The veggie patch

It's that time of year again when I begin to think about what goodies to plant in the veggie patch. Patch probably isn't the best description of our vegetable garden as there are currently five raised vegetable beds, with plans for more, a more traditional vegetable garden with fruit bushes, rhubarb, strawberries and the like, herb beds full of sage, rosemary, oregano, thymes and more, more raised beds for salad leaves and tomatoes, a significant veggie patch and a polytunnel where I do all my potting up, on, etc and nurture a brown fig tree, a few peppers and the like. As if that is not enough to keep us occupied, last year we planted up a small vineyard of 300 Phoenix, a German white grape variety which is supposed to be a good one for beginners, fairly disease resistant and all that, and our soils, being chalky, south west facing and on a slope should suit. Who knows, in just a few years, visitors to The Barn www.barfordfarmhouse.com may be able to sample a free bottle of our own home-produced wine!