Before and After Gardens

I responded to a survey about gardening and growing fruit and veg today. This is what I wrote...

BEFORE...

I grow succulents indoors so I can go on holiday and not worry about them. 

I have a small greenhouse and a cold frame near the house, as well as an herb garden that produces year-round. I grow lettuce and tomatoes, spinach and radishes so I can pick them easily for lunch or dinner. 

I have a polytunnel for the fruits and veg that I want to extend the season of or don't do well outside here: strawberries, peach, olive, small apple, orange, lemon, kiwi berry, grapevine, avocado tree, lettuce, tomatoes, cukes, peppers, pak choy, etc all grow happily in the tunnel. It is my happy place in most seasons, especially in winter. 

I grow other vegetables and fruit in beds in the garden: raspberries, gooseberries, strawberries  and currents that come back every year.  Asparagus and artichokes come back every year, too. Annuals include brassicas (cabbage, broccoli, kale, etc), Swiss chard, beetroot, potatoes of many colours, and various other crops that I rotate every year.  I intersperse flowers throughout for colour. 

We have an orchard that brings us an abundance of apples for cooking and eating, a crabapple and rosa rugosa for rose hips, a pear tree and several cherries which are dying this year.  It takes careful pruning to make an orchard productive. 

I have a vineyard planted outside that is doing exceptionally well and producing wine grapes: Solaris, Rondo, Chardonnay, Pinto Noir and Albarino. It is the westernmost vineyard in Europe (sort of if you don't count the Azores, Madeiras and Canaries). I hope to convince farmers to grow grapes and make wine instead of milking cows and raising bullocks. 

I keep one field naturalised and allowed it to rewild after planting an area of trees and shrubs. Many native species have returned including wild orchids which support the insects and pollinators that are now plentiful on our land. We have other wildlife that is living in the forest we planted up the hill from the gardens. We have pheasants and curlew, a fox, otters, and a hedgehog.  We hope to attract more to our little oasis. 

We built a pond for the wildlife during Covid and it has proven very popular. It collected rainwater off the roof. 

Everything is grown organically and biodynamically, with our own compost, comfrey, and seaweed collected from the shore as fertiliser. 

There was nothing here but a bulldozed brown clay hill when we started. No grass, no trees, no shrubs, no wildflowers, no wildlife. In 15 years we have enabled nature to re-establish itself while providing joy and sustenance for ourselves.  

AFTER: