Digging and Dungarees

After many Workshop experiments with windowsill farming, resulting in a bountiful feast of four whole runner beans and a handful of oregano, we have followed our muddy dreams and now have an allotment!

We took over the Pumpkin Plot back in January and what a scrubland lay before us.  Brand new spades at the ready, sparkling in the winter sunshine and crisp, clean dungarees on, the digging began in earnest.

Using a wheel design, invoking thoughts of the Wheel of the Year, a central circle is surrounded by triangular rays of freshly turned soil.

A triumphant moment as the first potatoes were planted...

Now nine months on, some of the first crops have been harvested; courgettes are thriving, broad beans have boldly battled black flies, calendula is in full bloom and one single pumpkin thrives.

With kindly gifts from neighbours (giant marrows, cabbages and apples), Pumpkin Workshop is enjoying the fruits of the Earth!

On your marks, get set....GROW!

This is of course an update on the runner beans!

Well, a poor turn out for the race - twelve bean seeds planted, sweating away in my mini windowsill propagators and only two shoots burst forth!  On further investigation discovered that the remaining ten were mouldering and maggoty beneath the surface!  Grim!

But the two brave sports are pushing on through, moving onwards and upwards:

Next on the starting line are broad beans and an attempt at indoor strawberry growing from seed!  The propagators are humming away again on the sunny south-facing windowsill!

Adventures in Windowsill Farming!

Here at the workshop we dream of self-sufficiency, homesteading and The Good Life.  But the reality is a few windowsills and a front porch!

We have not been deterred!  With a bit of imagination and experimentation, pots, compost and a handful of seeds, we are setting out on the adventure that is windowsill farming!

The first shoot of success is traditional windowsill herb growing, which has resulted in this lovely crop of oregano; a much used herb in the workshop:

And here is a medley of home grown produce:

Cress - (top left) just beginning to shoot up in a saucer, cress is always a very heartening seed to sow, with almost immediate growth and hence cheer!
Sage - (top right) a little straggly, I have a second pot of much stronger plants on a windowsill that receives less direct sunlight
Oregano - (bottom left)
Beans - (bottom right in the mini propagator) of the runner variety, yet to poke their heads out into the world.  More news to follow, just hoping that the age of the seeds won't stall growth too much!