Sometimes life just gets in the way. If you’ve been following my channel for a while, you’ll know the plan was always to grow as much as I could myself — onions for chutney, chillies for jam, fruit for preserves. But as you can see from the “before” pictures… the garden’s not exactly thriving right now.

Between uncertainty about moving and not wanting to put too much effort into beds that might have to be stripped back, the garden slipped into survival mode. Most of my growing was in planters on a pallet — easier to move if we had to, but far from ideal.

Still, I kept experimenting in the kitchen with preserves (using shop-bought, foraged or gifted produce). And now, I’m determined to bring the garden back to life — starting this autumn!

Clearing Out & Starting Fresh

Step one was clearing the pots and planters. Most of them were full of weeds, spent compost, or mystery plants that might have been marigolds… or just weeds.

The plan:

• Empty everything out into fresh tubs.
• Mix in some new compost
• Wash and reuse pots so no plant diseases carry over.

It’s amazing how satisfying it is to see one side of the garden completely gutted and ready for new life

Surprising Volunteers

It wasn’t all bad news in the chaos — the garden surprised me with volunteer potatoes, garlic, and onions that had self-seeded from last year.

The potatoes were looking especially healthy, so I decided to lean into it and try planting first earlies. If all goes well, they’ll be ready in time for Christmas dinner.

• They’re already chitted, so no need for the windowsill trick.
• They won’t store well, but they’ll be perfect for eating fresh.
• I’m even considering pressure canning potatoes for the first time — a project I’ve wanted to try for ages.

By the way, this will run on my YouTube channel as a monthly video log/diary. If that interests you I’ve linked it here:

Autumn Planting Plans

Aside from potatoes, I’m also experimenting with a few new crops for the season:

• Spinach – hardy and reliable for cooler months.
• Radishes – though the kids aren’t fans (yet!), I’m hoping to find recipes to win them over.
• Mustard greens – something completely new for me, but I thought they’d add colour and flavour to the winter garden.

For protection, I’ve set up netting over the planters. Hopefully it’ll keep birds off the seedlings when food is scarce for them over winter.

Learning as I go

I want to be clear: I’m not an expert gardener. This isn’t a how-to or a tutorial. It’s more of a garden diary — sharing the ups, downs, and experiments as I go.

• Sometimes things fail.
• Sometimes volunteer crops surprise me.
• And sometimes the British weather decides when work gets done.

That’s all part of the journey.

Looking Ahead

The garden’s far from finished, but it’s no longer the abandoned patch I started with. Next month I’ll be planting onion plugs and more garlic, and I’ve got a little DIY garden project in mind for one of the frames.

I’ll also be watching closely to see if those Christmas potatoes deliver the goods. And if they do, I’ll be trying out that pressure canning project. (Maybe Santa will bring me a new pressure canner this year!)

So if you’ve got tips for autumn planting, or experience with mustard greens and winter radishes, I’d love to hear your advice in the comments. And if you want to follow the full transformation, check out the video linked above and subscribe to see how this “neglected garden reset” unfolds.

Until next time, keep crafting independence one skill at a time.