Spring is, without a doubt, my favourite season (although you'll probably hear me say that in Autumn too!). In this season of new beginnings, the birds are singing, the sun is shining and there is new life in the garden. This is my favourite part - the new life we're about to nurture and grow.
I'm not much of a winter gardener (yet, I'll get there one day), so springtime is where it all starts for me. I don't really do much prep between Winter and Spring, I have to admit, apart from digging over the soil and putting all the dead leaves etc into the compost bin. I am a planner though, so in January I start thinking about what I want to grow, sketching out where everything will go and ordering seeds or sets online. As soon as March comes it's a quick trip to the garden centre (I don't have a favourite: B&Q, Langlands, Homebase) to stock up on compost and any seeds I haven’t bought online and then we're off.
The rest of March is usually spent repeatedly watering pots of soil and answering impatient questions like, "Is this one growing yet, Mummy?" But it's worth the wait. When those first shoots start to pop up in April, the excitement switch is well and truly pressed and I start to look forward to the coming months when we'll be sowing, potting on, hardening off and planting out the wide variety of veggies we've decided to grow this year. It's such a small slice of happiness but one I look forward to every year. And my toddler is joining in my excitement too, which makes it all the more wonderful.
So, what are we growing this year?
It takes a bit of practise to know what certain plants will do and when and this comes with good old trial and error. My old approach used to be: sow as much as possible, get them growing and figure out the rest when the time comes. There was no rhyme or reason to it and it often meant I didn’t grow anything very well or I ended up with too much stuff I didn't have space for. Our garden isn’t massive and we need a lot of space to play, so these days I tend to choose a few things and try to grow them well.
This year we've got our faves Tristar F1 Courgettes - which are so easy to grow we'll be picking them all summer - and Sweet Million Cherry Tomatoes. With a name like that you might expect great things, and after last year's trial I can tell you they seriously do not disappoint - they just keep coming and coming, much to the delight of our eager little gardener. This year we'll be growing them in a greenhouse too, so watch this space for an update on how they're getting on.
Cucumbers are back for us this year too and we've gone for Telegraph Improved this time. I've had mixed results with cukes in the past, but I'm remaining positive and I'm hoping the addition of the greenhouse will help. Pumpkin is another one of the biggies I'm yet to succeed with, but maybe this year our Pot of Gold Pumpkin might be different?! Fingers crossed.
On top of that lovely lot we've also got Dwarf Stanley French Beans, which is another one that comes in abundance when the conditions are right. Rainbow Mix F1 carrots are a new novelty for us but we're going to enjoy tickling their leaves and talking to them as they grow. And we've also got a variety of fresh herbs, some strawberries and some rhubarb. Plenty to be getting on with in our small family veg garden.
So, our wellies are on (as always) and we'll be out in the garden loads from now until October (ish). Here's to a fabulous growing season for everyone. Enjoy.
What are you growing this year?
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