I have been making steady progress here at the growing gardens of the Welsh Hovel .It is good for my health, my blood sugars are normal for the first time in years, and home grown food is just so rewarding.
All bar two of the 70 or so trees I have planted have survived. Two of the five edible olive trees I smuggled in from the Greek Hovel may have “gone West,” the jury is still out on them but the apples, plums, pears, figs, cherries, mulberries, peach, sweet chestnut and dog’s arse tree are all doing well.
I have added to the bank of fruit bushes in the main garden, the area once known as the jungle with more blueberries and gooseberries while adding a row of blackcurrant bushes in the top orchard. The vine and pomegranate from last year have wintered well and are thriving as is my rhubarb patch though it needs a good weeding as does the lavender hedge. With the family away bothering God for half term I should make good progress from Friday. .
While they are away I also plan to “harvest” the two elderflower trees here so making both cordial and champagne and, in due course, ice cream from the cordial.
In the gardens I have planted out another 200 strawberries, rows of broad beans, shallots, beetroot, radishes, chillies aubergines, squashes, tomatoes and marrows. By the middle of next week I should have potatoes in the ground and, as an experiment, a square of sweetcorn. I am not sure if it will work but Joshua has insisted we give it a go.
And this evening I harvested the first produce of 2025, the autumn planted garlic. It’s not a great crop, 13 not that big bulbs but I do have an excuse: the pear tree brought down in the storms fell just where they were growing just as the first shoots appeared above ground. I cannot think that helped. Anyhow they are drying in my shed and tomorrow the shallots, which suffered from the same pear tree disaster, will also be harvested.
