Revealing the Nibble List

This summer I swore, curse, ripped out my hair and refused to look on the balcony for days on end. Even my fuss free crops failed me. My chives barley stayed alive this year. My fennel, usually still growing strong, ruthlessly wilted and died back in June. My mint, for God's sake my mint, refused to do grow much at all. The kiwi that I begged for didn't take to it's new home at all and died after a few weeks.

Happy New Year... just let me finish bitching about last year first

This year I was the suckiest gardener that ever sucked. My plants must have thought I was death only with secateurs insted of a scythe. 

The weather didn't help. A dry early season when I needed at least a few days of rain to establish my crops and a wet autumn when I needed to harvest what wouldn't keep and sow for over winter without things rotting off. I never did get chance too, although I bet we would have had bumper winter crops with the mild weather.

I was so disheartened by the fate of my plants that I didn't get to fulfil my garden goals of finding a water storage solution and figuring out a way of composting that works with such a small space. Still there is always next year and despite the hardships I managed to harvest a few things.

I kept a nibble list attached to my fridge to record what I did harvest. My yields where down and the size of my fruits was pathetically small (hot weather, again!) but I did manage

• Three carrots from my overwintered carrots, my spring and summer sowing didn't take.
• Six radish, surprising as usually I can't grow them at all
• Five big salads worth of home-grown lettuce
• Fifteen salad garnishes on sandwiches and burgers
• One lot of mustard and chard for a stir-fry. My chard was severely, severely, stunted by the heat
• Four handfulls of Spinach
• 100g of blackcurrants
• 875g potatoes. Happy days!
• Ten handfuls of tomatoes, many small fruits continuing late into autumn.

So it wasn't all bad and, of course, there is always next year. My daffodils are trying to make and appearance already.