One whole season has passed since I decided to start a micro-garden on my roof in W1. By any account I chose a rotten year to start with. The rain has been ferocious and the quantity of sunshine fairly low.
However I think I can claim success, in spite of the awful weather. From fine beds, each 600mmx1800mm, I've cropped the following:
Broad beans - poor
Radishes- variable
Sugar Snap Peas - delicious but small quantities
Garlic - good
Onions - good
CCA lettuce - excellent
Butter head lettuce - good
Mizuna - amazing
Runner beans - awesome with sweet peas and tomatoes growing through them.
Tomatoes - awesome
Chard - tasty and long lasting but modest
Wild celery - alarming growth spurts
Cabbage - slow
Japanese broccoli - slow
Kale - prolific as CCA and delicious
Japanese kale - prolific, but susceptible to cabbage white and slugs!
Purple sprouting broccoli (not yet cropped)
Green and yellow courgette - not bad considering the weather
Dill - pretty
Cilantro - great seeds
Parsley - enduring
Cress - spicy
Red mustard - not enough, my all time favourite leaf. I plan to sew much more next year.
Beet - hopeless
Celeriac - lots of pretty leaves, but no bulbs yet
Silver thyme
Carrots - failed
In pots:
I've grown fantastic early potatoes, pretty good chillis and basil (which has been hopeless - but I blame the weather).
Mint - started well but now looks a bit sorry for itself.
Strawberries prolific for a short season.
Nasturtiums - pretty for a time
Autumn carrots, which so far look okay.
We've hardly has to purchase any salads or veg since May, and we've benefitted from some wonderful fresh food.
However the first crops have it easy. Now I'm contending with having to recondition the soil as I re-plant. I'm also getting to grips with intercropping - see strawberry plants squeezed between maturing garlic! So I don't get a chance to re-condition the soil between crops.
I've just bought a big bag of pelleted chicken manure and mulching like crazy with compost, as well as feeding with my own brand of liquid manure. I'm also considering a top dressing of lime. Anyone out there know if that might keep the soil sweet?