The Vegetable Garden in June

After what was an unseasonably warm autumn, where the temperature barely dipped below 20°C, winter finally arrived and the jumpers have come out of storage. 

The temperature may have dipped, but the garden is growing well. I have two growing spaces, the raised garden beds which I have only had for twelve months, and the in-ground garden space that I created not long after I moved in here fifteen years ago. 

The in-ground garden is where I am growing all of my brassicas. There is broccoli Di Ciccio and Green Dragon, a heritage mix of kohl rabi, Red Russian kale, Long Island Brussel sprouts, and four different varieties of cauliflower, orange, Green Macerata, Snowball, and Rober. That’s not weeds you can see growing, it is volunteer poppy seedlings, and Sweet Alyssum. They’ll put on a lovely display come spring.

A small section of the brassica bed.

In all, I have nine raised garden beds in three rows of three. In the first bed, I have a couple of potato plants. (I have since added more). I love homegrown potatoes. They are so much better than anything I can buy at the supermarket. I wish I had the room to grow more, and the storage space to keep them.  

In the second bed there are daffodils and tulips that were a gift from my two youngest daughters for Mother's Day this year. I have planted over the top with poppies. 

In bed three is a heirloom mix of  beetroot and Purple Top White Globe turnips. It was also meant to have parsnips growing in it, but after three unsuccesful sowings I gave up.

In bed four there is some Little Dragon Chinese cabbages (also known as Napa or Wombok cabbage). A row of Red Baby bok choy. (I have no idea where the green one came from as I did not sow any this year.) Along the front of the bed there is four Red Kitten spinach plants. 

Bed five is the strawberry bed. I replaced my older strawberry plants in autumn and that is why these plants are so small. This bed will remain permanent and I won’t use it for anything else.

Bed six is the garlic bed. The cloves I planted were ones that were kept from last year’s harvest and are a mix of Italian White, Italian Late, Purple Stripe and Rojo de Castro. Along both sides, I have planted a row of shallots. After years of not eating onions because I didn’t like the taste of them, I have recently discovered that I don’t mind the flavour of shallots and leeks.

Bed seven is the carrot bed. I'm so happy with how well the carrots are growing this year, so lush and green. It is a real mix of varities in this bed including Black Nebula, Kyoto Red, Purple Dragon, Solar, and Nantes.

Bed eight is were I grew Beauregard sweet potatoes this past summer. I had planted them late and didn't think I would get a harvest, but I was wrong. 

In the greenhouse, there are the beginnings of my herb garden. Parsley, thyme, oregano, chives, and garlic chives.

I’m overwintering some tomatoes that came up in the beds where the tomatoes grew over summer. More volunteers that came up from the compost that I added to the potato bed will soon join them. Hopefully, by the time spring arrives, I will have tomatoes all ready to go out into the garden.

As well as growing vegetables, I am growing some fruit as well.

My Sunshine Blue blueberry flowering in winter. When this happened last year I panicked thinking I would have no blueberries, but I needn’t have worried as I had a bountiful harvest. I have since learned that some varieties do set their flowers in winter.

I also have a Valencia orange, a Navel orange, and an Imperial mandarin, (which fruited for the first time in a long time), raspberries, a Loganberry, a blackberry, a blackcurrant, and a Flame seedless grape. All grown in pots as I rent, and I want to take them with me if ever I need to move.

Until next time, stay safe, and be kind to each other.