Gardening weather, at last!

[zencadet]

I truly never thought I'd actually be posting about being genuinely pleased to finally have gardening weather and to have been doing some gardening.

This time last year, however, I put in so much effort into the garden with my Dad, that it seems a shame to let it all slide. Of course, while we didn't quite finish the garden properly (still have some of the pathwork to finish and some more stone-dust to layer at the back "square") the beds finished and were radically underused simply because we didn't finish building the beds properly until late into the sowing season, so only really had enough time to get the runner beans out.

Failure Stories From Last Year
Last year, being the first time I'd tried growing anything was not wholly successful, but then such is the nature of gardening, really. Not everything is going to succeed first time out and sometimes things just don't come up for whatever reason.

• The spinach was a complete failure. Twice. Because it was getting late in the sowing season, we tried fast germinating them in the airing cupboard to get the seeds up before transplanting them into the newly-constructed beds (still under construction when sowed) . However, they shot up so quickly that they didn't have time to strengthen and became fatally floopy (and floppy). With plenty of seeds I tried a last ditch effort to get some spinach by planting directly into the lower part of the near-L. Not the place I actually wanted to grow vegetables (ultimately, I want all the near-L to be predominantly herbs since I don't need to go too far to pick them (good if I've left it late at night or if it's raining), but the far-L was still being built. However, very few of the seeds actually sprouted and the one single one that did simply didn't have the strength to become anything but pitiful. I'm going to try the spinach again this year, but probably straight into the ground outright.
• The radicchio was actually a partial success. I got plenty of leaves for salad and the like but none of the plants that actually survived (only half of them remained intact, at least, three were utterly decimated by damned snails!) actually hearted up for me to appreciate a roasted radicchio-heart. In fact, most of the radicchio I was harvesting when I saw them bolting and I lost at least two of them because they bolted so quickly (practically overnight) that the leaves were simply too bitter to use for anything. Since these were bought as plantlings, I doubt I'll be growing radicchio this year, and there was no evidence of the plants re-growing.
• The basil, coriander and oregano from seed were all a complete bust. The only oregano I had in the garden was the weak little thing I'd transplanted from a random pot, but it hasn't really taken off a great deal (though it was enough to provide me with a bit of oregano every now and again). I'm not entirely sure what happened to them, although I think it must have been my not realising just how much watering they really required. I left two of the seed trays in the garden (at least one oregano) in a state of deliberate neglect, and to be honest, it seems that they've struggled to survive a little. I honestly have no idea what the non-oregano one is, and there's the problem of weeds having taken root, so in some cases it's a little tough distinguishing what's a weed and what's actually a struggling herb. I'm likely to have another go at the herbs again this year, since I know I'll be using basil at the very least and quite likely oregano. I'll likely look to have another stab at the coriander since I have the seeds and while it's the one I currently use the least of the three it's not for want of ways in which I can use it.

Success Stories From Last Year

Last year, was not a total bust in the slightest and the rewards from last year are probably what are most encouraging me this year to keep at it.

• Probably the biggest success were my runner beans of which I had about twelve plants in a teepee configuration. When harvest it it was fantastic! Runner beans are not something I normally choose to buy at the shop, sometimes finding them a little disappointing and a hassle to fit into my usual lazy cuisine. However, with fresh garden runner beans (and so flavourful!) I was really motivated to work them into my meals, often just lightly-boiled with some butter, fresh chives from the garden and sometimes just a little garlic. I was pretty good at harvesting them at about the right time with very little going too tough to eat. The most waste came from the ones that had been infiltrated by wood louse, of all things! Of course, the plants have died off and I can't see any evidence of surviving plants, but that was to be expected. I'm still deciding whether to grow runner beans again this year, or skip them this year to try for something else. They worked out well, despite them being a little weak when we planted them down and my Dad's scepticism as to whether they'd actually all survive. Even the one he accidentally broke and had to perform first aid on continued strong and produced a crop. They were, however, my proudest success from last year.
• Another success was the rescue of the sage plant. Last year's winter had nearly destroyed it completely and the thing was looking as though it simply wasn't going to survive in the pot. It probably didn't help that the plant, which during the previous summer had grown so strong, had actually broken its pot (the reason for it's strength) and it really didn't react all that well when it was moved, looking for a while as though it was going to give up the ghost. However, it came back with a vengeance, going complete mental and producing more sage than I could possibly use. Unfortunately, I missed a trick and what I really should have done was followed my Dad's advice and cropped the hell out of it even when I wasn't using it to dry (or otherwise store) for use during the winter or when I just couldn't be bothered going out into the garden. However, I foolishly let a lot of that slide (being otherwise pre-occupied with social life, conventions, other projects and general laziness). Thanks to the harsh winter snows and biting cold, the sage has been nearly completely killed (at least in a pot I could bring it in to shelter in my yard a little). Every single leaf on the plant is a dead, brittle, grey loss, but there is yet hope! I took the opportunity to trim back some of the wilder, more errant branches from the bush and to attempt to tame it a little without reducing its size too much. It's planted in the ground (see last year's pics), so I'm counting on it heartily re-budding and harvesting its resurrection during the summer. It already has a very few (I can count them on my fingers) new leaves starting, and despite appearing worse than when we put it in the ground last year, I have faith that it shall provide me with a hearty supply of sage again this year.
• The Moroccan mint was a gift from a friend. Bought as a plant, when it grew well enough I transplanted it into a window box that lives towards the back of the garden where it's a little shadier (good for mint). It was a real fast grower and loved having some more room to grow. While I got the chance to make a fair few pots of Moroccan mint tea during the more social moments during the summer, the aphids loved it almost as much as everyone loved the Moroccan mint tea and I found myself abandoning a lot of the growth towards the end of the summer, finding very few usable leaves. I probably didn't tend to it enough to make it truly bushy, but wasn't so concerned. It was a new plant, after all, and I was new to gardening. Along with the sage the winter obliterated the mint, but while the central plant is still nothing but twigs, the sides are already heartily pushing up new mint. I'm guessing the central portion of the plant might pick up when it gains some strength.
• The golden marjoram was a tiny thing in the neglected pot when my Dad pointed out what it was amongst all the ones with weeds and I could have easily mistaken it for such, did it not stand out as being just a little different. As a rather hardy perennial, this was likely to be a dead cert, and my Dad warned me that I would likely have so much of the damned stuff it'll threaten to completely overrun the garden. As it was, I cut it back very little just keeping an eye on where it touched down. It was probably the least used herb to be honest since I wanted to be sure it had established itself properly before trying to use it. The winter has actually done the job of killing off some of the larger portions and it's looking fairly healthy, even though weeds have somehow managed to get within the plant itself...
• Probably the hardiest plants have proven to be the chives. Two plants in pots, doing well enough but otherwise not too much to use all that much, when they were planted they grew quite healthily and heartily. I was never really short of chives when I needed them and although I didn't venture out into the garden to pick any during the winter, the snow seemed not to dent them in the slightest (except for weigh them down slightly). I was a little concerned when I saw the snow seeming to crush them, but they don't seem to have been in the slightest fazed by it all.

Cursory Plans For This Year

I wanted to get out and do a lot of what I did today last month, but it was such a cold and wet March, that I could never quite find a day when I wasn't otherwise busy or it was simply unsuitable gardening weather. I think I managed one day, a few of weeks back, when I had just about enough time to get out into the garden and sweep up a little, though it was still quite damp out, and another a week or so back when I caught just enough time to go weed a few patches. Today, I've finally been out to really get to work tidying up, weeding out some of the larger areas, and preparing some of the disused areas from last year (like the lower tier of the far-L). Aside from trying to find some time to get to finishing the paths, I'm tempted to try growing some onions (probably in window boxes). The seeds were donated to me by Phil and Sarah amongst a bunch of other seeds, mostly past their "use by" date, but still worth a shot. It's about the right time to get the red onions going, so I might try that later this month. The one set of new seeds that I didn't get around to doing at all last year was the dwarf french beans, which isn't actually ready to sow until May, so I might have a look at doing that.

Anyway, this has been a crazy-long garden update (1.5hrs to write!). Wow, maybe I'll actually become a gardener, yet.