I do love to look around a vegetable plot, and especially one that's productive at this time of year. Although that makes me feel a little bit flawed as my plot looks nothing like this. But nonetheless I can still enjoy looking at someone else's hard work.
I'd have been happy to have picked this purple kale though.
The vegetable garden at Wisley is as you'd expect, ordered and full of produce. The Brussels were netted neatly, but I did wonder who eats the produce from this garden. We eat a lot of brassicas at this time of year, and I really should grow some of our own again this year. I must remember to check the sowing time, as it's always much earlier than I anticipate.
The year that we had plenty of purple sprouting broccoli I planted plug plants out in the June before, so now you can see why I don't remember. The last thing I'm thinking of in June (or before) is winter veg, but perhaps I should.
I was quite taken by the chicory, and it was great to see the colour. We're eating more of this, and it's something I'm considering growing. Sadly our soil isn't anywhere near as good as this, and it's another thing to grow neatly in rows - remember my long held ambition to grow lettuces neatly, well I'm adding another to that list...
It was great to see the ruby chard doing so well, especially as this is something much closer to my reach. The downside is that MOH is less keen on chard, but as it's something I can grow that's rarely a consideration.
Just look at the soil, not a week in sight. How envious am I?
I know, it comes to something when you look at soil and think where are the weeds?! The plant in case you're wondering is celery - that's not on my grow list at all, although at some point I will try celeriac again.
The other thing that intrigues me in the gardens we look around is greenhouses, and more importantly, looking inside them. This one at Wisley was easy to get a glimpse inside of, and once again it was super neat, with the salad leaves growing just as they should.
As I walked around the greenhouses I was surprised to see a whole pile of pumpkins and gourds, and love this shot of them peering through the crab apples. And the sun and blue sky were welcome too.
What I also liked about the Wisley vegetable garden was that they also made use of pots to grow edibles in. For many years growing in pots was our most productive way of growing tomatoes and much more, so it's great to see this in such an established garden too. I also think there's something about showing off your edibles on the patio, although I've yet to convince MOH of that.
And do you know what I left inspired to get growing again. Perhaps not quite to get out there digging just yet, but definitely inspired to check out my seeds and thumb through some seed catalogues!
Have you decided on what your'e growing this year yet?