As much as I love trees, shrubs and flowers, I get the most satisfaction of all from growing my own vegetables. A few weeks ago, after being ill and still having very little energy, I was presented with five raised beds filled with rich loamy soil, all ready to be planted up. It proved to be just the therapy I needed - modest exercise, fresh air and the fun of planning which seeds and plants to choose for the first ever season.
Vegetables that are not easy to find on the shelves of the supermarket were my first choice and in most cases the ones I chose come in unusual colours. Yellow courgettes, purple french beans and multicoloured chard. Among the vegetables I have sown flowers and herbs to make a riot of colour: nasturtiums between the rows of runner beans, borage beside the broad beans and coriander next to the courgette plants.
Most of this future crop has been grown from seed. I love the age-old practice of letting the seeds run through my fingers into the earth and then making the gentle movement with the back of the rake as it covers them in fine soil. As I was starting my vegetable plot rather late in the year I bought organic courgette plants from the stall in the market in Hay-on-Wye. Since then I have grown more courgette plants from seed and these will probably soon catch the others up.
There is nothing much to see in the vegetable plot at the moment - runner beans waving their tendrils but still reluctant to climb up their canes and courgette plants offering the sky a diffident yellow flower or two. There is a row of lettuce and mixed salad seedlings and a whole bed of sweet peas. Within a few weeks, if all goes to plan, it will be time to pick the flowers and harvest the first tender vegetables to share with friends.
Photos:
Raised vegetable beds in the newly created plot
Fluffy cat checks out the chard seedlings
