Wednesday 30 December 2015

Gardening from 2015 to 2016


Back on  Jan 1st I wrote a list of things I wanted to achieve in 2015.  With one day to go I thought I'd better revisit the list and see how I did ...


Success - I did:

  • Source a quince tree
  • Grow some fruit bushes from cuttings to expand my fruit bed
  • Grow ornamental chillies and melon pear for the first time
  • Grew more beans for drying
  • Initially keep up with the weeding


I sort of succeeded but ...

  • I have yet to actually plant the quince tree
  • I have yet to transplant the fruit cuttings
  • My melon pear produced no fruit but I am going to try and overwinter it to see if it'll so anything next year
  • My weeding failed from mid August after I hurt  my back but was good up to then.


I failed totally

  • To create a paved area in front on the polytunnel
  • To prune the fruit trees
  • To actually grow cauliflowers worth eating.

I reckon that's about a 50% success rate!


Garden Plans for 2016


  • Create that paved area!
  • Admit I can't grow caulis and grow other things instead.  This year our Christmas crackers didn't contain the usual mini nail clippers and golf tees but something far more useful - packs of seeds.  I may have lost both the crackers I pulled but I made sure I gathered up all the seed packets!  I also bought several packets of new (to me) chillies when I was at The Eden Project in October and I am about to go online to source some different pumpkin varieties.  Has anyone any other suggestions of new things I should try?
  • Plant the quince tree, fruit bushes and prune the fruit trees
  • Make a new strawberry patch, growing them through weed suppressing fabric.
  • Dig out the 1/3 of the autumn raspberries that never fruit well
  • Make better use of my comfrey plants - use the leaves to make liquid plant food and/or mulch.
  • Write for Living France magazine! (More of this one later ... )
  • Succeed in growing more than about the 5 parsnips I grew this year - I have a cunning plan to achieve this - more of that later too!

Every year I pray everything I sow or plant will do well but after the number of years I have been gardening I do know that a few things will fail or do badly each year but here's hoping 2016 has more successes than failures.  What I can say though is that our garden here at Eco-Gites never fails to cheer me.  It provides us with much of our fresh produce even if it does mean I never have perfect finger nails!

Finally, for a touch of end of year indulgence, here are my favourite pictures from my gardening blogs of 2105.  I hope you like them too.


From my Mum's Exmoor garden

The Amazing Weeping Beech at Bayeux


Fairies dancing in our Passion Flower


Colour in my piggy planter


A work in progress


Mobile manure producers


Why I do it.

I hope you had a successful gardening year and here's wishing you the very best of green fingers for 2106.


Mammsaurus HDYGG

12 comments :

  1. Ahhh I love the pics at the end, a mini trip down memory lane - I found myself saying 'I remember that!'

    Loving your list of plans for 2016 and can't wait to hear more about Living France magazine! And you have way more than a 50% sucsess rate!

    Love the looking back and forward and most of all the planning. Teach me your ways, be the Yoda to my Skywalker...

    Thanks for joining in again and so much this year Rosie, it's be lovely x

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    1. Thank you, Annie, for your kind words as ever. I love HDYGG as it makes me take a few minutes to step back and really see what is happening in the garden. And that is the first time I have ever been likened to Yoda. I wonder of he ever did any gardening?

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  2. You get so much done Rosie I'm in awe, wishing you a kind and fruitful (as well as vegetableful) 2016 x

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  3. Writing for living France magazine sounds exciting, tag me when your post about it is up. I'd love to try a strawberry patch but a) I can't find any strawberry plants and b) I'm unsuccessful growing them from seed. Hope you had a lovely Christmas and have a wonderful 2016

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    1. I will indeed - I wrote a short piece last year that led to a booking so I am hoping it will get more people to think about a holiday here. Sorry you can't grow strawberries, I suspect it is just too hot.

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  4. i'm going to need all the luck this year in this new place we are living in. looks to me that you succeeded more than you failed. happy new year!

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    1. Happy New Year to you too - I think gardening in a completely new climate must be a bit nerve racking but exciting too. Will you have snow and frost to contend with?

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  5. Good luck on your 2016 garden plans. Think I'd like to get a greenhouse, but unlikely to happen as I'm not convinced I've got anywhere suitable to site one #HDYGG

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    1. That is the problem if you don't have the space but if you ever do get one you won't regret it.

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  6. I do like reading garden plans, I have the same one on mine regards the comfrey as I let it go to waste every year since a little mouse drowned in my comfrey liquid - I couldn't bring myself to try it again but this year will be a mouse friendly vat of it!

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    1. Good luck with the comfrey liquid - we should compare notes.

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