I didn’t know it the time but the line of sight to the kitchen garden from the bedroom window is perfect.  It’s the first thing that I see when I first open the curtains in the morning and the last thing I see when I close them at night.  Every day I look down and think how marvellous it is that you can grow food right there outside your bedroom window.

There are many other things that also cross my mind like must tie up tomatoes, plant swede seeds.  Order cloche frame.  It’s a pressure cooker of things to do.

Between you and me I’m just relieved that anything is growing.  The fact that we’ve just eaten our first beetroots grown from seed that tasted rather delicious is just a bonus.  And every day I pick something new for us to eat I just feel happier and happier.  Now all we need to do is align our menu planning a little more strongly.  I can tell you that it won’t be long before we’ll be eating courgettes in as many forms as we can.

The tomatoes are definitely the flop crop of this year.  The appalling summer hasn’t given them the sunshine they need.  Not helped by the fact that I was very late getting going with raising the seeds.  I have looked a few times at tomato plants in the garden centre but can’t bring myself to buy them.  It feels like I’m giving up entirely on a summer crop at all.

So I’m celebrating the arrival of the courgette crop instead.

And the soon to be carrots. Two rows under way and another to be seeded this weekend.

The spuds are looking awesome with lots of flowers which seem to have been blown away in the gales the other day.  I do know there are potatoes under there though.

Mason decided to investigate for me.  He really is a pesky basset with the biggest paws that despite my best training efforts seem to end up in the vegetable beds more than on the paths.

He is not going to like the fact that the gates are going in this week and he’ll be easily banished outside of the garden altogether if he can’t behave himself.

I wouldn’t mind if he did something useful like do the weeding or paw over the beds in a helpful manner.  But no, it’s just sniff sniff, stamp, stamp on the plants with his ever so big feet.  Only the heartiest of plants has the strength to survive a basset attack.

It’s painful to look into his face and tell him off though. Those eyes say “I’m only trying to help!”

All in all I am chuffed with this year’s growing efforts and looking forward to really getting into food production in next season.  In the meantime, I’m working out my winter crops to give us some all round munchies.  That and trying to work the best mini poly tunnel solution to install over the beds to give them a chance of surviving the worst of the weather.  I learned to my pain this weekend that everything must be well dug into the ground and well staked.  Even if the garden does look like it’s sprouting bamboo canes.

A more permanent structure for holding the bird netting in place is also a must. Even if it does mask the clean lines of the layout and design. But the broccoli, cabbages and cauliflowers need to be guarded from the delightful but damaging white butterflies.

All in all it’s looking like a kitchen garden.  I can spend hours down there and hardly know where the time has gone as I’ve just pottered on.

And this is still just the beginning of the growing adventures.  There is so much to learn.  And oh, so many more mistakes I’m going to make.  I keep telling myself that’s half the fun!