I am loving

Our beautiful tomatoes - very proud!

Our very first cucumber - once they appeared they grew so fast

The beds

After a request from me, my lovely husband went to work back in October last year and built us 2 raised vegetable beds. He constructed them from corrugated iron and filled them with all sorts - cow poo, sheep poo, hay and soil! We chose to build them high for 2 reasons - so we don't have to bend our backs and we needed to make them dog proof so the dogs wouldn't eat the produce! I'm so glad we decided to go high, as they are so easy to maintain and they were an economical way to fill an empty spot in our VERY large garden.

New to all this we planted lots of seedlings and to my surprise, I couldn't believe the veggies didn't just grow over night! It took 3 months before we were able to eat our first cucumber! We patiently watched as each seedling started to establish itself and day by day they started to get bigger. We have been through cucumbers, carrots, baby beetroot and best of all herbs at my fingertips. Oh herbs, how I love them so much - the smell, the greenery and the need to want to add them to all our cooking simply for their rustic fragrance and pure flavour. The tomatoes took their time (4 months) but we now have the sweetest, juiciest tomatoes ever.

I am so excited about this addition to our garden. It has given us so much as a family. The joyous cries from the kids as vegetables started to appear, the responsibility of making sure the grubs weren't putting holes in our leaves and the coming together each day as we inspected each and every seedling. Then of course, the amazing way the kids started to eat veggies they wouldn't normally eat because we grew them. Somehow they tasted GREAT!!!

There is still so much to learn but I have started keeping a veggie journal so we know for each season when things should be planted. We have now done our winter seedlings - pumpkin, beetroot, zucchini and leeks which will be ready for harvest in time for lots of soups and bakes.