Growing vegetables

On my 60 before 60 list I have included having a veg patch.  This might not seem too ambitious for most people, but my family have witnessed my veg growing disasters year after year.  The year when the tomatoes were really doing well, laden down with soon to be ripe tomatoes, then within days the plants turned a ghastly colour and died.  Last year again they were laden with tomatoes, we had a good summer, but only about  5 of them ripened.  The rest remained stubbornly green.  I managed a few lettuce, the cucumber plants have had at most two cucumbers on them, and the runner beans not much more.  If we had to be self sufficient, we would have starved years ago.

The only thing I am good at growing, and I don't want to jinx this years crop, is potatoes.  They seem to thrive on neglect, in fact I have just found some growing behind the greenhouse that must have come from last years potato bag that was tipped out in preparation for this years crop.  Also bizarrely we have just found a beetroot growing in the garden.  I have no idea where this came from.

But I'm ever optimistic, this year I'm trying again, everything is grown in pots, builders buckets and old supermarket bags.

I have planted some spring onions in a few pots as even if they are very tiny they will add some flavour to a salad.

Peas and mange tout are growing in  £1 builders buckets, tho they don't seem very good at climbing the bamboo I have provided so I keep trying to wrap them around by hand

Some bush tomatoes, again in buckets, my thinking behind this was if one of them turned a funny colour I could whisk it out of the greenhouse before it infected the others, easier than if they were in grow bags.

I think the lettuce is ready to pick before it bolts, I probably left too many in a pot, but I hate thinning them out, I always feel like I should give them a chance.

We may get a few strawberries, fingers crossed

 .....and the carrots, I put them in before reading that they should be in sandy soil, so I'm not holding out too much hope for them, but the slugs seem to like them.  

I forgot to take a photo of my most successful plants, the potatoes.   Hopefully I will get a good crop from them.  I don't think I will be cancelling my veg box anytime soon tho.

I would appreciate any advice from the gardeners out there, and also suggestions on what to grow in the new veg patch.  

60 by 60 Working on number 4, live by the sea

Someone once said, 'a weed is only a weed if it is in the wrong place'  I whole heartedly agree with this.  If I like the look of a plant it stays, I don't usually even know if something is a weed or not, such is the extent of my gardening knowledge.  I therefore have an unruly garden, which I'm happy with.  I like my garden to be a wildlife haven, chemical free and informal.  It has taken many years for it to become the type of garden that gardeners would itch to get their hands on, to weed and hack away at.  But it is my little oasis of wild gardening or lack of gardening in the burbs. I even loved the huge brambles which provided free food when the blackberries ripened. There is a new nest this year in an old feeding box, so I will looking out for the chicks

Sadly if I am to achieve number 4 on my list of living by the sea, we have to tame the garden so prospective buyers will not run from it in horror.  It's upsets me hugely whenever anything is cut down.  The overgrown honeysuckle was the latest casualty, it was not pretty, all wood and no green but it was where a bird chose to make its nest last year.  The only positive is that it has cleared a space that could become a little veg patch (number 11 on my list)

So here are the highlights of my wild garden, before it gets tidied up.

Sorry to those who are trying to post and can't. It may be something to do with cookies or cakes or something like that.  Will try to sort it out x

Tehidy Woods

I love this time of year when the wildflowers cover the hedgerows and fill the woods.  One of the most beautiful places to see the bluebells is Tehidy Woods near Camborne.  It is a popular annual trip for many people including us,  a magical place made even more beautiful by the carpet of blue, and the white wild garlic that fill the air with their oniony scent.  There is a cafe if you want to treat yourself, but I don't think you can beat packing a picnic and finding a quiet spot to stop and enjoy nature at its best.

Bluebells cover the hedgerow along the lanes

Hundreds of little paths lead you through the woods

I love this twisted tree, we picnicked under here when the children were little.

Number 1 Start a Blog

This wasn't originally going to be on my 60 by 60 list, but I have become a little bit obsessed with following blogs, and I'm sure my friends will get a bit fed up if I fill their FB with my ramblings (even more than usual) about my list.  So the solution is to start my own blog.  Only one problem, I have no idea what I am doing so please excuse the chopping and changing until I find my blog feet.

The blog will be my 60 by 60 list, which will be added to and may be changed as new things come into my life that interest me and other things may not seem so appealing.  But also my everyday ups and downs, joys and moans, photos and projects and of course Cornwall.

So here it is, number 1 ticked off, well sort of......

60 by 60

While busy planning a 60's Birthday Party for my partner, I had to face the inevitable fact that it wouldn't be that many years before I would reach the bus pass age.  I feel it is something to be celebrated as last year my future was uncertain.  At the time I had no wish to run around doing lots of things I had not got around to, on the contrary, I decided that if my time was limited, I just wanted to spend the time doing what I was already doing, spending time with my family, creating, and enjoying my beautiful Cornwall.

However, I woke up this morning with the idea of setting myself the task of doing 60 things by the time I am 60, simple I thought, until I sat down to create the list.  I have been lucky enough to have had a good life and have already done so many wonderful things.  I also love the simple things in life, and living where I do, get huge pleasure from walking on the beach, sitting in my garden, cooking, reading, sewing and playing in a samba band.

I wanted a place for friends and family to follow my progress, so here goes