Around My Edible Garden

April 2015

I suppose low-maintenence is the key issue this month. A few years ago, I converted most of what was a vegetable garden to fruit trees and shrubs. And, the herb garden is, for the most part, perennials. This minimises the amount of gardening required – a little weeding and pruning, apart from spring clean-up and autumn tidying. Pretty low-maintenence already. More is needed, however. As of September, much of my time for the foreseeable future will not be spent here in northern England. Although, I hope to be back from time to time. That leaves a big question mark over the garden.

So…a few decisions have to be made prior to this new growing season. A lot of the usual annual additions to the garden – in pots or in the herb garden – are not to be planted. A number of the pots will be emptied, cleaned and stored away.

Waiting to be cleaned.

Nor will I renew the old strawberry plants. In fact, the old unproductive plants will be removed altogether. So, no strawberries this year except the alpines that grow as a rampant ground cover under the fruit trees. Looks like there will be a few trips out to the “pick your own” farm.

Meanwhile, the fruit and herbs continue on their annual cycle. I’ve harvested the rhubarb, finally! The first batch was roasted with a little demarara sugar. The pulp went to make a pretty pink spring gelato. Hope to post on this soon.

I’ve also taken advantage in the kitchen of the abundant wild garlic to make a garlicky salsa verde.

The mint is also beginning to come up and fill its rectangular trough-like pot. I keep it restricted to this large pot to prevent it from invading the entire herb garden.

And the rosemary is now in full flower.

Blossoms and new green growth are appearing on the trees and shrubs. Fruit to follow….

Blueberry

Black currant (left), Blackberry (top right) and Red currant (bottom right)

Gooseberry

Raspberry

The grapevine, which I radically pruned after my last garden post, is now sprouting new shouts and looks nice and tidy against the wall.

The technique I used last autumn called “tip layering” on the loganberry has worked. New loganberry plants are sprouting in pots. The tips of last year’s vines were shallowly planted and held in place over winter and in the spring they started to root. I just need to sever the umbilical cords and I’ll have new plants. Loganberry can ideally grow in both cold and warm climates, but it is best to keep it out of glaring sun. Might be an ideal candidate for the move to a new garden in warmer climes.

By the time this post goes live, I will be in Athens inspecting the house and garden where I will be based. A sneak peek preview will appear in next month’s GSC post.

Tasks to be done:

1. Continue to think of ways of streamlining the garden tasks.
2. Harvest more rhubarb.
3. Visit the “Pick Your Own” farm for strawberries.
4. Begin instructing our resident son in basic weeding and pruning so that he can take over next year!

Around My Edible Garden is my monthly diary entry detailing what is happening in my garden this past month, part of the Garden Share Collective (GSC), maintained by Lizzie@strayedtable (click on the “links in collection” icon below to view all participants). A chronological listing of my garden blog posts is listed Diaries in the Menu bar.