July 2007

Its the 8th of July and I'm amazed at how my garden has produced so much from such a relative small space. I've had Broccolli (about 5 dinners worth), beetroot (loads!), mangetout, garlic (about 20 cloves), shallots (again about 40), loads of lettuce, radishes, potatoes and strawberries.

Failures - yes one quite big one - tomatoes do not like being in close contact with other veg. I've put in 4 tom plants and each one had succumbed to blight - wether its because I've grown potatoes (same family) and its been very warm and damp (the blight love it) I've just not succeeded (oh well we all get things wrong sometimes!!) The ones in the hanging baskets are doing fine!

I thought I would also show you how easy it is to grow potatoes in a compost bag - take one old compost bag and make holes in the bottom for drainage. Add about 3 seed potatoes (around March time), every time the green shoots appear keep adding compost - when about 3/4 full and all danger of frost has passed let the potatoes grow. I used first early called Charlotte which is a salad potatoe. Yesterday I harvested them and this is what I got.