Outgrowing my garden
I spent much of the beginning of this month slightly depressed about the size of my garden. It seemed, when I first got there, like an entirely suitable size for someone who spent all day gardening. Enough to get stuck into, but not enough to consume all weekend, every weekend. And then something happened. It didn't shrink, I haven't amassed more time, I don't have a larger family to feed and it's not filled it up, well not completely. What happened was ownership, I've gardened for 16 years now, 14 of those professionally, but always for someone else (or at least with someone else, in the case of community gardens).
I had a wonderful boss at New York Botanical Gardens, a truly amazing horticulturalist who created such flights of fancy in the rock gardens and filled the alpine houses with gems to rival any natural history museum. However his back garden was a holding space of pots filled mainly with half starved plants - an inability to throw away the leftovers from the botanic garden, but no desire to actually put them in the ground.
The truth was, like many botanical gardeners, he was on a bad wage and thus rented a tiny flat with a cramped concrete garden. But he also said something very interesting that he couldn't have his own garden as it would take away from his real garden, his work. I thought he was mad at the time, but I understand now.
You see I was happy with my back garden because I didn't take it too seriously. I did what was needed, enough to look pretty, to feed us sometimes, a treat to look upon from the washing up, but I kept my heart tied up somewhere else.
Something happened while I was sick this New Year's eve. Between the seed packets, the glossy garden books I got for Christmas and all that lovely crisp frost I fell in love with my garden. The plans I made for this year suddenly felt cramped. There is so much I want to grow, so much to experiment with and learn about: to test boundaries, to move things on, to explore. My little back garden is just that, little.
I've been on an allotment list for over a year, but I'm still far from the top. I've bullied my parents into letting me use some of their veg garden, but it is bullying, as although I can do the initial hard graft, it'll be them that's watering come summer. I've got a secret guerrilla spot and there's more to explore, but I can't exactly grow veg there, not unless I want it trodden on every Friday night.
Just when the slightly depressed started to tumble to deep, dark well someone reached out. It wasn't a purposeful reach out, it was more of a random stop on the street. But now I seem to be gathering space to garden like no tomorrow. It's all early days yet, but there are tentative plans for orchards, wild flower meadows and container gardens, all for the community. It's day dreaming stuff, but as anyone who's ever gardened knows that is how beautiful gardens begin...
On an entirely different note, I went to potato day at Garden Organic's Ryton garden last Saturday and although I was disappointed not to get some 'Ratte' (poor crop apparently) I stocked up on lots of other lovelies. Three different 'Sarpos' in case of blight, 'Sante' to keep us going later on, 'Red Duke of York' and 'Duke of York' for pretties and the very tempting 'Mr Little's Yethom Gypsy' a Scottish heritage variety that produce red, white and blue all on one potato. I bought some minituber (very vigorous, disease free tubers) from Alan -Mr. Potato- Romans of this variety so that I could a comparison test with normal seed potatoes.
I noticed that the talk on blight was packed out. I head in other direction (probably to my detriment) for a potato packed lunch. I had a good catch-up with Alan. He had some very interesting things to say on potato eel worm and I suggest anyone who's had a problem with this, then checks out the biological control Foil-sis. Foil-sis is a close relative to the potato plant and is grown as part of a rotation (it's a year long rotation so it's foil-sis this year and potatoes next). The eel worm mistake the foil-sis for potatoes and get ready for action only to find there are no potatoes and thus die off. Trials have shown dramatic reductions in eel worm and according to Mr Romans a lot more of us suffer from this problem than we know.
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Yetholm Gypsies are really yummy. AND they look great on the plate!
Please let us know if you can use them to make pH indicator as well as the red cabbage - that's right: i got your book for Christmas too. You should write more books.
Let us know how your daydreams shape up.
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Oh Alys I truly understand your back garden frustrations!! I have a garden about the same size as yours (well at least I think so from the Gardeners World episode I saw) which for a London garden is considered really big. But I'm so greedy because after getting lots of lovely books for xmas (yours included!) I want more!!! I've considered allotments but the lists are soooo long here that there's not much chance. You are intriguing me with your plans - I need to find some alternate land to grow on. Perhaps I should sneak into my neighbours gardens at night and secretly plant things...
Re potatoes I'm on my second year of growing my own and I'm totally addicted - I've got all irish varieties as you can't beat a lovely floury spud drowning in butter and they taste so much nicer! I'm just wondering though - can I grow them in the same spot I grew them in last year? I have onions in there at the mo but when they come out will it be ok? If not I'll be ploughing up more of my lawn to get more space....
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Hi Alys,
I feel with you. I have a lovely garden in a different land - sitting being unattended with a young olive tree getting old without me being able to see it.
We left our home in Southern Spain last year after the heart wrenching decision to return to the UK because of concern over our daughters education. Now we are renting a house in the beautiful Cotswold´s but I can´t do anything to the little garden except maintain it and I have another year at least to wait for an allotment.
I´ve even been a guerilla gardener in Spain and had a massive allotment I used to tend and water in the old Arabic way, but here I feel in limbo - perhaps I will end up being a trolley lady walking around with it full of compost and portable plants!
All the best with your plans.
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try pots? on stepped shelves?
by rotating the pots in flower to the front a small place can always look interesting?
or mound up the soil al la hanging gardens of bablyon?
i saw flowerdew use tyres ;)
to save watering i cheat and put lots of that water retentive gel in the hole/pot. seems to work all right.
this is assuming the house is so jammed up with pots there is no more room? in the past i used strategically placed mirrors to bounce the light around the room so it gets to the dark places. the plants hurumph a bit but they seem to manage and they all got a turn on the sunny sill.
these days my ideal garden is one with a tea house that has carrot cake.
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So what veg will you growing you growing in your garden this season. What type inspiration on how to it better are you seeking.
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my first true veg garden was 30ft x24 ft.
It grew more food then we needed for 6 month.
since you seem to need bit inspiration I post link for you in few days.
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Known exactly how you feel about outgrowing your garden. Luckily I got my allotment 18months ago (after being on the waiting list for three years) just at the point my frustration was becoing unbearable. Since then it has had all my love and the garden has been neglected. Must try and get a better balance this year.
Don't let the waiting lists put anyone off trying for an allotment - it doesn't take any effort to be on the waiting list and it's a fantastic moment when they finally call.
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