So, now I have a proper gardening blog, I suppose I'd better be a bit more organised about my postings! First off, here's a brief history of my veg-growing efforts.
I started growing a few salad vegetables in my back garden in 2005 - just tomatoes, garlic and a bit of lettuce. However I'm on a typical modern housing estate, i.e. mostly rubble and compacted subsoil, with no more than a few inches of topsoil in most places. I considered getting an allotment, but the waiting lists here in Cambridge are generally very long.
In the spring of 2006 I started keeping a detailed gardening diary. By July I decided I really needed an allotment, so I chatted up the elderly secretary of the local society and got one within a few days! It's only small (about 8 x 8.5m of usable growing space), but enough for us given that we both work full-time. I also bought an eglu and a couple of chickens, having decided that, since the chances of moving somewhere more rural were slim, I might as well live the Good Life here in suburbia :)
In spring 2007 I realised that I would have a lot more success raising my salads in the garden (the allotment being too far away to keep a close eye on delicate plants) if I used raised beds, so I bought a couple of Link-a-Bord 2m x 1m beds and filled them with compost. Back on the allotment, we had a lot of wet weather and also underestimated the amount of time and effort needed to maintain the plot - but I refuse to give up, and we've hung onto it by the skin of our teeth!
This year we've been trying to get up to the allotment more often, and the plot is gradually taking shape. Yields are still modest, but given the minimal time and effort we put in, they're not too bad - and the raised beds in the garden have been a big success (when I can keep the chickens out!). I've improved our rotation plan in order to keep as much of the ground in production for as much of the year as possible, and I'm looking forward to eventually being able to grow enough veg for all our needs. Well, apart from maincrop potatoes, which require too much space, and peppers, which are difficult to grow in the quantities we like to eat!