PLOTTER OF THE MONTH
REV ELAINE AND REV GRAEME HALLS FROM NEAR LLANELLI, CARMARTHENSHIRE
Elaine and Graeme clearly have a real passion for their garden and also open it to visitors in the summer, raising a lot of money for charity. Elaine takes up the story…
Do you have an allotment or veg patch in your garden?
Just the garden on a wet and windy Welsh hillside. The whole area including bungalow is about a third of an acre. I guess it is divided roughly into 20% bungalow, 20% herb labyrinth with cottage garden border at the front, 20% banked shrubbery with some herbaceous planting immediately behind the bungalow, 20% vegetable beds including polytunnel and brassica tunnel (Wonderwall www.walk-inwonderwall.co.uk); 20% orchard and wildflower meadow.
How long have you been growing veg?
I remember helping Dad and Grandad in the veg and flower gardens when I was little, so I guess more than 60 years! I started doing it myself and then with Graeme's help when we married. We are all but self-sufficient year-round for veg, only really buying more potatoes and a few cauliflowers last year.
Why did you start growing your own produce?
Gardening is good exercise, and it is a hobby not a chore. Being able to pop into the garden for half an hour here and there was great when I was busy andno-brainer when they can be just as attractive as flowering plants. Good for the environment and good for the planet and good for the pocket. Growing your own means you know where they have been grown and what has been ‘sprayed’ on them… nothing! We grow and eat organically. This is the first garden we have had with lots of ornamentals as well as veg.
