Hi everyone, I used to post a lot in a previous Gardens etc until my wife was also diagnosed with cancer just over 2 years ago and she went through such a hard time so my time was taken up with not just Mrs Tvman but I was not good because of the rise and fall of red cells, white cells, neutrophils and platelets.
The good news is that I have a little bit more free time to garden. I never stopped because it's in my DNA to get working in the garden. I'm also a wheelchair user because of a serious back condition called spinal stenosis and the pain is so great that I'm only able to work in short bursts.
So let's see photos of your gardens or allotments, whether they be large or small or maybe you only have room for pots and troughs in a balcony or back yard.
My speciality for the last 40 years is vegetables and I have won hundreds of prizes over the last 20 years or so. I have had vegetables in show that have made me Northern Ireland champion for my sins. Unfortunately, since covid some shows have ceased therefore I haven't entered any for a few years.
I've a few photos below, that's if I can remember how to insert them! It's been a while.
Below is a photo of the contents of my greenhouse, there are tomato plants left and right of the pathway. Also just past the tomatoes are cucumber plants against that have frames for them to climb up. The cucumber variety is Mini Munch, they're a small variety that are sufficient for a few salads
The plants in the large pots below are aubergines, variety Black Beauty and inbetween the pots is a seed tray in which spring onion seeds have been sown which of course haven't germinated yet. Over here in Northern Ireland we call spring onions "scallions" and apart from in salads we have them with butter in mashed potatoes and that dish is called "champ". Believe it or not that was served as a stand alone dish that we had when I was small, some 60 years ago. Just mashed potatoes with small pieces of cut up scallions, cooked slowly in real butter then a dinner plate was loaded up with champ, a hole made in the top and filled with more butter then everything was mixed together and eaten. Along with an Ulster Fry in the morning, no wonder we had the highest rate of heart disease in Europe!
Last photo below for this post is a bed of garlic (on the left), shallots in the foreground and at the far end for those of you eagle-eyed is a few red and white onions that are just 2 or 3 inches high. They are grown from onion sets that are small immature onions and usually come in a net bag weighing 250g and there are about 70 in total.
You'll notice that I have wire netting around the beds, that's because 3 years ago I had a rabbit problem. 35 years without them, 1½ years of rabbits and none since! The wire netting is staying for a while yet!
What about some photos from anyone else?
Tvman
Hi tvman, here's a couple of pics of plums and pears developing 
The pond is kept topped up with rainwater, I do have 16 water butt's to collect it, though watering is a pain with so little rain, luckily I have an Emma, who likes watering and weeding 
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love Eddie x
Hi tvman, it does need a little tidying up anyway, especially the brambles, and couldn't agree more about the importance of insects, even slugs to the garden, 90% of the slimy fellas are of benefit to us gardeners, my fruit trees especially the apples have very few leaves, but look well
I'm letting my allotment neighbour put her poultry in the orchard, they always go well together, and free eggs too
Eddie
Hi yes Eddie I would also like to hire Emma 
. I wondered how anyone on here like Eddie and Tvman managed the weeding. I have spine mets and find it hard, do you have any tips. PS I think I have persuaded Mr about the pond yeah.
Lee 2 x
Morning Lee2, Emma's amazing and all mine
, as for weeding, mulching will stop a lot of them, and don't plant to closely together so you can get the hoe in, and any persistent weeds I put a dab of roundup wearing rubber gloves directly onto the weed, I too have spine mets, stenosis, osteoporosis and damage from a car accident 11 years ago, so do lots of sitting to standing exercises, to keep my legs as well as possible so I can sit on my old milk bottle crate and weed with my little Japanese hoe, which gives me more reach than other hand hoe's, but the best advice I was given was to get them early and on a dry sunny day
Eddie xx
