The veggie patch flourishing

With so much sunlight, all the plants have plenty opf growing time, and now that the cold spell is well behing us they all seem to be enjoying life. That cold dry weather back along though has slowed some things up, today I probed under three different varieties of first early potatoes and none of them had anything bigger than a golf ball yet, so better be patient a while longer I think.

The New Summerhouse

Well, even gardeners have to put their feet up, though painting it seemed to take for ever, the wood was very thirsty.

Friends down the road at Picket Lane

Generally speaking, if you can't eat it, I'm not too bothered about growing it, that's not to say though that I don't exploit Mrs Soggy's efforts in the flower garden, I also enjoy the enthusiasm of my friend Neil at Picket Lane Nursery, not far away in South Perrott.

We've just put up a summerhouse, and some plants to soften its new straight edges are called for and so we headed off to Picket Lane. Neil and his family are masterful in plant propagation and even I can see they have some wonderful stuff. I think the veggie influence is rubbing off on him too though. He has made available some of his land for villagers to cultivate allotments, not only are they looking very productive, but Neil now has beehives to help with pollination. Last year in this area some crops, such as broad beans were a bit patchy, with flowers not setting and the bees are Neil's answer.

How many pesticides and insecticides are you eating?

My sister-in-law (thank you) sent me a link to a CNN article examining the level of pesticide residues found on food crops, things such as Celery, Peaches, Strawberries, Apples, Blueberries, Nectarines, Sweet bell peppers, Spinach, Kale and other brassicas, Cherries, Potatoes, Grapes, Lettuce. To find out more have a look, here: CNN "Dirty Dozen"

I grow some of those, and everything I grow is produced organically, so I'm quite happy to eat straight from the garden without washing (the veggies I mean, not me!) Organic farming food production has been around probably since the dawn of agriculture, so our bodies are well adapted to healthily produced food; only time (and lots of it) will tell what the long term effects on our species might be from ingesting pesticides and insecticides. Until we know better the consequences, why take the chance, grow organic if you can and shop organic if you can't grow it.

Bon appetit