Edible garden 2011

We moved into this house on the last day of March last year so i didn't get around to planting any seeds until May, but i was still really excited and motivated and over the moon with the small amount of food i still managed to grow in my garden. This year i started in March and managed edibles and flowers too, and i have almost finished planting my veg seedlings out into a strip of land i prepared down the side of my garden. This 'plot' is much bigger than last years and i am going to double it insha'Allah over the course of this year so that in 2012 i can try to grow even more.

I started by digging out all of the grass, nettles and dandelions and then digging in some home made compost and shop bought multi purpose compost. I raked the land to level it out and removed loads of stones and shards of glass from the soil. Then it was ready to start planting. I already had a raspberry bush, blackberry bush and blueberry bush there which i planted last year. Ive now added sweetcorn, courgettes, peas, french beans, cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli. There is a tiny space left over for the carrots and parsnips which are currently in my greenhouse, but i need to dig more of the grass out really to fit them all in comfortably. I like digging though, and Little D likes to collect all the worms that we find. Sometimes a robin will join us and we throw the small ones to him. Then he will sing in his shrill but beautiful tone and i feel like he is saying thank you.

Already the seedlings have grown so much since i originally planted them out. I protected them with ground up egg shells at the bases (keeps slugs and snails away, naturally, no chemicals, and no harm done to creatures or plants) and hung cd's from sticks as the movement and light reflections scare the birds off. Both methods seem to have worked so far alhamdulillah! No casualties yet! All of my plant supports are either old garden canes from previous years or sticks / small branches which i have cut from our trees.

I took the photos above just after planting the first lot of seedlings. They have since more than doubled in size, building my hopes of eating home grown food this summer insha'Allah.

There are lots of berries on my fruit bushes, last year the blackberries and blueberries didn't fruit so im looking forward to tasting this years crop.

I noticed tiny courgettes developing yesterday, they were my biggest success last year and im hoping that the extra space ive allowed them this year will mean that we get even more from them. Isn't it just so satisfying when you can feed your family with something from your own back garden that your own nurturing hands have helped grow, from the smallest handful of coriander to a whole crop of peas? If you havent tried to grow food for your family yet than i think you should try it, even with just one or two plants.

I have lots of pea plants growing and so many delicate flowers and pods already. The tendrils amaze me, the way they have reached out to support the plant, God has blessed us with so many wonders!

I bought some chives from the Supermarket last Autumn and they have flourished and now display beautiful and extremely tasty flowers. Little D munches on them every day.

And finally there is the Elderberry tree, damson trees, apple trees and our wild cherry tree (which i forgot to photograph) - all covered with either fruit or flowers, preparing to insha'Allah over-run me with organic fruits which i will surely struggle to keep up with.

Spring and Summer are exciting times in my garden, but Autumn and Winter have their high points too. What are you growing this year? Id love to read any of your posts dedicated to your edible garden this year, please drop me a comment and a link...