The Start of Going Selfsufficient

I have always wanted to grow as much food as i can for my family and have always managed to be able to provide something for the table everyday through the summer months. 

Our recent addition to the garden is four re-homed chickens from an egg farm i have always wanted a few chicken but have never got round to getting any. Until i was driving down the road on day and spotted a sign on the side of the road offering chickens for sale i turned round the car went back to the farm and arranged to collect them the next day. They have settled in nicely now the girls love feeding them they even don't mind clearing up the poo we are getting between 3-4 eggs a day from them which is more than enough for our needs. Chickens are also one of the best animals for some one wanting to be self sufficient not just from the point of view of the eggs. They are great at eating insects and grubs from the soil which helps reduce pests in the garden they clear up any garden waste you have and it all comes out the other end in the form of poo which fertilizers the land. keep moving them around your garden and they will clean and fertilize the soil as they go what could be better and you get eggs too. When you clear out all the bedding out of the nesting boxes put it straight on to the compost heap which will add loads of nutients as it rots down to the compost. Which in turn we will dig back in to the garden to help improve the soil even more since getting the chickens it has got me thinking could i produce most of the produce that my family needs from my small plot all year round.

 We already produce enough Jam to last all year round and some to give away our potatoes usually last till March when we plant the new ones and all summer there is always something to eat. So that is my challenge for 2015 to be able to have at least one thing to eat every day of the year be it fresh from the garden out of the store foraged from the wild or simply bartered for. Now I'm not going to produce everything and suddenly abandon using shops i just have not got the space or time to do it but it should free up a bit of money to be able to shop more locally and try to abandon the big supermarkets.  
I'm also going to do this for as little money as possible and where able too use recycled materials to build anything we need. What space do we have available we currently have 182m2 vegetable plot and a further 356m2 of garden that we could grow stuff in. Although a large area of this is taken up with lawn for the children there is also a drive and garage taking up another lump of the garden. But there should be still more than enough space to grow everything we need whether it be Fruit, Vegetable, Herbs and Animal feed.
So the challenge has been set and work will begin this weekend with the construction of the first of three raised beds.

Dose anyone else try to be self-sufficient do comment and tell us how you get on. I am going to produce regular updates every week to keep you up to date with how we are getting on with the challenge so do pop back and have a read. 

Hozelock Pico Reel Review

While the sun has been shining and the ground is dry i have been out in the garden testing out the new Hozelock Pico Reel. This is one of the lightest hose pipes i have ever used it weighs less than two bags of sugar so it would be great for the elderly as there is no dragging big clumsy hoses round the garden not now there is the Pico Reel.

Pico Reel

The Pico Reel has been built to very high standards as you would expect from a Hozelock product everything is lovely and smooth. It is also British made this is not something you see much these days which makes it an even better reason to buy.

The Pico Reel comes ready assembled so there is nothing to put together you just need to attach it to your tap and water away. The Pico Reel comes with 10m of hose which should be enough for the average garden it is also very compact so will store away easily. As the hose is so light it dose not seem to cause damage to plants so much when you pull the hose to hard and pull in over your plants which conventional hose's seem to do. The spray gun has five settings from a shower to a full blast of water so is ideal for most garden uses or just washing the car. The Pico Reel is also really easy to wind up with a very easy smooth winder the Pico Reel also comes with a two year guarantee so there is no need to worry about it breaking. 

We would defiantly recommend the New Hozelock Pico Reel to anyone with a small garden it would also be great for a greenhouse or polytunnel as well.

It is available to buy from most good garden retailers prices range from £25.00 - £29.99 so look around to get the best price.

Visit Hozelocks website for more details

http://www.hozelock.com/watering/hose-reels/free-standing/pico-reel-2425-118-118-118.html

Wordless Wednesday

Lovely sunflowers have got to be the most cheerful flower.

A New Type of Grow Bag

Grow Bags have been around for years they where rectangle in shape and had three holes for you to cut out to plant your toms in. It was always filled with lumpy peat based compost usually sold for 99p but now there is a new Grow Bag on the block. See it Grow have launched a new Coir grow bag that is Eco friendly and packed in 100% recyclable plastic.

See it Grow Coir grow bag

The bags them selves come with a dried and compressed block of Coir compost which also makes the delivery cheaper compared to standard Grow Bags. Pull up the sides of the bag and add 2.5lt of luke warm water and just watch the bag grow the whole bag will have expanded in 15min. Eleanor my daughter was very keen to clam the bags for herself  the bright colours and small size (compared to standard grow bags) will make them attractive to children.

Eleanor adding water to the Coir

When the bag is full it's time to get your hands in and fluff up the compost now where ready to plant i have opted to try them with the Grow Bag staple Tomatoes. But having said this they are no longer planted with toms as mr frost put a stop to them growing they have now been planted up with something a bit more colorful. Fushia's is what we have gone for as it's all we had left in the greenhouse got to be honest and they are doing well in them.

Bag ready to Plant

Now i must admit that have never been a fan of Coir i tried it back in the 90's when it first become all the rage mostly due to Geoff Hamilton. But just never got as good a results as peat but i am surprised at the results this year one point i will make is that Coir dose need a lot more feeding than Peat and the same goes with watering. But i would suggest adding a slow release fertilizer to the compost prior to planting will reduce the amount of extra feeding needed the same would be true for swell gel to help cut down on the watering.

Toms Pre Frosting 

I would say that these are a great idea and will become popular with new and old gardeners they are defiantly worth looking out for in your local garden centre.

They will be great to get the Kids interested in growing due to the bright colours of the bag and the compact nature of the bag. I will let you know how they perform through the growing season later on in the year has anyone else used they grow bags do let us know comment below.

For more details why not visit there website www.seeitgro.co.uk

Flora fest 2014

Last week i visited Florafest 2014 which is a trade only event organized by Young Plants Ltd at there offices in Warwickshire.

Confetti Garden

This is where Nursery's, Garden Centre's and Councils come to see all the latest variety's on offer that they may want to stock or grow next year. One of the high lights of this years show was the confetti garden which is a great new concept where 2-3 cuttings in one plug plant. They will be in flower in six weeks from potting up all are colour coordinated so all the hard work is done for you. They are ideal for pots, hanging baskets or planted out in the borders well worth looking out for in your local nursery.

Calibrachoa Aloha Kona

Verbena Garden Express Royal Flush

There where lots of other new variety's on show some of the best ones to look out for our.

Verbena Wicked Blue

Petunia Sweetunia Black Satin

A Lovely black petunia with flowers that are like silk the picture dose not do it Justis well worth growing

Lobularia YOLO French Vanilla

Great plant masses of flowers good for pots, hanging baskets or just in the border.

Petunia Potunia Purple Halo

Lovely compact petunia with dark purple centre fading to very pale purple on the edge of the petal.

There where lots of new petunias on show so many great new colours and markings i will mention some in a separate post.

There was also a display area showing Garden centers and Nursery's the best way to display all these new variety's. All in matching and complimentary colours so the hard work is done for you just plant them out or pot them up. It was a great show well worth the visit and i will definitely be back next year to see what is new for 2016.

Taking on the Big Boys at Malvern.

I used to do lots of showing of vegetables and flowers many years ago i did quite well getting many red cards. But due to having all my time taken up by work or not having any where to grow i had almost given up. But now i have the space to grow again although i don't have any more time but after last year i have decided to make some. Last year was the first time for years that i had entered a show for many years it was the local show and i was asked if i could put i few entry's in which i did the best in show that i won has spurred me on to do a bit more this year.

Me at Bristol Show in 2000 with my winning collection of 5 veg

I have grown most things over the years but never had an interest in giant veg until i went to Malvern show last September. Where the National Giant Veg Championships where being held it was like walking in to the land of the giants. The shear size of some of the vegetables was very impressive so much so that i have been inspired to have a go my self and take on the big boys at Malvern this Autumn.

Pumpkin Big Max

Now i don't hold out much hope of a prize card as there will be some stiff competition from several world record holders but i am going to give it a good go. I am growing several giant veg this year the first is a Pumpkin the variety i am growing is Big Max this variety can get to a good size. A although i should have ideally planted Atlantic Giant but i could not get any seed locally when i needed to sow. They are romping away so fingers crossed i should get something descent just need to keep the water on them and feed them weekly.  

Pot Leek Sammy X

The next veg i am growing is Pot Leeks these where rooted from pips in early December and have been grown under lights all winter. They have been planted out now for about a month and are doing well so i'm hopeful of getting something decent.

Onion Peter Glazebrook strain

The last of the giant veg is my Onions the seed came from the World record holder Peter Glazebrook so i am off to good start from the start. Again they have been growing under lights in the greenhouse since December and have been planted out for about  month.

All of the Giant Veg that i am growing although they where started indoors they are all being grown outdoors with no protection over the summer. I do know that most of the big growers grow everything indoors so i have put my self at a disadvantage to the other growers but im going to give it a good go.
I will let you know how they are all growing though the season and fingers crossed i will get some veg to Malvern in September.

The Racecourse Park Northampton

I was down the road from the Racecourse on Saturday with the Daughter in tow so i decided to give the Racecourse Park another go. The last time i visited hear was a couple of years ago and was welcomed at 8am by 5 eastern Europeans drinking there version of special brew on one of the benches. As well as all the litter and dog mess every where is enough to put most family's making use of the park so has it improved since then ? not really. 

The Racecourse covers 118 acres just on the edge of Northampton town centre the site has been used since 1632 for unofficial race meetings but stopped a few years later due to the high number of accidents. But in 1737 with the help of Lord Spencer the first official race took place and was attended regularly by royalty up until 1904. The park was also used up until 1818 as the site for the towns public execution some times up to 5000 people would turn up to watch no TV's back then for entertainment.

It's no surprise that when i moved to the area i was warned not to go near the park after dark due to the high number of muggings, murders and rapes that have taken place over the years in the park. Which is a shame as it has great potential to be a lovely area for the local community to enjoy. 

The lay out of the park it's self is quite nice avenues of lime trees cris cross through the park with benches underneath so you can sit in the shade of the trees. There are large expanses of grass many turn over to sporting activity's Rugby, football pitches etc.there are also to cricket fields which contain possibly the worst cricket squares i have seen weed ridden and completely not level would not make for good playing. 

The one saving grace for the sporting facility's is they do have several immaculate bowling greens which are very well maintained. 

There are  couple of children's play area dotted through the park for different age groups some are in a better condition than others. The one that is in the worst state was only built by the council in 2010 at the cost of £85.000 so take into account that it is only 4 years old it is very poorly maintained. The safety matting has been ripped up under the slide and the grass is left to grow long under the climbing frames not to mention the Zip wire where the seat has been chewed by dogs. Add this to the litter strewn across the play areas and grass as well as the piles of dog poo everywhere and you have created a very unwelcoming park which should be an embarrassment to Northampton Council. 

Now don't get me wrong it's not all the councils fault they don't make people drop there litter or make there dogs poo on the grass. But i have found in the past that if an area is well maintained litter free then people are more likely to respect the area if there is already litter on the flour then your empty coke can is not going to make much of a difference. But if there is no litter your coke can will stand out like a sore thumb and people will notice so they are more likely to use a bin. As well as if the grass is kept short and the play equipment is in good order people generally respect it. I have seen this first hand two new parks where build in the town where i used to live one by the town council and one by the county council. The park built by the town council was well maintained grass kept short no vandalism took place. The other park built by the county council was only ever cut once a month never maintained and suffered lots of vandalism. If it is seen that the place is looked after people do respect it more are are less likely to leave litter behind and let there dogs fool on the grass and cause vandalism. Improvements also drive away the alcohol drinkers and yobs as the more people that use the park they are seen more and soon move away from the area. 

This park has great potential to be a fantastic resource for the people of Northampton but as it stands it is an embarrassment. I may be a park snob or have too higher expectations of what to expect from a public park but you only have to visit Bath or Lemington Spar to see the fantastic job they are doing with there parks.

We should have the same in Northampton a place for family's to spend there leisure time and also help attract visitors to the town.