Herb Planting in April

Last summer I tried to grow tomatoes, courgettes, peppers and all kinds of herbs – everything but the herbs failed. It’s difficult to grow vegetables in pots in a garden that is just a patio so I think this year I’ll try the tomatoes-in-a-bag and use all the pots to grow herbs and salads instead as they won’t let me down!

I don’t have the indoor cupboard space to sow seeds and keep them in the dark and warm until they’re ready to go out so basically I need hardy things that will do fine from start to finish in the little pop up greenhouse in the yard.

Herbs and salads I’ll be sowing in April

• Coriander
• Dill
• Parsley
• Chives
• Spinach
• Watercress
• Basil
• Oregano
• Sage
• Thyme
• Mint
• Rocket

Wish me luck!

Garden update: July

I’m just sitting down with a cuppa after a morning’s hard graft in the garden. My back aches, my arms are pricked by thorns and there’s soil under my fingernails. And what’s all this effort for if I can’t share it on my blog?

My tomato plants have finally decided to grow some fruit. I know I started them late and they’ve had a too tough time in the heat (too much sunshine, huh? You’re supposed to be exotic) but at last they have grown a few flowers last month and now this month the tiniest, teeniest little green fruits have started to form. Here’s hoping for a warm autumn to give them a chance to grow and ripen.

 

Apples – the apple tree is blooming. It looks like it’s probably an ancient tree (we rent a Victorian mill worker’s old cottage) and it always does well (too well; I can’t eat that many apples.) I couldn’t tell you what variety but they are slightly on the sour side.

 

The pond: a toad moved in last month and he’s sticking around. The plants we bought have grown too large for this small sink pond so one of them might end up getting chucked. So far the toad has escaped the clutches of my murderous cat.

 

The herb garden:
 

Tell me how your garden’s growing!