Structure of a compact bed

After sharing my last post on the success of my new experiment of growing very compact beds with a huge variety of plants, I was asked to share how I planned these beds out.

If you know me you will know that I often "fly by the seat of my pants" although on the outside it looks like I am a huge planner. I am not. And even if I do plan - in the practise it never works out properly.

Peas were growing up the trellis but are now over and squash seeds planted in their place

So the success of this past season's compact gardening was me having a plan, planting it up with about 70% accuracy and then getting happier and happier and more clear on what was happening as I packed in plants, companion herbs, harvesting and adding more over the last few months.

So I have planned again for summer to use the same ideas. There are a few major differences that I need to take into account, however. But these things aside I will still plant intensively and learn as I go.

1. It's going to be way hotter.
2. We more than likely will have water restrictions this summer.
3. Pests are more prolific in summer.
4. A lot of my beds still have vegetables in so this new plan will go in bit by bit.

Some background basics first:

I use Jane's Delicious Garden Planner by Grow Veg which has been great to use over the last few years. But if you don't want to use that then pen and paper and a good veggie book (or the internet) will work well enough.

It also important to know which plants to plant in which season and more or less what grows well together. You can get this info on the planner or in a veggie book.

The important thing to remember is getting good vegetables is a about good soil, water and sunshine. Plants also need growing space at the top and bottom and this system of planting allows for that.

Knowing planting to harvest times is also important, but not critical. But as I planned out the beds I made sure I planted a row of fast growing things down the sides so they would be out of the bed in time for the larger slower growing crops to spread.

So here's how I planned it all.

I have  5 beds called "Kitchen Garden" that are south facing. These beds did extremely well as they are in full sun all year around with the exception of bed No. 1 which is in full shade in winter due to a wall shadow and bed No. 5 which is in dappled shade in summer due to a tree. But by planting lettuce and other plants that bolt in bed No. 5 in summer I can still use the space, however in winter bed No. 1 is fallow.

I have 6 larger beds on the other side of the plot called "Pond Garden". These beds are lying in an East/West aspect and the long green trellises lie on this plane too. The issue with this is the back side of each trellis when covered in foliage is very shady.

Same bed - right shows shady side and left sunny side

So STEP NUMBER 1 for you is to know your sun and aspect in your garden and plan any trellis work accordingly as far as you possible can.

What I am assuming is that you have built up some good soil in your beds. You need compost, manure, green manures if your bed is new, double dug, no dig, mulched - whatever your choice, but just make sure its rich and good. Buy worms if you need to. Our pond garden's soil was dead dead dead when we started with it in 2010.  So STEP NUMBER 2 compost your soil.

STEP NUMBER 3 build yourself some trellises. I did this in 7 ½  of the 11 beds but will be adding one more in summer. We had the wooden poles lying around and I had to buy the green plastic mesh. It was rather pricey but it doesn't rust like chicken mesh so figured it would last me a good while. These trellises work for both summer and winter gardens. You can grow your winter peas, broad beans (although these must be tied to the trellis in one bunch) and your summer squash, beans, tomatoes and cucumbers up them.

This bed has beet, coriander, lettuce and peas on both sides

Now its time STEP NUMBER 4 which is to do the planning with your paper or your Grow Veg planner. Make sure you only plan to grow veg that you and your family will eat. Every year I have grown loads of broad beans but only Superman and I like them. So meal times were not happy ones when these little gems arrived on the plates. This year I only grew 2 batches of broad beans but much more peas as everyone likes peas.

Look at your climbing or tall plants first. For this summer I have 4 trellises given over to tomatoes, 1 to squashes, 2 to cucumbers and 1 ½ to beans. I will also be growing bush beans so didn't need more than this for climbing beans.

On either side of your climbing plants you will want to do one of two things depending on the way the sun falls in your garden. If you have south facing beds like I do in the Kitchen Garden you can plant exactly the same rows on either side of the trellis. If you have beds that face like mine do in the Pond Garden which is East or West then you will want to plant shade tolerant vegetables like lettuce, beets, carrots, coriander, chard, parsley and kale. They should get some sun, especially in the early stages of planting the climbers, but can handle the dappled shade that will develop later.

You also need to alternate your rows between a leaf crop and a root crop. You cannot do potatoes in this fashion, they need a dedicated bed.

Happy broad beans

Beds I planted in winter went as follows:

Center: Peas
On either side: Carrots, chard, onions, coriander (coriander is quick growing and removed by the time the onions need the space)

Centre: Broad Beans
On either side: Cauliflower and broccoli, onions, garlic.

Centre (no trellis): Broccoli
On either side: lettuce, onion, radish

Centre: Peas
On either side: Chard, carrots, spring onions, beets (removed soon before carrots need place to grow)

You get the picture?

For my summer beds I have planned the following: 

Centre: Tomatoes (either cherry or regular)
Sides in Kitchen Garden (full sun): Basil, peppers

Centre: Tomatoes
Sunny side: Basil, radish
Shady side: Lettuce

Centre (partial shade bed): Cucumbers
Sides: Lettuces, radish, chives

Centre: Chard
Sides: Beans growing over teepee trellis granting dappled shade to chard until December heat causes to bolt.

This bed has garlic, cauliflower and broccoli and broad beans

East facing beds in pond garden:

One given to sweetcorn

Centre: Tomatoes
Sides: one to Barbara butternut, other to basil, celery.

Centre of ½ trellis bed: Cucumber
Sides: Lettuce, bush beans, celery.

Centre: Climbing squash
One side: Carrots and aubergine
Other side: Red onions and aubergine

Centre: Tomatoes
One side: Marigold and lettuce
Other side: Courgette, lettuce, celery

Centre: Beans
Side: Leeks, carrots, dill
Other side: Leeks, carrots, bush cucumbers.

Another non trellis bed given to courgette and carrots on the edges.

Other plants growing around the place in pots, irregular beds and the pavement are:

Melons, asparagus, chard, artichokes, berries, kale, cabbage, medicinal herbs, strawberries, loads of herbs and celery. We also have avocado, granadilla, apples, oranges, lemons and figs growing around the place.

Writing this out makes me realise the bounty we have here. Not all things are producing yet, like the apples and avocado trees but should be soon.

And then? Once all your planning is done...get planting.

STEP NUMBER 5 is to start planting. DO NOT plant everything at once. You will end up with gluts of things, wastage or exhaustion as you try to process everything for storage. I prefer to eat fresh over pickled or preserved and I can because of our mild climate.

So this summer season I will plant beds and spaces as they come available because there is so much still growing and producing. I will simply add some worm tea, compost or worm compost to the space and mulch over once planted.

Last season the beds were empty and I planted one bed every two weeks which kept us going (and still is) with a steady inflow of vegetables and herbs. This worked well in that we could eat for e.g. baby peas raw and then by the time we got to the last bed, full grown peas in cooked meals.

I realise this is just one season in and not tested over the long haul by trial and error, so if you are willing to take a [small] gamble, drop me a note here or on Facebook to let me know what you are planning for your garden.

You can see my Grow Veg plans for the two gardens here:

Kitchen Garden

Pond Garden

Look forward to hearing from you!

Compact veggie gardening - how does my garden grow?

Back in May as I watched our newly planted out winter and spring garden I was ever hopeful that my method would not be madness but would in fact give us greater yields from the space we have. I have worried about shade, water, overcrowding, pests and more as I have never seen anyone do what I did, although I know the basic principals are already out there and I simply adapted that knowledge for my space.

This method was much more compact than I have ever planted before and as everything started to grow I felt quite certain that they would have sufficient space to grow as I alternated root crops with leaf crops.

The peas and broad beans shot up in the centres and started producing their pretty flowers, the roots of the beets swelled and leaves of the spinach grew. around the ends the fast growing radishes and coriander was being used well before the other vegetables. Soon it became quite a jungle and much peeping and peering had to happen to grab the right plant for harvesting.

Broad beans in centre and onions, carrots and coriander on either side.

We have eaten so well from this plan having something on the table or in a recipe for the better part of 3 months now and its been so wonderful to do my weeks meal plan starting with what sides we will have with our meal. The garden has become a true pantry once again after my slump last year when I just was too distracted to get anything going.

Whether it is coriander in a Thai coleslaw or Happy Cow burger...

 Parsley onto our breakfast mushrooms...

Nasturtiums, peas, radish, broccoli sprouts and lettuce into the prettiest salad ever made...

Beetroot simply boiled and peeled and eaten warm...

Spinach and coriander in a homemade chicken neck stock ramen....

A bowl of peas to dip into hummus....

Or leeks and broad beans to add to a raid the larder soup....

All these daily offerings have been delightful.

There is so much still growing and waiting to mature in the soil like the onions and carrots. While they do their growing, I have been able to pull out the climbers in some beds (peas for instance) and have planted the first patty pan seeds which will now climb up the same frame.

Beets, coriander, lettuce and peas all together in one bed and repeated on the other side of climbing mesh

The cabbages, cauliflowers and broccoli that need to still develop large heads should be out of the ground in time to plant the summer crops in the same fashion. In fact tonight I am sitting down to plan my spring/summer garden and will use exactly the same model and see how that fares.

I have noticed that this interplanting has resulted in less bugs and white cabbage moth. There have been some aphids on some brassicas which have not been so heavily surrounded by other vegetables.

So here's to a happy urban farmer sharing something that did work this season! How are your gardens doing?

July is chugging by

I wonder if I am the only one who believes that time is speeding up? Somehow I find that even my days are flying by and what I used to do in one day takes me a few days to do instead. Maybe I am just getting old? Or slow? Or have purposely slowed down how much I am doing? Let's go with the last option...

As the days are going by I have been snapping away and sharing on Instagram which is so quick and handy. Because I don't have too much to say today I thought I would share some of my favourite photographic memories here for those who aren't on Instagram. If you are, please come follow along.

A basketful of beautiful lemons 

Carrot harvest, sweet and tender

Broccoli plants starting out

First pea harvest added to Paella

Lots still left on the vines

My plan to foil these critters worked again.

New potatoes and leeks into a soup

Red lentil soup with garden coriander and chili

Raid the larder bean and spelt soup

Leek and potato soup

Gorgeous homemade chick stock with rice noodles and veg

 How is your July going?

That Sugar Book ~ book review

Recently I was lent Damon Gameau's book "That Sugar Book". I opened the pages with a bit of trepidation wondering about the new guilt trip I was about to lay on myself. You see, we have some seriously sweet teeth in this home and while for the most part we steer clear of cane sugar, there are still sugars in our diet.

I loved the visual aspect of this book, not just lines and lines of words, but with lots of diagrams, cute characters, quotes and references to others who have been-there-and-done-that. It's a book for visual people who see life in pictures, like I do. And it's also great for kids as they can look at the pictures while you read.

After one chapter, I had to read another and another about his big sugar experiment, because he was not trying to cut out sugar but rather ADD it into his diet. How much? Loads! 40 teaspoons a day which is the national average per person in Australia. His twist was that it needed to come from "healthy" sources.

This was the angle I didn't expect. 

So this fellow Damon is a healthy guy, reformed by his girlfriend a couple of years back. He was eating what we call healthy fats in meats, avo, nuts and oils. These had to go for his experiment. His diet would now be what many, and even I at one time, call health foods. For 60 days he left behind those good things and entered into the "health" world of low fat food, fresh fruit, juices and carbohydrates. He had medical checks at the start, during and at the end to monitor his progress from being very healthy (by medical standards) to the unhealthy state he found himself - and his liver - in at the end of the 60 days.

It was his first breakfast that got me hooked on the book: "balanced" cereal, apple juice, low fat yoghurt. This gave him 20 teaspoons of sugar at one meal and not a bit of it came from the sugar bowl and it was all labelled as healthy.

This got me thinking...and reading labels in my pantry the next morning. I used to be a good label reader and then have become quite blasé about it all thinking that I know my way around foods now. I'm a big girl now, right?

In my pantry I found at least 10 products with "hidden" sugar in them. Only noticeable when you read the labels. Rice milk powder, which we use with our oats, has sugar. Big blow here. Nut butters too...some sauces we use...and more.

Then moving on in the book he deals with carbohydrates and how they too affect our bodies as sugar does when they enter the blood stream. Carbohydrates (including white bread, rice, potatoes, pasta, crackers, muffins, cakes, pies, pizza, beer) all cause insulin levels to spike quickly. This means that a crash on the other side is unavoidable and then the cravings for something (like carbs) hit as your body doesn't have the energy it needs.

The last whammy he slaps the reader with is fruit. In our case - fruit and veggie juices. There is many a day when I want to skip a meal for one or another reason and will just juice up some veggies and fruits. This is a problem for the body as there is no fibre to aid slow release of energy into the bloodstream and can also cause spikes and lows in the blood sugar levels. So this is a conundrum for me...when we did our 28 day juice detox last year I felt amazing! It's not that we ever planned on never chewing food again, but we all wanted to shed some kgs, detox our body and just lighten the food load a bit. At the end of the 28 days I felt strong and besides for some hunger at about 4pm each day I felt more even in my blood sugar. We did have lots of avocado though and perhaps the fats and fibre in that helped stabilise everything???

I suppose I could have closed the book at the end, turned off my light and slept soundly. I mean I can count all the right things we do on my fingers...but that's not me. I have had his experiment going around and around in my head for weeks now and thinking about what this means for my family.

In particular what other sweet things am I willing to cut out - how radical will we go? Honey...coconut blossom sugar....spelt bread...sweet potatoes...these are all on our menu. According to the science, they should go too.

Well, at the end of the record playing in my head I have decided on a few things we can do to reduce the hidden sugars...

1. Make more time to shop so that I can check labels again for sugars. Things to look at carefully are the pseudonyms for sugar: evaporated cane juice, raw organic cane sugar, fruit juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, cane syrup, beet sugar, caster sugar, crystalline fructose, blackstrap molasses,  grape sugar, invert sugar, fruit juice, maple syrup.

2. Go back to meal planning. When you know what to buy for good old nourishing food and have a list it saves money, time and is better for your health.

3. Stock up on healthy snacks for the every hungry kids in this house. Being on school break now gives me a chance to think a bit more about this and search out and try some recipes which can fill up the "cookie" jar and the fridge with grab-able food on the go.

So that's really it. A lot of the stuff in his book I knew and we have been on a pretty good food path for a while, but there is always room for improvement.

Have you read this book? What are your thoughts?

Sun seekers

Today is one of those gorgeous mild winter days when the sun is shining, the wind non existent and the temperature gentle. The inside of our home has a few delightful sunny patches which the animals migrate to as the sun moves up above.

The humans tend to bundle up because a lot of our home is rather cool, to say the least. But around lunch time we head out doors to eat and are followed by the other sun seekers. Some will go to extraordinary measures to get their few rays.

Buster enjoying his lunch in the sun

Teddy looking for the perfect spot

To grow vegetables you need three vital ingredients - good soil, water and sun. In winter we have a bit of a sun issue...take a look at the following pictures...this first one is where we have our two apple trees, an orange tree, curry leaf tree, some strawberry baskets and behind (not visible) is the granadilla vine. It is in full shade for all the deep winter days.

Having taken about 10 steps forward you are now looking into the main veggie garden. The geometric shadow is the house casting its shade for winter. I have planted in these beds, they will grow slowly for the next two months until the angle of the earth starts to change again and then the growing will speed up.

The dappled shade cast by the fences is not too much of an issue...

The one that fell

Calendula in the dappled shade

We loose more or less ⅓ of our growing space in winter, mostly on this side of the garden and one bed of the original 5 we started with in 2008. It just goes with the territory.

Our principles of healthy eating

Recently my daughter has had a health awakening! Sounds spectacular but you know what its like with kids - you feed them the right things, tell them to exercise, get them in the garden, talk about petroleum based products etc but its always you as the driving force.

They still eat sweets and chips by choice, want the hair stuff that makes their hair look like the Pantene ad and add it to the shopping trolley when you are not looking! But somewhere along the line all my modelling has lit a fire in my eldest and it's burning hotter than mine ever did!

So The Healthy Capetonian was born where she documents where she is eating with restaurant reviews of healthy eating spots. She also reviews beauty products and shares her spectacular recipes for smoothie bowls and other scrumptious breakfasts. And exercise...well let me say it's not for the feint hearted!

Delicious smoothie bowls

But her awakening has made me think again about healthy eating. It's not like we slid back into bad habits - we have been eating pretty clean for 12 years now, but I believe that as you receive new revelation you need to move forward. And of course there are always those days weeks when you find yourself not making the best food choices.

So the "Healthy One" and I were chatting the other day about how I cannot make expensive smoothie bowls for everyone in the family - just way to expensive with the superfood powders and berries - but there are some things that we can do to improve the nutrition factors in or home that don't cost a lot but will fill tummies and boost immune systems and over all health.

We have had forays into a 28 day long juice diet and months with Paleo eating, but we always return to the 5 food groups as this makes sense to our family, lifestyle and budget. We will always choose a low or healthy carb option however, as middle age spread :) and Superman's Type 2 Diabetes - which I don't think he suffers from any longer, but if we don't watch out it could be an issue again - means we need to watch the carbohydrate space. However for the rest of it, we do not have major health problems related to food so are pretty comfortable with our basic meals.

Why the 5 basic food groups? No matter what Tim Noakes or Mr William Banting says I find that we have much better blood sugar levels with a bit of carb, protein and veg with each meal. I did loose weight eating Paleo style for about 8 months last year (2014). I also lost a nice chunk of weight before our October trip to the UK on the 28 day juice diet and we still try to incorporate juicing into our eating plan. But neither of these have been sustainable over the long run. (No, no, never fear - not trying to live on juice - just replacing a meal with a juice each day.)

Homegrown carrots

In a world of fad diets and super foods and a whole lot of opinions on how to eat, the old fashioned food pyramid is not as sexy as something new, but it's where we always end up. We apply our "rule" to it though in that we eat food in its most simple form, closest to its original state and always choosing organic as far as possible.

So not because I am a health guru, nor because I have any particular agenda, but just because I feel like scribbling down our food principles and by way of that, sharing them with you.

So here are our basic principles:

Carbohydrates (don't read bread!)

Bread is only one kind of carb, which we tend to eat only once or twice a week,but when we do eat bread we generally mill our own whole spelt grains (or Kamut) but if the mood takes us we also have refined spelt that gives a decent "white loaf". Other carbs we love are pasta...but we eat this only once a week and use gluten free for my son and normal for us. I used to love making my own pasta but this tradition has fallen by the wayside, sadly. Good for the waistline, not for the taste buds.

Everyone needs carbs and the good ones are found in vegetables in their simple understated way. We have swapped out white potatoes for the most part for sweet potatoes as they have a much higher fibre content and are very versatile. We love having these roasted with butter, a simple chicken thigh dish and big salad for supper. Doesn't get better than this!

Soups are a big thing here and any of the compact starchy vegetables are great for soups. Butternut soup is a quick easy favourite lunch for most of us. As far as I can I try to eat seasonal foods in particular corn and only if I can find it as organic. We do eat polenta, barley, millet, rice and bulgar wheat which we get from Nature's Choice. I am looking into buying these in bulk from an organic food company, but will have to phase that in as its pretty pricey to buy 20kgs of organic grains.

Spelt bread dough on the rise

Protein

Let me put this right out here - we don't eat dried beans as a protein. They simple do not agree with our family's guts! I will add beans here and there to recipes when I make Mexican food, but as an addition too, not as a meal. So our protein comes mainly in the form of organic lamb, beef, chicken, pork, eggs and recently a bit of goat!

Again, while we love stews and curries, my daughter has been encouraging us to eat "cleaner" with less sauces. Even then my curries are made from scratch using my own herb and spice mixes, homemade beef or chicken stock and vegetables.

My two elder children run a free range meat supply company called Funky Chickens and the chicken, pork, eggs and goat that they sell is organic, although not certified, and the beef  and lamb is free range. I get my beef and lamb from elsewhere which is organic and pasture fed.

We tend to still be big on the animal protein side and lower on the carbohydrates, so I am quite pointed in making sure that our protein is of the best we can get. If I did have a source of organic animal protein, I think I would come a bit unglued...but we would not eat beans to make up the protein portion.

Fruit and Vegetables

This is the tougher area for me to remain organic as for the last year or two I have had to supplement heavily as I didn't have the ability to grow as much as we needed. I think that my new compact planting idea will give us higher yields. But until then we buy from Woolies on their bulk specials, or from PnP, or if I am the Earth Fair market I will support Bees in Boots.

We will never be able to grow our own organic fruit as our plot is too small (and I have one son who can finish a bag of apples in 2 days!). What we do grow we eat, at the moment it is strawberries, granadillas and lemons. We do have two apple trees, two orange trees, two fig trees and different berry plants, but as yet have had no fruit from them.

On the pavement I have planted two Elder Trees which will provide some amazing products when they are grown. And while most wouldn't classify it as a fruit, we have two avocado trees which began producing this year. Over time I hope to explore how to grow more berries and fruit in our small space and am thinking about growing some fruit trees espalier as we have loads of wall space...but we will see.

Beautiful homegrown leeks

Dairy produce

Mmmmh, I know about the  milk debate and as I had two children who were lactose intolerant as babes we are not huge milk drinkers. We use milk in coffee and tea and in cooking if needed however we are yoghurt eaters. Some more than others. Could we do without milk and its products, I think so, however so far there is no real need to.

My elder daughter makes the most delicious breakfast porridge and uses rice milk powder for that, and then we read the label and found that its packed with hidden sugars. Tossing up the two (milk vs. rice milk) I think that buying whole organic milk for tea and coffee and cooking is probably the lesser of two evils.

We do use cheese, but mostly I prefer to use Mysthills' butter and cheese as their dairy herd is free range. Superman prefer's Woolies cheddar, which has colorants in it. But this is used so seldom that I figure the 80/20 rule applies...yes?

Fats & sugars

The debates rage on and on and on about this. Should we be getting our fats from animal source...or from nuts, avo's and oils...or from both?

We do the both option. I don't buy lean meat, skimmed milk or low fat cheeses and yoghurt. But we also eat loads of avocados, a variety of nuts and use cold pressed oils.

Coconut oil, which has been touted as the best oil to use, is now coming under scrutiny by many health pros as they question whether it is truly the miracle food it was made out to be. Personally I use it to make soap and for rough elbows :) My daughter uses it in her smoothie bowls and porridge recipes. Granted it gives the meals a thick luxurious texture and gentle flavour, but as I am undecided about it I keep it for external preparations for now.

Porridge with coconut blossom sugar and preserved peaches

With regards to sugar, as I look back over the years, this has been our weakness. We have loved puddings, cakes, cookies and treats. We have had too much sugar in our diets. About 3 months ago we replaced sugar with coconut blossom sugar when we learned about it from a friend. We use this in all our beverages and baking. There are a few times when the brown colour of it will affect the end product so we do use organic sugar, but very seldom. There is still debate raging on about the health claims of coconut blossom sugar, so my goal is to move more and more towards raw organic honey for sweetness. I do not like xylitol or stevia so probably won't ever switch to those "healthier" sweeteners, which also have their fair share of criticisms to deal with.

So that's our story with food right now. What are your healthy eating guidelines?

Compact veggie gardening

Yes, I last posted 3 weeks ago and have not in fact dropped off the end of the world. I have however been very caught up in life. Too much life and feeling the need to trim back a bit so that the pace is slower, that there is more time for the things I love doing, more time to watch seedlings grow and just breathe.

One of the biggest challenges is that we are redesigning our back yard. It has been perfectly functional for many years, but is a bit grungy and has needed an overhaul to better suit our family's lifestyle for a while. With the older ages of our children we need to give them the space they need which led to us renovating the granny flat to make space for our elder son to have his own room, studio and entertainment space.

This in turn led to a total make over, including a newer, but smaller pool, raised beds for herbs and permanent veg, pizza oven, built in bar (BBQ) and more. This is what the back area looked like last night after 3 weeks of workman. We have at least another 3 weeks to go...at least.

This back area held a fair amount of vegetables in barrels and pots and all had to be relocated. This was the perfect timing to prepare the pavement garden and send the plants out there, along with some new ones. The fig tree fell in two when we dug it up so we carefully put them onto the pavement. The Tea Tree bush was also transplanted as well as the rosemary plants, rosebushes, blueberry shrubs, asparagus, strawberries and herbs.

I think a separate post about the pavement area would be a better idea, but the idea is that this will be an indigenous herb/medicinal plant space...except for the two Elderflower trees which I am very excited about!

All the transplanting has taken up most of my spare time, but I have also had time to keep up with my bi-weekly planting up of a bed. The goal is to do consecutive plantings every two weeks until all the beds are full with the selections of plants.

This bed below is my absolute favourite combination of plants and while I don't think the photo shows its beauty and fullness it will soon be full to overflowing. The drip irrigation that we now have is great for planting in straight lines :) My ideas that I had a few weeks ago to increase production in this space rely on planting in a different way than before.

Down both sides of this bed are onion seedlings. Then there is a row of beetroot, then spinach and then against the trellis, some peas. This is repeated on the other side of the trellis.  I have alternated root and leaf crops (although technically beet leaves can also be eaten.) Pretty crowded in there, methinks!

This next bed is slightly different...this was taken a few weeks ago. On the sides of this bed I have two rows of coriander. Then two rows of carrots, a row of spring onions and against the trellis, broad beans.

The below picture was taken today. Two weeks ago I planted garlic here which you can see. In between I have angel hair chicory and lettuces which are difficult to see. Against the wall are black palm kale.

Other beds have been planted with radish along the edges, then rocket, then beets then peas. Another favourite bed is the garlic, red cabbage, brown onions and broad beans.

By using this method - admittedly as an experimental year - we should be using every inch of space in the soil for roots. I have richly fed all the beds with manure and compost to give them all the nutrition they need.

So whats growing in your garden?