Monday 26 March 2012

And So We Welcome Spring 2012...


It’s that time of year again when the clouds clear and the sun gets its moment of glory and shines all day long.  The days seem to go on forever and the garden is alive with the promise of new life and new growth.  Finally, we can all celebrate because Spring has arrived.

For me, this is a particularly exciting time of year, as my months of planning finally culminate in the sowing of seeds, bulbs, tubers and the occasional tree. The ‘Grow Your Own’ season is here and is underway with a bang.

This year my vegetable growing hobby has expanded to include a small vegetable patch in my garden.  This prospect is such an exciting one that it has left me feeling like a small child waiting for Santa Claus to arrive.  It has opened several new doors and enabled me to explore many different avenues and vegetable varieties that I was unable to explore last year when I was growing solely in containers.  Of course, a vegetable patch requires a lot more preparation and planning than container growing, but there are some great websites and books out there that provide endless advice and support.  I stumbled across a fantastic website that enables you to sketch out your patch online, which I found extremely useful.

Now, this vegetable patch in no way means that my container growing days are a thing of the past.  Quite the contrary, in fact, I intend to make as much use of containers this year as I did last year.  There are plenty of varieties of vegetables that are far better suited to container growing and I shall continue to grow these in this way to ensure maximum yield.  However, there are some varieties that are perhaps better suited to being grown in the ground, especially if they are bigger, bushier plants.

In a nutshell, I shall be exploring the wonderful world of the veggie patch as well as building on previous experience gained in container growing.  I’ll be blogging as I go on both areas with any little useful pieces of information that could come in handy for other keen but clueless GYO enthusiasts.  My plan for this year, although this is subject to change, is to grow the following:

         Veggie Patch:

  1. Runner Beans
  2. Peas
  3. Carrots
  4. Broccoli
  5. Onion
  6. Chillies & Peppers

        Containers:

  1. Basil
  2. Mint
  3. Parsley
  4. Rocket
  5. Tomatoes
  6. Potatoes
  7. Garlic
  8. Strawberries
  9. Raspberries

As I previously mentioned, I’ll be blogging as I go and hope to provide lots of useful tips and handy information along the way.  My blogging goal for 2012 is to blog about each and every veggie that I grow in a way that is useful to those who are reading it.  Hopefully, I can help all my followers in some small way to have a successful and prolific 2012 season.   

So, keep following and you may just encounter the very piece of information that you were looking for to get you going.

Happy growing!

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