Why the "Front Yard Blog" Part 2

Having decided to rip out the shrubs and move the front garden over to vegetables it was time to plan the plot. Due to the shape and size it was important to try and maximise space and yield so the decision was made to use three beds to try and help with some form of rotation system and keep pathways narrow. In an ideal world with plenty of garden I would be able to get a barrow between the beds but space would not allow this. It's not ideal but I manage and more importantly I maximise the growing space.

The second decision was to only grow produce which would either be expensive to buy or stuff we simply love too much not to have fresh. So I don't bother with onions as they are generally cheap to buy, but I grow garlic and leeks at the back end of the season so no bed lies empty. I grow salad potatoes but not main crop, apart now from a few buckets (see below), for the same reason. And if a hole opens up I try and stuff something into it even if its only a few salad or radish seeds, maximising yield and helps with successional plantings.

The first season was a real 'Suck it and see' moment. Money was tight due to being in sales and ploughing head long into a recession, so everything was done on a shoe string budget. The beds were 'improved' with some cheap compost I had come by, double dug and remained cordoned off with garden twine for the first year. What money we had went into seed, shallots or garlic.

Although we had a fair amount of success, more than we should have to be honest, forked carrots and leeks the size of spring onions were not going to feed a family. So employing the 5 P's principle - poor planning = piss, poor performance I threw myself headlong into the books and internet to improve my skills and stop the wife laughing at my pathetic octopus styled carrots!

At this time I discovered 'Grow your Own' magazine and then via this the magazines forum 'The Grapevine'. Through this site and the contacts I have made there I improved yield, diversity (i.e. Heritage tomatoes) and expanded my knowledge. However until I read a post by Dan about his onion growing exploits I still could not grow a decent carrot. So I read his entire blog, plus all the other blogs now listed on my follow list and started to use some of their advice for growing exhibition veg and adapted this to my own growing. Now, I'm not going to win any competitions with my stuff (yet) but by simply adopted some of their practices I have improved my harvest by leaps and bounds and I no longer hide my carrots. Still need work on the leeks though but that really is getting into the big leagues with those!

So with that you are just about up to present apart from I now garden a stretch in the neighbours yard, in return for some of the harvest. It's a good deal as they hate to garden and I'm always looking for more space. It also means I have somebody to water the garden if I go away.

Bucket O Spuds

Having never had any success with potato bags in the past I resolved to try one last time after watching the videos at JBA potatoes (see link) and basically discovered that I had pretty much done everything possible, wrong. So as an experiment and armed with 20 Morrison's flower buckets I thought I would try my hand at a few Pink fir apple. To those that may try this, the haulms are bloody massive, so think about their position! Secondly they do need plenty of water and if I am honest I was a little tardy with this point and I am sure this fact will have affected yield.

However I am harvesting an average of 600g per bucket of the most delicious PFA I have ever had. A good return considering both the size of bucket and lack of water. So with more water I hope to repeat this exercise again this next season and hopefully increase the yield!

So why ''The front Yard Blog?'' Part 1

Well, over the years the back garden has been nibbled (or with reference to the pond chomped (3000 gals) away by such things as decking, greenhouse and lawn but has always had a more landscaped, shrub type look to it. However the garden is dominated by a couple of huge trees which shade a great deal of the garden between 12 - 3pm during the summer, somewhat limiting the gardening activities at the far end of the property.

As we tend to spend most of the summer with the doors open, sitting on the deck and eating out (weather permitting) there was never the inclination to start stripping out sections for a veg plot as our lounge opens directly into this space. However as very enthusiastic cooks (250+ books and counting) we have always had plenty of herbs dotted around and as of six years ago, a greenhouse for a few tomatoes and chillis.

On the arrival our our first child and buoyed with the need 'provide' I launched into the allotment scene, hacking and taming a wilderness only to have to give it up when a change of job meant I no longer had the time to maintain the plot. Gutting now knowing how difficult allotments are now to come by but also due to a further change of job three years later which would have allowed me the time needed!

However during this time and the fact that the lounge was now at the rear of the house, the front garden was becoming a little unruly and neglected. As we only passed through the space to gain entry to the house, there seemed little point in spending a fortune on new plants for the neighbours in the street to enjoy and so a flippant comment of '.. I should pull the bloody lot up and fill it with veg' started to take shape.

So, three growing seasons ago, recession on the way and second child due, the decision was made to rip out the tatty shrubs and gravel, turning it all over to veg.

To be continued..... (assuming you're not bored to death by now)

So this is how the garden looked three seasons ago with # 1 helper supervising the work!

Time to get my fat balls out again!

Well, with the first frost I had better start adding bird food and 'fat balls' to one of my summer jobs- the new bird table. I didn't want a bog standard table or have the money to buy a decent one from the local garden centre so I built my own after much harassment from my daughter. I think the main post will need to be replaced for a thicker one but really its good to go.

Hello, is there anybody there?

Well the garden is starting to wind up for winter now with the first frost, work is painfully slow so the obvious thing to do is start a blog. ( Well its either that or lose my mind with boredom!)

Please bear with me whilst I learn how this thing works and bugger about making sweeping changes.