Grow Your Own

With the days starting to gradually stretch out again and the dark nights starting to ease slowly, we are starting to think about getting ready to begin messing around in the garden at home again. We don’t have a huge plot, just a standard suburban corner plot, but since buying our house five years ago we have made inroads into making the plot earn its keep by growing our own. We don’t know much about gardening but we learn as we go along.

We have a small orchard in the front garden, currently stocked with two apple trees, a plum tree and two cherry trees. You don’t need a huge garden to grow fruit trees, these days there are a wealth of nurseries stocking plants grafted onto dwarfing stock. The apple and plum trees act as a natural boundary line between ours and our neighbours land and have just about reached their full height of around 3m tall. This year they will be topped and cut back to encourage them to spread out a little forming more of a bushy hedge line. These three trees have been planted for some four or so years now and are becoming fully established and reliable croppers. They were purchased as yearling stock from a local DIY store for the bargain price of £10, for all three.

Our two cherry trees are relatively recent additions to the garden being planted some eighteen months ago; they are not yet at their full height nor are they producing anything of a crop. Planting fruit trees doesn’t give instant results but with time and some care they will provide you with year’s worth of fruit for not a lot of effort. Fruit trees also provide some colour to the garden with their spring blossom, green leaves throughout the summer and then a burst of reds and gold during the autumn months. It is always a relief come spring when the first signs of life start to appear on the trees after their winter slumber. The locations where these two trees are planted dictate that they need to be pruned to keep them small and manageable and at a suitable height for their positions close to the house, but this doesn’t take much time or effort and keeps them under control and healthy.

To compliment the orchard fruits we also have a small green house in the back garden. Each year we attempt to grow a variety of fruit and vegetables with varying rates of success. We are fairly reliable with the tomato crop, often producing far too many for our own consumption and having to give the majority away to friends and family. However in previous years we have struggled with peppers and chilli peppers. We will give them a go again this year and hopefully manage to produce a reasonable crop for our own consumption.

As we are away most weekends and during our holidays we invested in an auto pot, automatic watering system for the greenhouse. This is a simple gravity fed float switch operated system that provides the water, and nutrients that each plant needs individually. It has taken all of the stress out of monitoring the green house and the only thing we need to do is ensure that the water butt is full of water and feed and that the greenhouse is left well ventilated. The plants then pretty much look after themselves. We do of course still need to monitor the plants for sucker growth and insect infestations, but this is a very quick task taking just a few minutes each morning during the week.

We also have a raised bed which we have constructed in the back garden that we use for growing vegetables. This year we are going to have a go at growing a small crop of sweet corn. In previous years we have had success in this bed with onions, garlic, broccoli and broad beans. We also have a number of large containers that we use to grow other vegetables such as carrots, parsnips and peas.

Perhaps the most used of our home grown produce is the herb garden, stocked with mint, lemon thyme, rosemary, sage, chives and parsley, it is used pretty much every time we cook a meal at home. We have saved a small fortune by growing our own herbs and it isn’t difficult; once established herbs will pretty much look after themselves needing just the occasional watering during the summer months. Herbs also like to be used; they will grow much better, once well established, if you pick them and use them on a regular basis.

You don’t need a massive garden, as we have proven, to make an effort and grow at least some of your own fruit and vegetables. We still have a wide variety of ornamental shrubs and plants within our gardens, however it is nice to be able to provide at least a little of our own produce for the table. The fruit and vegetables blend into the garden and add extra colour and texture to the gardenscape as a whole. Home grown produce tastes so much better and is much fresher than shop bought alternatives; it is just a shame that more people don’t make the most of their gardens and at least attempt to grow a little of their own.