Becoming Domestic » Gardening

Newtown Seed Swap – Feb 19th 2011

Ackers — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 23:31:09 +0000

I intend to spend much more time in the garden than I did last year (I blame endless unpacking and house sorting on that) and aim to get a higher vegetable yield this year (weather permitting!).

I’m already spending regular time now in the garden whenever I can getting rid of the dense web of nettle roots, liberally spreading well rotted horse manure, fresh chicken manure and straw from their housing and home made compost around and mulching heavily with cardboard to reduce the number of weeds. My aim is to spend about an hour each afternoon outside after the day’s indoor jobs have been done.

We’re planning to create small designated raised beds for growing and mulched pathways for walking on all as near to the house as possible recognising that the further away the growing areas are from where we naturally spend time (near the washing line, the large pond, the workshop) the less likely we are to notice when plants need weeding, harvesting or watering.

Runner Bean seeds

I’m hoping to increase biodiversity with areas dedicated to perennial flowering plants but a huge aim of mine also this year to begin to become at ease with seed saving so we can enjoy favourite vegetables again next year.

Most of my seeds came again from the Real Seed Company who are so lovely and give explicit instructions on how to carry out one’s own seed saving.

They say on their website ‘WE DO NOT SUPPLY HYBRID SEED OR GM SEED,
We only supply Real, Open Pollinated seed. Here’s why:
Real Seed breeds true, so you can save your own seed.
But that’s not the only reason . . . real vegetable seed is better:

Hybrid (“F1″) seed is the result of a cross between two different , but heavily inbred parents. Seed you save from these plants will either be sterile or a give a whole mix of shapes and types, usually producing a poor crop.

Only the seed company knows what the parents are, thus only they can produce that particular variety. If you want to grow it, you have no other source – good for the seed companies but not for you! Small growers should be able to keep their own seeds, selecting each year the best plants most suitable for their own land and conditions.

Yes, there are a few exceptions, but in general, the hybrid seed business has been a public relations victory over the small grower. For example, you will soon see more and more hybrid leek seed offered to you. This is because the supermarkets have set incredibly rigid limits on leek size, and the only way to achieve this is through hybridising two inbred varieties, so all leek seed production is switching to hybrids.

You will be told that these new leeks are ‘more uniform’, ‘straighter’ and so on. But what about flavour and adaptability? People seem to forget that we want to eat & enjoy these things – food is not just a commodity!

For all those local to us here this is reposted from the Cwm Harry Community Garden Blog which our permaculture tutor Steve Jones is involved with:

There is a great UK network: Seedy Sunday that encourages gardeners and growers to save seed and to swap them, and it is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Of course it doesn’t have to be a Sunday, and we are holding the first Newtown community seed swap event on a Saturday, 19th Feb, as Cwm Harry Land Trust, from 10.30 am – 3.00 pm.

For all sorts of reasons SELLING saved seed is against the law, but swapping saved seed is encouraged, and even if you have none to swap yourself, you can always make a small donation, or agree to volunteer on our garden project in return for any you do take.

There is a UK national Heritage Seed Library, managed by Garden Organic which exists to conserve rare varieties of vegetables, but it is really important that all gardeners get involved in saving at least some of their own seed.

Why save seed? Lot of reasons really, here are a few good ones..

Saving money is an obvious reason – its all FREE!
Promoting biodiversity and local strains of seed
Conserving older varieties
Building links between local growers in the area
Building local food security
This informal event is free to enter, (donations accepted but not expected), we will be offering some talks on seed saving and growing techniques and offering tours of our community garden. There is lots to know about seed saving, some plants are really easy to save seed from and grow on the next year, whereas others need some specialist skill or attention for success.

If you would like to help organise or contribute to this event in any way please get in touch. Otherwise, just come along on the day, no need to book!

[NB: Look out for a local seed swap event near to you in the coming weeks prior to the beginning of the busy spring planting time. If you can't find one perhaps organise one yourself...]

Becoming a ‘locovore’ by using local food and only when its seasonal

Ackers — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:43:45 +0000

My poor little head is too full of too many things to do (an exciting dot com project with my beloved, administrative work for our small internet business, a small babe and two little kids on summer holidays to look after, a house to keep in order, tummies to feed, this blog to write AND its so hot!) but I’ve got a tiny moment to share the fantastic book I’ve borrowed from the library.

Barbara Kingsolver’s ‘Animal, Vegetable, Miracle – Our Year of Seasonal Eating’ is an insiprational and educational account of the author and her family’s decision to leave Arizona where the population generally doesn’t know that potatoes grow in the ground and are 100% dependent on the petroleum industry to bring them food to their supermarkets all year round to a farm in Virginia where they spend a year only eating what’s in season and grown locally (their own gardens and those of small local farmers). The kids and the husband all write essays, facts and recipes which are inserted into the main narrative. Its a fantastic read.

It has made me determined to eat less food which has traveled a long way. Food which is grown to be transported thousands of miles is generally bred to travel well and not to taste good, and for each 10 calories provided by a vegetable or animal when eaten many more calories are spent producing it (fertiliser chemicals, insecticides) and transporting it. Each time I put the book down I’m even more fired up to continue our quest to live a simpler life in which food is not just grabbed as a pre-prepared product at the supermarket and wolfed down but instead lovingly planned, grown, shopped for, perpared and enjoyed with no hidden preservatives, flavourings, transfatty oils, or meat from poorly treated animals hiding within.

I’ve learnt so much and am only a third of the way through the book (eg. why hybrid seeds are a bad thing – because they don’t produce viable seeds for next time; making cheese at home is easy and fun with normal pasteurised milk; how supporting local farmers and buying their produce at a farmers market can have a huge impact on the local economy and environment) but the main thing I’m going to try to do more of from now on is resist the temptation to buy food out of season (because it will have been shipped halfway around the world to meet my desire for it) and to buy food produced in the UK, locally if possible from small enterprises rather than the huge food suppliers.

When one decides to be more of a locovore (someone who eats only locally and ethically produced food) one needs to be prepared to be inventive and creative with making dinners with only what is seasonably available (but not hard if you start being a ‘locovore’ in the middle of bountiful summer!) storing some of the glut of fresh foods harvested during July-October helps.

It was only a generation ago that out of season vegetables (shipped by train in ice-boxes from California to colder states) where a rich person’s party-piece, now they have become the norm and so unfortunately have all the questionable processes which bring these flavourless, travel-hardy cousins to our table.

The book is on loan to me from my local library but I’ve just bought myself a copy (a rare thing these days for me to actually buy a book instead of just borrowing it until I’ve read) as I know I will want to use the recipes time and again, lend it to like-minded friends and to re-read for more ideas of what to grow in our garden.

There is an accompanying website written by the family where the recipes can be found.
http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/

Becoming Self Sufficient

Ackers — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:45:39 +0000

EDIT: We’ve set up a new blog called Becoming Self Sufficient that you may also be interested in visiting.

Its a new long term project that has just emerged for this family but since Bealers has been Head of Veg Gardening and really enjoying it (having never planted or grown anything before he’s now growing chillis, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, peas, pumpkins, all manner of herbs and salad items, raspberries, strawberries and LOADS of potatoes!), since all the recent talk of predicted economic doom and gloom, soaring fuel prices/import costs as well as the UK’s ageing population, increased violence have lead us to believe that there may be some really tough times ahead for those not well equipped to look after their own. We have started to think seriously about becoming more self sufficient as a family and less reliant on others for food and energy requirements.

At present we’re not doing much more than a bit of idle internet research and have found a load of good sites (added to the blogroll here) but have also started to collect books on the subject of self sufficiency, allotment gardening and keeping chickens and livestock.

Bealers is now happily enrolled on a 10 week Beginners Carpentry evening course at the local college from September and I’m really keen to do the NVQ in hairdressing (but at the moment the small baby at home means I’m unable to leave the house without her). Other interests we’ve identified as being useful for those who aim to be more self sufficient are fishing, shooting, first aid, general building skills, plumbing, teaching and counselling, dressmaking, knitting, crocheting. About a lifetime ago I trained to be a primary school teacher and although I never actually got paid for doing it I do still sometimes have an urge to home educate our kids.

At the moment we are fairly close to being a typical modern family but perhaps where we differ is in our new attitude to doing things for ourselves. We are raising our children (twins aged five and a new baby) to know about food (cost, growing, preparation, nutrition), how to enjoy their free time without classes or clubs where people tell them what to do, to spend plenty of time in the fresh air and to understand that money is a finite resource which for most people is hard to come by and too easily spent. We teach them how to sweep, how to make their beds, how to hang clothes up, how to load/unload the washing machine, how to donate old things no longer required to the charity shop, how to borrow books from the library. We holiday in a twelve year old five berth touring caravan and we write letters to friends and family members. All this is fairly new to us as only two years ago we wer, like so many others, enjoying the luxuries that a two salary household could enjoy.

At present we rent a fairly big Victorian house with a good sized garden on a busy main road in rural Worcestershire but aim to one day live somewhere with enough land, outbuildings etc to grow vegetables, raise some animals for food (chickens, ducks, pigs?), to have access to somewhere to fish. We don’t know where this will be. We sold our house in London last year and now are settled and happy enough for the time being where we are taking the small steps towards a totally different lifestyle to our old city ways.

The only conundrum for me is how we will have enough time and energy to manage such a lifestyle. At present we watch very little television, have not much time for sitting and reading, I get up with the three kids early in the morning and I am just finishing cleaning, washing, drying, feeding etc by the time it is our bedtime. My hope is that as they grow older they will be more independent on us and will have their own role to play, Bealers will presumably work away from the home less as theoretically we will need less cash to pay for things and will therefore have more time to spend on managing our home environment.

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/

http://www.goselfsufficient.co.uk/

http://www.simpleliving.net

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/

Our Willow Den One Year On

Ackers — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:30:15 +0000

The Willow Den in the background will get much leafier this summer

Last March we bought the willow withies to make a willow den for the children as our garden has no shade after midday during the summer months. Withies can be bought from November-March in the UK when the wood is dormant.

We followed the instructions found in a great book called ‘How Does Your Garden Grow?: Great Gardening for Green-Fingered Kids’ and within a few weeks of planting at the beginning of April, the willow had taken root and formed a superb play den in the corner of the garden.

Now it is a year on and I’ve been asked to show a picture of just how leafy it is. We’re not sure whether the maintenance of tying in the bows at the top of the dome will be an annual job. It may be that using the recommended rafia twine was a bad idea for long term growth as it just rotted during the winter and the vigorously growing willow burst its joins. Bealers is going to use more sturdy non-biodegradable ties when he has the time to bend the open roof branches over again.

Not a very good picture as the plum tree growing behind makes it look very tall!

How to get children to like vegetables

Ackers — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 18:43:41 +0000

My son really disliked peas. The way to get him to finally after years of cajoling him try some and announce ‘Yum!’ was staightforward but long winded in the extreme. I had to sow peas, grow peas, stake the peas, have the children pick the peas, shell the peas and only then did he feel the urge to put one in his mouth.

Bit of a shame I didn’t plant acres of the things as this evening he asked ‘Where are the rest of the peas we picked?’ (I ate them with my dinner last night) cue lots of boo-hooing about how he didn’t know he liked peas and now he does he wants to eat more but they’ve all gone! I feel a trip to the greengrocer coming on.

What I don’t know is whether pea plants are like runner beans and keep on producing more pods the more one picks them (perhaps yes as that’s the theory with sweet pea flower crops) or once the harvest has been taken is that all there is from that plant (like potatoes). I recall that the packet of pea seeds instructed me to plant another row or two every few weeks so I would have a continuous crop which makes me think perhaps the latter is true.

Veg growing, it seems, is very much a lifelong process of learning.

[Update - I just found this which is helpful for those new to pea growing like me]

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/fruit_veg_diary/fruit_veg_mini_project_april_1b_pea.asp#Harvest%20peas

Harvesting Peas
Garden peas are best when slightly immature – when fully mature they become hard and loose the sweet taste. Harvesting them early also encourages them to produce more. As a guide, peas are normally ready for harvest three weeks after flowering. Peas quickly loose their flavour after harvesting, so pick them just before they are required for cooking.

The peas at the bottom of the plant will tend to be ready first, so begin harvesting here, working up as time progresses. When the plant stops producing peas, cut the top of the plant off and leave the roots in the ground to compost for next year.

Willow den update

Ackers — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:17:44 +0000

Loads of visitors have wondered what we have growing over our willow den to make it look so leafy so I thought I’d post an update to the original post ‘How to make a willow den for under £40′ so that anyone interested in making one next year will see that it GETS LEAFY ALL BY ITSELF!

There is nothing growing over the willow den, the willow withies are so easy to grow that just by sticking them in the ground and giving them some water straight after building the structure it grows to look like this by summer time. We love it.

How to create a mini pond

Ackers — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 13:06:33 +0000

Last month my daughter and I decided to create a mini pond in our rented garden with the hope of finding some frogspawn to come and live in it.

We built the pond from an inexpensive ‘tub trug’ and placed loads of rocks in it and around it so the small creatures could get in and out of it without drowning (according to our bee keeping friend Janet – even bumble bees need a rock to stand on when they drink or they’d fall in and drown). We used rain water collected from the rain butt to fill it and the final touch were a couple of pond plants bought at the Malvern Gardening Show (a miniture pink water lily and a water iris).

We never did find any frogspawn as everyone we asked claimed that the local herons eat all the tadpoles but instead we have enjoyed watching loads of birds discover the drinking facility. It also brings a small bit of height and interest to our newly created triangular herb/cut flower border and the two of us girls really enjoyed creating something together.

Making the mini pond:

The mini pond in June:

A Swimming Pond

Ackers — Wed, 23 May 2007 20:45:48 +0000

While at the Malvern Spring Show I saw a ‘swimming pond’ show garden. My friend Tissy reminded me how we used to go swimming in Hampstead Lido which was an enormous swimming pond.

I really love ponds and would love one day to have a big pond to attract lots of frogs and other watery creatures but what a fantastic idea to build one to be pleasant to swim or dip in too!

It seems to me that if you have enough marginal planting and gravel, steps to get in and out of the water easily, and a deep enough bit to paddle around in anyone can call their pond a swimming pond. The main idea is that the water is regenerated by the marginal planting so that it is clean enough for people to want to take a dip. No more chlorine, pumps or sterile blue rectangles – swimming ponds are definitely the way to cool down. I particularly liked the area next to the pond where one could dry off and lounge around.

I’ve just found the handout given to me by Hartpury College’s team that built the inspirational show garden at Malvern & it says:

Natural swimming ponds are stiull relatively unknown in the UK but are a natural alternative to chemically managed swimming ponds. A natural swimming pond combines a swimming area with aquatic planting that not only looks aesthetically pleasing but also serves the purpose of cleaning the water.

Natural swimming pools use the idea of the natural landscape to create a safe swimming environment and employ the same biological processes to clean and purify the water as those found in the wild. They consist of two zones – a deeper central area for swimming and a shallow planted area for cleansing the water.

The biological processes are a combination of the actions of plants and beneficial bacteria. They break down the waste matter into usable substance for the plants.

A swimming pond has a number of benefits such as the fact that it is easy and less costly to maintain than regular swimming pools, it is free of artificial chemicals, it is aesthetically pleasing and is also wildlife friendly.

If gardening is the new rock’n’roll, garden toolbelts are must be the new body-piercings

Ackers — Fri, 18 May 2007 16:04:27 +0000

My friend Tissy and I had a great day out at the Malvern Spring Garden show last week & amazingly the rain held off for us.

We both love gardening and knew that there would be plenty of opportunity to see lovely planting ideas with the show gardens and chance to spend a day looking at loads of garden related things to buy. Since our last visit to a garden show together (it’s an annual treat for us ladies and we always take a day off work for it) we had both built up a small shopping list of gardening things we wanted as there are so many retailers selling their wares it is easy to get just what one wants at a reduced price.

Tissy was in the market for good quality secateurs and a garden tool belt. I’d showed her the belt Bealers had bought for my birthday and how great it is for just having everything to hand at all times in the garden (secateurs, scissors, twine, marker pen & labels, gloves). At first it felt a bit geeky wearing it but very soon I loved the fact that with one easy move I could hang everything up on the coat rack.

We found a super company selling really funky big neoprene garden tool belts/aprons. The people who run the company Garden Tribe were really helpful in pointing out that if you put your trowel handle pointing at an angle then it won’t poke you in the ribs as you crouch down. I told them I’d put a link to their site from mine so do add one of these to your birthday wish-list if you like gardening as much as we do.

Doesn’t she look glamourous yet practical…(actually the one she bought was bright pink as we figured it was prettier and easier to spot if left lying around in the garden).

It’s Compost Awareness Week!

Ackers — Tue, 08 May 2007 20:57:17 +0000

http://www.wrap.org.uk/caw/index.html

The seventh annual Compost Awareness Week (CAW) will be celebrated nationwide from Sunday 6th to Saturday 12th May 2007.

Compost Awareness Week aims to encourage more people to recognise the benefits of home composting and the great results that can be achieved by using peat-free composts containing recycled materials in the garden. The week was brought to the UK by The Composting Association and now forms a key part of WRAP and The Composting Association’s (TCA) annual calendar.

As a nation we produce around 30 million tonnes of rubbish each year and over half of this waste can be easily recycled. In fact, over one third of the contents of an average UK household dustbin can be home composted, not to mention all the garden waste that can be added to a compost bin. Yet many people still do not recognise how important and simple this is to do.

Compost Awareness Week is our chance to help people get closer to the benefits of compost. There are plenty of activities going on across the country, so don’t miss your chance to take part. If everyone gets involved in spreading the compost message, we can all help to create a cleaner environment for future generations.