So, I was talking to my neighbour...

I was tidying my garden up this morning. It was my daughters 18th burpday over the weekend and I moved a lot of stuff to make room for the Marquee so her and her friends could sit outside. As it was it was too cold and it decided to rain... So it was too wet and they came inside anyway. Such is life! B-)

Anyway. I was tidying up and re-laying some cardboard on what will be my wildflower patch next year, when my neighbour says 'Hello' over the gate. He wanted to know what I was doing and why. I was explaining about not wanting to use pesticides or dig the whole lot up because I would have to dump the cut up bits somewhere.
It was at that point he mentioned the veg plot. He had a suggestion... One I had thought of but didn't really want to entertain earlier this year. My veg plot simply isn't big enough for what my inexperience would allow me to envision... I can't grow enough to feed us, so I shouldn't bother.
He suggested keeping the potatoes in the bags (He was impressed with the idea), keeping the tomatoes and having squash if I wanted... But to make them in areas AROUND flower beds. That way I get both flowers to look nice and I can grow some stuff for myself as trials. So I may well go with that next year.

Either that or, as my neighbour suggested, I have a go at soft fruit next year. I have 2 blueberries, a nice blackberry that had a few fruit on it. A nice few raspberries that are looking promising. I can grow strawberries easy enough and I have seen a few grapes I could try as they are hardy to our climate. I have done grapes before, quite a few years ago, but I picked the wrong type and generally didn't have a clue what I was doing. *sigh* B-)

So.... What to do? 

To be honest, I'm not sure. I had a go at veg and in the main I was happy. The potatoes were a great crop. The onions were a bit of a let down to be honest, the spring onions were OK though. To cap it all the tomatoes were a farce. The Rhubarb is still too young to comment on. It's produced a few stems. I didn't crop these, they were broken naturally by the wind so I picked them up. They had a nice, if delicate, taste.

I'm torn on what to do. I still have a while before I have to make a decision though as the squash are still growing and I can't do anything to the beds until they are up and I can rotovate it all again. Obviously I will have to get my Raspberries in the ground ASAP if I do decide to go that route. 

Anyone got any suggestions? I'm all ears!