Morning Forage.

Never knew you could import a blog into notes on Facebook. It's a funny world.

Anyway, spurred on my Alys Fowler and a lack of sleep I decided to pull some trousers on at about 5:30 and go for a wander around the suburbs of Bredbury.



In Fowler's new BBC series "The Edible Garden" - which yes is on iPlayer - herself and some assembled friends, when not gardening like mad, are basking in the bountiful supplies of fruit, veg, edible flowers and leaves that can be had in and around the urban environment, so, in an attempt to emulate this success I went for a wander to Highfield Cemetery.

Being a Weetabix man I know that they go with anything, including V05 styling mousse, and so I was hoping if even Bristol has an abundant supply of fruit and veg, surely an ex farming village would too?

The results of my hour long wander, I came to the conclusion that the three usable commodities of Bredbury that featured on the show are as follows:
1.) Dandelions
2.) Nettles
3.) Elderflower

Basically anything that grows in your hair is harvestable in my area. All the same there were some mushrooms growing on a tree, but I'm too wary about wild mushrooms to go for them. I did notice some bright red berries on my way back. They were in the garden of a house 2 doors down, and I suspect they suit a blackbird's stomach more than mine. Still, there's an abundance of fruit else where in Bredbury. Sadly, it's in Morrisons.

Not a good year...

It would seem a few days later I was expecting too much for my lettuce to survive, as they're now becoming limp and lifeless, still I have two pots on the go, but I may well lose those too in time.

It also seems to be a bad time for plants in general as this year seems ready to be even more catastrophic for plants than last year. Snow. In May! And according to the latest weather reports we can expect frost. Just in time then for my Strawberries, which I recently transplanted out into the soil. One thing that arrived today too were some Foxgloves I sent off for recently, which I hope will serve a practical purpose as well as an asthetic one. Foxgloves, or Digitalis attract bees like mad, which are vital if you want a crop of fruit, and hopefully they'll serve their purpose. With luck nothing will be dead in the morning.

Eating my lawn.

With the little space I have, I've inevitably had to turn to pots for much of my things. However, they seem quite happy to sit there and sun themselves as if they were in the soil. Outside I have some Daffodil bulbs, which haven't done too well sadly. You win some and lose some. All the same, my strawberries are doing well, flowering without me even noticing at first. Alas in a few weeks time I'll have to part with one, so it can fulfil its purpose in life as a birthday present, hopefully they'll fruit just in time for his visit to Wimbledon.

I'm a big fan of being able to eat your plants (though maybe not so much the dandelions), and that's why I'm taking up planting some lettuce, which so far are doing very well. I've planted three pots in total, bringing one inside as insurance, and after a couple of days it's utterly booming in there. Meanwhile outside there are no signs of life. However, I don't want to talk too soon, as my luck with seeds has been truly pitiful. Fingers crossed.

Last year I took a whack at growing my own, and being a chilli addict I couldn't resist. Sadly my first go at propagating some seeds started promisingly, but then they all gave up and died. So, exasperated, I turned to Homebase and eBay, where I ended up with an Apache Chilli plant, and three Jalapeño plants. Sadly we didn't have the kindest of Summers last year, and I suffered a miserable chilli crop of three, yes three Apache chillies, and despite multiple attempts to flower, my Jalapeños died without giving me a thing.

My Garden

Hello, my name is John, I'm a teenager, a student, and rather oddly, a gardening enthusiast. Recently I've been hoping to expand on my efforts and branch out with some more diverse greenery in the tiny space we have, but this won't be easy for me, as like with most students, I'm flat broke. All the same, this hasn't deterred me from trying to build up a bit of greenery over the years, as I want my garden to be something beautiful. Again, this won't be easy, as compared to what we used to have, our space is now mainly taken up with a socking great driveway that looks awful.

Currently my garden is set out something like this:


So I've had to cram in as much as I can in the available space, all the same it's still doing nicely, I have Lilies and Daffodils, they're new this year. Unfortunately I also have a ton of dandelions. Happily however, Alys Fowler has recently exposed they go nicely in pancakes. I may have to do some harvesting. That said, I don't find the idea of eating dandelions too appealing, as a child I used to have an irrational fear of them. Not that I do now, you understand.

I'm also a big fan of recycling, there seems to be something very zen and karma-like in the idea you may see that bottle again. However my garden has taken to slightly different ways of being green. Now I know what you're expecting, I'm gonna start rabbiting on about how when my plants die they give back to the earth, this is all good and true, I have some well established reeds that are a great example of this, but my green gardening comes in a much more modest form.



This, until recently was my favourite coffee mug. Sadly after a drunken night out I came in and knocked it over, resulting in a large crack, rendering it unusable. However, it's perfect as an alternative to plant pots, which I admit I'm in no short supply of, but it seemed too good an idea to pass up. The mint you see sitting happily in the remains of my caffeine fixes was dirt cheap, pardon the pun, because I bought it from the produce isle in Morrisons and saved myself a good 40p on what Homebase was asking next door, and trust me, it'll thrive. But then again, if you can't make mint thrive, chances are you're the grim reaper.