I have never been a keen gardener and so when Mud decided that, due to time constraints, it was time I took over the growing of the vegetables, my heart sank and I had visions of failed crops left, right and centre. Nowadays I not only look after our own vegetable garden but I also oversee the Gardening Club and Vegetable Plot at the school our 2 youngest girls attend.
Who would have thought? Certainly not me but I love it and I get immense satisfaction when we sit down to a meal with homegrown vegetables on the plates 🙂
As a novice gardener, I often didn’t have a clue what specific seedlings would look like and it was sometimes difficult to know whether what I was looking at, had actually grown from a seed I had sown, or if it was from a rogue seed, especially with seeds sown directly into the vegetable beds. So I have now added a new category ‘seed to seedling’ in which I hope to record the time between seed and seedling, from the first sowing of each crop this year (2013) and, where possible, photos of what the seedlings actually look like. I hope this proves helpful.
The Land Rover Owners Ex Wife 
August 22, 2014 at 8:51 pm
Mrs. Mud
I even feel like I’ve tasted them. 😉 And even if I haven’t really, they sure look delicious.
A vegetable garden at home and another at school – that’s quite an inspiration!
I’m a teacher in a hospital school and one of our projects this year was related to seeding and planting. Here’s a look into some of our posts on this:
http://aescolanohospital.blogspot.pt/search/label/horta
http://aescolanohospital.blogspot.pt/2013/10/viagem-das-sementes_23.html#more
Do the children at home or at school take part in the process? How much do they like to eat from what they’ve grown?
Thank you!
August 22, 2014 at 9:45 pm
Hi Clara,
It was so lovely to meet you the other day and the girls really enjoyed playing with your three 🙂 I have promised to get the note paper this week so that letter writing can begin. The cake soon disappeared and tasted even better the next day and I would love the recipe – please 🙂
As for the school garden, all the children are given the option to join Gardening Club and help with the seed sowing, weeding, potting on and planting out etc. Once I receive notification that a child wants to join, they are slotted into the rota. The club is purely voluntary and so if a child chooses not to attend one of their sessions, preferring to play, then that’s fine. My ethos is that vegetable growing should be fun not forced and that seems to work as some times a child will skip 2 or 3 sessions but then opt back in.
Whilst some of the vegetables go to the school kitchen or parents, a lot of what we grow can be picked for snacks and strawberries, cucumber, tomatoes, baby carrots and mangetout make a regular appearance in the classrooms. Last year apples, pears and plums from the school trees were also picked and sliced and sent into class.
At the start of the harvesting there is usually only a small amount of produce to be had and so the classes receive produce in turn, starting with the older classes. The key stage 1 children (ages 4-7) get free fruit as part of a nationwide government initiative every school day, hence the reason why the older children get the first produce from the school garden.
It’s great to see children who refuse to try vegetables offered by the school kitchen at lunchtime, willingly trying the snacks from the school garden.
I loved looking at the pictures of your little patients in the garden. It’s such a therapeutic pastime 🙂
August 24, 2014 at 12:31 pm
Hi 🙂
Letter writing has begun on our side. I expect to have something to send through the post services tomorrow 😉
As for the cake, we used the following recipe:
Yoghurt Cake
Ingredients
Yoghurt : 1 cup (125g)
Flour : 2 Yoghurt cups
Sugar : 1,75 Yoghurt cups
Vegetable Oil : 1/2 Yoghurt cup
Eggs : 4
Yeast : 1 coffee spoon
Method
Mix everything together, pour in a pan and take it to the oven.
Four hospital schools in the Lisbon area share this common project – aescolanohospital.blogspot.pt
I am currently “babysitting” a strawberry bush and a pine tree which were given to us by another hospital. When the new year starts we plan to plant them in our hospital gardens and give back something else to them.
Sending and receiving 🙂
August 5, 2014 at 4:31 am
Gorgeous garden, great work! I loved seeing the photos from the beginning till now.
August 5, 2014 at 7:50 am
Thank you 🙂
February 23, 2014 at 8:15 pm
You have a lovely looking garden. I am almost a novice gardener (being a rung or two below novice at present lol) but I’m working on it and following some informative blogs now. Looking forward to reading more of yours 🙂
February 23, 2014 at 8:39 pm
Hello and welcome. Thank you for your kind comments. I just popped over to your blog and love the compost tumbler. What fun the Gardening Children would have if we could get/make one of those for our compost 🙂
October 8, 2013 at 7:48 am
Novice gardener is not the description I’d use — look at those peppers!
October 8, 2013 at 9:01 am
Thank you, although to be honest that particular variety almost grows itself – well obviously it grows itself but you know what I mean 😀
October 8, 2013 at 9:18 am
I do know what you mean, but I think that variety hasn’t found its way to Dartmoor — had a few stinkers in the peppers, courgette and sweet pea categories. Oh well, there’s always next year!
July 14, 2013 at 11:40 am
You have done such a fantastic job and I like the photos showing before and afters! It must be very satisfying going from the dread of having to take over the veg gardening to making such a great garden.
July 9, 2013 at 8:34 am
Your garden is stunning. Its amazing how much it can change overtime and their is always something new to learn.
July 9, 2013 at 5:04 pm
Thank you Liz. To be fair Mud did all the back breaking work, trying to get through the 6 inches of hardcore and I got the easy stuff – planting and growing 🙂
July 9, 2013 at 8:10 am
That’s an amazing garden you have! Thanks for all the information (and photos). This is all very handy stuff!
July 9, 2013 at 5:03 pm
Thank you for your kind comments 🙂
July 5, 2013 at 11:41 pm
best wishes with it all… and don’t forget to have fun!
July 5, 2013 at 11:47 pm
Thank you 😀
May 19, 2013 at 2:51 pm
Congratulations, it means you have a very green thumb and a lot of interest in gardening. Best wishes!!!
May 19, 2013 at 3:02 pm
Thank you. If you could see what I do to house plants you wouldn’t be so sure that my thumb was very green at all 🙂
April 18, 2013 at 12:22 am
Your yard is so lovely, and what a smart use of space! I wish I’d planned mine out as well as yours is.
April 18, 2013 at 6:57 am
Thank you. Mud is nothing if not thorough and tends to plan everything to the nth degree 🙂 That said, he is never satisfied and plans are afoot to re-organise the space over the next 12 months, to maximize our growing potential.
April 4, 2013 at 11:30 pm
I like your seed to seedling idea. Last year we used our homemade compost and I found it difficult at times to decide which shoots were the seeds I had sown and which were random plants from the compost! My best example is trying to grow Romanesco cauliflowers and ending up with lovely Violas. Lovely blog and pics, you have achieved so much.
April 5, 2013 at 8:37 am
Thank you for your lovely comments. This year I intend to use the compost in the composter, for the squashes, pumpkins and courgettes, digging it into the holes before I plant them 🙂
April 7, 2013 at 1:28 pm
A lovely selection of veg to look forward to.
March 9, 2013 at 11:59 am
Whilst I’m loving the smallholding life, there is maybe one downside for the wife of a landrover mad man. I once told Rob (we were living in a small semi with a 2 car driveway at the time) that if we ever achieved the dream and got our smallholding, he could have as many landrovers as he liked, well he’s taking that very literally, we may have to start selling off the sheep and sacrifice the veggie patch to house them all- eek! I’m concerned that our vision of smallholding may differ- mine, homegrown food and cute lambs, his- 4 acres of land rovers! 🙂
March 9, 2013 at 2:15 pm
Lol, I know what you mean. It seems to me that Land Rovers and Land Rover parts/body panels are every bit as prolific as 4 month old Ram Lambs 🙂 I have often suspected that Muds’ interest in owning a small holding is more to do with Land Rover storage capacity than it is growing vegetables and keeping animals – I may be wrong of course ……. 😀
March 8, 2013 at 5:55 pm
Hello Mrs Mud, Really pleased to have discovered your blog. We are kindred spirits, I’m also a keen veg grower who is married to a land rover fanatic. We have a Series 1. series 2, Land rover dormobile camper and 110. I look forward to reading your blog!
March 8, 2013 at 6:57 pm
Hi Alex,
Thank you for your comment.
I’ve just popped over and had a look at your blog – looks like a good read (which I will do some point over the weekend when I have some peace and quiet). Our dream would be a small holding (Mud has small holding envy after a brief look at your ‘about’ page :)) but I have to suffice with my plot and the school garden for now – maybe one day.
I really wanted a Series 1 when we were looking for a Landy for me but decided on my Series 3 ‘Annie’, as she was a road ready vehicle and seriously under priced 🙂 and really needed a loving home (little orphan Annie and all that). Wouldn’t be without her now.