As a young gardener (if I can call myself that!) it’s taken me a while to find the joy in growing my own plants.Despite growing up in the countryside and always eating from our garden, I never had much curiosity around the subject.
Being a skinny teenager, digging through our clay based soil was totally exhausting and a task to be avoided at all costs, and when I was younger still, ponies had my complete attention.In the last few years my curiosity started to spark as my dad treated himself to a poly tunnel which meant we had the most delicious produce yet. I often sneak in to steal the strawberries and nibble on freshly grown radishes and peas. They are wonderful!
I realise now that I made a mistake not asking for gardening lessons from a young age from Dad. His mother was a brilliant gardener and his great granddad the head gardener in a large estate in Gloucestershire. However, the best attitude is to realise that it’s never too late to learn and now, at 25 (edit-now 26!) I’ve decided to dive in and learn everything from scratch.
When it comes to freshly grown garden veg it certainly used to be in the eating that I found the most fun. But now I get a kick from the scent of fresh growth, warmed soil and even that energy of abundant greens surrounding me…They are becoming addictive and really relaxing too, I’m beginning to crave that sweet, still time between myself and a pot of soil and some seeds.
So this year, I am determined to grow some green fingers and learn the craft of gardening. I’m particularly excited to grow herbs and edible flowers. I’m doing my research at the moment into possible plants that will work in everything from salads to body lotions and hope that by next year I will be on the way to having a small but wonderfully practical garden plot! Im hoping that this young gardeners blog will be of interest to you and hopefully spark some inspiration even if it’s just to grow some window herbs.
As we are living on the North coast, I think I will have to leave the practical side of planting to late March but in the meantime I plan to learn as much as I can about gardening! Any tips for the young gardener very welcome!
A Young Gardeners Blog:
June 11th
The polytunnel is looking so empty now! I’ve finally seen some luck with my Basil (take 3!) and little shoots are appearing. Im putting it down to their relocation into the warmest corner of the tunnel and the hotter weather here.
I’ve also got some nasturtiums and marigolds in terracotta pots left but they’re going outside our new house when we move in so I’ve left them in the polytunnel for now…
The garden outside is finally filling up! I’ve planted about 1/2 of my herb bed and the we did a big plant out of carrots, parsnips and beetroots too. Our lettuces are still small but starting to gain momentum now that it’s a decent temperature (Northern Ireland is a chilly enough part of the world!).
June 5th
Making the most of the stunning weather on the North Coast today!
We’ve planted carrots, beetroots, parsnips and potatoes and weeded all the beds! Mission accomplished!! #garden #gardening #summer #ireland #green
We’ve decided the weather has settled into the best version of summer we’re likely to get so have dived in and planted out the seeds and shoots after an intense hoe-ing and weeding morning!
May 26th
Well hello there! I’m excited to say that my Lemon Balm has finally burst through the soil in flat clusters of lime coloured leaves. I was convinced it wasn’t going to grow but then suddenly I saw the beginnings, and after a quick sniff I could confirm it was definitely Lemon Balm!
I admit here that I did over plant the seeds in some of the pots so I had to jump in and do some quick re-potting. As I am a complete beginner, Im not sure if Im ruining up the plants by dividing them and re-planting them this early but I was willing to take a risk and see what happens.
May 20th
Theres been quite the gap in posting on this Garden Diary but let me fill you in! I’ve got shoots on Thyme, Tarragon, Dill, Fennel, the beginnings of Sage and a few others too. Lavendar has refused to peak above the soil as has Lemon Balm which I’ve planted again and Basil is evading me so far. The garden plot outside is ready to go (I just have half left to weed) but the weather is slower to warm here on the North Coast so leaving it to the last minute!
April 2nd
The Calendula has shot up! Yay for marigolds. I’ve also grow quite a lot of weeds 😉
March 28th:
I haven’t updated this since I was plotting and planning but now that the weather is finally warming up I can actually begin to give you progress reports! This year as I am a newbie gardener I decided to leave the veg and fruit to the more experienced green fingers in the family and settle on herbs and edible flowers. Honestly I am a little obsessed with herbs anyway, when I was little I would read our old and tattered copy of Herbs & Remedies and try and concoct up lotions and potions. Now that I’m older I’m really keen to grow my own herbs for cooking!
So, this year I’m planting in the polytunnel an array of seeds. From Thyme to Tarragon, Basil and Comfrey.
Update:
I’ve planted all my seeds in small pots in the polytunnel, partly with guidance from the seed package and partly with a dose of instinct. Fingers crossed I’ll see some shoots soon!
