience has shown this gives a gorgeous, weed free, crumbly tilth, ready to plant up with no work - my kind of gardening.
Meanwhile the other patch has been planted up with potatoes, peas, beans, leeks and brassicas, and a small raised bed is full of carrots and beetroot.
All the rest is grown inside the polytunnel - climbing beans, French and runner, sweetcorn, strawberries, onions, garlic, shallots, courgettes, squashes, winter brassicas, lettuce, cucumbers, chillies and of course tomatoes.  We have to grow that lot protected as it's often too windy here for them to survive outdoors.
We are only growing what we know we will eat, so stuff ending up on the compost heap, or given away, should be kept to a minimum.
So far we have been stuffing ourselves with strawbs, cucumbers and kale  but there's other stuff coming on now.
We also have loads of fruit outside: apples (although it's high so a struggle), pears, cherries, plums, golden gage, blackcurrant, redcurrant, gooseberries, brambles (blackberries), and huge quantities of rhubarb.
With that plus eggs and hogget we are well provided with food for the year, without as much work as it used to be.  I'm particularly pleased with the tarpaulin over next years patch, so we don't have to have the annual spring blitz, coinciding with lambing and just about everything else.
Growing veg, fruit and herbs has to be the most delicious and healthy way of living.  Well done you for taking on so much