I went on a little tour of the garden earlier this afternoon with the camera and Erica in order to show you lovely lot how our first attempts at growing our own produce have gone. The vast majority of our garden has been trashed by the chickens (and admittedly by us) but we’re slowly plotting out the garden and getting things the way we want them to be. With luck, we’ll have done the majority of the work by the end of the Summer holidays and I’ll be able to show better photographs 
We have an old coal shed at our back door and recently built a fence using the coal shed as the corner. This gave us a patio sealed off from the hens and once we’d laid turf this has given us a lovely area for the kids to play safely. This in turn has released the pressure on us as we couldn’t let the kids out to play before we’d done that. So! Without further ado…
We had to move this rhubarb from the bottom of the garden as it was flooded there, as a result we have the smallest rhubarb shoots in the world! Little person for scale.
This is one of our raised beds, the netting is to keep the hens out. The plants at the front are carrots, with two varieties of lettuce behind that and then onions.
In the next raised bed we have brocolli!
We went into the greenhouse to have a look and found some tomato plants…
…and some herbs…
..while Erica posed…
…and admired the peapods.
We took a photo of a few of our hens
and also our beautiful fuschia
The cherry tree that was planted after we had Greer is fruiting too!
Then we had a look in the coop to see if the hens had laid today
before heading back up towards the patio where we looked at the strawberry plants
and Erica posed again
We looked at our blueberry and blackcurrant “bushes” which were unfortunately damaged a few months ago by one of the children and therefore are unlikely to flower and bear fruit this year. Statler and Waldorf look after them
and finally our spuds. Our local authority recently gave us wheelie bins dedicated to glass after running a pilot glass recycling project which left the old sacks redundant. So! We’re growing potatoes in ours.
Next year we hope to add another 4 raised beds but of course this is all dependant on our successes this year. I shall keep you posted! In the meantime – are you growing anything? If so, what are you growing and what do you hope to achieve?
Posted under self-sufficiency, with the kids
This post was written by Vonnie on July 8, 2009
Bella wore that dress today too!!
We’re growing carrots, lettuce, strawberries and broccoli. Very exciting!!
You’re garden looks great – I’m very jealous
Wow I’m so jealous!
We are growing strawberries, although I think they are done now, we had a good crop.
potatoes, tomatoes, parsnips,carrots, broccoli, peas, runnerbeans, grapes (doing very well!), olives (but we might not stay hot enough for them!) onions, garlic and corn on the cob. Did this last year and enjoyed it, so having another go this year but with a bit more adventure. :0)
Wow. That’s amazing – so much produce in your garden! I thought we were doing well with a few beetroot and carrots, but you’ve well and truly trumped us with your chickens. Just you wait til I get my beehive!
Actually took pics in garden today myself, of anarchic courgette plants. Do not understand how they are growing so far from original planting area. Oh, hold on, I have kids…
Nice pics! We have a communal garden with a bunch of oldies so it’s a strictly ‘look don’t touch’ affair
lovely produce in your garden, even if the rubarb is miniscule (vile stuff anyway)… we have a few tomato plants and a cucumber that never seems to get any bigger, next year we will do more.. and by we I mean me.. I just don’t seem to have the heart for much gardening this year…
When we had the flat we couldn’t move for cucumbers on our window ledge. Since we moved to the house I’ve not managed a since cucumber. All my cuc seedlings this year died off so I ended up replacing them with peas as I’ve yet to find a pea that won’t grow no matter where you plant it.
We’ve got sweetcorn, tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, pumpkins, beans and various herbs on the go this year.
Good stuff – what lovely photos! We have toms, courgettes, squash, beans, lettuce, cucumbers and beetroot here, but no chickens (I wish!). I am envious of your fruit bushes..
We have a small courtyard garden, so my growing is limited to rosemary and mint in pots in the garden, and basil in a pot on the kitchen windowsill – however we have done the whole veggie/fruit growing thing in previous gardens!
I’ve just realised there is no photo of the bramble bush. We’re going to get a bumper crop from that one this year after chopping most of it down last year by accident.
That’s all looking great!
Our crops aren’t doing badly. It’s all in pots though, but I’m hoping to have some raised beds for next year.