Tomatoes And Spring Onions

The best harvest I've had from my garden this year have been the tomatoes and spring onions. I've grown four different kinds of tomatoes, Ferline, Gardener's Delight, Sungold and Sweet Million. The Ferline is a salad variety which is supposed to have some resistance to blight, but as I grow my tomatoes in my greenhouse I didn't choose it for this reason. The other three are cherry tomatoes. As you can see, some of the Ferline tomatoes are absolutely huge. It's the first time I've grown Sungold and Sweet Million, and I've found that the Sungold are rather squishy. I won't bother growing them again. The Sweet Million are, as the name implies, very sweet and I've had a huge harvest from one plant, and the Gardener's Delight, as always, has also been a heavy cropper. I enjoy trying different varieties and next year I am going to have a go at some heirloom varieties.

Deb at Carrots and Kids has kindly passed on to me the 'You are a great read!' award. Thank you Deb. It's always nice to know that someone enjoys reading my ramblings. As part of the award I am supposed to list 10 things about myself, but seeing as this is a gardening blog I thought that I would list 10 things I love about my garden instead. I hope that's ok Deb.

1. I suppose the first thing I should say is that I love being able to fulful my hobby of gardening in it. I can while away many happy hours whilst I am out there totally absorbed in whatever I am doing at the time and lose all track of time.

2. I love my greenhouse, which I bought three years ago. It's only 6x4 but it serves it's purpose. I grow my tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers in there and it's also used for overwintering frost tender plants.

3. This year I created a wildlife border in the one flower bed I have, and I love it. I chose plants which will attract beneficial insects into the garden. Some of the plants have put on so much growth that I will have to move them to a more suitable place for their height and spread, and there are still a few gaps which will have to be plugged, but isn't that the fun of gardening? I have noticed lots more bees and hoverflies in the garden this year, but I'm still waiting to see any other butterfly than the Cabbage White.

4. I incorporated a small pond in the wildlife border, which I love. It went in a little late to get any frogspawn this year, but I have noticed frogs using it to take a dip so I'm hoping for some tadpoles next year.

5. I love the safety that my garden provides. Not so much now, but when the kids were little I could allow them to play out there safe in the knowledge that they could come to little harm. My kitchen door opens into the garden so I could be making dinner whilst they were happily playing out in the fresh air.

6. This may seem a strange one, but I love my fence. A few years ago we had our old fence replaced with one six foot high. As we live in a semi-detached house it affords us some privacy from our neighbours.

7. I have a bird feeding station in the garden, although I rarely get any birds other than the run of the mill Sparrows, Starlings and Blackbirds visiting, I love to watch them. It's like watching regular little families with all the usual nurturing and squabbling.

8. Although my daughter is now 11, she still has a playhouse in the garden. It's one of those large two storey wooden ones and has been well worth the hefty price tag. It's had lots of use over the years, and still does even though it's now a bit of a struggle for her to get up the stairs, she's growing like mad. I love it when she has her friends round and it starts to rain, I don't have to have multiple pairs of muddy feet trailing through my house.

9. As I only have one flower border, I love my plant containers. I've got the usual terracotta plantpots but also other more quirky containers too, such as a wheelbarrow, a watering can and a cup and saucer. If the plant combinations don't look very good together they're easy enough to move to another location.

10. Last but not least, I love being able to have somewhere out of doors to call my own. This is my own little piece of the earth, not very big, but it's mine.

I now have to pass this award onto other people whose blogs I enjoy reading. I'd like to give it to Kat at kats corner, Georgie at Little London Garden, and Kella at Kella's Musings on Growing Her Own, Wildlife and Her Brand of Parenting. If you'd rather not join in that's fine but I wanted you to know that you are a great read!