Wednesday, January 16, 2013

My Garden Dream

In someways this is an utterly ridiculous dream of mine, but life is made of dreams right? Something to aim for. It gives you hope! Right now I have the perfect sized garden for what I want to do, but it's not mine and digging up plots and sticking in a chicken coop isn't allowed. Even if it was my mother often says to me when I am walking around her garden "Shut your eyes Beckey, you're my plants medusa." I have not got a green thumb and manage to kill most plants, eventually.

My dream is big though and I've been reading books and trawlling the internet, to educate myself because eventually, someday I am going to have my garden and it's going to be beautiful. I see my garden having lots of raised vegetable plots, growing an abundant varitey all year round, giving new meaning to the words "fresh, seasonal vegetables" not to mention I would also doing my bit for the environment, mind you we could all do just that little bit more for the environment.

Buying fresh organic fruit and vegetables can be a simple way to do that. By buying we keep growers in business, so they can keep growing. My research says that organic fruit and vegetables store high levels of carbon dioxide, this helps to reduce the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Without getting into the debate as to whether or not organic is better for you or not, just imagine the difference we could make, if we all bought only organically grown produce, but even better than that what if we all dabbled just a little bit with home grown produce as well? It's not practical to imagine we can be totally self-sufficient as far as our own produce is concerned, you're like to sow far more than you reap, but surely if we all grew just a little it would make a difference? I think it would, maybe I am a little naive.

So my dream garden? Arch trellises with beautiful roses growing over them separating my garden into several areas, the front closest to the house will be a quaint little area for entertaining guests, not too many flowers, just a few attractive plants, maybe some miniature Willows in some large pots, my husband gets really bad hay-fever, so my "entertaining" area can't have too many flowers that will make him sick. I'm going to have an area for my vegetables, I want some fruit trees, (trees are good for the environment) and fruit bushes.

It's going to take time and planning, I am going to have my chicken coop and chickens, in the course of my research, because I already knew about different types of soil being suitable for different plants, I have discovered the beauty of compost, and how relatively easy it is to do. You can recycle your food scraps, vegetable peelings, leaves, grass but you can also put in newspaper, eggshells, dust from your vacuum cleaner, hair. I read somewhere that you can also put poop in it as well. Lots can go in there. The end result of your compost will do wonders for your garden, helping plants grow - by which reducing carbon dioxide, also by using your waste in this fashion will produce less methane gas, than if it was to be sent to the local landfill. Chicken manure is also good for your garden, along with the bedding, you have to compost it first, though, the acid in the chicken poop can destroy the delicate roots of some plants. As soon as it turns to a black soil looking substance, you can dig it into your garden. Recycling your own waste, in a bid to grow your own plants - fruits and vegetables, there by reducing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, it's got to be good.

I've always recycled for as long as I can remember, Germany is very "clean and green," forcing the public to recycle by refusing to take refuse which isn't correctly sorted, but also at times issuing fines. There're bins for everything, paper and cardboard, plastics and tins, glass, garden rubbish, normal household rubbish, drop off points for batteries and special collections for bulk rubbish, because recycling was forced upon us, it's not something you really think about, seperating it all was second nature. Now I am not recycling as much I feel as though I am not doing my bit. Maybe with my garden (eventually when I have my garden) I will feel a little better about myself .

For those of us who genuinely love cooking, I can only imagine the love and pride you would feel, by using your own home grown produce in your meals.

A friend of mine already, grows her own, the unique thing about her "garden" is that everything is grown in somekind of pot, she lives in an RV on a concrete plot, now if she can make it work then surely none of us have an excuse for not trying. Even if all you do is grow a few of your own herbs. Every little helps so to speak.

So between my chickens, vegetable patch, fruit plot and my herb garden, I'm going to be busy. I have several books on growing your own produce and gardening, theroetically I am all set. What to grow though? Well Chillies are a must, I quite like the thought of having several large pots right outside my kitchen back door filled with chillies and herbs ready for plucking. I want to grow Okra because I haven't seen any since America, and I want to grow courgettes for the flowers as well, garlic so I can have fresh plump cloves on tap, runner beans growing up the trellis and hanging down, fresh tomatoes, peas, carrots, spinach, salads. I want an olive tree, and to grow my own apples, plums, cherries, maybe! Raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries, blackberries and rhubarb are a must for my fruit pies, my husband wants to grow potatoes, I quite fancy a grape vine or two and a greenhouse, chillies maybe a little difficult to grow in this climate. It would also mean that I could grow from seeds. I love the idea of watching my food grow nurturing it, then picking it preparing and cooking it. I'm going to walk round my garden, with a big straw hat on, flowerey welly boots, wicker basket hooked over one arm and secateurs in hand, plucking herbs, picking and possibly munching on a few raspberries as I go. Of course at the rate, in which I am mentally munching on my fresh fruit and vegetables, I'll have nothing left by the time I get back to the kitchen...

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