About

Hello! I'm Lauren, an amateur gardener based in Cardiff, UK. By amateur I mean I've successfully looked after some house plants for about two years. 

My boyfriend and I recently decided to rescue some land that was left to him and restore it to its former vegetable garden glory! The aim is to grow as much of our own food as possible, eat seasonally, and enjoy the outdoors.

We are city people and live in Cardiff, however, our garden is based in Aberdare, in the South Wales Valleys. Like many people, we are waiting for our house sale to go through, so we are still in our rented flat, where we have no garden at all. The land we have is just over an acre and in need of a lot of work. 

We began the garden around the first week of May 2020 and aim to have it fully completed by next summer. We are playing everything by ear and working things out as we go. There is a chance we might be able to grow on part of the land this summer. That depends on time and if we are called back to our full-time jobs, which would give us only two days a week to work in the garden. 

The land was previously looked after by a family friend for around nine years. However, they abandoned the plot a few years ago. It has been left in a less than desirable condition, resulting in us having to clear all the rubbish and weeds from the land. There are two large greenhouses that need to be demolished at some point, so we can free up more land and space them out more. It is a large project that we need to tackle in stages. 

When we were discussing the kind of house we wanted to buy and the garden we'd like, we often talked about what we would grow. It soon became obvious that we wouldn't have a garden big enough for what we wanted. That's when, one evening, I suggested we look at the land and see what we can do with it. It would allow us to grow more of what we like and leave our garden at home as a space to relax. We always talk about living as waste-free and sustainably as we can, so this could be the perfect start.

Please visit my Instagram where I share updates from the garden. 

Thanks for stopping by!