Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Garden Goals

I like setting myself goals to achieve in the garden. My first goal was to have something in flower in my garden all year long. That proved to be a very easy goal to reach as I garden in zone 8 and winters are mostly pretty mild. Even the odd very cold winter doesn't put a spanner in the wheel flowering wise. We are going through a cold spell at the mo but my Winter Yasmin, Hellebores, Viburnum bodnantense Dawn, Winter Aconites, Crocus, Snowdrops, Iris and Hamamelis are still flowering happily.
Hamamelis in flower since last December
So, to raise the bar a bit, I set myself another goal; to have bunches of flowers from my garden in the house during each and every month of the year. I love picking flowers from my own garden as they are often scented, pretty, varied & free from any pesticides or other cides you can think of.

I'm happy to say that I've achieved that second goal too. Granted, the bunches of flowers from the garden can sometimes be rather small,
A small posy of Rosa Moonlight picked in early January 2012
frightfully tiny even,
but they count nevertheless.

And last autumn I set myself a third goal: growing vegetables in my potager for 12 months of the year. I haven't reached that goal yet because I only started last September (with sowing lots of vegs for the winter months) but I'm getting there.  Harvesting vegs in winter can be a bit of a challenge but so far I'm doing great: Brussels sprouts, cavolo nero, red cabbage, Jerusalem fartichokes, leeks, carrots, kale, Swiss chard, wild rocket and much, much more. So much in fact that I manage to score at least 1 meal and fresh greens galore for my chooks from the potager on a daily basis. Salads I love so I have them almost daily and fortunately in my potager I'm still spoilt for choice as you can see here:
Salad of giant red mustard, wild rocket, mibuna, lettuce, land cress, red chicory and endive.

It was utterly yummy, not to mention healthy.

Dear Veg Plotting has set herself a garden goal too: to have a salad from the garden at least once a  week for a whole year and as I thought it a splendid idea I've joined in the fun of what is now called 52 Week Salad Challenge.


copyright 2012 Y.E.W. Heuzen

9 comments:

Lea's Menagerie said...

Wonderful salad!
I have grown salad ingredients before (carrots, tomatoes, etc.) but in the Spring I will be planting my first lettuces.
I think the 52 Week Salad Challenge will be fun!
Lea
Lea's Menagerie

Roslyn said...

I admire your 3 goals. Our weather is kind here and we can grow flowers and vegies all year round, but I still sometimes fall short. Salad from your garden all year round sounds wonderful.

Glo said...

Wonderful to see a post from you! I have missed them. Your goals sound like a great way to continue with your garden delights. Always love to see your lush photos as well.

VP said...

Hi Yolanda - we eat almost as much salad as you! It's so inspirational to see you're managing to grow lots of fresh salad goodies for this time of the year :)

Thanks for joining in the Challenge!

VP said...

Eek - I'm a complete dunderhead :(

I also came over to wish your brother well and I hope he's getting better now.

Matron said...

Nothing better than home grown salad leaves. I really like the salad mix you have there.

Matron said...

So wonderful to have anything fresh from the garden this time of year. Those salad leaves look wonderful!

*Ulrike* said...

Those are goals I would love to do myself one day as soon as things settle down a bit.

Sheryl at Providence North said...

Interesting challenge! I don't think I could do it, though...maybe. Salads can be made from just about anything. It doesn't have to be greens.