Have I mentioned that I’ve been writing a book?? It’s due to be published on March 7th and I’m delighted to have four copies from the publishers to give away.
I’m jolly pleased with my first tome. Georgia Vaux, the designer, has done a splendid job with the layout and Short books have included tons of pics of my lovely neighbours. It’s a month by month guide to growing fruit and vegetables (and flowers) in your front garden and in doing so, growing your own community too.
To have a copy of Veg Street winging its way to you, just leave a comment below letting me know which vegetables or fruit you’ll be growing this year, and I’ll be drawing names out of a hat next weekend (2nd/3rd March). Looking forward to popping them in the post already…
asparagus,tomatoes(various) bean,peas,brussels,beetroot,chillies,peppers,caulis,sweet potatoes,brassicas,carrots,blueberries,strawberries,red and black currants,rhubarb and on and on,so happy to have a biggish plot after a tiny courtyard,grew loads in that,now the world is my allotment 🙂
Hello! The book looks really interesting, and I’d love to have a copy. This year I’ll be growing load of stuff, too much to mention, but I’ll mention a selection…Quinoa, Latvian Soup Pea, Windsor Broad Beans, Black Russian and Yellow pear tomatoes, Winter Kale, Endive, Radiccio, yellow carrots, dwarf berlotti beans, dwarf french beans, strawberries, raspberries, red shallots, gooseberries….and on and on…
inspired by your excellent example I grew tomatoes and runner beans and courgettes in my front garden last year. I loved the way they became a local landmark and kids would stop to see how they were growing. Courgettes were a total no-show so may just try one plant this year but plan to try a pumpkin too, just for the kids. I LOVED growing veg in the front garden.
The very odd Chaerophyllum bulbosum that I have no idea what so ever what it might be called in English, beans, beetroot, garlic, sallad, potatoes, carrot, parsnip, sugar-snap peas, radish, chili, pepper, cucumbers, onions and hopefully, if i can find some, Jerusalem artichokes.
Just wondering if this draw is open to Aussies? If so, I am just about to get stuck into planning our winter veg garden here in Tasmania :). I want to grow acres of broad beans, peas, silverbeet, all of the brassica’s that I can cram in and lots of Asian greens :). I read about your book on another blog and headed over here because I was very interested. I put you into my RSS feed reader as soon as I started trawling through your blog posts. A wonderful site with valuable information 🙂
Great news about the book, congratulations ! I will be growing rhubarb ” pink champagne ” to replace an old green variety and some “Polka ” raspberries. In the veg patch, I am trying some Sarpo Axona potatoes to try and beat the blight, courgettes, squash “Uchi Kuri ” which is delicious , and runner beans Firestorm” .
Naomi you dark horse! Cant believe you’re about to launch. Cover looks fantastic so cant wait to read it. We’re really into our rhubarb and herb plot at the moment.
I’m growing green beans and dwarf peas (both of which I’ve started off indoors and will plant out in March). I’m also growing broccoli which I love to eat, and can’t buy locally, and some cauliflower, which I have the same story with. The soil in my area is terribly soggy, so I’m afraid to try root veg, as it’s my first year in the garden and I don’t want to demorialise myself. I’m planting some herbs and flowers between my veg to keep some of the pests off. Can’t wait to get out and dig!
Hi Naomi! I have fairly recently started blogging and stumbled on your blog by chance. Bizarrely, I think it is your community project that has inspired a project I happen to be leading as part of my town team that we’re calling Brush Up Broadstairs! I am sure your blog and book will be great resources for more inspiration to make it a success!
Is also a novice gardener and really hope to have some produce this year, including the staples of potatoes, tomatoes, onions, garlic, strawberries, pears, apples, plums, rhubarb and some salad leaves if I can deter the snails and slugs!
Thanks for all the inspiration, both personally and for our community.
Congratulations on the book – you must be absolutely thrilled! I’m growing lots of different things but will concentrate on veg that is beautiful as well as tasty – rainbow chard, purple carrots, yellow french beans and my favourite… beetroot!
I have a tiny shady courtyard which I have struggled with for five years always having had a big garden before. However in true good neighbour spirit, the lady at the back of my house has just let me have the end of her garden to use as she can’t manage it since her husband died……yes…… the plants!! Onions, beetroot, asparagus, Jerusalem artichokes, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, purple sprouting brocholi, carrots, French beans, salad leaves, herbs, a bee garden (lots of lavender, catmint, alliums, cosmos etc) and rasberries . Your project sounds fabulous; brilliant way to bring people together and do something life enhancing
How fantastic! I’m growing Butternut Squash, Beetroot, Fine beans and tomatoes.
I grow runner beans,peas,beetroot,tomatoes ,lettuce radish ,corgette etc
Hello! I am hoping to grow asparagus peas, and to try some perennial veg such as sea kale, sorrel and some rainbow chard. I also want to try the snake guords for the children to decorate!
I’m so excited about your new book! I read Wellywoman’s review and can’t wait to get my own copy, whether that be as a prize or not. I’ll be growing tons of veg this year, you name it, I grow it. A first for me will be kale and mammoth leeks, which I’ve already started sowing. I just sowed my chili plants today too and am very excited about spring 🙂 In terms of fruit I have a big container with a lovely blueberry plant, an apple and pear tree, strawberries raspberries, redcurrants and desert gooseberries. I’m looking forward to having my own produce again so much. I’ve really missed it these last couple of months. Anyway, I’ll stop going on now, many congratulations on your new book! : )
Good luck to everyone who’s entered – 4 of you are in for a treat 🙂
Naomi – I’ve just discovered you’re speaking at the Edible Garden Show and I’m due to be there that day – hurrah!
Congrats on the book! This year I’m hoping to move to a larger garden where I’ll have room for more fruit, especially gooseberries, as I want to see what i can do to grow some of the obscure, very large varieties grown by the Victorians. Even if I don’t move, however, I’ll be growing quince, raspberries, strawberries, pears and persimmons (even though mine have yet to develop fully enough to eat any). I always grow parsley, garlic and chives, but it’ll be great to once again have enough sunlight for tomatoes and cucumbers once i move. I’ll live in a shack as long as it is on a good piece of land for growing!!
Congratulations Naomi on your first book publishing.. how thrilling! It is going on my ‘wish list’! I am helping a homeless charity based in Ilford bring their allotment back to life and we were very generously gifted seeds by several individuals who share our passion and journeys of discovery through horticulture. We have just made our first indoor sowings of tomatoes, chillies, jalapenos, aubergine, lettuce and onions.. Lots more to sow over the coming months. We would love to have a copy of your book, which the gardening group would enjoy looking at and sharing ideas for the centre’s community garden too.. With very best wishes, Judi.. 🙂
Thi sounds to be a lovely book. I will get it (prize or not) as my mum was part of the original project, and as she has now moved away it will be lovely for her to ‘revisit’ the street in print and pictures. I spent yesterday preparing a bed for 3 new types of raspberries – all autumn fruiting – as my old plants were getting past their best. Will also be growing onions, elephant garlic, beans and all the usual suspects…..
I’d love to be put into the draw for a chance to win one of your books. this year i shallbe growing runner, broad and french beans. Also courgettrs, toms, chilli peppers, strawbs, gooseberries, blueberries and raspberries. Phrw!! oh and salad lesves and herbs!!
I would love this book and what a great thing to do. About a year ago I started to write a calendar on my laptop and it sort of turned out to be a book but it is no way finished. I got through the first 6mth of when I first started my plot on 2006 but really I never find the time to get round to finishing it there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day.
I grow everything I can think of especially the things you can’t find in the shops and supermarket like mashua and oca I even grow veg I don’t eat myself like swede and broad beans there’s always someone that will eat them, I just love growing veg
We’re gearing up for the winter veggies in New Zealand too. Right now I’m planting miner’s lettuce and a lot of carrots before I start with the green cover crops like broad beans and mustard.
after the deluge of last year, my friend and I have decided to stick to what grew, rather than what got eaten by slugs or drowned by the rain. Therefore plenty of beetroot, turnips, swede and parsnips. Lettuce -funnily enough, after the above sentence- and three times the amount of broad beans that we planted last year!
I’m a bit of a novice when it comes to growing so I’ve started with some chilli and coriander seeds on my kitchen windowsill. Hope to get a little more adventurous later in the year. Maybe your book will provide some useful tips!
My 7-year old daughter and I have just designed our garden, complete with sunflower house and runner bean teepee! I ‘borrowed’ the ideas from pics I’d seen on pinterest and am extremely excited about growing veg that she can play in! Just need a bit more sun than last year 😉 We’re also relocating our veg patch from the bottom of the garden to an unloved bed near the house, where we’re going to cram in as much as we possibly can – salads, herbs, tomatoes, beetroot. Spuds, garlic and onions will still be in the ‘old’ patch, where I can leave them to be a bit more self-sufficient!
I shall be growing in my front garden: asparagus peas, peas, swede, white turnip, romanesco cello,, japanese onions, french beans, spring onions, carrots, spring onions, beetroot, parsnips, purple sprouting broccoli brokali, more onions, leeks, garlic and perennial onions, in containers: mini butternut squash and meteor peas. Hope it’s a good year for everyone!!
always keen to get a free book – and your one looks like it’ll be fab to read, use and learn from. I plan to grow trusted favourites in my front garden – chard, rocket and sorrel, which all thrive despite my benign neglect. i also want to make marigolds work this season and learn to make better use of beetroot tops in salads. nicola http://islingtonfacesblog.com
Congratulations Naomi! It must be hugely satisfying, and having read Wellywoman’s review, I hope your book inspires lots of edible community gardening. Don’t worry about putting my name in the draw, although I am sure I would get lots from your book I will be pretty much gardening alone, so better it goes to someone who might be able to use your tips to get their whole community involved.
We started our Moveable Feast Garden in St Leonards on Sea in June last year so this year we are hoping to grow absolutely everything veg-wise this year especially those we were too late for last year. Your book looks great – congratulations.
Congrats on the book! I’m not entirely sure how much garden I will have this year, so plans are a little bit nebulous, but I am already growing peashoots on my windowsill 🙂
Good morning Naomi!
I will be attempting for a second year running to decide which is the best out of 10 different types of squash varieties- I say second year running as last year the slugs ate them all days after planting them out last year apart from one Sweet Dumpling plant which gave me 2 delicious fruit. (Actually thinking about what ive just typed- Im not sure ive quite thought through how much space 10 varieties of squash will take up though!).
And provided they dont get covered by rampant curcubits the other new things im trying this year are a Japanese Wineberry (inspired by your post on yours), a Tayberry, some Asparagus Peas, a Cucamelon and some coloured Potatoes which apparently will provide me with mash potato of the most vivid violet and red colouration I bought from the RHS show last week.
Great news about your book- I hope you feel very proud of all your hard work!!!! Your new sign off can be Naomi… Blogger, Author and Guerilla Gardener 🙂
Hoping to grow as much as possible on my allotment this year Incl. carrots, pots, toms, beans,brassicas,sweet corn as well as different lettuce and salads,Raspberrys. strawberry and other soft fruits,aiming not to have to buy from Supermarkets, alas all our independent s went,thanks to the big 4! congratulations with the book.
Sounds a great book, hope I get picked out in the draw!
I will be growing raspberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants. Last year they were all eaten by badgers before they ripened….. here’s to more success this year! Kindest regards
Laura
Thanks everyone-it’s really great to hear about what you’re all growing this year from the Moveable Feast in St. Leonards on the south coast to Australia and New Zealand! Glad to hear that last year’s challenging weather hasn’t dampened spirits!
Beck- just wanted to say that Dawn Isaac’s Little Green Fingers has some wonderful ideas for children and gardening.
Jennie-hope you have great new raspberries and look forward to seeing you and Lily at the next Cake Sunday if you can make it.
VP -looking forward to meeting up at the Edible Garden Show-I’ll be talking around lunchtime on Friday 15th March should anyone else be visiting that day!
Mummy Sally-looking forward to reading more about ‘Brush up Brodstairs’.
Richard-hopefully Mull bound towards the end of May this year-can’t wait!
Rosey-lovely to hear how Front garden growing has been so popular with the neighbours-do I hear a project in the making?!
Thanks again to you all. Best wishes Naomi
Congrats re actually writing a book! WOW!
Last year was rubbish for our toms and other veg, but will be trying all over again this year with:
Marmonde, capri and a whole load of seeds (names unknown) collected from nice tasting toms bought in shops. Runner beans (scarlet emperer), pariss island lettuce, king edward potatoes, boltardy beetroot, sturon onions (probably sets again), white lisbon, spring onions, strawberries, (everbearer). Finally, about 3 years ago I planted a seed from a cox’s orange pippin – it is now about 5 ft and I’m hoping to see flowers and maybe an apple or two…you never know your luck!
How exciting to see the finished product! You must be delighted.
We are growing a mix this year. Lots of potatoes -despite the Potato Council’s comments- and tomatoes, runner beans, chard, rocket & sorrel, carrots, lots of beetroots -a much underrated root- and spring onions. And in the front garden, which is barely more than a bicycle storage strip, I am growing garlic, more runner beans and broad beans. I wanted something that pretty but edible for the front patch to start a conversation with neighbours! Let’s just hope for better weather this year…
I’m going to be brave and try James Wong’s recommendations (The Garden, March 2013) of chickpea (Cicer arietinum) for sweet pods and chilean guava (Ugni molinae) as much for it’s pretty foliage and scented flowers as for it’s fruit. My front garden was a building site last year and a derelict weed haven before that!
Our street has a mix of well loved and totally neglected gardens. Your community work has inspired me to start a plant swap and just get people talking about their gardens as a first step towards tempting them to join together and make a difference. Just by being out in my own front garden working away gives me immediate contact with my neighbours – the number of people who stop and have a chat is so encouraging. The plant that always catches people’s eye is rainbow chard.
For camellias – have you visited the camellia garden at West Ham Park? Be prepared for thuggish squirrels but well worth the visit if you’ve got time in the next few weeks.
Oooh, it look mouth-watering and I can’t wait to can have a copy! 🙂
This year I am a little bit late with Veg-planning, but it certainly will be a mix of alredy-tried and completely new cultivars.
I just started with Rocket ‘Victoria’, a mix of Salads (Lollo Rossa is my favourite!) and the easy cress to fill the growing gaps 😉 The ‘Pink Fir Apple’ Potatoes are chilling on my windowsill.
Soon will follow Broadbeans, Courgettes and red Basil from Sardinia (where I came from!) and onions, peas, parsnip, tomatoes. I will have a go with Beetroots and make sure to have enough space for edible flowers: they will colour my salads while attract pollinators. It will contribute to the environment while ensuring me more crops 🙂
Thank you for the giveaway! 😉
I have just come winging across from Charlotte’s Plot as her description of your book sounded so inspiring. We’re going to be sharing a plot this year with daugher and son-in-law,so what to grow will have to be the subject of discussion and negotiation,but hoping for sweetcorn, beans and courgettes as well as tomatoes if we can escape the blight.
Your book looks ace! I’d love to read it as we are currently digging up our front lawn to make a herb garden in the sun, and plan to relocate our strawberry bags there too, and maybe grow some more successful french beans. I’m hoping it will take the overfed slugs in our shady, soggy back garden a long time to work out where the food has gone. I’m also hoping that working in the front will help us get to know some neighbours – we never seem to see any of them!
Tomatoes, courgettes and fine beans for me.
I will be growing broad beans, onions (red and white), garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, leeks, beetroot, parsnips, salad crops, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants and rhubarb for sure. And extra things that appeal to me as the weeks go by.
Just moved to Derbyshire from Cornwall and left my lovely veg garden behind. We have a (virtually) blank canvas of square garden with lawn in the middle so will be working on a patch at a time and a sow-as-you-go basis. We will be rebuilding our cottage at the same time so first will be salad seeds on a windowsill, then more seeds until the windowsills are full. Potatoes and carrots in containers. Broad beans and rocket are a must, then beetroot and coriander, shallots, rhubarb and some raspberry canes. Oh the list goes on, but hopefully the budget will stretch to a small greenhouse and – fingers crossed – a couple of fruit trees. If only the freezing fog would lift…………
We dont have a veg plot as such but grow a number of veggies within the garden itself. Tomatoes always do well in pots by the patio for instance.
One new one to us Im looking forward to growing is cucamelons, we saw these for the first time in James Wongs new book, and they look amazing. so hopefully will taste just as good
I am a novice gardener and this year is the first time i’ve ever grown anything! I’m very excited! So far i’ve planted chilli, beetroot, pepper and herb seeds inside in module trays and i’m starting to see seedling now. I’m hoping to plant some radishes and mixed lettuce leave outside in containers too when it gets a bit warmer. I love the idea of being self sufficient and knowing where my food comes from, but living in a flat in the city, i’m having to be a bit more inventive. I’d love a copy of your book as any information and inspiration i can get at this stage is definitely welcome! 🙂
Hi Naomi, I’d love to get my mits on your book as I’m really interested in community gardening and would love to do something similar here in Exeter. I’m growing a whole load of things – broad beans, borlotti beans, pumpkins, oca, tomatoes and leeks to name but a few. Good luck with your book.
Congratulations, Naomi! Wonderful to see all that experience of community gardening marshalled into a book. I look forward to seeing it for sale and getting copies for my various gardening friends.
Congratulations! That’s so exciting. We’ve just moved into our house in south London and acquired our first ever garden. We’re also now the proud owners of 36 strawberry plants, 6 raspberry canes, 3 Blueberry bushes and innumerable tomato and chilli pepper seeds. Your blog was a huge inspiration to us in making the most of the space that we have, so thank you!
I have made the decision to turn my front garden into a vegetable plot this year and am looking for some guideance. This book looks fab!
New to your blog, via Charlotte’s Plot – really pleased to have finally found some help from another London-based person in the gardening world, as it’s only my second year of veg growing, so I need all the help I can get! I will be growing potatoes, onions, squash, tomatoes, peas and courgettes. The book looks wonderful!
I might grow some tomatoes i think 😀
Pineapples.
I was thinking of raspberries and strawberries!
Oooh, I would love to win a copy of this! This year I am growing runners, toms, courgettes, various salads, carrots, beets, kale… Arrived here via Charlotte’s Plot – it’s so good to find your blog!
I have found your blog for the first time today. I am truly inspired. I am completely new to gardening and have decided this is the year I will get cracking in our messy overgrown plot. I dream of growing anything and bringing it to the table. I am setting up a micro bakery from my kitchen and the thought of adding home grown veggies and herbs to breads is an exciting one.
I am trying the following, having just got half an allotment in january: carrots, parsnips, onions, peas, french bean, broccoli, cauliflower, jerusalem artichoke, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes, squash, sweetcorn, potatoes, lettuce, peppers, chard, spinach, celery. I am working on the basis that if I try a few of lots of things then if some fail I won’t be too disappointed, and if some do well, I wont drown in one thing all ready for harvesting at the same time! Good luck with your book – it looks really interesting!
This looks like a wonderful read! I’ve just put seeds in – beef tomato, cucumber, aubergine, thyme, basil, globe artichokes and jalapenos. I’ve just moved house, so am getting started again with plants 🙂
I want to grow some perennial vegetables and fruit; jerusalem artichokes are definitely on the list, Hope the book is a big success.
Sadly, due to space constraints I will grow only tomatoes in pots on my deck, along with a pot of herbs
Good luck with the book! This year I’ll be growing carrots, parsnips, potatoes, onions, shallots, courgettes, lettuce, french beans, pumpkins, strawberries and hopefully some apples from my new tree.
Having just reclaimed our garden from piles of building materials, we hope to get some tomatoes and herbs growing at the very leadt, along with some kind of squash/marrow/cucumber for our toddler to “look after”. A year without homegrown veg has been a long one, and a planting guide would be very useful.
I just got some lovely currant bushes and hope for blueberries too. as far as veg goes I have six beds and a greenhouse so I am hoping for loads including purple haze carrots, three kinds of broad beans, Alderman peas, salad potatoes and Black Russian toms.
Well done with the book, the cover looks brilliant!
Hi Naomi, please put me in the ‘hat’ for a free Veg Street book when you do the draw in the next few days …
‘Flower Lane’ – to follow later for the next book perhaps?
Don’t forget to try our PATIO Sunflowers as well – Eos, Solar Chocolate Gold & Solar Flash to name but 3 of the best …
The book looks great!
All the best, John
Just came over from Wellywoman’s blog. Congratulations on the book. Fantastic approach to community growing! As for what I will be growing this year…. As a beginner I am going to try and keep things simple and grow some things I usually eat. Hopefully will be having a go at the following; purple sprouting brocoli, kale, cabbage, leeks, parsnips, carrots, french beans, runner beans, peas, potatoes. Chilli’s – hopefully sowing them this weekend. Definitely some cut-and-come-again salads. I will possibly try a few others but that is enough to start with 🙂
I grow tomatoes, lettuce, radish, beetroot, courgette, pumpkin and of course lots of herbs, and my son asked for peas this year 🙂
Great work Naomi 🙂
Tropaeolum minus
Linum usitatissimum
Cucurbita pepo
Cucumis sativus L.
Cucurbita pepo
Cucurbita moschata
Cucumis melo
Phaseolus vulgaris
Phaseolus coccineus
Pisum sativum
Solanum lycopersicum x 5 var.
Capsicum annuum
Capsicum chinenes
Zea Mays
Lactuca sativa
Anethum graveolens
Coriandrum sativum
Asparagus officinalis
Tetragonia tetragonoides
Brassica oleracea
Brassica napus
Ocimum basilcium
Ocimum basilcium
Daucus carota
Allium sativum
Beta Vulgaris
Allium cepa
Raphanus sativus
Solanum tuberosum
Pastinaca sativa
😉
Such an inspiring project and so excited that it is all captured in a beautiful book. I hope it will help us create a growing project down here in South London. We’re going to start with the simple stuff, courgettes, beans, sweetcorn, beetroot, radishes and maybe some tomatoes. You have inspired us!
Naomi thanks to Wellywoman reviewing your book and me reading her blog post I’m here commenting! Veg Street looks really interesting and one which I look forward to reading (at some point) I’m unfortunately not going to get to grow any veg this year as too busy teaching horticulture to novice gardeners. Best wishes though and here’s to book no 2?. Ps most summers I tend to grow a variety of herbs, courgettes and tomatoes but was hoping to grow beetroot but haven’t had a chance to prepare the ground so hopefully next year 🙂
Your book sleeve looks colourful and interesting: just like my garden this year… I hope!
I’ll be growing oriental veg; Pirelli leaves, daikon radish, japanese cucumber, eggplants.
European veg: tomato: tiny tims, carrot, beet root, runner beans and strawberries.
Of course there will be sweet peas, spring bulbs and summer flowers for lovely colour and attracting the wild life.
Now, where’s my deck chair ?