Jamie’s new veggie patch at the Exotic Garden…
Posted on | July 7, 2012 | 7 Comments
Jamie in the new veggie patch...
The nursery here at the Exotic Garden has had a complete and utter makeover thanks to gardening extraordinaire Jamie Spooner. Just before Christmas 2011 Jamie returned from spending a year in Australia fruit picking and traveling. Upon his return, he asked if he could live in my tree house in return for helping in the garden ‘and of course’ I said yes! The first project he undertook was revamping the entrance garden which I mentioned a few articles ago, but he then wanted to take on the chore of revamping the gardens rather run down and dilapidated nursery. I thought he was just going to tidy it up, but no – he decided that he wanted to do a complete makeover and also wanted to add a new vegetable garden as a personal project as well. With some scepticism – I agreed!
Jamie removing an old Lombardy poplar stump – this is when I realized that he was getting serious about tidying up the nursery!
Getting dark by 4pm in the winter he often worked late into the evening!
Stump out - but where is he going now?
The nursery consisted of three rather ramshackle Polly-tunnels of which, only one was regularly used for overwintering all the gardens more tropical plants through the coldest months of the year, while the oldest tunnel was torn and tattered with a ground cover of Brambles, Convolvulus and other pernicious weeds. It also housed an extremely large number of plastic pots we dubbed ‘pot mountain’.
The old tunnel before it was pulled down with Genghis doing a quick walk by!
Inside the old tunnel where the new veggie patch now is…
Once the new tunnel was erected the oldest tunnel was removed and the hard packed ground underneath dug over, eradicating brambles and a thick matt of the ‘Hedge Bindweed’ Calystegia sepium with its matted spaghetti-like roots which had spread under the old tunnels ’Mypex’ floor covering and also over pot mountain!
While the large Polly tunnel was being fished, I installed a path system in the new vegetable garden with pea shingle and pin-tiles from my old kitchen roof for edging. The tiles had been knocking around for about eighteen years, waiting patiently for re-use. I am a bit of a hoarder knowing that things will come into use again at some point in the future as I love recycling things.
As well as creating an 8 x 8m vegie garden and a 8 x 10 Poly tunnel, Jaime amazingly found enough room in the nursery to also squeeze in a sitting area, with railway sleepers and a floor made of a thick layer of finely broken terracotta pots which I had been saving for many years – more hording! A friend’s four year old daughter loves visiting the garden as with shrieks of delight she can smash things, so with a small hammer and a large supply of pots Jessica is a very happy girl!
Unfortunately, I could only give Jamie scant advice on what to grow as the last time I grew any vegetables was way back when I was a child of ten and Jamie had never grown vegies before, hence this was very much a new venture for the Exotic Garden and completely outside my area of knowledge – but surely growing vegies couldn’t be that difficult we thought! Over the last month or so many keen garden visitors have proffered advice on the correct way to grow vegetables, though most things seem to be doing OK – it’s fun learning through your mistakes, at least that way you remember!
Quite a few potato varieties were bought in the spring and ‘chitted’ in the tree house, with names like ‘Mr Little’s Yetholm Gypsy’ and ‘Shetland Black’ from Thompson and Morgan.
All the different types of spuds ready to be chitted..
All the potatoes are now enormous plants and some have already proven tasty as the first spuds were dug up on the evening of the summer solstice.
Jamie proudly holding up the first new tateres of the season!
Quite a few of the early planting failed completely, such as the runner beans which sat miserably in cold wet soil for some weeks before deciding to give up the ghost completely as the weather this spring (what spring you may ask) – was so cold, especially at night. All the potatoes were planted up and mounded into neat ridges which sat there for weeks before the first shoots tentatively broke the soil surface, but over the last month everything in the vegetable garden has grown with a vengeance, thanks to all the added compost and manure Jamie bucketed in.
One of the first vegies to be planted in the new garden was a row of radishes named ‘French Breakfast’. Despite the cold spring, they grew well and I was eating them straight from the ground in April. They were absolutely delicious and much better than the ones I grew in an old upturned dustbin lid in my bedroom as a boy! The early sowings of lettuce and dwarf French beans failed miserably as well and had to be re-sown. Thankfully the new ones are now growing fast and full of vigour. Buying strips of ready growing small plants seems to be very popular now, so several strips of lettuces and Pak choi were planted and have done very well indeed, though we are now getting rather tiered of lettuce and can’t give them away fast enough!
After the first sowing of lettuce seeds failed due to wet and cold, these were grown from plug strips…
Despite the rather cool weather this year most of the vegetables are now growing away nicely. The Runner beans such as ‘Scarlet Emperor’ are now well above head height and covered in beautiful red flowers and buzzing with bees as are the creamy-yellow flowered climbing French beans. Several different types of courgettes have been grown and are now thumb sized and growing rapidly with enormous leaves. They are probably planted to close to each other, never-the-less Jamie keeps on shoehorning yet more vegetables into to the plot, flying in the face of any rule book, but who cares, they look wonderful and very ornamental and put a smile on my face.
Having only grown ornamental plants for most of my life with no edible value at all, I have been marvelling at how beautiful vegetables can be, as many have such an ornate leaf structure like the lush ‘Yugoslavian Red’ Lettuce or the more traditional upright dark green Cos, all planted in serried ranks. I always thought such edibles as cabbages were rather boring things ‘but no’ purple cabbages are wonderful plants, with their gorgeous greyish purple foliage as is ‘Purple sprouting Broccoli’ with its wonderful crinkle leaves. I think they all look far too good to eat really!
Jamie is now a happy chapy! The new vegetable garden in all its glory - It looks far better than that old Polly tunnel…
Jaime tying in the Sweet Peas…
Red cabbage’s starting to grow well…
The Runner beans are all flowering in their many different colours…
Cabbages and Rainbow Ruby Chard…
Courgette’y things flowering well and starting to produce…
Jamie examining the Red cabbages for bugs n things..
He found one, and I just managed to photograph the little blighter before he squished it!
Marigolds and Tagetes were also planted as they are supposed to keep munching insects at bay and they also add colour to the garden.
French Marigolds growing next to a row of ‘French Breakfast’ radishes…
Thinking of flowers, two tall 9ft wigwams were constructed out of canes collected from the bamboo garden. Sweet peas were planted around the base in early March which sat there sulking for ages, but over the last three weeks or so they have shot up and are now coming into bloom with their divine scent – what a wonderful addition to a vegetable garden as they will be perfect as cut flowers for the house as well as enjoying their beauty in the vegetable garden.
Sweet Peas growing up bamboo canes...
Did I mention we also have a new herb garden? How about all those Tomatoes and Aubergines and Peppers? That is another story!
If you can drag yourself away from your own summer garden this weekend, why not pay the Exotic Garden a visit, where you can see the new vegetable garden as well as the new tropical Polly tunnel – that is another story too!
Jaime said that this area was going to be a new herb garden!
And six month later - here they are!
New Terracotta sitting area, where that old tree root used to live…
Raised strawberry patch…
Jessica Daymond with two large lettuces to take home…
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7 Responses to “Jamie’s new veggie patch at the Exotic Garden…”
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July 7th, 2012 @ 9:14 pm
I wish my veggies where growing as well as yours, I am seriously considering getting rid of at least one of the veg beds and extending the jungle border! They have not done well for a couple of years now
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July 7th, 2012 @ 9:37 pm
Wow – you’ve transformed the whole area, great job, truly inspirational
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July 8th, 2012 @ 1:13 am
Looking Brilliant Jamie .. Well Done!
Grapes Hill Community Garden Party today .. from 3-9pm if you fancy it .. good food, drinks, stalls and live music from 5pm
July 8th, 2012 @ 10:49 am
Wow Will, that all sounds amazing. I’ll have to come and have a look soon. Loved ‘pot mountain’!
July 9th, 2012 @ 5:37 pm
My Brother,
Your vegetable garden looks the pinnacle of perfection.
Must be wonderful to just go into your garden and eat of its fruits.
Love Your Sister.
July 17th, 2012 @ 5:15 pm
Looking fantastic Will!
August 13th, 2012 @ 4:09 pm
Thanks to you all – Jamie has certainly made the new veggie garden very productive and now he has sown and transplanted a lot of the winter crops – anyone for beans?