It’s been a long time since I posted about the garden. This is the last photo of the back garden I showed you, back in January 2015: This is the same view today (sorry about the blurry photo): Some of this is simply the difference between January and May, but most of the difference isContinue reading “Garden Update (May 2017)”
Tag Archives: Vegetables
Front Gardening
This is only the second front garden I’ve had. In the last house, the back was so large I just kept the front as lawn. Here, though, the back is small and quite shaded; also I want to leave enough space out there so that the tent can be put up to dry if weContinue reading “Front Gardening”
Blank sheet garden
This is our new back garden: It’s a bit of a dump, isn’t it? The builders have trodden a lot of the grass into the soil, which seems to be a heavy clay, heavily compacted, very muddy. If you’ve seen my previous gardening posts, (e.g. Garden, from 2012) you’ll see that this new garden isContinue reading “Blank sheet garden”
Keyhole Garden
I have just come to the end of over seven years ministry with three churches in Hove and Portslade. Amongst the generous leaving gifts were some virtual gifts through Oxfam and Send A Cow: 2 rabbits, a goat, water harvesting, mixed fruit trees, a ‘Magic Muck Kit’, mosquito nets, safe water and 2 keyhole gardens.Continue reading “Keyhole Garden”
Harvest
It’s harvest time here in the Mabbsonsea garden. The tomatoes are nearly over (this picture is a couple of weeks old). They haven’t thrived this year, but there’s still nothing like eating a sun-warm tomato. The courgettes are having a second wind, producing some small fruits on vines that look nearly dead. ThisContinue reading “Harvest”
Garden Life
Time for an update on the garden. Everything is doing well, although we could do with some rain soon. Here on the chalk downs, the soil dries out very quickly. I don’t know where the water’s going to come from for the fracking that’s being planned a little further inland, but they can’t haveContinue reading “Garden Life”
The First Courgette
On Saturday I picked and ate my first courgette (/zucchini). Apart from some beet spinach leaves that grow all year anyway, it was the first real produce of the garden to be harvested this year, and so it felt very special. I sliced it thickly then fried it in butter with lots of cracked blackContinue reading “The First Courgette”
You are nearer God’s heart in a garden
I have been tempted to despair of my garden. It looked as if nothing was going to happen this year. Then all of a sudden it seems to have sprung to life. I love the way the early morning sun shines through the leaves of the sycamores and the neighbour’s copper beech when I sitContinue reading “You are nearer God’s heart in a garden”
Alex’s Energy Saving Tips
These are tiny drops in the ocean. But seeing TV pictures of the flooding in Queensland the other night, and the warnings of yet more flooding here in the UK, makes me feel we all need to pull together to counter the madness of growth-addicted, consumer culture. It’s all feeling rather apocalyptic, and I’d hopedContinue reading “Alex’s Energy Saving Tips”
Vegetables are murder, too
By now, my new vegetable beds should be packed full of a variety of vegetables, all thriving in the rich compost and growing leafy and tall. Unfortunately, we’ve had very little sunshine this ‘summer’, and I think the soil hasn’t warmed up enough to germinate all the seeds. Also, as it’s hardly stopped raining sinceContinue reading “Vegetables are murder, too”
Alex Mabbs 