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November Gardening Offers

emma — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:39:52 PST

Summer is long gone and we’re into the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Or cold weather and rain, if you’re not a big fan of autumn and winter!

If you’re still gathering in your crops then you can save 10% on harvesting and storage equipment at Harrod Horticultural if you use the discount code ECODE266 when you checkout.

Wiggly Wigglers have extended the deadline on their offers for new customers to 31st December. They’re valid online and over the phone, and you could bag yourself a free book and/ or save £10 on your first order.

And the latest crop of offers from Suttons includes plenty of fruit and nut trees, soft fruit and mushroom kits.

Recreating The Good Life - Pigs and barter

emma — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:10:48 PST

Rodney, a Gloucester Old Spot boar

I’m carrying on my look at self-sufficiency in the 21st century, looking back at The Good Life sitcom from the 1970s (in the first article I looked at food waste and chickens).

Today’s topics come from episodes 3 and 4 (‘The Weaker Sex’ and ‘Pig’s Lib’). The beginning of episode 3 is lovely if you’re a gardener – the Goods are out in their front garden, taking photos of their almost invisible pea seedlings, so proud of producing new life and having their first crops underway. A visit by the rag and bone man allows Tom to swap some of their unwanted gadgets for something much more useful – a range that they can cook on when the electricity is shut off.

There aren’t many rag and bone men still inoperation today, I shouldn’t think, but there has been a resurgence in recycling and in reusing things that in recent years would have been thrown away. The digital age has given us Freecycle, which allows us to give away unwanted items to people from our community who can make use of them, and receive their unwanted items in return. It’s a great way to turn trash into treasure. A range might be a tall order, but you never know! Some local action groups run swap shops, so keep an eye out for those; and, of course, charity shops and jumble sales retain their appeal.

The subject of barter comes up in episode 4, as Tom exchanges fresh eggs for his copy of a pig keeping magazine. Urban pig keeping was popular during the war, when streets clubbed together to feed their kitchen waste to a pig that then provided them with a share of its meat when it was sent to slaughter. Something similar was shown on River Cottage when a group of families in Bristol took on a communal smallholding, complete with a pair of piggies.

Urban pigkeeping may be a step too far for many of us, who simply don’t have the space, but apparently it is becoming more popular – with at least one DIY chain stocking pigsties. But there’s a lot of paperwork involved these days, and you can’t find your pigs (or other livestock) on kitchen scraps since the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak (see the DEFRA website for more information).

Resources: websites
River Cottage is a great resource for people interested in food issues, including keeping livestock and making the most of your ingredients. They publish handbooks and run courses on many aspects of self-sufficiency, including foraging and preserving.
Self-Sufficientish is a website for people who would like to be self-sufficient but don’t have the space to do it all.
The Accidental Smallholder has a nice introduction to keeping pigs, and there’s a lot more into on The Pig Site.
LETS is an upgrade on barter that uses a local currency to facilitiate the exchange of goods and services; local currencies are also springing up as part of the Transition Towns movement towards relocalization.

Feel free to leave other useful links in the Comments.

Recreating The Good Life

emma — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 05:35:01 PDT

The Good Life was a sitcom shown on the BBC in the mid-70s (when shown in the US it was re-titled Good Neighbors). Although it got off to a slow start it ran to four seasons and became an incredibly popular show with lasting appeal.

The Good Life follows the life of Tom and Barbara Good after Tom turns 40. In the first episode, ‘Plough Your Own Furrow’, Tom’s stagnating career in a meaningless design job provokes a mid-life crisis. Discussing the mysterious ‘it’ that is missing from their life, the couple decide that they need to break the cirle of working to earn money to buy things that then break, sending them back to work for more money. Since they don’t aspire to owning a lot of ‘things’, they decide to have a go at self-sufficiency in their own back garden, in the upmarket suburb of Surbiton.

Although the sets might be dated, the idea of self-sufficiency is currently undergoing a resurgence. Many people find themselves in meaningless jobs; many more have found themselves without work as a result of the recession. And even among those who are content in their day jobs, there is a significant drive towards living more sustainable lives – growing some of your own food, generating some of your own energy, embracing alternative lifestyles and economies, recycling and thrift. The Goods were lucky in that they owned their house outright, and had a large garden – both things that modern urban gardeners are likely to struggle with. So how easy would it be to recreate the Good Life in the 21st century?

By the end of the first episode, Tom has resigned from his job, swapped the car for a rotary cultivator (a rotivator) and started to dig up the front garden. A surprising step in Surbiton, this would still raise eyebrows in most UK communities – and in many North American towns would be against the rules governing what people can and can’t grow in their front yard (although there is a movement towards Food, Not Lawns).

In episode 2 – ‘Say Little Hen…’ – the first of the livestock arrives. Tom takes the goat down to the common for some free grazing – something that is still legal where common land exists. Meanwhile, Barbara is tearing down a perfectly good greenhouse to turn it into a chicken run. These days urban farmers are more likely to be investing in a greenhouse or polytunnel so that they can grow the marginal crops like tomatoes and peppers that have become an indispensable part of the modern diet, and also extend the season to have fresh produce year-round rather than rely on stored food all through the winter.

The couple are also economising – cutting out all the luxury expenditure so that their savings will last them through until their first harvest provides them with a surplus to sell or barter. And they’re recycling their waste (“refuse is not rubbish”) and leftovers – two trends that have resurfaced of late. The BBC have been showing Economy Gastronomy and teaching people how to shop properly and cook basic meals to save on their food bills, and we’re being encouraged to Love Food, Hate Waste to keep food out of landfill while keeping our money in our wallets. Retailers were quick to bring back old-fashioned joints of meat as people moved away from premium lines.

Once the chickens arrived, the Goods eagerly awaited their first harvest – but the hens were disinclined to lay. The couple face the dilemma of whether (and how) to kill a chicken, something that urban farmers still face today. An advantage that we have that the Goods didn’t have is the profusion of information available to us – on the internet and in books and magazines published on every imaginable topic. We may not have the skills our farming forbears took for granted, but we can learn them, and there are plenty of courses and workshops springing up all over the place as more people become interested.

So this is just the first article in a new series. I’m going to look at the challenges the Goods faced through their four years on television, and see how different (or similar) our modern attempts at urban self-sufficiency are – because I truly believe that the time is coming when we’re all going to need to know how to produce some of our own food and energy, consume less and produce far less waste than we do now.

Resources: magazines
Permaculture Magazine, the leading environmental magazine dedicated to sustainable living and self-sufficiency in the 21st century.
Mother Earth News, an American magazine devoted to homesteading, organic gardening, renewable energy and green homes, real food and DIY – with a vast archive of material available via their website.
Home Farmer covers everything to do with living ‘the good life’, from kitchen gardening and keeping livestock through to cooking and preserving.
Grow Your Own is one of the best titles if you’re into growing veggies – it’s great for beginners and hasn’t been running as long as some of the other magazines available on this topic and so isn’t stuck in a gardening rut.

These are just my favourites of the available titles – if you have a favourite then leave the link in the comments :) I will cover other resources in future articles.

Ooffoo Laureate 2010

emma — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 07:57:02 PDT

It’s Ooffoo Laureate time again. If you remember, last time I was shortlisted for my article on worm composting (there’s a badge over in the sidebar :)

This time the requirement is to write a letter to a world leader, or a person of global significance. The award will go to the person who is judged to have written the most impressive and inspiring letter – one that offers hope or encouragement and is aimed at helping to change things for the better. The closing date for entries is 31st Demember 2009 and the prize is £1000!

You can enter as many letters as you like. Check out my first entry – Dig for Victory, a letter supporting Michelle Obama’s decision to start a White House vegetable garden. If you like it, please click on the little heart symbol near the top to show your appreciation!

September Gardening Offers

emma — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 04:54:15 PDT

Not only does the Green Shopping Catalogue stock my book, but they also have a great range of books and products aimed at helping you live a more sustainable life. And throughout September 2009 you can save £5 on orders of £25 or more by using the discoun code GS£5OFFSEPT when you checkout.

If you’re quick you can bag a free packet of vegetable seeds from Wiggly Wigglers when you sign up for their e-news (there’s a box on their home page where you can choose your seeds).

If you’re planning on buying new fruit and nut trees this autumn then take a look at the collection at Victoriana Nursery as you can get 20% off by using the discount code FRUIT20.

Or save 10% on everything at Harrod Horicultural with the code TENPC, valid until 9th October.

Buy a big box of Wiggly sunflowers to brighten your day for just £15 (ex. p&p) – just search for product S9097.

And Suttons currently have special offers on strawberry and raspberry collections that crop over 4 months, as well as broad bean plants and mushroom kits.

Take part in Grow Your Own Drugs season 2!

emma — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:47:35 PDT

Would you like to appear in the second season of Grow Your Own Drugs? (There’s a second season coming, yay!)

The Grow Your Own Drugs team is looking for people to try a plant-based remedy to soothe their ailments for the new series.

If you are affected by conditions such as dandruff, indigestion or waxy ears, suffer with rashes after shaving or constantly have sore throats or a blocked nose and would like to give a plant-based remedy a try, get in touch with the program’s makers and you could be in the next series of Grow Your Own Drugs.

You can either e-mail Juliet.Redden@silverriver.tv, providing as much information as you can about your ailment, or call 0207 307 2740.

(via The Green Village – a lovely environmental site that’s also currently giving away a paperback copy of the Self Sufficientish Bible.)

How Does Your Eco-Garden Grow?

emma — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:09:19 PDT

A guest article by the wonderful Tracey Smith.

Well, I’ve no silver bells, or cockle shells come to that, but I do have a nice line of bald tyres and empty plastic milk bottles, all in a row.

Currently sprouting out of the tyres are a mix of chili and bell peppers, strawberries, peas (I say ‘peas’ loosely, I mean stalks…some critter noshed them up last night), dwarf and runner beans too.

I’ve chosen to grow them in tyres because a friend of mine was particularly ‘big’ in them, slightly too ambitious with his potato crop aspirations this year perhaps!

I was also planning on doing spuds, I must be honest, but after 3 weeks of the kids using them for target practice with an assortment of balls, I felt it only right to reclaim them to do something worthwhile ‘in’ them and so sprouted my tyred garden.

I’m no virgin to using rubbish as a resource, in fact my tomatoes are a sight to behold!

The majority of them are growing out of the bottoms (or should I say ‘tops’) of plastic milk bottles; they are currently basking in the lazy afternoon sun and have just as many flowering buds on them as do the tyred variety. I’ve also got two rather bushy hanging tomato varieties, presently dingling their danglies over the edge of an old cast iron French cooking pot, which is nailed firmly to the upturned-end of a large railway sleeper post.

I live in a little village and my secret rubbish garden is tucked away from general view. There are neighbours who would glare in disapproval down their bifocals at my utterly random crops; they’re the sorts that have all the forthcoming dates for Chelsea tattooed inside their thighs, for fear of a catastrophic double-booking. But they and you shouldn’t care so much about aesthetics, it’s yield that matters and putting organic food on the table in these troubled times should rate far higher.

Actually, now that there’s a bit of leafy growth around the tyres, they really do look rather attractive and the matt black rubber is a great absorber of heat from the old currant bun (that’s ‘Sun’ for any non-cockerneys…)

So I’ll continue to grow without fear of being pulled in by the patio-pot police and if you’d like to take the first tentative steps towards being a trashy gardener, see my step by step guide to tomato cultivation on Recycle More.

Onwards and upwards,

Tracey Smith
Author of The Book of Rubbish Ideas
Writer/Broadcaster Sustainable Living

Dig Deeper

emma — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:09:46 PDT

This is a light-hearted piece I wrote for the (now sadly defunct) collaborative ebook project.

For many people, being a gardener is enough of a hobby on its own. For others, tending a garden leads on to a whole host of other things. For kitchen gardeners there is the obvious link to improving your cooking skills or learning how to preserve your surplus crops. Or perhaps you see the herb garden in a whole new light one morning and decide to make your own herbal medicines or beauty treatments. Gardeners with artistic tendencies can turn to botanical art, or pressing flowers, or using petals and leaves in paper-making or even for dyeing. Those who also have a love of the countryside may choose to become a naturalist, charting the wildlife in the garden, or to start foraging for wild food. But I wonder how many gardeners go on to become amateur archaeologists?

Occasionally you hear interesting stories about farmers who have ploughed up old coins and allotmenteers who have dug up something ancient on their plot. There’s even an allotment site in north Devon that had to be given extra security to keep out illegal antique hunters who were sinking six foot holes in other people’s plots to look for Victorian bottles. But assuming that you don’t have a field or an allotment that used to be something far more interesting, how would you get started on this very worthy hobby?

My advice would be to start by digging out the compost heap. Here you see layers that correspond to distinct periods of time (as you would on a proper archaeological dig), and so you can trace any artefacts found back to the time in which they originated. The rubbish heaps of the past (‘middens’) are often treasure troves today, and the contemporary nature of yours shouldn’t put you off when you’re just getting started. There’s a lot to be learned about modern life from the contents of the compost heap.

For example, somewhere near the middle of the heap you’re bound to find an avocado stone. If no one in your home likes eating avocados then it might take you a while to think back and remember where it came from. Perhaps it arrived in a vegetable box delivery, and went squishy before you could think of something to do with it. Or perhaps you bought it to impress people at the dinner party. However it came to the heap, there’s a lesson to be learned here – avocado stones are indestructible. Next time, rather than sling it on the compost, plant it up and see whether you can get it to grow into a lovely (if rather vigorous) houseplant. If that doesn’t impress your dinner guests then you have the wrong sort of friends.

Another thing you’re likely to find in the average compost heap is string. If you use that nasty plastic stuff then you only have yourself to blame (especially as its neon colours mean you can spot it before it goes in) but even organic eco-hemp locally-sourced sustainable garden twine takes forever to rot down. In the meantime, it will be holding clumps of unspeakable things together. Hair does the same thing, for even longer, so forget about all those super-keen composters who say they add human hair to their compost.

No doubt during your dig you will discover that plastic is ubiquitous in modern life. Remember that evening when no one could be bothered to cook and you surrendered your environmental principles and brought home a take away? I bet you recycled the foil trays, put the leftovers in the Bokashi bin and threw the cardboard lids on the compost heap. If you did then you’ll find them again now – because they have a thin layer of plastic amid the layers of cardboard. I’m afraid they’re one our indestructible materials and should be avoided at all costs. Or binned so that future professional archaeologists can learn something about us, although I suspect they’ll just be mining the internet archives instead – it’s less messy.

If you’re security conscious and shred all your ex-important documents (if they were still important, you’d be keeping them!) then you’ll probably find shredded plastic in the heap too, from envelopes that escaped into the shred pile. Fish them out and send them for recycling instead. If you come across a neat pile of shredded or torn up paper (with or without plastic strips) then you have mice and your compost heap is too dry.

Degradable bags are all the rage at the moment – they encourage squeamish housewives to compost their food waste by making it easier and cleaner to take it out and chuck it on the heap. But you will be seeing them again, and again. They’re made of this strange plastic stuff that degrades into smaller bits of strange plastic stuff. Or if you make sure that you get the ones that are ‘biodegradable’ or ‘compostable’ then they break down into squidgy strips of … it’s indescribable. Add them back into the heap when you build it again, and they will eventually disappear.

Almost at the bottom of the heap you will find that layer of leaves you added last autumn. There were only a few of them, so it wasn’t worth making a separate leaf mould heap. Although clearly it would have been, as they refuse to rot down in a compost heap. They will look much the same as when they went in, only they will have welded together into a stodgy layer. Break it up and mix it into a new heap and maybe you won’t see them again in six months.

What’s lurking at the bottom of the heap? Anything you’ve been missing for months. In mine it’s usually a trowel or my favourite pair of secateurs, which made their way into a bucket of weeds and then onto the heap without me noticing. They’re going to need cleaning up and oiling, but surprisingly afterwards they will be as good as new.

And at the end of your dig, don’t forget to clean up the ‘spoil’ and either store it somewhere dry for future use or spread it around the garden to feed the plants. Take your trash and treasure inside to clean it up or throw it away – it’s probably best not to put any of it on display. And if you’ve really caught the bug then sign up with your local amateur archaeology society and go out and dig through ancient compost heaps instead.

August Gardening Offers

emma — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 05:51:54 PDT

You can order a copy of ‘Plot, pots or growbags – the A-Z guide to growing and cooking farm-fresh food’ for £6.60 (RRP £9.99) plus free P&P from GrowVeggies.net.

Grow Sheffield have published The Abundance Handbook as a free PDF download – it’s a a guide to harvesting fruit in the city.

Jungle Seeds have now extended their summer plant sale to all plants showing on both www.junglegardens.co.uk and www.jungleseeds.com and are also now offering FREE Post & Packing on all UK plant orders over £35. They’re continuing their 25% discount on seeds, too.

Ronaash are having a summer, sale with 25% off Rootrainers during August, and the current crop of special offers from Suttons include an autumn brassica collection, blueberries and goji berries.

Putting away childlish things

emma — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:10:09 PDT

There’s a lot of articles in the media at the moment about encouraging children to start gardening, and little projects to help them get their hands dirty and develop a life-long interest in plants and growing their own food and to encourage them to eat their vegetables.

It’s lovely, and we need to pass on gardening skills to future generations, but what if you’ve been sharing your garden with the little darlings for years and now that they’ve moved out you’re left with a pile of childish clutter to clear out so that you can have a proper garden? If you’re strapped for cash, or don’t want to throw away their play things, then how about recycling them into something useful? Here are my ideas – by all means add yours in the comments, or leave a link to photos if you’ve finished your own project!

If your children or grandchildren have flown the coop then why not modify their playhouse in a home for chickens? Keeping hens at home is all the range at the moment, and they don’t need pricey 5-star accommodation, just somewhere safe and dry to roost and lay their eggs.
Swings and climbing frames would make a really sturdy support for runner beans, vines, squash or any number of other climbing plants that are edible or otherwise useful.
A paddling pool or a sandpit makes a great watertight container for a patio pond, or if you could try growing your own rice or watercress.
If the kids were footy fans then how about turning that old goal post into a fruit cage?
And if you have one of those little todder slides, it might make a nice water feature with water tumbling down!
Lots of kids items could be used as plant pots, from wellies to wagons. This one is only limited by your imagination :)

Don’t forget to leave your ideas and links in the comments, or you can email me a link for me to add here.

Growing Sorrel

emma — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 07:22:13 PDT

Sorrel is usually described as a herb, but it is a leafy green that can be used as a vegetable. As sorrel is perennial, and available for much of the year, this can be a great addition to a kitchen garden – it’s really easy to grow, doesn’t need replacing every year and can be a good source of greens during cold weather and the infamous ‘hungry gap’ in spring.

Growing sorrel is simply a matter of sowing seeds in spring (I sowed mine in modules to transplant, but you could sow where you want it to grow). It’s not particularly fussy about site or soil, and generally romps away with very little attention.

The young leaves can be eaten raw in salads and have a lemony flavour – try them first to make sure they’re not too overpowering! And sorrel is one of the plants that can contain high levels of oxalic acid, so enjoy it in moderation. Older leaves can be cooked – traditionally they’re made into soup, but they can also be stir-fried or used like a lemony spinach. In the tv series Wild Food, Ray Mears used wild sorrel to make dessert tarts.

The biggest consumers of sorrel in our house are the chickens – they love it, and it’s a good source of greens for them when there’s not much else growing.

In summer, sorrel sends up tall flower shoots and sets seeds. When they’re brown the seeds are ripe, but you have to remove them from their papery cases. My method was to rub the stems together to encourage the seed cases off the stems and the seeds out of the cases, then I winnowed (blew away!) the seed cases while most of the heavier seeds stayed on my tray.

My plants are Sorrel ‘Shchavel’ from the Heritage Seed Library. There are lots of different sorrel species – see PFAF for more details.

July Gardening Offers

emma — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 06:05:27 PDT

New Covent Garden Foods are giving away a Wiggly Wigglers beehive composter this month. The closing date for entries is 31st July. They’re also offering £5 off your first order with Wiggly Wigglers – enter the discount code CGS78 at the checkout by the end of July.

Harrod Horticultural are offering 10% off all their netting saver packs when you use the discount code ECODE180.

The current special offers from Suttons include lots of fruit – blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and goji berries – plus spawn plugs for shiitake and oyster mushrooms.

The Young Person's Environmental Innovation Award

emma — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 14:03:16 PDT

Are you a future UK sustainable superstar with a passion for environmental innovation?

Have you got a budding business bubbling away with an eco-friendly focus?

Do you think you could be the young environmental entrepreneur of the year?

If you can say ‘YES’ to one of these and you’re 21 or under Valpak want to hear from you!

Tell us about yourself and the environmental work you’ve been involved in, before Friday 24 July 2009, and you could become a winner of an impressive environmental award from the UK’s leading provider of producer responsibility and recycling solutions!

The Valpak Awards are giving young people the chance to be recognised and rewarded for exceptional efforts in environmental activities, business ventures and projects from a young age through the Young Person’s Environmental Innovation Award, sponsored by BPI Recycled Products.

Log on now to www.recycle-more.co.uk for full details of how to enter. All short listed entrants will be invited to take five FREE seats at the Awards dinner on 24 September 2009.

Growing marigolds

emma — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:56:08 PDT

Marigolds aren’t really in fashion at the moment – their simple flowers and brash colours don’t seem to fit in modern gardens. But they’re worth growing in a kitchen garden for two reasons. The first is that these simple flowers are the sort that bees and other beneficial insects love. And the second reason is that marigolds are known to be pest-repelling plants – good companions.

After an initial error with marigolds towering over the peppers they were supposed to be protecting, I stick to dwarf marigolds. I grow them in window boxes, and in amongst my tomatoes – they’re supposed to deter whitefly. It might not be scientific, but I’ve never had whitefly on my tomatoes!

Marigolds have nice big seeds that make them easy to sow. Sow them indoors early in spring for transplating outside later, or directly where you want them to flower from mid-spring onwards. They don’t need any special soil, aren’t fussy about position and don’t need much feeding, but will bloom throughout the summer.

Remove the faded blooms (dead head) to keep them flowering; towards the end of the summer you can leave some to set seed. You will get a lot of seed, and it’s easily detached from the flower heads and collected and stored. Marigolds are half-hardy annuals, so at the end of the summer you’ll need to pull them up – but you’ll never need to buy marigold seed again!

Growing Good King Henry

emma — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 05:56:27 PDT

Good King Henry is a perennial herb in the family Chenopodiaceae – the same plant family as some familiar vegetables (including beetroot and chard), some familiar weeds (e.g. Fat Hen) and some other useful but more unusual plants – including quinoa and tree spinach.

Good King Henry forms a clump, about 12-18 inches wide (less than 50 cm), and can grow up to 2 ft tall (60 cm). It’s an easy plant to grow, fully hardy and not fussy about soil or position.

Good King Henry is grown for its edible shoots and leaves. The leaves can be used as a spinach substitute, the flowers are edible and the young shoots are known as ‘poor man’s asparagus’.

If the plant has some shelter it will provide a green crop throughout all but the harshest winter weather; in summer it will appreciate being watered in dry spells.

Seeds can be sown throughout the sprin. They’re tiny and not the easiest things to handle, but seedlings are easily thinned. Collecting seed is simply a matter of collecting ripe seed heads and shaking the seed out into a bag. Cleaning the seed up to remove other plant matter is the most tedious part. If you get a lot of seed you can grind it and add it to flour – see PFAF for more details.