All that comes with it

Last month was the third wettest June in the UK since records began, beaten only by 1912 and 1982. What’s more the BBC claims July is going to be pretty rainy too; it certainly has been so far.

All this has meant I haven’t got out in the garden very often recently. There have been some developments though, so brace yourself for another horticultural update. Stop moaning, you know you love it.

The Back Garden

I had a couple of weeks off work at the end of last month and so took the opportunity to get down to some heavy labour in the back garden. For the past year or so I have been constructing a series of raised beds and paths in order to start growing vegetables next spring. The progress has been slow, partly because of restrictions of time and money, but mainly because I’m lazy. However, bit-by-bit the project has slowly come together and June saw the culmination of the last stage - the laying of gravel on the paths.

As you may know I live on at the end of an extremely narrow little lane, and I have been quite worried about how I was going to get the gravel delivered. Most suppliers use big lorries with huge lifting arms on the back to transfer the 1 ton bags from the truck to the ground. There is no way one of those monsters could fit down our drive.

Still, nothing ventured nothing gained. I wasn’t sure how much gravel I would actually need, and so I carefully measured up the area I needed to cover. I then consulted a number of online guides which each made recommendations that ranged between four and eight tons. Thinking six tons was a happy medium Kerry and I headed for a local builders merchants to see what they could do.

After discussion with the rather curt man behind the sales desk we were pleased to find out that they did have some smaller tipper trucks that would be able to fit down our drive. These only held 3.5 tons unfortunately, but that wasn’t really a problem. I could always go back and order some more.

So bright and early the next morning three and a half tons of gravel was dumped in our parking space and I began the laborious task of lugging it up the hill in buckets. As the day wore on I started to experience a mixture of emotions. Pleasure that the job was progressing much quicker than I had anticipated, and growing alarm that the huge pile of gravel didn’t appear to be going down at all.

I now have one and a half tons of excess sandstone gravel sitting on my drive and nowhere to put it.

What is the protocol for getting rid of left over gravel? Do you shovel it into black bags and hope the bin men don’t notice how heavy they are? Post it through the neighbours letterboxes? Give it away as prizes on your blog? I just don’t know.

The Front Garden

Because of the rain I haven’t been out in the front garden as much as I should have, and as a result the slugs and snails have pretty much taken over. They have turned many of the sunflower leaves into skeletons, had a good go at the lettuces, and taken big whopping chunks out of my radishes.

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom. The tomatoes and the potatoes seem to be doing ok, and the first strawberries are starting to ripen. I have yet to sample one but Amy tells me they are “yummy”. The runner beans have suffered their fair share of slug attacks too, but appear to be pulling through. And the apples up the back are beginning to look rather jucy.

This year has been a trial run really, my true vegetable adventures will start next year when my raised beds swing into action. But it’s been fun so far and I’ve managed to eat a few things from the garden, which is always nice.

I wonder if gravel would be edible if you boiled it long enough?

Other People’s Gardens

When I first wrote about planting our potatoes in old car tyres Kerry’s friend Katherine left a comment saying she was going to have ago at doing the same thing. A few weeks ago she sent us a picture of her efforts. Judging by the size of the plants I’m assuming it was taken earlier on in the year. If they are anything like ours they will have had a tremendous growth spurt over the last couple of months, and have now probably taken over her entire house.

Elsewhere on the web, Lee from Urban Cultivation and Quit Your Day Job has recently made a pasta sauce from the produce he has grown in his garden. All he is missing is a few chives.