Beginning to Garden

To have a garden and not to use it is a bit of a crime, and one which I have been guilty of. The problem is that to use a garden invariably involves a higher level of 'gardening' than just periodically ripping weeds out. So, putting aside the fact that I'm not very good at it, and the fact that I don't particularly enjoy gardening (I am hoping it will be like running but with less effort - not actually as bad as you think its going to be, and slightly enjoyable after a while), I decided to grow something this year. I thought this would:

(a) get me into the garden.
(b) (more importantly) help me attack my weeds and keep them under control.

I wanted to start small and not give myself too much to do, but what to plant?

For me there are 3 types of plants (excluding weeds):

1. Plants you can stick in the ground and forget about, whilst they grow on their own without taking over the garden - we have several of these including a huge buddleia and some rhododendrons. I really like this kind of plant, especially when they can contribute to keeping weeds at bay!
   
2. Plants with a purpose i.e. vegetables. We grow them with the aim of getting something back from them (food). For me flowers do not fall into this category.
3. The rest: flowers are fine (especially the ones that grow every year - see above) but they don't actually do anything, except provide a bit of colour; and those plants that only last one year - why were they even invented?
   

So with this in mind, the obvious answer seemed to be to grow vegetables. I went out and bought a growbag (if I put it on my newly weeded earth it'll stop the weeds beneath it - right? Well actually it doesn't, but it was worth a try).

I stuck a couple of tomato plants in it, saw some brussel sprouts in the sale and shoved them into the ground. And I also bought some marigolds, as I read on the internet that they keep whitefly away. Do marigolds only last one year? Maybe this is why such plants were invented!

I have looked after my new charges well so far: I have tended them; watered them; fed them; weeded (continually it seems); and started a battle with slugs and snails that I didn't even know we had in the garden. Funnily enough the marigolds are what the slugs go straight for. Conclusion: not even slugs like sprouts ...

To my surprise, the sprouts are actually doing quite well so far. I bought a pack of 12 for fifty pence and reasoned that some would die, but now it looks like we'll be eating sprouts all winter (good job we like them).

The tomatoes are a different story - one small plant doesn't really seem to be doing much, but I'm hopeful for the other one - just starting to flower. As they say ... time will tell.

Weeds ...

I've had a garden for over 5 years now, but, although I like the idea of gardens I have to admit that I am not what you would call 'green fingered': last year for instance I managed to kill mint, which I believe is quite an achievement. Until recently though I have not really attempted to grow anything in the garden - read more here on my first attempts ...

But despite my failings in this area I am remarkably good at getting weeds to grow - why is that? And why do they grow at ten times the rate of anything else? The answer to these questions, it seems to me, lies with a higher power.

I guessed the answer was hard work, so I ripped out all the weeds. To my dismay only a week later thousands of the little b*!**!s were growing up through my beautiful soil again, throwing into disarray any plans I had for planting things. What to do???

As any fully independent adult will do when faced with uncertainty, I turned at once to my parents for answers - my parents who for years have grown organically all manner of fruit and vegetables in quantities so large that they cannot even give them all away. My mother, usually so good at reassuring me, had only one piece of advice:

"Kneel down and weed out each one by hand."

She kindly followed this bombshell with the information that seeds can lie dormant in the ground for seven years!! I think I know what I'll be doing for some time to come ...