2017 the year we go No Dig

I have grown in many different styles over the years but I have always been a big believer in feeding the soil and not the plants. Every winter I cover the borders with good garden compost or well rotted manure letting the rain and worms take it down into the soil beneath witch is basically No Dig Gardening.  

With out calling it such but I would always get the spade out to dig over the soil it has been drummed into me since a young age you always dig the soil. I remember the first day at Horticultural Collage it was all about the many types of digging single, double or Bastard trenching if it takes your fancy. So it is very difficult to resist the urge to put the spade in the soil but resist I must I have always noticed beds that have not been dig and just had good compost placed on top. Always grow the best crops with the least weeds and more healthier plants. Also what could be better than not having to do any more digging though the winter so should get a bit more time on my hands to do some more writing. Do pop back to see how we are getting on with our No Dig Gardening this year and hopefully we too can inspire you to take up this method as well.

Like an expectant parent

Once you have carefully sown your seeds you have covered them up with the last thin layer of compost then there is the wait. It seems forever but really it's only been a week a gardener is like an expectant parent waiting for there child to appear for all the world to see you are constantly telling everyone what you sowed. Even if they are not the slightest bit interested you still tell them you even tweet a pic of the pot full of compost all your gardening followers like or comment on the pot full of compost. (we are a strange bunch us gardeners) Then there is the checking you are looking at the pots daily even several times a day willing them to grow making sure the temperature is right and that they are not too wet or dry. After several days you then start poking the compost with the label just to see if they are begging to grow. But then the day arrives when you notice a slight bulge in the compost finally they are growing the new plant is pushing its way out of it's seed shell and compost. You are then off to tell everyone again that all those seeds that you sowed a week ago have germinated they are still not interested but you tell them anyway. You take another pic and tweet it and every one congratulates you on the germination of your new plants (as I said we are a strange bunch) some folk even have a celebratory drink to wet the seedling's head. But then why not as it is a new life being brought into the world and it will have to put up with a lot during it's lifetime how ever long or short it will be.

Lets get sowing

There is nothing better to lift your spirits on a dull gloomy day than to sow some seeds in the greenhouse. Although it is still too early to sow most crops there is still lots that could be sown especially if you have the protection of a greenhouse even if it is not heated.

I have not heated my greenhouse for years now and have not had any problems to date yes I have to sow a bit later for some crops. But that dose not matter as the crops always catch up eventually but I have noticed that the harder you grow the plants the better they perform when you plant them out. But at this time of the year there are some crops that once I have sown them I bring them indoors and place them on the window sill to get a bit of heat. Tomatoes, chillies and aubergines all need an early start and a bit of heat to get them off to a good start so they are all put on the window ledge. but brassicas, lettuce, peas are quite happy being sown on the unheated greenhouse if it is going to get really cold I just through a bit of fleece over them for a bit of extra protection. I also start off a few pots of salad leaves, radish and first early potatoes in the greenhouse so we get some early crops before we start cropping outside. It is forecast to rain again tomorrow but hopefully the weather man will get it wrong again and we have a nice dry day so I can do a bit more outside.

Start of the growing year

It's February and there is so much to do in the garden it has been so mild this winter the garden has hardly stopped growing all winter. It is really the start of the growing year as it is the first time I have been able to get in the garden for a wile apart from to feed the chickens and do some gardening. So there has been lots of stuff to do I have never had to mow the grass in January before it was nearly 6" tall in places as it has not stopped growing but the grass is very green for the time of the year.

The compost heaps have become so full over the winter with all the leaves, animal bedding and kitchen waste as well as all the paper and cardboard. So they where desperate for a turn but as I was emptying them out there was lots of dry patches in the middle where the rain has not got all the way into the heap. I decided to leave the contents out on the bed next to the heap so it could get a good soaking from the rain before I put it all back in to the bin this weekend. I will them repeat the same for the other two bins the other problem I have created is all my bins are full when I built the bins the idea was that as one gets full it gets turned into the next one. With the last bin being full of finished compost ready to go on the garden so I will have lots ready all at once. With no where to put all the new waste that needs composting I may need to get a few more pallets and build a fourth compost bin.

 One crop that is doing well that I have not grown for a few years is sprouting broccoli it has been growing well and has only just been discovered by the pigeon's. I have put a net over them now so they can not get to them they will have to eat the neighbours instead. This weekend I will be cleaning out the greenhouse so I can start off a few early crops some brassicas, lettuce etc. I am also going to sow some early carrots in the cold frame I did this last year and they did really well so worth doing again.

Wordless Wednesday

A little Squashed on the bench

Time to plant the Garlic out again

The nights are getting longer and the temperature is plummeting so a lot of folk would not consider it a good time to be planting in the garden. But now is the time to get your garlic in if you want a good crop next year as the bulbs need a certain amount of frost to encourage the bulb formation under ground.

I am going to grow two variety's this year the first is Elephant Garlic although it is technically a leek but it will always be know as garlic. The other variety is Red Duke from Marshalls Seeds I grew this one last year and it produced a really good crop with good flavour as well. It is a hard neck variety which is ideal for planting now if you have any soft neck variety's you are best waiting till February before you plant them out.

Plant them out 15cm apart about 3cm under the soil this will stop the birds pulling them up and the bulbs tuning green in the sun.

Don't forget you can also plant out your over wintering onion sets in over the next couple of weeks so you get an early crop next year.

Malvern Autumn Show 2015

It was the Malvern Autumn Show last weekend so I had to go and have a look to me it is one of the highlights of the Horticultural calendar. Especially for the amateur vegetable grower this has one of the best shows in the country and always attracts growers from all over the country.



It was another great show as always there was rows and rows or perfect vegetables and flowers as far as the eye could see. In the Harvest Pavilion this is where amateur growers from all over the country come together under one roof to battle it out to see who wins the sort after red cards.





 One of the bests exhibits for me was the British Trug Championship it is amazing how many vegetables you can squeeze in to a trug and defiantly deserved the title of reserve best in show.

The National Vegetable Society's championships was also taking place in the Harvest Pavilion and the collections of vegetables where superb and showed some almost perfect vegetables.

Over in the good life pavilion not only was there lots of great talks and demonstrations through out the day. It was also where the 20th giant vegetable championships where taking place and there was certainly some big vegetables on display. Three new world records where broken the heaviest leek weighing in at a staggering 10.6kg that's a lot of leek soup grown by Paul Rochester from Sunderland. A 12.9kg cucumber the Queen would only need one of these to feed her guests cucumber sandwiches at her garden party and still have cucumber left over.



But the world record I do not understand is the longest beetroot in the world 7.21m long the reason I do not understand it is that only the first 2 foot is actually beetroot and the rest is just fine root hair. But putting that aside it is very impressive to grow a root to such a length and get it out the ground with out breaking it. 

There was also a few flowers too but it is the vegetables that I am really interested in but there was lots of fantastic flowers on display.

 As well as lots of great fruit it would not be Malvern without the fruit and hops on show.

Can not wait till next years Malvern Autumn Show 24th - 25th September 2016.

Deep fried Courgette Flowers

I know that it's getting a bit late and deep fried courgette flowers are normally a summer harvest but we have suddenly got a new flush of courgette flowers. So I thought we could have a little lunch time snack with them best to pick newly opened flowers and do give them a rinse under the tap just to wash any insects that are hiding on them.

 Then mix yourself up some batter
125g plan flour
1 egg
pinch of salt
175ml water
place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix them all up until there are no lumps have your sunflower oil in a pan heating up till it gets up to about 180oC.

Test the oil to make sure it's ready to fry dip the flowers into the batter then carefully place them into the oil. fry them for about five minutes turning occasionally until they are lightly brown and crispy place on some kitchen towel to soak up some of the fat and eat while still warm. 

 There are many other alternatives adding spices to the batter or stuffing the flowers with spinach and ricotta cheese. But they are also fantastic just on there own they are a great way of using up all those male flowers. But if love eating courgette flowers then Seeds of Italy sell a variety just for flower production called  courgette Da Fiore which mainly produces male flowers with just a few female flowers. So will keep you in a constant supply of fresh flowers through out the summer months.



Self Sufficency - Saving seeds for the future.

One of the main aims of being self sufficient is being able to produce as much produce as you can and being able to produce all the resources needed to do that from your own land. So there is a continuous cycle with very little, if no input form the outside world. So to continue the vegetable garden cycle we need to produce as much of our own seeds as possible. This is not as easy as it sounds as there are many problems that you can come across such as cross pollination from similar crops.

So you need to do a bit of careful planning to prevent similar crops flowering at the same time but there are some crops that don't cross with other plants. Such as peas, beans and tomatoes there are couple of good websites that give lots of information that will help you a lot http://www.howtosaveseeds.com and http://www.realseeds.co.uk/seedsavinginfo.html . Real seeds are a great seed company not only do they only sell open pollinated seeds they are the only seed company that encourages you to save your own seeds. Instead of buying seeds from them every year and they also have some great variety's that you can not buy anywhere else.

In the planning you also have to take into account the fact that some are biennials and some are annuals. So they could take up space in your garden for two years where as the annual variety's grow flower and set seed in the same year. Another alternative is to grow some crops in pots that way you can move them around the garden you can also put them in the greenhouse to protect them at the beginning of the year and help them dry out at the end of the season.

I have left lots of plants in the ground this year so I have lots of my own seed to sow next year just one or two plants left to go to seed. Will produce more than enough seed for your own needs and still have lots of seed left to give or swap with your friends.

One point I have not mentioned yet is the fact that you can not save seeds of F1 hybrids, well you can but you will not get the same plant as you grew. This is due to the way they are bred to start with one other point I should make is that F1 Hybrids are not GMO'S which I hear occasionally. They are bread using natural pollination the only different is they are carefully selected and crossed in controlled conditions. This guarantees you get the same shape, size and colour every time and they also tend to harvest at the same time as well which is not what the home gardener really wants. 

Beans and peas are one of the easiest seeds to save they do not cross with other peas and beans so you can grow lots of variety's and get pure seed off them. All you need to do is leave some of the better pods to grow on the plants to mature and dry on the plant.

Dry all your seeds well after harvesting them to make sure they are completely dry then store them in paper bags/envelopes. Making sure you have labelled them with the date of harvest and store them in a dry place and depending on the variety will keep for a couple of years.

 



The italians know how to grow fresh veg

I have recently just got back from Italy from a nice family break spending the first 4 days in the mountain above Lake Garda. Then we moved south down to Tuscany for the weekend before heading home there where no mobile phones no computers so it was lovely and quiet. As we travelled about the country on thing I noticed was that nearly every house had a vegetable patch of one sort or another.

 Not to mention all the fruit trees growing every where figs, pomegranates, peaches and olives as far as the eye can see. Food plays such an important part in Italian culture especially locally produced food and  you can not get more local than growing your own.

 The size of vegetable plots varied a lot from a few pots of tomatoes on a balcony to great big plots growing a wide range of produce. But all the produce they grow they grow it for the flavour not a watery bland tomato in site just big meaty flavour packed fruit.

 It would be great to see more gardens in the UK like these I am sure it will come in time but I feel that most British folk have fallen out of love with food. It is just something you need to survive and not a pleasure to prepare and eat with the whole family. But unfortunately I feel that the ready meal will remain king for many years to come.

Preserving your produce for winter use

It is that time of year when there is more produce in the vegetable garden than you can possibly eat fresh.

It dose not matter how well you plan your garden you always end up with lots of one crop at certain times of the year. Mine at the moment is courgettes and runner beans I just cannot keep up with them and you end up being a bit fed up of eating them. So my new preserving bible is Keep it Fresh which came free from DT Brown seeds it is written by Rachel Cole. I keep this book in the kitchen now as I use it so much at this time of the year when I have so much produce coming in from the garden. I am not sure if it is still in print any more I can not find it on there website but it may be worth contacting them to see if it is still in print as it is such a good guide. I want to preserve as much as possible for use through the winter when there is limited fresh vegetables in the garden. I would not normally recommend frozen veg but the veg you freeze your self is so much better than any you can get from the supermarket.

 

 



Selfsufficient update

At the beginning of the year I set my self the challenge of going self sufficient and producing at least one piece of food every day of the year. Well how has it been going, very well especially now we are producing more than we can eat so there is lots of freezing and jamming taking place. Usually late into the night don't no why but Jam making always seems to start at about 9 o'clock at night. Probably because it is dark outside so no gardening and the girls are in bed so peace and quiet. We spent the spring building raised beds and levelling up the slope in the garden to make it much easier for us to garden. We filled them up with lots of compost, manure and soil from the levelling of the slope which has made a great growing medium for our vegetables to grow in.

One of the problem crops this year has been onions they have not performed well at all lots have gone to seed or not reached a very good size. Which is a shame as last year not one went to seed and it was the best crop I have had for a long time they also lasted until late June which is great. The other problem I have had is the peppers and aubergines just have not wanted to grow as the nights have been so cold. The other night it dropped as low as 4oC which is ridiculous for the end of July and no surprise that the more tender crops are struggling to grow.

 

But forgetting all the problems as it would be very boring if everything went well every year and gardeners do like something to moan about other than the weather. When growing your own it is always difficult to get the right balance of quantity's of each crop not having too much all at once. Yet again I have far too many courgettes than I know what to do with. The problem is I always end up with lots of good plants at the beginning of the year and never want to put them on the compost heap. But there are always lots of friends and family who are always happy to take a bag home with them.



So the challenge is going very well but to carry on the challenge on in to the autumn, winter and beyond. So we have been constantly sowing every time we clear an area a new crop is sown in that space so there is never any bare soil. which also means a constant supply of vegetables I have learnt that it is better to have lots of different vegetables in small quantity's rather than large quantity's of a few vegetables. Except vegetables that can store well such as onions, garlic, shallots etc. also there are some crops that stand well in the ground such as leeks, celery, parsnips and carrots etc. You can harvest them as you need them especially through the winter if they have a bit of protection. All in all it is has been a success and we will defiantly be carrying on with the experiment it next year.



Greenhouse is beginning to get full

It is at this time of year it dose not mater how much greenhouse space you have you never seem to have enough room for everything. Especially now that the weather has turned cold again can not even put stuff outside for fear of it getting wind burn during the day.

As we pot all the plants up into bigger pots we get to bursting point where there is just no more room. I can not even sow another seed so weather please hurry up and get a bit wormer so we can get planting outside.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Lots of lovely Asparagus.

The best Veg book i have read for a long time

Charles Dowding new book How to create a new Vegetable Garden is the best vegetable gardening book I have read for a long time. Published by Green Books

I have a book case full of vegetable growing books in my living room and this one is my new favourite's. Charles is the king of the No Dig garden he has mastered this method of gardening over a number of years in his garden in Somerset. He has written many gardening books over the years all about growing vegetables so who better to write a book about creating your own vegetable garden. This book covers how Charles has turned his new garden in to the highly productive garden that it is today all with out digging a bit of it. The book is a step by step guide to turn a lawn or a weedy patch in to a highly productive garden with out ever turning the soil over. This book is spit in to two parts the first part covers clearing the ground and preparing the soil. The second part is all about sowing and growing each part of the book is split up into smaller chapters such as Clearing ground, Hotbeds etc. This is a very personal book written about Charles own experiences about setting up his new garden. I would be surprised after reading this book if you where not inspired to get out there and start growing your own. If you only every had the choice to buy one vegetable gardening book then this would be the one I would recommend.

Available from all good book shops or direct from the publisher Green Books RRP £19.99

www.greenbooks.co.uk

ISBN 978057842442



I've just built a supermarket in my back garden

Its true I now only have to step out of my back door to get most of my weekly shopping whether it be fruit, veg, eggs it all now just a few steps away. But it is not your average supermarket there are no ready meals, so called special offers or rude check out staff who want you out of the shop as quickly as possible. The best point about the super market in my back garden is everything is free and my super market has not closed down all the small local independent shops in a 5 mile radius either. It's very green and has a virtually zero carbon foot print as all waste is composted or recycled.

Ok I am talking about my Vegetable garden but that is basically what it is and if we treated it like a supermarket we would realise that every day is a special offer.

But not only is your vegetable garden like a super market it is also like having a cash machine in your garden. Because growing your own food is like printing your own money as Ron Finley says Ron is a food growing activist from America. He started his campaign when Las Angeles council threatened him with legal action after he started growing food in front of his house on the grass verge in LA.

He has been encouraging people ever since to grow there own food in what ever space they can use whether it be a grass verge or a window box.

I would like to try and encourage as many (everyone) to grow at least some of the food they eat, I still don't know why fruit and vegetable growing is not compulsory to be taught in schools. In fact the government should have a national campaign to get everyone growing just like what happened during the war. The momentum for people to grow there own carried on way until the 60's until the modern supermarket was born. Since then as food has become on tap 24hrs a day 7 days a week and ready meals and processed food are taking up more of the shop than ingredients and fresh food. This is when the decline in people growing there own food started add in shrinking gardens on new build houses and councils selling off allotments. Only spelled disaster for anyone wanting to grow there own even if they wanted to they did not have a big enough garden to do so. So they turned even more to the super market for there food needs and before we knew it we have a generation that dose not know how to grow it's own food. We have recently had a resurgence in people wanting to grow there own mainly sparked off by the recession and several food scares but there is still a long way to go.  

But why don't the government encourage everyone to grow there own food my theory is that you can not Tax what is grown in your own back garden. But you can tax ready meals and processed food but what about everyone's health if the country eats a healthier diet of lots of highly nutrisus organic home grown produce the nation would be better off.  I'm sorry to say this but healthy people don't make money it's a bit like cigarettes the government know that they cause cancer and create a big bill for the NHS every year. But they also produce billions of pounds in tax and this out weighs what is spent making people well from the effects of cigarettes. So the government make a profit from peoples ill health it's a bit like you can not tax garden compost but you can tax a chemical fertilizer so the government never promotes organic growing as they don't make as much tax compared to conventional growing. So we all need to start a revolution and open a super market in our back garden, front gardens, balcony's and window boxes and start being responsible for the food we eat no matter how small the contribution you make. Every lettuce leaf we grow will help to a healthier life, a better environment, a better future for our children and break the chain of comersulatation of the food we need to survive.

It's all getting a bit seedy

It's seed swaps I am talking about there are lots taking place this month up and down the country. The home of seed swaps is in Brighton over 14 years ago and has now grown into a massive event. Thousands of keen gardeners, growers, and food lovers come together to swap seeds share hints and tips and make new friends. This Saturday was the first one to take place in Northampton it was held in The Looking Glass Theatre in the centre of Northampton.

The event was run in conjunction with Fruitful Abundance which is a Northampton based group which was set up to prevent food waste, encourage more people to grow there own food and generally live a more healthier life style.

The event opened it's doors to the public at 11am there was a steady flow of public all day all where heading straight to the seed swap tables with hands full of there own seeds eager to swap. The way it works is you hand over the seeds you want to swap to one of the lady's they then put them in the different category's Cabbage, Beans etc. Then just help your self to the new seeds you want to grow this year and if you haven't any seeds to swap you just give a donation for what you take. 

There was lots of seeds available to swap thanks to the generosity of Thompson and Morgan, Suttons Seeds, Unwin's Seeds and Marshalls Seeds. Also some local growers donated lots of heritage variety's so there was a good choice of variety's on offer something for every one.

There was lots of talks taking place through out the day on seed saving, urban gardening, bees and eating weeds

Seedy Saturday also saw the first opening of Elsie's Café which is a pay as you feel Real Junk Food Café. There was lots of cakes, biscuits and light lunches all made from food that would have other wise ended up in land fill. So why feed the tip when you can feed belly's come the end of the day there was just a few crumbs left so the food must have been good.

It was a great day and I'm looking forward to next year's already.



Wordless Wednesday

That's Shallot.

January sowings in the Greenhouse

It's cold, wet and there is even snow on the ground but there is still lots to do in the greenhouse to keep the gardener sane. So that is where I have been for  few hours today I needed to do a bit of tidying up of the greenhouse first I haven't been in there for a while. So there was lots of pots on the benches and there was still a couple of pumpkins in there as well that where well and truly past there best.

First on the agenda was Shallots I potted up my 1" shallots into 3" pots using a mix of multi purpose mixed with top soil. These are for the village show in September so fingers crossed they grow well and we get the red card.

Now I missed the boat with the peas and beans last November so I have made a sowing in some module trays in the greenhouse. I should point out that the greenhouse is unheated so they will take a while to come through but they will be good hardy plants when they are big enough to plants out.  I also sowed some big pots with spinach, rocket, lettuce and radish so we get an early crop. I will be sowing lots of other crops carrots, beetroot etc. in big pots over the next few weeks to get lots of early crops from them.

January is also a good time to sow slow growing crops such as Chilly's Peppers and Aubergines although I sowed them in the greenhouse I did move them on to the window sill. To get the heat from the house to help them germinate I will grow them on the window sill until the temps start to rise enough to put them in the greenhouse. It's always great sow a few seeds it encourages you on to get the garden ready for when the whether warms up and we can sow outside it won't be long nw.


The all year round veg

If there is one Veg that has become very fashionable in the last few years that would be Micro Veg they have become loved by Michelin star chiefs.

They also go under the name of speedy veg, sprouting seeds and several other names but what ever you call them they are all grown and eaten in the same way. You are basically eating seedlings they are packed full of nutrients and make a great salad or garnish all year round. Best of all they only take from seven days from sowing to eating depending on the variety you are growing. Where once there was only mustard and cress now there is a multitude of variety's to choose from. Broccoli, leek, alfalfa, beetroot, sunflower, basil and many more. They are all grown in the same way the only difference is the time they take from sowing to eating. To get started chose some good seeds on this occasion I have chosen Suttons seeds. Best to choose variety's that have been specially bread for sprouting as you get much more seed in your packet and also the price. Get yourself a container any shallow plastic pot/tray out of the recycling I have a tray which is split up in to several individual containers.

It had Christmas nibbles in which where very nice and instead of it going in the bin I am re using it for Micro Veg. Place about a centimetre of compost in the bottom sprinkle the seeds on top and give a little water being carefully not to over water as there is no holes for drainage. Place on a window sill and just keep an eye on the watering they will germinate within days of sowing. When they are about 3-4cm tall simply clip them off at the base give them a quick wash and you have a great salad or garnish for your table. For a constant supply sow new batches regularly I tend to just grow Micro Veg through the winter when there is very few other salad's available. They add a bit of summer to the plate which is not needed the rest of the year when salads are in plentiful supply.

Newly sowed Micro Veg

 

One of the biggest fans of Micro Veg is Raymond Blanc I was lucky enough to be able to visit Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons at the end of the summer last year. Hear they have a whole greenhouse dedicated to Micro Veg celery, beetroot, basil etc. are all grown for the kitchen. They have to make a new sowing every day to keep up with demand as several full size seed trays are needed every day. It reminds me of a propagation house except not one seedling will every grow up they are all sent off to the kitchen from 7 - 20 days depending on the variety. I don't know of any other restaurant that goes to this much trouble to get the very best produce for there table. But they are one of the best restaurants in the country they also grow about 10% of the vegetables they use in the kitchen in there own vegetable garden I am going to write a post on the veg garden soon.

Micro Veg ready for harvest