Evelyn's Potty Garden Blog: Crops

This heat has caused my pots of lettuce to bolt. They are Little Gem, but are still palatable even though they are beginning to bolt. I have had my first tomato from one of the Maskota in the tomatoes in pots by the back door, and the courgettes in pots are doing better than I expected, but they are in big pots, some of which are placed on pots with manure in them, so perhaps that’s why.

However, one mysteriously wilted and died, just like the melon did. I have had a few failures like that. I am suspicious of the compost which is recycled, should be sterile from the composting, but I wonder if sometimes these composts are a little too fresh. I’m beginning to wonder if leaf mould and soil is the answer; back to old-fashioned ways.

I have managed to pick some cherries despite the blackbirds, and they are delicious. The Tayberries are like warm bombs of wine when picked and eaten straight off the cane, but the loganberries are not so sweet. I have sufficient summer vegetables for myself from this garden, so perhaps I don’t need an allotment… do I? (Yes. Maybe. But think of all the work, just to produce more food than I need.) I haven’t grown any carrots, potatoes and the pumpkins aren’t doing too well. There’s a limit to the amount someone can eat, though. The rest of the family don’t like courgettes or beans, but my argument is that these are much better fresh from the garden, so when space is a premium, that’s what should be grown.

I tend to view only the edible produce as crops, but it recently occurred to me that the flowers and plants are a crop, too, especially if I use them as subjects for my photography. It’s as if my garden is my studio.