Has The Secret Acre gone to rack and ruin since our last blog 5 months ago?
In short, no.
What has gone to ruin, we’ve realised, was our resolve to only work part-time since moving to the smallholding. Both our hours have slowly crept up again over the last two years, almost without noticing. Continue reading
We made the rookie mistake of going on holiday in May.
So after congratulating ourselves for getting off to a good start in April, we came back to a mad frenzy of overdue planting jobs at the end of the month to try and catch up all over again. Continue reading
And then there were three. I’m still not quite sure how it’s happened. We had always envisaged space for three veg beds. But after the great effort made by an army of friends to get the first one going, I’d assumed numbers two and three would have to wait a while yet. Continue reading
The signs of Spring are breaking out everywhere, and our over-wintering veg patch is no exception.
Just as we feared all hope for the late summer plantings of Broccoli and Cauliflower might be fading, the lengthening days worked their magic. Continue reading
Spring might officially still be a while off, but the first stirrings of new hope ahead are already in the gardener’s heart.
There’s the new, rotated veg patch plan to draw up, and seeds to be sorted and ordered. Continue reading
“A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself” – May Sarton.
Personally I like to think my life so far has fortunately been a series of triumphs set against a few disasters. But the jury is definitely still out when it comes to our new veg beds!
Certainly in this first year, there have been more triumphs than losses, which is nice. But this is probably mostly because we are still easily pleased! Continue reading
Another quick update from the veg patch. Our onion and potato harvests were in recently.
The onions were most satisfying, because they are another of those vegetables that we never bothered growing before, when we were container growing in a small city backyard.
The potatoes were more of a relief. We had always grown a sack or two of potatoes in the backyard. A regular and reliable staple. But now, properly in the soil for the first time, they looked decidedly less healthy, and we were worried they had failed. Continue reading
