(no subject)

[turps]

As promised, some poorly focused pictures of my garden.



Buying the sugar snap peas was very much a last minute thing. They were on the reduced shelf, only 65p for a tray of six plants, and to be honest, we didn't plant them out for a while. When we did we put them in a wall container under our kitchen window, and they grew like crazy. We have to pass the container to get inside and it's so easy to just reach out and snap off some peas to eat. They're so tasty.



One of the courgette plants. I had no idea that courgettes actually grew like that. Their flowers are so beautiful too, like triffids.



One of the outside tomato plants ( ignore the horribly long grass, it's rained for days now and we haven't been able to cut it ) Remember how we said we'd probably kill some of the tomato plants? Not so much. We gave away loads of plants and still had to put a load outside. Sadly the lack of sun means the tomatoes aren't ripening yet.



Spring onions. They taste great, but man, are they strong.



Peppers, which are supposed to be red peppers so I haven't picked them yet. I'm itching to get my hands on them though.



A long shot of the garden. My computer desk is just beyond that window, see how the terrifying courgette plants are brushing against it? One day they'll get inside, I just know it.



In that mess of greenery there are tomatoes, courgettes, carrots, beetroots and cucumbers.



We ran out of space for the plants so bought a cheap tomato house. That's right next to the kitchen door.



More tomatoes and flowers that really need to be dead-headed.



More peppers. As you can see from the tag they're supposed to be red.



A cucumber, and behind that my tray of soil that's supposed to be chives. Stupid chives.



Baby tomatoes!



Chillies. Lots of chillies!



We only bought two types of flowers. I love marigolds, so am glad we got these. Sadly they're not looking their best as they really need dead-heading, too.





Next year we intend to save up and buy a real green house. The plastic one we have now was really cheap and it's showing, with seams giving way. Plus, we've discovered that we like gardening a lot. It's hard work at times but so worth it.

Comments

[lazydwarf]

So fun! I have such a black thumb it's not even funny, but I love to see stuff that other people have grown. That'd be so fun to just walk out the door and grab lunch.

[turps]

I'm very surprised these have grown to be honest, especially as we haven't grown stuff before. It is great just to grab stuff from the garden :)

How are you? You don't seem to have been around for a while.

[imsinkingfast]

Peas in a hanging pot, how cool! When I lived in Vancouver I had a potted vegetable garden, grew my best head of broccoli to date in a pot *sigh* Miss it sometimes.

[turps]

I wish we'd planted more peas because I love eating them. Six plants weren't enough.

Growing broccoli sounds like an amazing thing!

[turlough]

Ooooh, your garden is growing like CRAZY! There's just something so SATISFYING in seeing vegetables grow larger and ripen, even the sorts I don't particularly care for myself. I could probably gladly grow cucumbers and peppers and tomatoes and give them away if I'd the space.

Squash flowers are so pretty. Did you know that they're supposedly delicious dipped in a light batter and fried? I've never tried it myself but it's the sort of thing you see recipes of everywhere it seems.

Next year I suggest buying a plant or two of chives. That's the way I've always gotten it and a plant will usually last me for years. At least as long as I remember to cut it regularly and never let it start flowering. The flowers are very pretty but the stalks become very coarse and strong tasting.

[turps]

It really is. I've got some other pictures in my photobucket from a month or so back and the difference is huge.

You need to give the tomatoes and peppers to me. I love them. I just wish they'd ripen already.

Shine was saying over on LJ that you can eat them. She given me a recipe and I think I'm going to give it a try. Nothing ventured and all that.

I'm going to take your advice about the chives. I love the idea of having them available but am disappointed at the utter lack of any growing of the seeds.

[chalcopyrite]

Oh, sugar snap peas are such a wonderful, rewarding thing to grow. &peas;

Too bad about the tomatoes and peppers not ripening, but in the worst scenario, you can make green tomato chutney. Mmmm.

(Also, courgettes = totally triffids. Triffids on the hunt!)

[turps]

They really are. Next year I'm going to plan many more because I've loved picked from the few we have.

I really hope the peppers and tomatoes ripen but they're being stubbornly green right now. It would probably help if we ever get more sun.

They're so triffids!

[frausorge]

Your plants all look so lush and gorgeous! Go you! And your harvests sound even better.

Also, I am delighted that your peppers are called Britney. What could be sparklier than that??

[turps]

I'm so happy with the plants. They keep growing no matter what we do to them.

They are the sparkliest peppers of all!

[sperrywink]

Looking good! You have a virtual jungle there! My dad would approve so hardcore. *g*

(In all honesty I love the picture of your chives dirt the most, ahahahaha)

[turps33.livejournal.com]

It really is a jungle, especially the ones under the window. Organisation, who needs it?!

Stupid chives! They taunt me with their unwillingness to grow!

[ihearthings-ii.livejournal.com]

You should come here and care for my flowers. I keeeel them.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't know how we haven't killed our plants. All we do is shove them in soil and add water. I think they're magic!

[llamabitchyo.livejournal.com]

When I was little, I loved dead-heading the marigolds. Sometimes I was a little too enthusiastic and wanting to pop the heads off ones that weren't dead yet too. :D

[turps33.livejournal.com]

My marigolds desperately need dead-heading.I should get my ass out and do it while it's not raining.

Unless you want to come do it, you sound like an expert :D

[trumpeterofdoom.livejournal.com]

Your cucumber is HUGE.

Um. I mean. Your courgette's growing well? *snerk* And you've got Britney peppers! That is hilarious! My dad's been trying to grow some veg as well in our tiny balcony, but with clay-y kind of soil we have here it's not very successful. Not to mention we have altogether too much rain that will drown anything that dares poke its head out.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

It's about time someone went there!

We do have Britney peppers! They're the only plants that get called by name.

We had one storm that destroyed a tray of lettuce seedlings due to heavy rain so I can imagine how hard it must be to grow stuff when you deal with that constantly.

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

Dude, I feel healthy just looking at your garden! I love how you've grown an entire produce section of a grocery store in a container garden, and I love the little shots of color the flowers offer.

I'm extremely jealous of your bell peppers, though. I've tried growing bell peppers a couple times in the past and have had no luck at all. Also? That is one hell of a cucumber.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

The soil in our garden is terrible. It used to be covered in bark for Corey's swing and added to the sand from his sandpit nothing would have grown in that mixture, so containers seemed to be the way to go. We got all the pots from the local flower shop for free, so overall it's been pretty cheap to do. Next year I want more flowers, and in fact may plant some autumn bulbs for spring.

I love peppers and am looking forward to eating them when they ripen. I guess I could do so now but they're so much nicer when they're red. The cucumber is insane! It grew like crazy!

[spasticat.livejournal.com]

Now that's a lot of lovely veg! To have snap peas so readily available for snacking must be quite the treat!

Stupid chives, indeed!

ps...I need to dead-head my flowers, too. Some are so wee and tiny so it's a laborious, odd activity to do. The first time I plucked a dead flower head I felt so awful.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Not many of the peas actually end up being cooked, they're just too handy to pluck off and eat as you're wandering in and out.

Seriously. I have chive issues!

It is a weird feeling taking off the heads of flowers. You're also right it's a time consuming job. Not so much with the marigolds but the other flowers you have to be so careful to get all the small dead heads. I have so much respect for people who have full flower beds to do.

[shinetheway.livejournal.com]

Oh wow. I am jealous as anything, since the most gardening I've been able to do this year is three tiny herb pots in the kitchen windowsill, but that's amazing. Root vegetables and ground vines in pots! That's seriously kind of impressive.

And woah. Your cucumber plant's totally hung. That there is the Ray Toro of cucumbers. [grins]

The courgettes are gorgeous, and you know those blossoms are edible, right? You can pick them and stuff them with, like, a cheese-parsley-herb mixture and bake them, or batter and deep fry them, or even eat them raw if I remember correctly. So if you find that you're being courgetted out of house and home, that's a suggestion to try and thin the herd.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

All the root vegetables are in the old recycling boxes. We got bins instead and the council let us keep the boxes, and they were perfect for the carrots and beets. There's also a drawer full of soil for the few lettuces that survived. It's a very make shift garden.

Ahahaha. I'm so calling that cucumber Ray. If I can't eat it I'll blame you!

I didn't know you could eat the blossoms. I'm tempted to give that a try, simply because I've been attempting to find new vegetables to eat and new ways to prepare them. That sounds very exotic and tasty.

[tempore.livejournal.com]

I really really want a garden like you have there. Next year, I'm going to get all the necessary soil and pots and things for it. Hopefully next year I'll have a place of my own, and a place to grow these things. :)

[turps33.livejournal.com]

It's been a fun thing to try. We really didn't expect much this year because half the time we don't know what we're doing, but it seems plants are very resilient. Well, if they're not chives.

I hope you do get your own place and garden :)

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bettina_/]

Garden pictures, yay! Tiny cute tomatoes!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I want the tiny cute tomatoes to be red so I can eat them!

[pensnest]

What you have here is a sane-sized version of my father in law's garden. Tomatoes, chilis, courgettes etc. Do you eat the nasturtiums, too? It all looks neat and very efficient.

Sadly, I am too lazy to grow tomatoes. Fresh-picked tomatoes are *so* good!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I have a lot of respect for anyone that has a big garden. This one takes long enough to look after and it's tiny. Nope, no eating of the nasturtiums. Though like I said upthread to shine, I'm willing to try new things, so who knows in the future.

Fresh tomatoes are delicious. My dad used to grow them and I'm so eager for them to turn red.

[hammerhead22.livejournal.com]

Fantastic garden!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[dr-jasley.livejournal.com]

OOOOOOO GARDEN......and poor chives dirt plot thingy:(

it looks like you have a forest back there awesome...and sometimes it seems like plants want to take over the world.

Plus your tomatoes look better than my dad's did(they got burned up by the sun and eaten by giant rabbits.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

The chives are very sad making :(

It does look like a forest, a mini one right outside my window.

We haven't had enough sun to burn our tomatoes, there's more chance that they'll drown at the moment.

[krabbypatty.livejournal.com]

Your garden looks so good! Pretty much everything I planted died this year.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I'm really surprised that more of our plants didn't die as we really don't know what we're doing half of the time.

Thank you :)

[babycakesin.livejournal.com]

Wheeee! Wonderful garden!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[arsenicjade.livejournal.com]

So, SOOOOO jealous of all your foods.

Also, preeeetty.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I'm so impatient to eat the peppers and tomatoes. Why must they take so long to ripen!?

[bououou.livejournal.com]

This is a really pretty garden!
I like it like it when all the plants are big and take so much space! :)

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I like when they're big because you can't see the weeds underneath.

[lemniciate.livejournal.com]

\o/ Everything looks so good!

We keep trying to grow peppers and cucumbers and whatnot, but the weather here just isn't suited for it. They all turn out tiny, but at least they still taste good! XD

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Tasting good is a fantastic end result!

I will resist the urge to make it's not the size but.... joke.

[rikes]

Wow! Your garden is impressive. So many yummy things!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I just wish the tomatoes would ripen. I'm very impatient.