Our garden lite

Well, two weekends ago, before the torrential rain came, we managed to get out for some supplies and set up our little garden to hopefully get us through winter.

I am sick of buying sad looking lettuces from the supermarket so planted some new cos and butter crunch lettuces (although I was tempted to go for the "drunken woman" variety - hold all jokes about only needing one drunken woman in the house) in some big pots.

I planted three in each of the pots - if you wanted full size lettuces you would need to give them a bit more space but I just like using the outside leaves as they are ready so are fine planting them closer in pots - and you don't have to wait for a full size lettuce to grow and then use it all before it goes bad - you can just pick what you need, when you need.

Plus I find cos lettuces a lot nicer when you use them as they grow as when left too long can go a bit woody (and Elliot assures me they were tasty in his weekend BLTs).

I also replanted the wheelbarrow with some thyme and oregano and put some chives in too (the herbs will come in handy for those slow cooker meals).

Asian greens are always good in the colder months to chuck in stirfries or steamed with dumplings (and it grows extremely quickly) so I planted some pak choy in pots too. Everything was planted with a 50/50 mix of potting mix and compost and a bit of blood and bone.

Elliot pruned all the chillies back and they are, well, shadows of their former selves. We will see what lasts over winter; last year we over wintered some very successfully but they were kept in the conservatory so will see what happens. Bar some extreme frosts, some may get through it ok.

We did manage a last decent harvest from the plants so they will be dried and added to the other batches to be used while we don't have any fresh ones.

We also pruned all the dead heads off the lavender and it seems to be doing well and will hopefully grow back lovely and purple and fragrant-y.

The spring onions that came with us from Sunset Road brought with them some horrible little black bugs. After some internet research I learnt these were onion aphids (they look exactly like aphids but are black and turn into a lovely purple liquid when you squash them) and they love spring onions and chives.

There are a hundred and one different sprays and methods of dealing with them and I kept on top of them for a while by the pinch them off or spray the crap out of them with the hose method which worked for a while but they multiplied a bit too fast so this weekend we got some new ones and planted them in a big tub. Once they are a bit bigger I will separate them so they grow to a decent size.

So after a a good two and a half weeks of decent rain everything is growing well. A couple of the chilli plants needed staking to withstand the wind and there was a rescue mission of a wayward watering can and bucket or two from the deck but we are now set up with a well stocked cupboard of chillies and some herbs and greens to get us through the next couple of months.

Pak choy and lettuces after a couple of weeks

This weekend we also picked up a lime tree and a lemon tree. We had some potting mix to use so thought why not give them a go. I have always wanted some and these ones are ok for big pots at the mo (as opposed to being in the ground). While they do need shelter and sun, we hope them being up under the sheltered part of the deck and with a fingers crossed not too brutal winter, they'll do alright.

A little cool thing about our house is the rain water tanks under the house. Elliot hooked the hose up to them so now we use the rain water reserves to water the garden when needed.

Elliot has a couple of days off this week and we have more potting mix and pots and there's been mention of carrots and how many more pots the deck could fit... Watch this space...