Reflections on a Season of Vegetable Growing.

I remember seeing vegetable plots in some people’s back gardens as a child, rows of potatoes or cabbages. The tomatoes  I tasted as a child bear no resemblance to the watery, hard, pale tomatoes that are sold in many supermarkets these days. And don't talk to me about Strawberries. For years and years, I’ve wanted to grow vegetables. I didn't have the space and time. Doubt also held me back.

A few years ago, I grew some herbs, potatoes and salad leaves in pots on our deck. I learnt a lot and made a few mistakes, the main one was not watering enough.

This year, thanks to a house move, I finally had my very own vegetable plot ("the patch") this spring and summer. I didn’t spend a long time planning what to grow. By the time I got it cleared of weeds and crap, it was well into spring so I launched into it with the help of a few library books and the internet. 

Starting Out: The patch is cleared and I've planted out some broad bean seedlings

I used seeds picked up in the supermarket mostly. I did a modicum of plot planning, splitting the area into three small beds. In the first I grew broad beans and tomatoes. The second contained lettuces and radishes and the final bed held potatoes. I didn’t use raised beds or have any formal border for my beds. I left a short walk way between each bed.

Spacing out the Beds. Very Rough and Ready. Gardening with my little helper. 

I grew some plants from seedlings from seed trays in our utility room. These, were tomatoes, marigolds, salad leaves and broad beans. I chitted seed potatoes indoors too. (Orla  which are an earlies crop). I got most of my seeds at supermarkets but I bought the seed potatoes from the garden centre.

Once it got warm enough, I transplanted my seedlings outside and also sowed direct salad leaves, broad beans and radish. I was not particularly hopeful but soon my efforts were rewarded.

Roaring Successes

From late May to September, I was able to eat fresh, crisp, flavoursome salad leaves every day. Initially, I sowed these in succession but in the end I had about twenty or thirty sizeable lettuces so I stopped sowing. The seed I used was a mixed salad leaf and I think the varieties were Lollo Rossa,  Red and Green Oak Leaf, and Cos Romaine. Towards the end of the season they bolted and went to seed but up until then they were fine. It was such a treat to cut leaves and eat them fresh every day.

Early in the season I grew radishes and these were easy and quick to grow, gorgeous to look at and a delicious addition to my lettuce salads.

We didn’t have to buy a potato all summer. I had grown some in potato bags, starting with my first bag a week or two after St. Patricks Day and sowing about three more  bags over the following weeks. I also sowed two short rows in my plot. My initial harvests from the bag were small enough, both in terms of volume and size of potato but they were still delicious. I harvested the plot in the vegetable bed from mid summer  to late summer as I needed potatoes and these grew really big but were still delicious. They were a white, waxy type potato.

Potatoes picked in late August - with pen for scale

Patch in June: You can see the broad beans and some of the lettuces. The tomatoes are starting to take over.

Things I may not repeat

The broad beans grew well and the beans were delicious but they take up a lot of space for a low yield. It was rare to be able to pick enough for everyone to enjoy at dinner. That said my eldest daughter loved eating them raw so they were used more as a snack then as part of a meal. They were very easy to grow and manage. Next year, I will try runner beans as well or instead.

I grew two varieties of tomatoes quite successfully outdoors, one of which was Gardeners Delight. They eventually fruited but unfortunately the weather cooled in August so the tomatoes were slow to ripen. Many of them ripened when the weather warmed up again in September and I had a few weeks of being able to use tomatoes from the garden for salads and tomato sauces but there wasn’t a huge yield. It’s now late October and I stripped the bushes of about 2.5 kg of green tomatoes to make chutney. I am writing a post about this now.  I will probably take up the tomato plants now for composting as they look straggly and I don’t think there is much more to be got from them. I think tomatoes are probably best grown in a green house or Polytunnel as the weather in Ireland is not warm long enough to ripen the fruit. My plants took off quickly and used up a lot of space. Finally, I didn’t have the time to care for them properly. I never fed them which also affected the rate of ripening. Also, I tried to pinch off side shoots and the plant heads in order to focus the plants’ growing efforts on fruiting but I couldn’t keep up with the rate of growth. Therefore a more conscientious gardener with more time on her hands would have had a better crop. But the few tomatoes I ate (and am still eating) were delicious.

Patch in  Mid August. The tomatoes have fruited but are not being cared for well by me. Note the children's sand bucket. The Marigolds were grown from seed. The broad beans are all but gone.

Failures

I planted one cucumber plant I bought at the garden centre which yielded exactly one mini, crunchy, shiny, flavoursome cucumber which I shared with my two daughters.

I have not planted any crops to grow over winter. It may be too late for that now. However, I will clean up the plot, at the very least plant a green manure and plan for next year.

Conclusion

I got a lot of enjoyment from tending the vegetable garden over the summer. This is just as well as it took up a lot of time. I weeded or sowed almost every day from April to July. The plants also need frequent watering. It was immensely satisfying to be able to eat and enjoy vegetables from the garden. I look forward to having a better stab at it next year to maximize the space for a better yield.

You can see the potatoes in the foreground. The majority of lettuces and a row of Marigolds are between the tomatoes and potatoes but are not in view.