| Urban back garden |
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About the garden: This is a small but sunny 2-tiered patio garden with raised beds and containers, right in the centre of town. Gary has made use of practically every square inch of the garden, and everywhere you look there’s something growing: beans, cucumbers and sweat peas are crawling up the walls, cabbages and squash mingle amongst corn, tomatoes, beetroot, leeks, parsnips, radishes and lettuces. There is a blueberry bush tucked away in the corner and a hanging basket bursting with cherry tomatoes. There’s just about room to sit down and enjoy it all! Gary has also planted tomatoes, cucumbers, nasturtiums and squashes in his front garden amongst the flowers. Gary has been in the flat for 2 years, and has been working on the garden since he moved in.
Harvest's questions to Gary: What inspires you to grow your own? Gary reckons he has been gardening since he could walk. His grandparents were avid gardeners and gardening is a passion that has been passed onto Gary. He has been growing his own fruit & veg for 10 years. He just loves growing plants and also finds that home grown produce tastes so much better than what you buy in the shops. He first noticed the difference in flavour with home-grown potatoes. Strawberries are another thing where he finds a big difference in terms of flavour in home-grown vs store bought.
Do you work on the garden by yourself or do you have help (e.g. from a friend, family member or Grow Your Neighbour’s Own volunteer)? Gary manages the garden pretty much on his own. He also works on the Harvest demonstration garden as a volunteer and is waiting to be matched on the Grow Your Neighbour’s Own scheme.
What is your favourite thing to grow? Gary really likes growing tomatoes. This year he has 48 plants of 10 different varieties! Just about all his plants have been grown from seed, many of which he has saved from last year’s crops.
What do you enjoy the most about your garden?
What’s your top tip(s) for other gardeners? Just grow it. Try planting whatever you want even if you’re not sure the conditions are perfect. If it doesn’t work, then at least you’ve tried. Just throw it in and see what happens!
Is there anything that Harvest can do / has done to help you? Harvest has put him in touch with the demo garden at Preston Park where he feels he’s learned a lot from Sarah, the Harvest Growing Officer (we reckon he’s helped other people learn a lot too). Harvest has also put him in touch with Grow Your Neighbour’s Own. |
Gary's urban back garden
What have been your main successes? Any failures? Gary’s main success this year has been runner beans. His main failure has been pumpkins. The fruit never grew to full size – they turned mushy and fell off when they were still small. He thinks he many have planted them too early.
Just being out in the garden: it’s hard to believe you’re in the middle of town here – you could be anywhere. He also simply loves being able to grow his own food. 
