The Start of a new chapter and Days away from the Garden

I have been meaning to begin a blog for a number of months, but just have not got down to actually starting it. I have been making regular scribbles in a note book though. Over the next few posts I will try to detail what I have done so far within the garden and what I am planning on doing next.

Past
My garden is just under half an acre in size, which in a previous life was home to cattle and sheep. This has meant that the ground is fairly fertile, although I do try to add compost whenever I plant new things to help get them established. The garden itself is a flat field, with few mature trees. Over the past year or so, I have added 4 apple trees and a pear to the orchard part of the garden, with the overall aim of creating a walk through the trees. There was already an apple, a cherry, a pear and a plum tree meaning that I now have 9 fruit trees. Below is a picture of what this area looks like at the moment.

This path leads to a pond that was put in 2 years ago and has established nicely. The plan is to add lots of spring bulbs to contrast with the winter border of japanese dogwoods that I have planted. 

Present
I decided that I would take my girlfriend away for a few days for her birthday, the only problem being that this meant leaving the garden and in particular the vegetables alone. No worries, the weather forecast looked poor meaning that my plants were not going to suffer drought (more like drown). Anyway I got home and went straight for the garden. The first thing that I noticed was the amount of growth that everything had put on (i was expecting little change due to a lack of heat), with all the winter veg starting to shoot skywards. The recent weather has meant that the lettuce sown a few weeks back has established nicely, however the damp has meant a lot of slugs. I have been reading Charles Dowding's books on the subject of No-Dig gardening, and have ordered his book on vegetable growing which hopefully will arrive soon. I have decided that I will try and garden this way as much as I can as I feel that everything is worth trying.

Anyway I shall leave you now, I hope my first entry is not boring and that over the next few months we will get to know each other. I appreciate any comments or feedback that you may want to give.

CG