[Kitchen Cottage]

After 6 years I finally have a veg patch!!  Every year up to now something else has been more pressing but now, I am starting to grow things... real things!

I have made tons of mistakes and I think some things are now in too late to come to fruition but for today at least...

I have grown something!!! 

[waterbuffalofarmer]

Well done you. I remember my first gardening year, it was quite good and there is nothing like growing your own veg  I  must admit am a little envious because my garden is really slow due to inconsistent weather, what's the weather like where you live?

[Ghdp]

Well done. Everything here (N.E. Wales)  seems very slow appart from thistles, nettles and goosegrass.

[bloomer]

In my first year (this year) I have so far harvested radishes,  some chard to use in salad and today I found a raspberry, daughter has had about 7 strawberries off of 8 plants...

But there is a lot of promise in the plot, first potatoes should be ready next weekend, leeks look amazing, parsnips going well, beans are worrying me not doing well at all.

Greenhouse is a right off to be tried again next year...

[Fleecewife]

What a beautiful basket of your first produce 

I have been growing stuff since I was about 4 and I've never stopped feeling that excitement and pride.  One day you'll be able to eat a meal made up of home grown everything 


Every year some stuff fails, so be it - there will be lots of alternatives.

[Kitchen Cottage]

The weather has been great... but the ground isn't.  It had pigs and horses on it and I assumed it would be lush BUT builder also hid about 10 tonnes of rubble and foundation clay in it, despite being paid for skips.... and last year and the start of this year I spent digging out and taking to the dump (they only allow 4 bags per month so there has been a LOT of sneaking around!!!)

I tried to grow on that plot before but each time I dug I would come up with rubble.... I still do a little but it is more manageable and I have beds.  There are some piccies here
http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/kitchencottage/media/allotment7_zpsbcigkbix.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

[pgkevet]

Well done. My broad beans will be ready from another 5 days as will peas (mange tout already). Spuds and onions now.

This latest bursts of cooler weather and rain means spuds at risk of blight (sign up to blightwatch - free) so mine going to get sprayed with DIY bordeaux.

[devonlady]

Well done KC, you won't look back!!

[Lesley Silvester]

KC, there's nothing like eating your own home-grown, freshly-picked produce. I still find it exciting after many years of growing. Your garden looks much further on that mine. My courgettes and squashes are about half the size of yours and my chard is only a couple of inches high. It was much better last year.

[suziequeue]

WELL DONE!!

There's nothing like harvesting something after all that planning and hard work and in the early days it looks like nothing's going to come up and you doubt your own ability to grow anything!!! and why does Monty Don make it look so easy etc etc.

My veg growing exploits started as a two year plan which turned into a five year plan which is now morphing into a ten year plan!! but at last this year I will have all my raised beds done to my liking (that's probably why it turned into a five year plan!!!)

WELL DONE

[Kimbo]

well done KC!! Lovely grub.

Im not the grower here, its my husband. But I just love to se his veg plot and the lovely stuff quietly growing away. My hens have wreaked quite a lot of havoc but we appear to have foxed them with "Fortress Vegetable"  so things are now on the up & up.
Enjoy your lovely produce

[cloddopper]

The weather has been great... but the ground isn't.  It had pigs and horses on it and I assumed it would be lush BUT builder also hid about 10 tonnes of rubble and foundation clay in it, despite being paid for skips.... and last year and the start of this year I spent digging out and taking to the dump (they only allow 4 bags per month so there has been a LOT of sneaking around!!!)

I tried to grow on that plot before but each time I dug I would come up with rubble.... I still do a little but it is more manageable and I have beds.  There are some piccies here
http://s1245.photobucket.com/user/kitchencottage/media/allotment7_zpsbcigkbix.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

 If you still have a fair bit of land to cleanse  why not make a windrow ( long heap ) out of the rubbish and then when you have enough hire a skip or a miniskip for inert material .
 The so called landscapers that i engaged did the same trick on me  .
It took me several months to reallise it and another six to dig down 60 cm to remove it and heavily manure the ground  for the front and rear lawns and some small mother eath flowerbeds. 
 
In the end we loaded about 6 cubic metres of rubble  etc. into the skip.

[Caroline1]

well done, its a great feeling isn't it