This year I’m keeping a photographic diary of my humble vegetable garden; what’s growing when, where and how well.

Despite being away for nearly two weeks I’m pleased to say my friends did a sterling job looking after all my fruit and vegetables.
Everything was just as I’d left it(alive), but almost twice the size!

The onions planted at the end of November are now ready. I’m not sure if I should lift them now, or wait until the green stems die down. Anyone grow onions?

The Contender French beans, planted from seed on the 13th of March, finally yielded a small feed of beans.
Red Cabbage
I am, dare I say, winning the battle against the snails, and I still have four red cabbage, albeit quite small.
Galega
The stalks on these cabbages are at at least 3′ tall now. Amazing. I have loads of fresh cabbage leaves on cut-and-cum again.
The English spinach I planted last month are not thriving at all. I doubt I will try this variety again.
Growing Fruit and Vegetables in Containers
This year has been the the most successful yet for growing fruit and vegetables in containers. I think the secret is definitely adding a little rotted manure with the soil, and feeding the plants regularly with MiracleGro.
Strawberries

I now have seven containers of strawberry plants and a regular supply of delicious monster strawberries.
Last month I posted

The cucumber plants in this pot fell victim to a snail raid at the dead of night. Then about a week later, three seedlings appeared from nowhere. I called them a gift from God, because was I cursing those wretched snails. I don’t know what these are – maybe melons?

Well, the melons turned out to be squash and are growing like weeds! There are several small squash which hopefully I will not fall victim to the dreaded blossom end rot.

I returned from France to find my Rhubarb had doubled in size!

The cherry tomato, planted in February, is now beginning to yield fruit. Still green, but at least it’s a start!

The aubergine planted in February is thriving well. It’s twin, planted at the same time but in the raised vegetable area has hardly grown by comparison. (I forgot to photograph)
Fruit Trees and Bushes in Pots

I’m really pleased the tayberry bush has adapted to living in a pot. There are lots of flowers; hope these equal lots of fruit!
What else am I growing in pots?
Yellow and red peppers
Cucumber
Blackberries
Raspberries
Groshelhos (Not sure what these are yet) look like a red gooseberry on the card
3 peach trees
Lime tree
Physalis
Blueberry
And a partridge in a pear tree…
FRUIT TREES

I now have a black and a green fig tree. The larger of the two is the green fig and was purchased in March from the local market. Both seem to be doing well. If they can survive the summer they will probably live.
Orange Tree
The orange tree is doing well and the blossom has now been replaced by tiny oranges.
Nespra Tree (Medlar)
Much to my surprise this was still yielding fruit when we returned from France. Which reminds me I’ve not posted my Nespra and Onion chutney recipe yet.
Weather
Cold and wet interspersed with sunny days. Temperatures ranged from 7C at night to 20C plus during the day.
I stumbled upon your blog tonight. You have such a cute blog. I also container garden. This is my second year. I can’t wait to see everything you harvest. Good luck!! Feel free to check out what I have growing in the United States on the east coast. (http://bonzblogz.blogspot.com/)
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Watering. The best way to water vegetables in containers is with drip irrigation operated by an automatic controller. For each container, install a circle of inline emitters over the soil or distribute three or four 1/2-gallon-per-hour emitters over the soil surface (use more for very large pots). Set the controller to water often enough to keep the soil moist (in hot climates, that might be daily or every other day).
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OH well done with the veggies. I have a vegetable plot, too and they are really romping away at the moment!
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Reblogged this on Hog With a Blog.
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Your garden is looking great, you won’t have to buy any veggies or fruit in the future with such abundance!
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Nice to see your garden was well looked after in your absence. We are also just back from two weeks away and our garden is looking very sad. We have had very heavy rain and hail while we were gone.Most of the green on the grass is weeds. The veggies that are left look like the rain and hail flattened them. Will have to wait until things warm up again before planting out anything else.
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Love all your veggies in pots.. We are so many weeks behind with snow as late as last weekend!!
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Looks wonderful – well done on all that hard work!
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I’m exhausted just looking at the plants you showed! Very impressive
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Tayberries are something new for me… your garden looks fabulous!!! Great work!
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Your plants all look wonderful. You truly have gotten a great talent for growing veggies/plants/trees.
I like your mystery plant. I can hardly wait to see what it is. It’s quite fun to watch it and see the first bud of fruit or veggie it puts on.
Keep up the great gardening and sharing your progress. It’s a joy to see what’s going on.
🙂
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My cherry tomatoes in pots are now about 4 inches tall, so we’ll see how it goes. Your garden looks great!
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Perhaps I am in a stupid Sunday mood [too many birhday glasses lifted 🙂 !], but why can’t you use both onions AND their glorious greenery? Tomatoes, rhubarb and strawberries all looking beautifully healthy! You must be pleased 🙂 !
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Hmmmm Eha, Piglet scratches her head. I don’t know why…I never thought you could eat the greenery and just assumed you let it die down?
I know some greenery like rhubarb leaves you can’t eat…
Yes, thinking about it onions are like giant chive leaves.
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What a good-tasting waste !!! We buy such in huge bunches here and they are marvellous cut into salads, omelettes, stirfries and, in my case, onto sandwiches etc . . . I am keeping a couple of posts in my early winter garden just to use the ‘tops’! honest injun 🙂 🙂 🙂 !!!
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Oh my goodness, PiP…What an amazing garden you have…I shall have to call you Mistress Mary. 🙂 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing all of this…congratulations on your determination to keep at this and discover what your garden needed to thrive.
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Hi Vivian..yes
Piglet, Piglet quite contrary how does your garden grow
In trays and pots with manure taht rots and all lined up in a row…
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Your plot is blooming!
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Thanks Barb…getting there
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Fantastic garden shots, PiP!
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Thanks Nancy,
Just goes to show…persistence pays off!
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Your gardening endeavors are very impressive, PIP. I look forward to future diary entries! Your friends did well while you were away! =)
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Thanks LTofL
My friends were magic:), but then they are all gardeners so when I said water…they knew NOT to water if the plants did not need it.
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Lovely garden, I envy your successes, spinach doesn’t do well in hot weather no matter where its at. How big are your “pots” are they as large as a 30 gallon plastic garbage can???
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Hi Valerire, I should have grown the Portuguese variety of spinach…someone persuaded me to grow English. However, it’s not been that hot here, unfortuately. But you make a good point.
The pots are not quite plastic garbage bin size. I will have to measure them. I would say looking at them they are are between 20 and 25, But I do feed the plants regulary.
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Lovely to see all your successes. I have tried onions twice and nada so I may start them off in pots. Have managed one strawberry plant – but I think it is too hot for them.
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Hi Lindsey, this is the first time I’ve had scuccess with onions. I used to buy seeds or onion sets. However, this time I bought what looked like baby spring onions from the market. Plus we’ve had a very wet winter – this may have helped.
Not sure why your strawberries aren’t growing. Do you give them enough water? How hot is it there? Maybe they don’t like intense heat. Can you screen them?
Good luck 🙂
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