Questioner's Garden Time

What to do with autumn and summer fruiting raspberries

2012-01-08T22:45:00.001+01:00


Favourite spot on the planet. Deck chair looking across the plot

I've just looked at the date on the last blog post and can't believe it was last summer. A bereavement in the family and various other developments have kept me away. Now I'm back with this piece of land that is so very close to my heart.

And we, this piece of land and I, have known each other for five years now. I took the plot on in summer 2006. It was completely derelict, the brambles I dug out of it were as thick as your thigh. I also removed around a hundred bags of debris and broken glass from the plot-and-a-half.

The soil was thick, heavy clay to start off with and very dense. After round about two hundred bags of rabbit manure, compost, wood chip and similar - the soil is now a joy. And it is a wholly organic plot.

Traditional job for January is cutting the raspberry canes down to the ground. Decided to weed them as well and add more organic matter in the shape of five bags of not-yet-rotted leaf mould. The barrow is a very light, handy, fold up effort which I bought at Lakeland. It doesn't take up much space in the shed but it is not suitable for heavy weight material.

The raised bed you can see in the background of the above picture is the asparagus bed. We should have our first full crop this year. Asparagus and poached egg is the favourite there.

As followers of this blog will know, I follow the no-dig method of organic gardening influenced by Charles Dowding. Raspberries grow in woodland areas so I guess I've tried to re-create that. They are also, as Bob Flowerdew puts it - nutritious fast food for children so it is worth looking after your patch. I don't intend to do much else with the raspberries though during the year apart from today's shift.

This garlic is not doing too badly. On the whole I try to work with the weather as far as possible to cut down on work (work smart not hard is my motto on the plot).

In the picture below you can see the Avalon Pride peach tree I planted four years ago. The year before last we had over sixty peaches from it (and everyone said you couldn't grow peaches in the North West). As you will know, it was a dream of mine fulfilled.I pruned the tree too hard last year and didn't get anything, but after that huge crop the previous year I figured maybe it could do with a rest anyway.

Look closely at the tree and you can see the sap already coming. The branches are turning green. This is unusual for this time of year - I wonder how it will fare this year. The blossom comes early and I usually shut my eyes if there is an early frost and chant for the buds to miss the impact of it. Otherwise there is no fruit at all. Fingers crossed for this year then. Early spring is my favourite time of year on the plot. Summer is too fast for me. There is a fair bit to do in autumn and I enjoy the rest that winter brings too.

Redcurrant harvest. Redcurrant and strawberry chutney. Summer puddings.

2011-07-10T21:46:00.001+02:00

After a long pause and the drought back in Spring - AND the very testing conditions for gardeners - I'm back writing this blog. Today's haul from the allotment includes large quantities of redcurrants together with smaller quantities of blackcurrants - with which I'm hoping the make summer puddings, chutney and redcurrant couli/jam to eat with meat dishes or fried camembert -. Sadly there were fewer blackcurrants this year (I went overboard on the pruning) so I've had to buy in some strawberries. Three punnets at a cost of £5.00. I bought the Kilner jars from a local charity shop - before you buy make sure they are not chipped or damaged and wash them well. I use a dishwasher to clean them.

For the chutney I don't tend to measure things out but just cook by eye and taste - I've used redcurrants and strawberries with sugar and a vanilla pod - with a basis of malt vinegar, sugar, thinned out apples (which I don't bother peeling as they are organic - these thicken up the chutney - and home-grown garlic. This is going to be a very special chutney for Christmas or New Year or for gifts - and here's a picture of what I ended up with. The summer puddings will go in the freezer tomorrow. Chutney takes quite a while to make but you can always have the pan on while you are doing something else. This one is a beautiful red colour and chutney like this makes an amazing difference to the simplest meal - so I feel the time investment is worth it.

Cost-wise - I harvested probably £40 worth of organic redcurrants and blackcurrants from one bush - er..I mean two bushes of course. Apples came for free - sugar cost - £1.50 (I used only one of the three packets) - white bread - hardly anything - and malt vinegar £1.00. Job Done.

Karen Reissman speaks at the Guildhall, Chester tonight, 7.30 p.m.

2011-04-20T10:39:00.001+02:00

Several years since I heard Karen Reissman speak at the radical National Union of Journalists Conference at the Quaker Meeting House in Manchester. Now it seems even here in middle England there is an organised movement against the cuts.

Tonight's Meeting's focus:
"Defending the National Health Service" and it starts at 7.30 p.m. Guildhall Watergate Street, Chester CH1 2LA .

To see some background and footage of Karen visit the Parent's Guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage Blog.

Cheshire West Against the Cuts: Public Meeting - TONIGHT - Wednesday April 20th, 2011 7.30 p.m. Guildhall, Watergate Street, Chester, England CH1 2LA.

For more information on the campaign initiated by Cheshire West Trades Council and the Facebook group click the links.

In which Questioner ponders Spring plantings on the allotment

2011-03-11T11:09:00.000+01:00

For gardeners each Spring is like a new love affair. This time everything will be different. Better. More hopeful. Exciting. The land I work is rented - but after four years - we belong to each other and I think about it often even when I'm not physically there.

I hope I'm calmer this year. I'm not so worried about getting things started so quickly. More willing to wait until the air and the ground warms up properly. Although I still come up with completely unrealistic 'lists'. The one on the back of my door right now reads: "Aim to hoe once weekly for an hour to tackle weeds". HA.

The rhubarb is coming along nicely and we'll be able to start harvesting it for the first time this year. The asparagus will be along soon too. The potatoes are chitting in a cool place - I've lots of seeds left from last year which I've still to sort through.

Over the past few weeks I've concentrated on doing as much weeding as I can on the plot. I've bought six of those dalek compost containers and put them in strategic places on the plot so that I never need to walk far to put the weeds in. I don't turn my compost heaps - it isn't my idea of fun, so I need lots of them as I'll just leave the worms to do their stuff for two years.

Tending this allotment has been hard work that's very true, but it is amazing how much creativity it seems to spark off in other areas of your life. The "Stop School League Tables for Five Year Olds" international petition was a great success - but there's more work to be done to make life better for young children - Glenda Jackson M.P has just signed the new Early Day Motion to Stop the Phonics Test for six (and five) year olds - see A Parent's Guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage for more.

Stop School League Tables for Five Year Olds

2011-01-12T11:27:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year to you all. A strange title for a post on an organic gardening blog - but I feel the international petition to "Stop League Tables for Five Year Olds" will be of interest to followers of this blog too. Please consider signing, we already have some huge names on board such as Dr. Penelope Leach and Caroline Lucas M.P. At this link: "Stop League Tables for Five Year Olds". We hope to feature in the national (and international?) press later this week. Watch this space.

On the ground - it's mid-January. I can't believe I hadn't posted on this blog since last October. Please accept my apologies readers, I've not been idle. I usually try to keep up with the allotment throughout the winter doing odd jobs every week - so that I'm not faced with a huge backlog of work come the Spring.

This year has been no different really, apart from during the period of very severe weather over Christmas when I really DID find moments to put my feet up, thank goodness.

Before the severe weather set in, I did a lot of weeding and ordered no less than SIX new compost containers (very large ones). They're the black plastic dalek types and although they don't look picturesque, I've resolved to place them in such a way that a compost container is never far away, wherever I am working.

I planted garlic and red onion sets in raised beds back in November which seem to have survived the snow
and the thaw more or less intact. We've plenty of leeks and parsnips on hand still which is great.

Back in November I even got hold of some Saffron Crocus, Delphiniums, Black Tulips and some white flowers to go in-between - the names of which escape me. This year will be the first year we can start harvesting asparagus and rhubarb properly. So not bad going, despite the fact that I haven't been writing about it here! I really haven't got much more to do before the Spring apart from sort the seeds and tidy the shed. There's lots to look forward to. I'm going to be really busy so might switch to updating this blog once a fortnight if that's okay for you readers...?

Here's that important international petition link again, hope you will join me in 'growing' the numbers. Ta.

Stop League Tables for Five Year Olds.

Comprehensive spending review. Parsnips, leeks and winter hardy lettuce.

2010-10-19T12:39:00.002+02:00

As many of us in the U.K. wait for the government's comprehensive spending review's axe to fall over their heads, their homes and their lives - our allotments and gardens (if we are lucky enough to have one) - bring some comfort - and as food prices and the cost of holidays and days out for the family rise - fruit and veg growing offers some practical help too.

The unlikely parsnips in the picture are momentous. Really. It's taken me four years to get parsnips like that. Our allotment was derelict when I took it on four years ago. The soil was very heavy clay and riddled with bits of broken glass and brambles as thick as your thigh - so heavy for such a long time - it was well nigh impossible to sow seeds directly into the ground. The plot is quite a way from our house, so I had to rely on natural predators to keep the slug population down.

The parsnips in the picture were sown (last March) directly. Most of them are beautifully straight and blemish-free. Compare them to the parsnips I harvested two years ago - when I first started out which forked and got orange parsnip canker - a fungal disease.

See this previous post: Problems with parsnips

Also in this picture, leeks, parsnips, winter hardy lettuce and lots of Newton Wonder apples.

Last but by no means least - if you're having problems with the present government cuts (as well as problems with parsnips) - you might like to check out the the links on the right to the Coalition of Resistance...

Autumn in the organic garden

2010-10-05T10:31:00.003+02:00

As we feel the first frosts in the air and the growing season slows down - I'm tempted to look back at the two years I've been writing this blog - and the others...we've had our allotment for four-and-half years now - taking it on coincided with more intensive striving towards publication of my writing. Gardening as a metaphor for writing?

As our plot became more productive and our soil improved - I started to write more and more. I've just finished the chapter of a book on the English Early Years Education system - which has been submitted now. The book (if the publication of it is on course - difficult to tell in the current climate...) - will be called "Dissent and the English Early Years Education System". I'd been asked to join internationally-renowed early years researchers in the contribution of my chapter. The writing reminded me of converting our allotment plot from derelict. Really hard and emotional. Bags and bags of broken glass to remove, and sharp objects to take away. Endless word-composting.

The book will, I hope - take us all back to the beginning of everything. Remind us that our children ARE future generations - and how we need to take the greatest of care in the process of allowing them to BE during the ages of birth and five. Things that we write don't always see the light of print for lots of reasons and that's really hard - writing into a void. I really hope the chapter and the book do. My blog about Early Years Education is called "A Parent's Guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage" and I've been writing that for over a year too.

It's time to look back. And forward. The peach tree is pruned and mulched. The asparagus bed is already cut down and mulched too. The leeks, parsnips, parsley, winter hardy spring onions and lettuces are nearly ready to go. We still have plenty of autumn raspberries. We need more mulch, some weeding out and some more compost heaps in readiness for next year.

I'm so grateful to this piece of land for all the things I've learned about growth and creativity in the past year. Not saying all of my writing has been brilliant, but some of it readers may find fairly decent, practical and useful (?)...

Try visiting my newly-created true sustainability and triple crunch series of articles at Brighthub:
Sustainability, the Triple Crunch and Solar Power

Or, the two hundred or so articles I've written at Helium. Here is a link to the Organic Gardening articles.

You'll find plenty there too about Search Engine Optimization and Blogging.

And here's to another gardening year...look forward to sharing it with you all.

Canadian Tar Sands. Not the answer to Peak Oil.

2010-09-17T14:58:00.004+02:00

Chief Al Lameman of the Cree First Nation (Centre)
with Chester Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace Delegation.
Odeon Cinema Manchester, England showing of "Tar Wars". Sept 17th.
Event organised by the Co-op Bank's Toxic Fuels Campaign.

Left the allotment behind this week for the city and a big screen showing of "Tar Wars" - where hundreds of people came together to watch this BBC documentary - exposing the ecological and human damage caused by extensive tar sands exploration in Canada.

The message was: no matter how hard people try to take small steps in their everyday lives to cut carbon emissions - all our hard work could be thrown away by the multinationals.

Tar sands consist of oil trapped in a complex mixture of sand, water and clay. According to the Cooperative Bank - who are bank-rolling a huge campaign to stop the tar sands projects - the extraction and production of tar sands emits on average three times as much carbon dioxide as the extraction and production of conventional oil. Fully exploiting Canada's tar sands the co-op says "would lead to an estimated increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide of between 9 and 12 parts per million, enough to take us to the brink of runaway climate change". The oil industry is calling for $379 billion to be invested in the tar sands production by 2025 to massively increase production.

And there's a David for the Goliath oil corporations. At the film screening we had the privilege to meet Chief Al Lameman of the Cree First Nation. Around seventy per cent of all existing 'in-situ' operations are within Beaver Lake Cree traditional territories. Tar Sands exploration is set to triple within these territories over the coming years.

The Cree are mounting a legal challenge. Woodland Caribou are a symbol of Canada's pristine wilderness and an important part of traditional ways of hunting. They are found in undisturbed old growth boreal forest and forested peat lands. This small indigenous community are calling upon the Canadian government to protect the remaining ranges of the woodland caribou herds within their ancestral lands with immediate effect, including a moratorium on all new industrial developments. If this is not forthcoming they will seek a judicial review in the Canadian courts to force the Canadian Government to take this action.

All of these major new projects and expansion plans could be halted if the caribou herd ranges within the Beaver Lake Cree's ancestral lands were to receive legal protection. It would also prohibit a significant number of undeveloped leases granted in the southern Athabasca tar sands field.

Other speakers at the Manchester Meeting included: Jack Woodward, leading expert on Canadian aboriginal law and Beaver Lake Cree Counsel and Paul Monaghan, Head of Social Goals and Sustainability, The Co-operative.

To find out more about the campaign click here : Stop the Tar Sands - support the Beaver Cree Nation's Challenge

See also the feature : Fuelling the Future - Peak Oil what is it and why does it matter?
My article series on Sustainability, solar and the Triple Crunch.

Friends of the Earth on Tar Sands
Greenpeace campaign on Canadian Tar Sands

See this link to find out what the Canadian Government says about the "Oil Sands":
Canadian Government and Oil Sands.

For more pictures see this Guardian piece on the Tarnished Earth Exhibition - currently on London's South Bank.

Peter Melchett kicks off Organic Food Fortnight. Live Chat. The Guardian

2010-09-03T12:27:00.000+02:00

Fellow organic and would-be organic plotters may want to tune in to today's Guardian live web chat which features Peter Melchett of the Soil Association. He's taking questions on organics for schools, hospitals and community organisations.

Tune in at this link: Guardian live web chat with Peter Melchett to launch Organic Food Fortnight.

Peach harvest. Avalon Pride Peach Tree.

2010-08-15T12:01:00.002+02:00

Sorry I've been away so long, readers. We've certainly had some joys and challenges in the past few weeks. As far as organic gardening is concerned - I've had to prioritise 'doing' rather than 'writing'. This is going to be a short blog post too as I need to get my head down to finish that chapter of the book on early years education I'm writing. (See link at the end of this post).

In June, July and August everything grows so fast (including the weeds) I often feel as if I'm on the verge of losing it. But here is the absolute Star of the Show. You're impressed, aren't you?

Here's a picture of our Avalon Pride peach tree. Bear in mind readers we waited four years for this particular harvest. I've lost count of the number of people who told me you couldn't grow a free-standing peach tree organically in the North West of England. Don't listen to them, I say - where there's a will there's a way...

Over the past few weeks we've harvested over eighty peaches from this tree. My daughter has been eating them like sweets and believe me, there's nothing like a freshly picked peach on a sunny day. They are brimming with Vitamin C, too, I understand. Glory and glamour down at the plot...

Every week now, I'm coming home loaded down with fruit and vegetables. Here we have the last of the home-grown peaches, large new potatoes (Lady Christl) - we use them for sausages and mash right now with home made onion chutney - broad beans some of which go straight in the freezer. Courgettes (not too many but just enough) - apples picked small - which went straight into the Peach and Chilli Chutney I made last week with the softest peaches.

Lots of raspberries too - golden and red.

To look back at the history of our Avalon Pride peach tree - check out some of posts listed below.
To check out what I'm writing right now on Early Years Education see my blog Parent's Guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage.
AND - if you're looking for some more guidance on organic fruit growing, you can't go wrong with Bob Flowerdew's book - here's the link:

Revisit some of my Avalon Pride Peach Posts here. Hope to be back before too long with instructions on how to make Peach Ice Cream. Heavenly.

How to grow a Peach Tree Organically

Community kitchen gardening and the National Gardens Scheme Open Day

2010-06-28T13:43:00.002+02:00

With the hot weather, growing, watering, preparations for the Open Day and only a few weeks left of my daughter's first year of school - we've been run off our feet and I'm just catching up with the posting of some Open Day pictures. All in all it was a successful day. Our allotments association tells me we raised £750 on the gate which goes to the National Gardens Scheme - Claire House raised £450 on refreshments and said it was 'one of their best events yet' and the plant stall raised £250 which our allotment society keeps and which will be used for projects and improvements around the colony.

Readers will know by now - this is "Questioner's Garden Time" - I'm not in the business of spin - so this post includes some comments on where we've been and how far we have yet to go in terms of developing community gardening (an organic community gardening) in our area.

Our site must be one of the largest urban sites in the U.K. Our plot is turning into a bit of a show plot for organic gardening on site. It really is very pretty now. We found ourselves on the main thoroughfare on the Open Day and welcomed hundreds of visitors, including our Lord Mayor Councillor Neil Ritchie. I spent at least ten minutes talking to the Mayor and the First Lady about how we had converted our allotment plot organically from derelict four years ago. I'd tied some photographs to one of our apple trees along with some blog posts from this blog. I don't have a photograph of the Lord Mayor as he wanted to take a photograph with his own camera and the dignitories seemed to be enjoying themselves so much on the day I didn't like to intrude too much.

Perhaps the message is finally getting through to Cheshire West and Chester Council that community gardening is something that is particularly important for the welfare of citizens on the ground.

We've had some good news about the Council having completed a site visit in preparation for the installation of our composting toilet. The site is large - regular plot holders cope with squatting-in-a-shed-with-a-bucket on a day-to-day basis but if we are to hold public events like this we need better facilities.

In my conversation with the Lord Mayor I stressed the benefits of gardening organically - especially for families with children - (i.e it changes their eating habits for the better), pointing out that we were enjoying our plot that day with three generations of family.

However, there are still pressing issues that need to be tackled. There are lots of issues which create extra work and make life more difficult for plot holder families with disabilities like us. (There are no wheel-chair friendly plots on site and access is often a challenge for people).

Before the Mayor left I made sure I also pointed out the derelict plot right next door to our half-plot.

This was the view from our half plot to the plot right beside it. Readers may recall this plot has been in this state for more than a year now. (See this blog post from last year's Open Day). There are around a dozen other plots elsewhere on our site like this and I've lost count of the number of conversations I've had with other plot holders about possible reasons why the plots are allowed to fall into disrepair like this. I explained to the Lord Mayor that having a plot like this next door to you - undermines your efforts to keep your own in good order - simply because you are constantly confronted with weed seeds that are blown over to your own plot. (If you have to manage fatigue as part of managing a disability then that's a serious issue).

Lack of maintenance on this plot has also undermined my efforts to garden organically. The plot and the paths are so overgrown that a neighbour has sprayed them with pesticides in desperation. I'm aware that my compost heaps are just next door to this path.

I'm still not sure what the problem is here - when a plot-holder has difficulty keeping up their plot - perhaps due to a disability or family circumstance - are the Council too slow to offer assistance? We have a waiting list now, and theoretically there shouldn't be any vacant plots - but there still seem to be plots in disrepair.

Put yourself in the shoes of someone who is looking for a plot - if you were offered the one in the picture, would YOU take it? I mean our plot looked like that and I single-handedly converted it from derelict, but I don't think there are many people will the skills (or the bout of madness) that was necessary to even attempt this. Surely the Council should be making it much easier for people to grow their own?

So all in all - it's nice to be featured on the National Gardens Scheme programme as an demonstration organic plot, but despite the hard work, the fun we had and the money raised for good causes - the Open Day doesn't seem to have changed very much about the day-to-day problems we have on the ground.

I'm going to close with some good news. As most of us did - our bee man worked very hard talking to Open Day visitors on site. I'm very happy to say that due to the presence of his three hives, yields of soft and tree fruit and vegetables have increased in the last year. Here are some more pictures of the hives, the cage he has constructed for them, the flowers he planted around the cages and the lovely posters he put up for Open Day.

And two pictures of the hives:

Allotments Open Day. National Gardens Scheme.

2010-06-18T11:49:00.000+02:00

Haven't posted recently I know - good excuses though. Preparing the plot for Allotments Open Day this coming Sunday. We're part of the National Gardens Scheme now and it was really popular last year. Gardening today at my Little Ones school too. They're expanding and developing their outdoor space.

For more about the National Gardens scheme and to find gardens near you - see National Gardens Scheme.

And here's a link to our allotment association website: Hoole Allotments visit the site for dates, times and a map.

Becoming self-sufficient with your kitchen garden

2010-05-20T12:34:00.004+02:00

On the fourth birthday of our organic allotment - which we converted from derelict (when I say, derelict - I mean derelict - at least one hundred sacks of broken glass and rubbish removed) - it's time to take stock.

Our ultimate goal was to become as self-sufficient as possible in fruit and vegetable production. To produce fruit and vegetables for a family of three. And more - to barter with friends and neighbours for the things we don't or can't produce. We wanted to do all this with as little effort as possible.

We failed on the first count - (using as little effort as possible) - as the process has involved a lot of hard work. However - now that our plot is four years old - and now that we've learned a lot more about organic fruit and veg growing - things seem to be getting a little easier. We can get by with two afternoons or two evenings a week work.

So what will we be eating? Crucial question.

Our apple trees (two of them) will be providing us with a large harvest this year - we'll be swimming in apples again. What luxury! One of the trees fruits early autumn - and with the other one - the apples can stay on and be used as late as December. That's useful.

We won't be short of autumn fruiting raspberries. Of course many of these don't make it home as we eat them straight off the bushes like sweets. But that's fine - especially as far as our four year old daughter is concerned.

The blackcurrants, the gooseberries and the redcurrants are looking good - they liked the cold winter - so we'll have the ingredients for those summer puddings that taste so lovely - and they're actually quite simple to make.

We pride ourselves on not having to buy any salad greens all year. We've got various Mizuna and Mizuba greens and Little Gem lettuces growing in the court yard and on the plot.

The new potatoes will be along in a few weeks. They're First Earlies and they were off to a slow start this year. We harvest them gradually, digging them up when some are tiny and we leave some to grow larger. They should last until the end of August at least.

Herbs are a lovely accompaniment. In a few weeks we'll have parsley, coriander and basil on hand, as well as the usual perennial suspects like rosemary. This year we've also got Lovage - which deserves a separate post and a photograph - it's an attractive looking plant - you can blanch the stems and eat them like celery or you can add the young leaves to chicken dishes.

It seems an odd time of year to be looking forward to the winter - but we're doing that too. The beds which are currently filled with broad beans and dwarf french beans will be planted up with winter brassicas as soon as the beans are harvested.

So, in short, this year, for the first time ever - we're aiming to fill up every single bed on the plot - and as soon as one crop has finished we have plug plants ready to fill the bed up again.

We've now stopped harvesting the rhubarb and the asparagus to let the plants establish themselves and become stronger for the future.

We also have staples like garlic and red onions we can use in salads, together with spring onions and a nursery bed full of leeks.

Flowers ( attracting pollinators like hoverflies) include poached egg plant, a lovely Duckling clematis that survived the winter, plenty of self-sown Calendula, Nasturtiums, Delphiniums and something called 'Dancing Ladies'.

Things have been so hectic lately - I'm behind with photographs, but no doubt will catch up on this one soon...I'm looking forward to Open Day this year on the site. June 20th. Stay tuned.

Growing and eating Asparagus organically

2010-05-10T11:07:00.002+02:00

I'd resolved to post at least once a week on this blog. This last month though, has been so busy I just haven't managed it. The weather had been so cold for so long, once things started warming up, I spent every spare minute on the allotment, or organising plantings to catch up. Even so - we're talking just two afternoons a week - that's all the time I had. Not even enough time to take photographs and post them here.

But it's been a wonderfully productive time. Last week we finally had our second meal of home-grown asparagus. Inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe - we ate it with soft boiled eggs and warm, italian bread. When I say 'cooked' I mean - I put it in a skillet for about two minutes and then it was done. As you can imagine it didn't stay on the table for very long, and my four year old daughter loved to eat the long stems with her fingers and dipped them into the egg.

Apologies, readers, for the lack of a picture of my own - missed out on an opportunity there - just so busy DOING - I'm going to try to catch up this week though with words and pictures but here's what Jamie has to say on Growing Asparagus and a useful video on Preparing Asparagus

What's growing in the kitchen garden now?

2010-04-18T11:40:00.000+02:00

Time is short. People often think they don't have enough to maintain a kitchen garden. This week I had just twenty minutes to spare. So I picked rhubarb and a little asparagus and shot these pictures hastily. An overview of what's happening on the plot. We're about three weeks late with Spring this year. Generally (and without having attended a permaculture training course - I've adopted many permaculture principles. Many of them are just sensible and helpful for people who don't have much time, or people who have physicial challanges. I don't dig, some people like it - but no-dig gardeners have been having success with this approach for years now and we do too.

Long awaited daffodills and an apple tree (around fifty years old) - one of two inherited from previous plot holders. I pruned it heavily in previous years and it still fruits well. It's our plot-and-a-half's fourth birthday in June. We converted it from derelict. (And I mean derelict). I shot these pictures with an automatic, compact camera - the colour is a bit iffy, but for documentative purposes they've presentable. Hope you like them.

The Peach Tree. Variety Avalon Pride. In the third year and just about to burst into bloom. I think we've missed the frost now, thank goodness.

Comfrey. An essential ingredient of any organic garden. I harvest it three times a year, wilt it and use it as a compost activator. I'm pleased to say that we haven't burned any of our green waste in four years. Composting is much faster with comfrey and it can also be used as a plant food or a mulch. Although soaking it in water is too much faff for me and it smells terrible. You can also feed it to rabbits (in small amounts) and chickens.

The picture above on the right is a Cherry Plum. I keep them small and they provide a good wind break. It's flowering for the first time in it's third year.

Garlic made it through the severe winter - whereas the autumn sown onions didn't. They usually do very well, so I've planted red onions instead, along with lots of spring onions and winter hardy spring onions.

Raspberries. I've treated all these as if they were autumn fruiting i.e. cut them down to the ground in the autumn. here they are coming up again. It's quite dry at the moment, of course the sunshine is lovely but we do need some rain. I hardly every water anything unless it is newly planted. Luckily we have clay soil which looks dry on top but the this type of soil holds a lot of water and so just underneath the surface it is actually quite moist.

The next picture shows our second bed of raspberries which were planted in autumn.

The plant in the picture on the right is an important one. Poached Egg Plant. I sowed a few in early spring last year and they've survived the winter brilliantly. Of course they're fantastic for pollinators like bumble bees and the hoverflies like them too. And they're very low-maintenance plants. They self-seed. If you've got too many, they are easy to pull up and put on the compost heap.

Blackcurrant bushes. (Seem to have mislaid this picture). Three of them in all. One is quite small at the moment. I'm using the destructive pruning method as mentioned in the Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening. That means instead of pruning individual branches you cut all branches down on one in three of your bushes each year. So you still have two fruiting ones. This saves time and the blackcurrants seem to respond well.

Two rhubarb plants, looking healthy. We'll be able to pick some this year. They were planted the autumn before last.

Rosemary. This one is for the bees really. It is usually the first bush to flower.

This is our pear tree in it's third year now. Can't remember the variety (always write it down!) but I do remember it's September-fruiting.

In this air-brushed media world of ours - I feel social realism is important! We need to think about what didn't work as well as our successes! These broad beans were a victim of the poor weather we've had. I planted them in root trainers at the usual time and they didn't germinate well in our courtyard. Then the frost got them and they lost their tops. The good news is, that in year four of our clay soil allotment we've improved the soil so much with the compost we've made and the rabbit manure we added - that we can now sow more things directly. Less work I hope.

You can only just about see these, but on the right here the asparagus is coming up now. It's been a long wait. We can't harvest much this year, but they're delicious!

Very happy to see that this clematis my mother gave me made it through the winter

Some Little Gem lettuces I planted out. We could do with some rain.

What to plant in Spring

2010-04-09T11:35:00.002+02:00

Now that the first really warm days are upon us - we're finally able to do a little more in the veg. patch. At this time of year - when things get busier - I have a job writing everything down that I'm doing. So here is a very quick run down.

New potatoes

Still not showing yet. I'm a little concerned as I put them in shortly before a cold spell and didn't bother watering them. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Grapevine

The big news. This arrived in the post this week and I was able to make a trip down to the allotment straight away to put it in. But that warrants a separate post. I did take pictures, but can't find them right now, so stay tuned.

Broad beans

Currently still in root trainers. I'm hoping I can plant these out in the beds I've prepared at the weekend.

Tomatoes

Very slow, they might catch up

Carrots

Planning to sow these at the weekend too.

Rhubarb

Showing. We'll be able to start eating this for the first time this year. I've got some good recipes lined up

Asparagus

Not showing yet. Needs some time, but it won't be long before we can eat this, no doubt

Spring onions

These have gone in - but they're not showing yet either

Clematis/Christmas Roses

Very, very glad to say that both of these have survived the winter. So I'm looking forward to being able to bring some more cut flowers home

Cherry Plum bushes

For the first time, we have flowers on these. Must take some pictures.

Little Gem lettuces

These are just about ready to plant out - I'm really looking forward to them as I'd bought a few bags of green leaves from the co-op and they taste of nothing compared to home grown.

Basil

Very slow, needs a bit of TLC.

Autumn sown onions

Lost these over the winter for the first time, so have planted some red onions instead

Leeks

Last of the leeks pulled up today.

Strawberries in planter

These seem to be doing well. Watering is easy.

Allotment Plan update

2010-03-29T11:51:00.000+02:00

It's an important time of year - but where we live the ground is still too cold to sow seeds without cover. The new potatoes I planted two weeks ago are not showing yet. That's fine, they will eventually and it's a job I won't need to do again.

So yesterday down at the plot I spent time weeding and revising our planting plan a little. We lost almost all of our autumn sown onions, which is a shame, but then so did our neighbours - the winter was just too harsh and they rotted. So we needed to think about solutions to this problem. Got hold of some red onion sets instead to fill the spaces and will be planting more spring onions for use in salads and later on, some winter hardy spring onions. The chives have germinated - so these will be useful too.

It was hard work yesterday - and fairly boring and the plot still looked quite bare as the leaves weren't out yet. The peach, pear and apple trees are all ready to burst forth with their buds and I'm hoping we'll get cherry plum flowers this year too - as they haven't fruited yet at all.

After tidying out the shed, I realised that in the last spate of burglaries we had lost our rechargeable light weight strimmer. I hope the thieves are satisfied - may it weigh heavily on their conscience that they have stolen from a family with disabilities and a small child.

Communication and Organic Gardening

2010-03-26T10:06:00.009+01:00

Where did that familiar expression come from: "There's no point in doing something - unless you tell people what you're doing"?

It's an expression which is so important for many of us who are involved with organic gardening initiatives and community gardening on so many levels. You might be an allotment holder who wants to pass on some useful knowledge to a neighbour. You might be a community organisation - large or small - who wants to know how to write a decent press release. However you set about telling people what you're doing - you want to communicate in the best way you can.

My own intensive involvement in organic gardening began a mere five years ago. I wondered why - of all the things I had done in my life - that I didn't have practical gardening skills. When my daughter was born, I began to ask my parents more questions about their parents and I realised that both my mother and my father's family had had allotments.

My father's family had a grand total of three allotments. Every day after school he would go to the allotment site to tend these plots - including the livestock they had - (a goat and lots of rabbits). For them it really was a matter of subsistence. As a boy my father hated doing it and vowed he would never push his own children into fruit and vegetable growing.

So my parents encouraged me on the academic side of things instead- and I didn't come to practical gardening until much later in life. Of course I'd connected up the issues. I worked for Greenpeace Germany's North Sea campaign in my twenties - and as part of the Toxics Team we had a Water Campaign which led a huge initiative to convert every school canteen to organic food. They were really successful - and that was way before Jamie Oliver came along. I'm talking the 1980s here!

The urge to food production coincided too with the birth of my first child. I'm not going to romanticise breast feeding. It can be really hard work. Although it can also make many things a lot easier - nothing to carry if you go travelling - no bottles to wash and usually fewer childhood illnesses. It was the first time I had been solely responsible for another very small human being. And in the case of food production - I was very clearly physically responsible. Your body works very hard then - I couldn't go for one hour without having a snack or a pint glass of water (or two). The summer of 2005 was very, very hot.

I made a direct connection between myself as a human being and the earth then. I'm not romanticising this either, I hope. But the connection was there. The term 'Mother Earth' is often used as an insult in this society - and I heard it myself when I was breastfeeding (someone said to me "but it's okay, you're not the Mother Earth type..."). And that's true - somehow I'm not. I wonder why you never hear the expression "Father Earth"?

Why am I writing this here? Well, where I'm standing just now in my life - I'm faced with lots of important questions - like - how do I communicate some, all, or any of this to a new generation? I'm confronted with this every day as my daughter is just four and a half.

I hope you like this new template. It seems more fitting for Spring. Over the past four and a half years since I became a journalist (and organic gardener) - I've tried to sharpen up my skills. I'd like to do this writing/blogging/photography thing better. And I'd like to be a more efficient and effective gardener.

One of my photographs earned substantial praise from experienced photographers at Shutterpoint recently. Let me know what you think. To see it follow this link:

Shutterpoint. Frances Laing

The contrived tree rends a healthy workload

Quaker Winter Gathering

2010-03-23T11:23:00.007+01:00

This weekend brought a change from sowing and planting:

"Living adventurously" - the Quaker Winter Gathering weekend in Bala, North Wales.

I took a series of photographs on Sunday morning, including this one. It was a great weekend, especially for the young people and the children. A big thank you to all the children's helpers and the organising committee.

There were quite a few conversations going on around growing, sowing, bee-keeping and allotments. I touched base with Lisa Mundle and Jonathan Garratt from Bangor who've set up a new training intiative called http://www.foodskillsforall.co.uk/

The site will be of interest to all those working with schools to encourage organic growing. Good to see you again, Lisa and Jonathan.

Strawberry Planters

2010-03-17T12:43:00.011+01:00

Things were looking a bit dismal in our courtyard. Partly because I've tried to go low maintenance this year. But there's one project I wanted to complete very soon and that's the strawberry planter. I've stopped growing strawberries at the allotment as I found with twice weekly visits it just wasn't very practical as far as the watering and maintenance was concerned. So this tower was my answer.

I looked at various types and finally settled on this one. As I found out when it arrived, it has pros and cons. It is a lot flimsier than I thought. On the website it actually looks like a solid structure and I was really disappointed to find that the middle section is just a concertina type fairly thin plastic shell. You can find this model easily on many gardening websites - compare the blurb with the reality in this blog post...

It wasn't easy to put together - you need two people and already I'm thinking I wouldn't buy this again. For the amount of work that is involved in filling and constructing it - I'm not sure we'll get the return. The flimsiness of the structure means that I don't think it would tolerate being moved - and the instructions say it will only last three years - so given these points it is also relatively expensive. But that might be me being too cynical. I wish someone would make a solid more sturdy one - send it to me folks and I'll do a review perhaps...

On the plus side, all thirty Strawberry plants I bought fitted in to the tower. As you can see I've placed it on an old filing cabinet so that I can wheel it around in the sun. There's a central watering tube which I hope will help.

Eighty litres of compost are required. I used a mixture of perlite, coir and nutrients/plant food.
The strawberry varieties I used were a mixture of early fruiting, mid-season fruiting and late fruiting varieties. Ten of each. Strawberry Christine, Irresistible and Florence.

Here's what the tower looks like on the inside. I discovered when I had almost finished that I had got the main body upside down, but wasn't going to take it off and start again as I don't think the structure would have stood for it.

So. A little bit straggly perhaps, but here is the finished structure. It will look much better I hope when the plants have grown a bit more!

Not including the cost of the labour involved the plants cost £10 and the planter plus compost - £38.85. If it doesn't work well, that is going to be expensive, isn't it?

If it DOES work well we might be harvesting five fruit per plant (thirty plants) - that's 150 fruits - that's 10 punnets of strawberries at say - £2.50 each...all in all a bit of a gamble.

What to plant and sow now

2010-03-11T12:48:00.003+01:00

Lady Christl new potatoes went in on the allotment yesterday. Didn't bother watering them in as I'm expecting it to rain soon and that's part of my new strategy. Working with the weather.
I was really heartened by how lovely the soil looked and how many worms I found. I must have sowed about thirty seed potatoes this year - rather more than I expected. We'll start eating them in June and harvest a few at a time. They'll probably last until August and they're still good to eat when they are bigger.

Sowed spring onions and chives outside on the plot too. Watered these in with the water from my new water butt right next to the bed. What an improvement! Didn't need to walk the length of the plot with two heavy watering cans. Work smart not hard, I say.

Lost some autumn-sown onions due to the heavy winter, but I've bought some red onion sets to fill in the gaps.

At home in the courtyard things are progressing nicely. I've just planted out some Little Gem lettuce seedlings in a newly acquired deep trough from Wilkinsons. Very reasonably priced. Tumbler Tomatoes are now outside in the mini-greenhouse - along with celery, broccoli and Nine Star Perennial. I'm not sowing carrots in pots as I think it's just two much work. I'll sow them outside fairly soon instead.

Still on the radiators indoors we have plenty of basil. Basil tends to take a long time to germinate. We don't really have any sunny windowsills but as long as I move the pots as soon as I see the seedlings - we're generally okay.

International Women's Day, Chester. Organic Fruit and Veg growing workshop

2010-03-08T13:49:00.007+01:00

Thanks to everyone who came to the International Women's Day Organic Fruit and Veg growing workshop I led in Chester on Saturday.

Joan Meredith - a Trident Ploughshares Activist (pictured) and I united under the banner 'Make Gardens Not War'. At the Peace Stall there was an appeal for solidarity with the Yarl's Wood Hunger Strikers for women to sign along with information about why the women are on strike.

The organic fruit and veg growing workshop went quite well. I asked women to draw a picture of their growing space, be it window box, balcony pots, containers, courtyard or allotment. I then asked them how much sun, shade and knowledge they had before sharing some suggestions about what they could grow. I think most people went away happy and some went away with Lady Christl new potatoes to plant.

We were sharing a room with two other groups - Garden Organic's Master Composters and the Northgate Locks Art Project. This was great partly because I could end the advice sessions with: "If you want any more advice about composting - go to the Master Composter's Stall".

On the walls of the room were paintings from the Northgate Locks Art Project. People wanted to look at these too. Local subjects included the canal and 'women's work'.

For more updates on Yarl's Wood see my news blog: http://www.franceslaing.co.uk/ and scroll

down.

Here are two of the Northgate Locks Arts Project pictures:

This one spoke to me because the canal is so much part of our everyday lives and I recognise the scene. I also liked the colours very much.

The second picture on the left appealed to me too - because - well it shows how hard women work in their lives.

Fruit and Veg Growing Workshop tomorrow in Chester

2010-03-05T13:40:00.004+01:00

In case anyone local is reading this, I'll look forward to meeting you in person tomorrow at a fruit and veg growing workshop in Hoole, Chester (England). It's part of International Women's Day. The theme of the workshop is:

Make Gardens Not War

The workshop will run at Hoole Community Centre from 12.30-2.00 in one of the rooms at the back (the main hall is given over to dancing, food, interesting stalls like the Master Composters, chat, socialising and the like). Look out for the pictures of bumble bees and follow the signs.

Hoole Community Centre. Hoole Community Centre is on
Westminster Road
in Chester.
CH2 3AU

I'll be there together with Joan Meredith (veteran Trident Ploughshares activist who has been arrested for direct action against the nuclear threat more times than you've had hot dinners).

We're hoping to entertain, inform and share ideas, I'm going to ask people to draw a picture of their growing space, (be it container garden, window box, courtyard, garden or allotment) and then help them along to success with what they would like to grow. Might do a site visit to our allotment afterwards if anyone is interested in that.

There will also be a stall and information on the wall about anti-war activities and peace issues.

Make Gardens Not War has become quite a slogan internationally in the past few years. As readers will know, I'm a political animal - and so I try to combine my interest in organic fruit and veg growing with discussion on pressing world affairs. There's a lot to say about women's situation globally of course. We're still doing two thirds of the world's work for one third of the world's pay, (according to the U.N). I read recently that only 23 per cent of M.P's are women (must share that with Christine Russell M.P who usually opens the event and last year waxed lyrical about how far we women have come with women's liberation...).

Across the globe many women are forced to flee conflict zones. Some of them end up in immigration detention centres like Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire, England. If you'd like to read more about this, check out my articles on the Yarl's Wood hunger strike here and here. We hope to send a message of solidarity to the women, children, families and friends at Yarls' Wood tomorrow. If you feel strongly and are able to lobby your M.P. ask them to sign Early Day Motion 919 in support of the strikers. Latest information about the strike check my newsblog; http://www.franceslaing.co.uk/

Look forward to seeing you, there's a lovely creche there tomorrow, so bring your littlees along...all welcome I understand. The event starts at 11.30

What to sow in March

2010-02-28T22:34:00.005+01:00

Time for a reality check. I'm sowing seeds in succession and checking my list for March. So, what shall I start off today indoors? Big decisions. I'm going for Nine Star Perennial and Calabrese.

MARCH:
Parsnips
Carrots Early
Little Gems succession
New potatoes - Lady Christ
Spring onions
Chives
Celery
Nine Star Perennial
Tumbling tom
Tomatoes
Lettuce leaved basil
Courgette
Salad leaves in succession
Calabrese (Waltham)

What to plant in March

2010-02-25T13:56:00.003+01:00

Only a few days left of this month. It's still really cold outside and I've got a sick child to watch over today so I'm using this quiet time to consider what to plant (and what to plant out) in March. The story so far:

Broad Beans

I've started these off in root trainers. They're outside at the moment in the courtyard. Broad Beans can germinate in fairly cool conditions so I'm just leaving them be just now and hoping they'll get going soon.

Tomatoes

My seedlings germinated a few days ago. I've left them on a bright windowsill, but won't consider putting them outside in the unheated mini-greenhouse yet as it is far too cold still.

Little Gem lettuces

The first batch of these germinated about ten days ago - again - I feel it's too cold to put them in the greenhouse outside.

Time to check the weather forecast and think about what to sow next. Oh dear, it isn't good news. No chance of the weather warming up this week. Let's hope they've got it wrong...

Allotment Plan

2010-02-23T01:44:00.007+01:00

By special request. This is quite definitely a 'working allotment plan'. Didn't take me long to do - nothing fancy. Doesn't do the beautiful plot justice though. As to the size of the plot...not very good at exact measurements (I pace things out usually when I'm there) - I get the impression though that our plots are larger than most.

If you click on the photo you should be able to see a larger version of it. The plot-and-a-half is L-shaped. The boxes outlined in red are my Rotation Beds. The remaining features marked with a 'P' are all either permanent plantings or perennials. The next photograph shows which beds are planted up and which need to be filled. Looking at the photograph and the plan - I'm starting to feel we're doing well. The allotment was derelict in 2005.

My planting plan for the crop rotation beds:

1. Autumn sown onions (already sown last year)

2. Same

3. Same

4. Flexible

5. Autumn sown garlic (already in)

6 Flexible

7. Flexible

8. Flexible

9. Lady Christl new potatoes (chitting)

10. As bed 9

11. Broad beans Sutton small (started already in root trainers in courtyard at home)

12. Carrots (sharp sand mixed in beds)

Yet to decide: for flexible beds celery, lettuces, parsnips, calabrese...

My working definition of crop rotation at present is don't plant the same crop twice in the same place twice. Anything else is too stressful at the moment and the soil is not yet in danger of becoming exhausted as it has had so much organic matter added.

Tomatoes, basil, salad leaves in the courtyard at home. That's it!

Allotment Plan

2010-02-22T23:40:00.002+01:00

A special 'hello' to the friend who describes herself as old (no such thing as 'old' I reckon)...and suggests my doing an allotment plan - well, yes, love to, it's just that I'm really RUBBISH at drawing - but for your sake I'm going to try to have a go...I realise it might be useful for those following this...by the way seem to have mislaid your contact details...hope to be in touch then...before too long...
best
Frances

Spring Flowers (Pansies)

2010-02-15T12:02:00.002+01:00

I'd almost given up on these pansies in our courtyard and was about to whip them out and sow something else. Looks like I won't need to now - flowers in a few days perhaps! What a relief - something has started to grow! And what a striking colour!

Composting systems...

2010-02-14T17:44:00.015+01:00

Today's allotment battlefield site...

After waxing lyrical last week about the labour-saving benefits of a no-dig system - here I am contradicting myself and engaging in two and a half hours of hard physical work. I've decided I want to re-locate the compost heap. No time like the present.

More than one reason for this. Firstly our allotment-and-a-half is L-shaped. Aesthetically speaking - it would be really nice to visually connect the two parts of it, and most importantly as far as I'm concerned - to be able to gaze at the flowering cherry plums which frame the half-plot in my tea break!

The wooden slot-together compost heap originally stood on the left of the picture - last year this was quite a good place for it as I hadn't cleared the bindweed from the ground on the right of the path. But I really wanted to move the structure to the right as soon as I could.

I've got a rough idea of how much green waste we produce per year and how quickly it rots down. We're going to need some huge empty containers again this year, and we're going to need them at the start of the season. I don't want to be moving compost heap containers whilst I'm trying to sow seeds. So the work I did today really needed to be done now. It has been dry this week (never, ever try turning or moving a compost heap after a rainy spell - it's DISGUSTING work).... the sun was shining a little, I figured if I did the work quickly today the worms wouldn't mind too much and I could tuck them up again before the cold of evening descended.

That was the plan, anyway. I should have learned my lessons by now though I mean NOTHING, BUT NOTHING on the allotment goes exactly to plan...

The wooden compost bin itself was bought the year before last. It set us back around a hundred pounds - about a third of our current allotment budget. Expensive then. I expected it to last more than two years and I expected it to be able to move it.

Somewhere I'd miscalculated. I could take it apart alright, but when I tried to put it back together I discovered that the wood had rotted in a number of places and that some of the screws which held the joints together had fallen out. Maybe I should have taken the time to paint it in eco-friendly wood preservative? Admittedly I could have been more patient with the re-assembly, but it wasn't easy by any means.

Anyway, to be really truthful, I think I would now advise against the purchase of such a system for an allotment holder. Sure it looks fairly neat, but it doesn't seem to last long and if you have even basic joinery skills (I struggle with this one) - you could easily make your own. Lessons learned.

Another fairly expensive purchase last year were the cloches you can see on the right of the picture. Someone once told me you didn't need gimmicks to grow fruit and veg. I understand what they meant now. In theory these cloches are a brilliant idea and they look quite fetching. But in practice they are almost impossible for me to use on the plot. The ends tend to fall off. The biggest difficulty in practical terms is that you need to check them (or lift them to water or ventilate) on a regular basis. If I'm only aiming to visit the plot twice a week I simply can't do this so they are practically useless. Unless I use them without the ends, which I may do occasionally.

Back to the compost heap structure. I feel there is an awful lot to be said for a simple pile, covered up with tarpaulin. Here's the next picture in the series, the composting structure is duly moved to the right hand side of the path:

That's a relief. I seem to have lost some of the slats on the way, though, I suppose they'll turn up sometime...

The good news is, there's lots of almost-ready compost in a huge pile on the left and two more large empty compost bins ready for spring. I'm going to have to put a few nails in this frame now to hold it together as due to the rotting wood it's looking a bit rickety, but I'm sure we'll manage that. We're not the Ideal Homes exhibition, after all.

I've covered the almost-ready compost up with a frost protection sheet. There are so many worms in the pile I need to look after them - so that they'll be fighting fit to start their work as soon as the weather warms up. It's going to be a cold night tonight.

A final picture before I go. This is what I mean about the L-shaped plot. Once I've ditched the cream coloured frost protection sheet and the small trees show their leaves - it will all look much better. Looking forward to those cherry plum flowers this year. Fingers crossed. The plants didn't flower last year. I assume they take a while to get established. Either that or there weren't enough pollinators around last year. The newly-established beehive on our site will no doubt help things along on this front, no doubt.

As for the spot where the compost heap structure used to be - I've created more space now and I'm dreaming of a grape vine...

A vegetable planner

2010-02-11T13:59:00.005+01:00

There are masses of vegetable planners out there, but I wanted to make ours as simple as possible. A simple sowing plan designed so that we don't miss any windows to plant seeds. Tick off when done... :

FEBRUARY: Broad Bean - Sutton Plant in Root trainers - 16 plants
Tomato Money Maker Started off indoors paper pots 11th. Feb
Little Gems Indoors 11th Feb

MARCH: Parsnips
Carrots Early succession sow
Little Gems succession sow
New potatoes - Lady Christl
Spring onions
Chives
Celery
Nine Star Perennial
Tumbling tom Tomatoes
Lettuce leaved basil
Courgette
Salad leaves in succession
Calabrese (Waltham)

APRIL Any I've missed or those which have caught the frost/slugs

MAY Leeks Early In plug planters, Leeks Late

JUNE

JULY Winter cabbage

AUGUST Radicchio for the winter

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER Onions, garlic

NOVEMBER

December

Putting your seed order together

2010-02-08T11:04:00.012+01:00

Looking back at journals and seed orders can be really useful. This is what our first seed order of the year looks like. (I buy from the Organic Gardening Catalogue by post and make the most of the member's discount). I'm a little late with the seed order this year - had to source my first early new potatoes Lady Christl from elsewhere as they've run out. There's plenty of information on the Organic Gardening Catalogue site - about planting times and the advantages of different organic varieties.

1 x CARROT Amsterdam Forcing £1.43
1 x CARROT Paris Market £1.43
1 x CARROT Resistafly F1 £1.98
1 x BROAD BEAN The Sutton SMALL £1.43
1 x LETTUCE Little Gem £1.15
1 x LEEK Monstruoso de Carentan £1.85
1 x LEEK St. Victor £2.71
1 x ONION White Lisbon Winter Hardy £1.43
1 x ONION White Lisbon 10g £1.98
1 x CHIVES £1.64
1 x CELERY Tango £2.71
1 x BROCCOLI Nine Star Perennial £1.85
1 x TOMATO Tumbling Tom £1.85
1 x Basil Lettuce Leaved £1.43
1 x NUTRIENTS FOR COIR BRICKS £1.70
1 x PAPER AND COIR POTS 25 pots £4.95

Garden Organic Member Discount (Not applicable to Special Offers):
-£3.15
Shipping:
£0.00
Total:
£28.37

We're not going to grow main crop potatoes this year. They take up too much space and need too much watering. We're not bothering with runner beans either as you need to pick them so often. In spring and summer I'm hoping to get away with twice weekly visits to the plot. Not had much success with carrots yet - (due in part to the heavy clay soil) - but we're going to try again and with the help of hundreds of worm allies and a bag or two of sharp sand mixed in to the beds, we're hoping for good results.

Here is last year's order for comparison:

http://questionersgardentime.blogspot.com/2009/01/my-january-seed-order.html

We've resolved to spend £30 a month on the allotment (including our £36 and £18 allotments bill). Total: £360 minus £54 leaves £306 to spend on seeds, manure, mulch, pots, e.t.c.

Wonder if we'll come in on budget this year. In the past few years I've made a few (expensive) mistakes. Buying a hosepipe system that I couldn't use because the water pressure wasn't good enough. I've got a few seeds left from last year that I need to make the most of too...

Spring Plantings. Preparing the ground. No dig.

2010-02-07T16:32:00.017+01:00

Today I spent a mere three hours out on the allotment. Pretty much working consistently, but with time for fairly leisurely tea breaks. I'd like to share a 'before' and 'after' picture with you.

As regular readers will know, I adopted no-dig techniques about two years ago. We're in our fourth year of the allotment now. There are two basic steps to the no-dig approach.

1.First you need to remove the perennial weeds from the ground (the types of weeds will vary according to the region you live in and the soil conditions). We're talking about things like dandelions - any weeds that come back each year.

2. Once you've completed step one, you need to use a mulch on your piece of ground to prevent weeds returning and most importantly, provide some food for your worms. They need to feel happy, reasonably warm and sheltered - and if you look after them they'll reward you by doing the digging!

Some gardeners and plot-h0lders seem quite sceptical about the no-dig approach. Some people like digging. Can't see the point in it myself. I observed one of my neighbours working very hard 'digging in' the cow manure that they had had delivered today. It seemed to take a long time (at least a few hours). It was really heavy work, unpleasant, smelly and dirty.

As a no-dig gardener, I use manure too. But I don't dig it in. At the top of this post in the 'before' picture you can see one of the areas I prepared for planting today (using no-dig techniques). This particular bed is destined for new potatoes which I shall be chitting soon. I usually plant them out in the soil in early March.

Back at the end of October last year, I started preparing this no-dig bed. There were quite a few weeds on it. Feeling a bit lazy I covered them up with cardboard and placed a thick layer of rabbit manure on top. I'd never tried this before, but basically I hadn't touched the bed since then at all.

Today, I could see that most of the cardboard had been dragged down by worms, and had rotted away. Most of the rabbit manure had been dragged down into the soil too. So instead of digging all I had to do was to 'loosen and lift'. The soil was beautiful, crumbly, not at all waterlogged and even on this fairly cold day in February, jam packed with worms. As I worked I tried not to disturb the soil too much to give the worms a chance to settle down again and carry on doing their job, eating up the rest of the rabbit manure and cardboard and producing worm casts.

My 'loosen and lift' weeding session took me less than an hour. The second picture shows the same area when I had finished. I decided I wasn't going to rake the area over - as I'll be checking briefly again for weeds when I put the potatoes in. You can see how crumbly and well-drained the soil is now.

The no-dig approach meant that I had much more time and energy for other tasks that needed to be done in preparation for Spring. Pulling leeks for example. We've still got masses.

Some are quite small - probably because they went in too late in August - but all of them are untouched by white rot (I feel that is due to the no-dig technique too). Here's a picture of the pile - note the crumbly texture of the soil they are lying on. What a difference four no-dig years have made...to the heavy, water-logged clay soil we started out with.

Lovage and Tony Blair (a tenuous connection, I know)

2010-01-27T15:13:00.013+01:00

Tony Blair has just gone for lunch. (I'm following the Chilcott inquiry - see my newsblog). So I've popped into the courtyard for a little sunshine and to check a few plants:

I wonder if Tony tends a Kitchen Garden...With the size of the pension he'll be getting - and his lucrative lecture tours - somehow I don't think he'll be tending spuds anytime soon. No matter fellow Kitchen Gardeners - he just doesn't know what he's missing...LOVAGE for example...

Yes, I know at the moment it doesn't look like anything much. That's because it's only January and the poor thing has been covered in snow for weeks. Come March and it will spring into life. Purchased from Victoriana Nursery. Good with chicken. In soups and salads too. Here is a link with recipes How to cook Lovage

BBC City Food Lecture

2010-01-24T13:09:00.003+01:00

Listen to Chief Scientist David King at the City Food Lecture on BBC Radio 4 at this link:

"It's predicted that the world population will reach nine billion in 2050. Simon Parkes reports from the City Food Lecture, where former Chief Scientist Sir David King spells out his vision for how we can meet that challenge".

Spring plantings and perennials/Vision 2050

2010-01-18T10:21:00.005+01:00

The snow has only just cleared and already fellow plotters are out in force at the weekend making preparations for Spring plantings. It's great to see everyone is so keen. (Local government rhetoric on tackling climate change is all very well - but plans to do this are still only words on paper in some places - see Vision 2050). Organic gardeners have been getting real about it - and getting our hands dirty - for years now. We have to educate our elected representatives, that much is clear.

Stopped by our Allotment Society shop yesterday to renew my membership and catch up on plans. A sense of relief was in the air and I had the chance to exchange a few words with our lovely Chair, who promised to update me on the progress and politics of our long-awaiting composting toilet as soon as she has some news.

But the best was yet to come. With a bag of sharp sand on the back of my tricycle I headed down to the plot. It's Year Four. With all those additions of home made compost and the many mulches I've put down during the last four years the soil is looking better than it has ever been. The pay off for all that hard work. The sunshine was beautiful.

Cut the raspberry canes down. Tweaked the guttering on the shed. Pruned the pear tree.

The no-dig approach definitely works - soil condition is better than it has ever been. I felt sorry for a fellow plotter who gloomily told me: "I've still got so much work to do..." (they dig the plot from front to back every autumn/spring). As I've said before on this blog: "Why do it to yourself?".

We'll be picking asparagus this year for the first time (April). I hope the cherry plums will flower early - we can harvest rhubarb too.

It suddenly dawned on me that the time to start raising seedlings at home for the plot is a mere SIX WEEKS away. I'm really glad that my approach has been 'little and often' - Spring really seems like something to look forward to now. Hope you'll still be reading then to share it with us...

Transition Town Chester. Events NEXT weekend.

2010-01-15T10:39:00.006+01:00

Very glad to see "Transition Town" Chester supporters have been working hard to put on varied events NEXT (not this) weekend. (Although it's a shame I was somehow missed off the news email list - I might have been able to publicise this earlier...). There isn't a creche and no child care offered - for that reason I'm not sure I'll be able to make it. So apologies in advance if you don't see me...

(The following information comes to you courtesy of Transition Wiki). Events include a session on "Successful Gardening". Look out for fellow "plotter" Mary Gillie...Here's the list of dates, times and events:

1) A Sustainable Future for Cheshire West and Chester?

A series of presentations by members of Chester Climate Change and Sustainability Ginger Group and others.
14:00 to 17:00pm Friday 22nd January, 2010
Room CBB115, Best Building, University of Chester

"Radical changes to society, economy and lifestyles will be necessary to mitigate and adapt to the combined impacts of climate change, peak oil and international inequalities. Planning for a more sustainable future requires the integration of long term vision with identification and communication of the steps by which we may get there. This event attempts to provide an outline of both with an emphasis on communication and awareness raising."

14:00 -14:10 Arrival and registration.
14:10 - 14:40 Keynote presentation: Tom Barker Vision2050 A Sustainable Future for Cheshire West and Chester
14:40 - 15:10 Bob McCombe and Stefan Nicholls. Developing resilience in a small urban community
15:10 -15:40 Opportunity to get refreshments and network in the nearby Westminster Building cafeteria.
15:40 - 16:00 Roy Alexander. Ashton Hayes Going Carbon Neutral
16:00 -16:20 Mary Gillie. Chester Cycling Demonstration Town
16:20 - 16:40 Ged Edwards. Sustainable Blacon
16:40 -17:00 General discussion/debate and opportunity to identify projects for the local and wider area.
Each of the speakers will cross-reference to the others to demonstrate how the examples link closely to the vision.

17:00 - 21:30 Food and Film Age of Stupid ( . Wesley Church Centre (WCC).

SATURDAY: WCC - Stands for Wesley Church Centre

10:30 - 15:30.BTCV- Environmental information and display. (WCC).
10:30 - 15:30. Continuous showing of Eco-Education short films.(WCC).
10:30 - 15:30.Composting Information/Advice available fromCheshire Composting Team.

(WCC).
10:30 - 11:00. Solar Power presentation by Solar Twin.(WCC).
11:00 - 12:00. DrawingWorkshop led by Mary Hill.(WCC).
11:30 - 12:15. Bike MaintenanceWorkshop presented by The Bike Factory.(WCC).
12:30 - 13:30. Succesful GardeningWorkshop led by AndrewLambie and Ester Sloggett.(WCC).
12:30 - 13:30. Yoga/Meditation by Lisa Foden.(WCC).
13:45 - 14:15. Solar Power presentation by Solar Twin.(WCC).
14:00 - 15:00. DrawingWorkshop led byMary Hill.(WCC).
14:15 - 15:00. The Importance of Bees presentation by Cheshire Beekeepers Association.(WCC).
15:00 - 15:45. Bike MaintenanceWorkshop presented by The Bike Factory.(WCC).
15:30 - 16:30. Yoga/Meditation by Lisa Foden.(WCC).
15:30 - 17:30. Energy Descent Action Plan presented by Stefan Nicholls.(WCC).

Throughout the day there will be information, displays and advice available from Solar Twin, Cheshire Beekeepers Association, BTCV, TheBike Factory and CheshireComposting Team.

19:00 - Late. Ceilidh at All Saints Church, Hoole. Organised by Diana Wilderspin-Jones

Sunday

11:00 Cycle Rides: (a) 23 miles (b) 10 miles. Meet Northgate Arena. Contact Simon Brown: 01244 403960 simonwbrown@dsl.pipex.com

13:00 – 17:30. Be the Change Symposium presented by Andrew Herbert, Diana Wilderspin – Jones, Mike Arundale and Cliodhna Mulhern
followed by soup, bread and cake, suggested donation £5pp. (WCC).

Food costs to soar as freeze deepens

2010-01-10T14:36:00.001+01:00

See this Guardian piece...

Food shortages. Weather. Oil, gas. Cabin fever and the way forward...

2010-01-10T13:04:00.018+01:00

Photo: Giant Winter Spinach in our courtyard under snow...

A friend of mine came to lunch last Monday. She ended up staying three days. The roads just weren't safe enough for her to travel back. In our city (and the surrounding villages) we are hardly ever visited by such extreme weather conditions.

All of us are suddenly reminded of existential matters. Have we got enough food in? Enough fuel? Is the heating working alright? Can we afford the extra money we have to spend heating our houses?

We've spent time and money in the last few years making sure our insulation is up to standard. We continue to reduce our carbon emissions. Warm Front loft insulation. No double-glazing yet. Due to the age of our house, the damp course had broken down so we had to prioritise spending on an air-brick damp-proofing system. It takes at least six months to kick in and until it does, we're limited in what we can do in the house.

We investigated solar power to replace our boiler, but we don't have a water tank in the loft so a system like Solar Twin is not feasible for us at the moment. We installed an A-rated energy efficient Worcester boiler five years ago. Our chimney is not big enough for a wood-burner so we still have our coal fire too. A great comfort in this weather - it is helping the house to dry out - but as far as carbon emissions are concerned, of course we're going to have to get rid of it at some point. Not this year though, we've missed our (finance and tolerance level) window to get the work done. I'm secretly glad as it is so cheery right now. But coal deliveries are to say the least, uncertain at the moment. I'm comforted that we have several possible sources of of heating.

The houses on one side of our street have a good covering of snow on the roofs. (Showing that they are well-insulated). On the other side of the street there is no snow on the roofs at all. The heat loss must be considerable and the insulation poor.

A journey to the local shops has been difficult here. The pavements were frozen for a long time and even in Doc Martens you're risking a broken arm or wrist if you fall. (And I did - thankfully not serious). These issues are particularly critical if you have a disability. Buses in to town were never very reliable but at least the main roads to town are cleared and you see buses now.

When you go to local shops you face the problem of shortages. Particularly fresh fruit and vegetables. Bread deliveries to local shops are also an issue. I've started using the bread maker again.

Then there are the schools closures. Our school was only closed for a day, but most of the schools in Cheshire are still affected by the weather. I understand there is worse to come. I'm thinking that the shock waves of this cold snap will continue long after the snow and ice is gone. Deliveries will be behind. Businesses losing money.

I can only guess at the havoc all this has brought to some people's lives. At the school gate I talked to a mother-to-be. She's booked in for a Cesarean section next week. From a neighbour I heard that all non-essential operations have been cancelled at the hospital.

We don't run a car but all this still makes a difference to our daily routine. The school-walk (or bike) used to take me half an hour maximum. At the moment I'll be lucky if I get away with two hours per day. I'm self-employed but I dread to think how people are managing if their employers refuse to pay them. We go outdoors when we can, but I'm sure like me, many parents find it difficult to keep children amused in such adverse weather conditions.

So what's the good news? Last year an Anglo-Saxon peasant instinct had prompted me to set aside a storage area in a cool room of our tiny house. Here's the link to the blog post and the picture. We'd bought most essentials in bulk and stored them. Our 'pantry' is coming in to it's own now...

The chutneys I'd made the year before last (!) have stood us in good stead for snacks and to spice up some meals. We'd bought a sack of potatoes back in November which is still going strong and we have some 'Golden Wonder' home-grown stores still from last year's harvest. We also have plenty of home grown garlic. Home grown onions were used up last November.

We have plenty of leeks too, but I can't harvest them as the ground is frozen solid. The Giant Winter Spinach is ready to go and will start growing again in February or March. We're going to start raising seedlings again in late February. These can stay in the small greenhouses in our courtyard until the weather is good enough to plant them out. We'll be able to start harvesting Rhubarb and Asparagus for the first time this year.

I'm really looking forward to the spring. In Year Four of our allotment the soil is improving all the time and I'm getting more confident as a no-dig gardener. Looking forward to sharing some of my plans with you all...

Composting Toilet - funding approved!

2009-12-31T18:38:00.003+01:00

How about this for some New Year Good News! After a very long haul funding for the composting toilet on our allotment site has finally been approved! This means we'll be able to hold more events on site and stand a better chance of getting match-funding!

Will post again with more details...

See also previous posts Campaign for a composting Toilet

Installing a water butt

2009-12-29T10:55:00.005+01:00

Festive wishes to readers out there, I hope you're having a peaceful time of it. I'm cracking on with jobs that will make our lives easier in the coming growing season. I'd been wanting to install guttering on our allotment shed for some time now. It's a long walk to the the water butt and when times are busy and lots of people are on site you can't use it anyway as it doesn't refill very quickly.

I don't mind admitting that do-it-yourself jobs are not one of my talents. Frankly, the prospect of having to do these things is often quite terrifying!

This information might be useful to someone though, so I'm going to share my progress so far. As a first step, I checked out the 'how to' guides for some major stores. B and Q being one of them. I didn't find much about how to install guttering but I did find a step-by-step guide to installing a water butt. Here's the link:

Then I visited a large store and bought the necessary items. Three lengths of guttering, plus brackets. Water butt and stand I'd bought a while back. Down pipe and down pipe connector. So far so good. Cost around £40.

Of course when I visited our plot yesterday allotment reality started to kick in. I put the brackets on the shed - I thought they were sloping and tested the system out with water from a watering can. However, then I realised the shed was sloping too, so had to take the brackets off and put them on again in a different place. Sigh. By the time I'd tried again night was falling and it was freezing cold, so I guess Installing a Water Butt (Episode II) will have to wait a wee while. Never mind, at least I've started the project.

And the snow drops I planted are coming up.

Home Made Christmas Decorations

2009-12-14T11:52:00.004+01:00

Not usually very keen on Christmas Decorations but we received this lovely Christmas Garland from Babes' Granny yesterday. I wanted to share this photograph with QGT readers.

Other Half said Granny and Babes had used materials from Granny's garden to make it.

Isn't it beautiful? I think it is much nicer than a tinsel crown and just right for us. Thank you very much Granny.

Greetings to all readers and hope your preparations are going well. Don't get too stressed out - and plan some time in to check your garden or allotment plot on sunny days...

Organic Gardening and Climate Change

2009-12-10T10:34:00.005+01:00

I'm a creature of habit, and work routines help me to keep going. This week must be the first week of the year when I haven't been down to the allotment. Little and often is my motto. I've missed it but I've got a good excuse. This week I've been on the Climate Change 'The Wave' march in London.

In the interests of joined up thinking I'm pointing QGT readers towards coverage of Climate Change and Copenhagen over at my newsblog.

I took over a hundred photographs - this is not one of the best but the brave chap on the right of the picture spoke to me. Unfortunately he moved away before I could take a snap of what he was trying to say. His placard said: Domicile Allotments. Solution to Climate Change. I wish I'd had a chance to talk to him about it. I'll be back in the 'garden' next week...

Update: I've just Googled 'domicile allotments'. Our brave protestor pops up again see this link.

Communication, organic gardening and more photographs from the Woodbrooke Kitchen Garden

2009-12-02T12:04:00.024+01:00

I've still got some important photographs to share from the Woodbrooke Kitchen Garden. Gardeners (and bloggers) need patience and learning. For those readers who have just started gardening - please know - I haven't been doing this all my life. I only started seriously four years ago when my daughter was born. Since then I've been on a very fast learning curve in all sorts of ways. A very practical learning curve too - very much food-related.

When I started blogging - (fourteen months ago) I admit - I didn't have definite goals in mind. But I did want to communicate - and do something useful. Organic gardeners I had talked to said that there is a skills gap in Britain today as far as fruit and vegetable growing was concerned. I hoped that by learning more about blogging as a medium I could do several things: consolidate my own knowledge about organic gardening, and communicate something of what I was learning to others.

Blogging is quite a fast medium. Blog posts can be slotted in at any time of day. With the increasing risks associated with Climate Change and Peak Oil I felt I needed to act fast.

I wanted to focus on time-saving techniques. How often have I heard people say that they don't have the time to grow their own. Well, as a busy mum - I often feel I don't have the time for ANYTHING - lots of us are familiar with that feeling of needing to find time from somewhere. I definitely don't have the time (energy or inclination) to dig over our allotment-plot-and-a-half each autumn.

But then it is through writing this blog that I've learned more about no-dig techniques and hopefully been able to pass on some of them. There's a lot to be said for television. But too many gardening programmes seem to give the impression that you can do an instant makeover in your backyard which lasts a weekend and you'll be set up with fruit and veg for the rest of your life. Of course life (and gardening) is not like that.

Along with the plants on our allotment plot - the communication element has grown too. I started out a year ago with this one blog Questioner's Garden Time (which is still my favourite blog). Blog number two appeared a little later (that's the one called: Profit from Your Blog). In April 2009 my news blog 'Behind the Lines' fruited as blog number three. And finally blog number four "A Parent's Guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage" popped up. This last blog has been the focus of much attention recently. In the interests of joined up thinking - if you have, know or are concerned about the future of children under five, please visit this weighty site and consider signing the parliamentary petition I have launched.

Tending four blogs is a lot like gardening. It has been hard work at times. Little and often is the way to go. Whilst the subjects these blogs are concerned with may seem unrelated, to me they are all parts of a whole. Climate Change is linked to education - which is linked to war and peace - which is linked to communication - which is linked to how we use new media - and so on...

At times the work seems endless. And it is. You do the work and don't always see the results, but then one day you turn around and see how much the soil has improved. In year four our allotment soil is gaining that crumbly texture that is so different from the heavy clay we started out with. As far as communication is concerned - since April - reader traffic on all of my four blogs combined has increased EIGHT HUNDRED PER CENT. So it seems I'm a little closer to those communication goals that I've been striving towards.

Back to the main focus of this blog. Edible, do-able organic food. The last few photographs from the Woodbrooke Kitchen Garden are functional. First up: red cabbage. I remember eating this inthe Woodbrooke servery. It tasted wonderful and I'm determined not to miss the window to plant some of this on our allotment next year. Next in line chard.

You may think these particular specimens look a little tatty but they're perfect examples of the cut-and-come-again technique which helps us save time and energy. These little stumps should grow again in the spring. The gardener therefore avoids the work of re-sowing and they should be off to an early start too.

And finally, leeks. This is an interesting photo for me as they're covered in horticultural fleece. I was quite surprised about this as I don't bother with it myself. I would have thought because the Kitchen Garden has a wall around it, it wouldn't have been needed as it is a sheltered spot. But perhaps this particular variety is a little more fragile than the very hardy varieties I choose for our own plot. Must remember to ask the Woodbrooke gardener what the reason is for the fleece. Is it for frost protection? Any ideas anyone?

Children and Sustainability

2009-11-28T12:08:00.002+01:00

Those concerned about sustainability and education, please consider signing the parliamentary petition I launched yesterday. Thank you for your support. See this link:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/parentsguideeyfs/

A Quaker Kitchen Garden - Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre

2009-11-17T17:53:00.025+01:00

Continuing our series of blog posts on the Kitchen Garden and Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre we make our entrance:

A sign says: "You are welcome to explore the walled garden. Dating back to the 19th. Century the walled garden would have provided vegetables, herbs, fruit and flowers for a large family and their staff. The current planting plan echoes this with separate Herb, Kitchen, Fruit and Cutting Gardens providing organic food and flowers for the Study Centre and a pleasant area to stroll or sit in".

I was fascinated by the layout of this garden, especially the herb garden. Woodbrooke provides an overview:

It's a shame I had so little time. You can't read all the names on this herb 'map' but you get some idea of how many different herbs there are. Walking around - I found some unusual varieties such as Sweet Woodruff. In the first instance - I wouldn't have the foggiest idea what to use this for, but it was enlightening to find it's sometimes employed to relieve migrane see http://www.herbalcuisine.com/Sweet_Woodruff.html . Next to catch my attention was 'Coltsfoot' used in the past for cough remedies. See: http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/c/coltsf88.html

Alongside Rosemary I also found Yarrow. You don't see that in your average plant nursery...

Being a Quaker Parent

2009-11-17T11:48:00.027+01:00

Just returned from a weekend away at Woodbrooke Quaker college outside Birmingham, England. I'd registered for the weekend course entitled "Being a Quaker Parent" led by Craig Barnett and Helen Chambers. It was only half way through the weekend that I realised Craig Barnett of Sheffield has been following this blog for quite some time already, so it was great to meet him in person at last.

Craig is currently coordinating the City of Sanctuary movement in Britain. City of Sanctuary is a 'movement to build a culture of hospitality for people seeking sanctuary in the UK' and creates a network of towns and cities throughout the country which are proud to be places of safety, and which include people seeking sanctuary fully in the life of their communities. Many people are now familiar with the idea of a ‘Fairtrade City’, in which a wide range of community groups and organisations make a commitment to using and selling fairtrade goods. In a similar way a ‘City of Sanctuary’ is a place where a broad range of local organisations, community groups and faith communities, as well as local government, are publicly committed to welcoming and including people seeking sanctuary.

The Woodbrooke weekend was glorious in more ways than one so thank you to those who led the course, took the time to attend and worked so hard. We really appreciated talking to fellow parents. I took a series of photographs on the Sunday morning after breakfast. (I was dying to get out with my still-newish Nikon D3000 and see what was growing in the Woodbrooke kitchen garden at this time of year) - I find you learn so much looking at the garden that someone else has created - so I'm planning to share a series of twenty or so photographs here, over the course of the next few weeks.

Intellectually speaking, there was much food for thought too. Many parents came with their children and carers. Some atheist, some agnostic. I'd heard it was the first time Woodbrooke had run the course, and we all hoped they will do this again - it certainly meant a lot to us.

In the day-to-day bustle of parenting tasks I'd been feeling as if I seldom got a chance to reflect on what I was actually doing. (That sounds completely wrong, but those of us caught up with the school-run and getting-tea-on-the-table will perhaps have some inkling of what I am trying to say...). Food was an important part of the weekend - the excellent facilities at Woodbrooke meant that no-one had to cook and since all the parents said 'relaxation' was an important element about being on the course we enjoyed being looked after very much. This garden fork-to-table business is all very well, but it gets to be hard work sometimes and it is great to have a weekend off.

It was the first time too I'd had a chance to talk about some of the special challenges and joys of being a family (and parenting with) a disability. All these things are all relevant to this blog - access to gardening and access to sustainable food production needs to mean access for all.

The children seemed to eat well - our daughter was so excited about being at Woodbrooke she didn't want to go to bed in case she missed anything, bless her.

So, on to the kitchen garden. It's a walled garden and this is the view from outside. I'm going to walk you round and look at interesting and useful plants in the pictures and blog posts that follow. (Much of what is grown in the garden finds it's way into the Woodbrooke restaurant kitchen).

Before we go into the garden proper I'm squeezing in another link which I hope will be of interest here. It's the Good Lives Project.

It came about because in addition to the historically important testimonies of peace, justice, equality and truth-seeking, Quakers have now adopted a corporate testimony of 'sustainability' which amongst other things means that many Friends are very busy right now on an international level - lobbying at the Copenhagen Climate Change negotiations. Now that there is little prospect of a legally binding agreement, people of all faiths (and none) are needing to seek other ways of disseminating, upholding and supporting the message of 'true sustainability'.

Onions, garlic and parsnip soup

2009-11-09T13:50:00.008+01:00

Finished planting onion and garlic sets yesterday. I'm hopeless at labelling when I'm out on the plot. If it's cold and wet, you really don't want to be hanging about trying to get your pens to work...I'm hoping to record details of plantings here on the blog so that I can review how well they perform. I decided I wanted to try a new garlic variety so this years plantings were:

Pulled parsnips to make some space (and beautiful parsnip soup).

I'm spending an average of three hours a week at the allotment right now. At this time of year it's enough to keep things ticking over.

Plant Garlic now in November

2009-11-05T10:10:00.003+01:00

According to Kitchen Gardener's International a whopping seventy-three per cent of garlic in the U.S. is imported from China. I wonder what the U.K. percentage is? Growing your own means you get Chinese cuisine with locally sourced ingredients. Watch this lovely video to brush up on what garlic is and how to plant it.

Gardeners have the power - Crush Hunger!

2009-10-28T10:58:00.004+01:00

Couldn't let today pass without putting in a wee plug for Kitchen Gardener's International new initiative 'CRUSH HUNGER'. If enough people donate $10 dollars each they will be in line for a prize of $50,000 to be used to help more people globally grow their own fruit and vegtables. Tell your friends! Check out this link for more details: http://crushhunger.org/

KGI has done some brilliant work on the 'Eat the View' campaign and succeeded in getting a veg patch on the Whitehouse lawn. (I'm told Buckingham Palace held secret meetings with the first Lady. They say that was what prompted our monarch to follow suit...). Gardeners have the power...

Allotment Photography

2009-10-27T10:53:00.022+01:00

Looking at
perfectly executed gardening photos - I often tend to feel I'll never measure up. I'm sure novice gardeners share that feeling too. So here are photographs of a different - dare I say more realistic kind.

It's not necessarily vital that your your veg patch looks professional and pretty at all times is it? Of course it's a bonus if it does, and a beautiful layout comes with time and experience.

But most organic allotmenteers just want things to work. It's a different aesthetic isn't it? First in the series of (definitely not airbrushed) less-than-perfect-looking-but-very-productive-fruit-and-veg-patch-photographs are the leeks. We haven't started harvesting these yet but we have many more than last year. So that's great. The leeks in this picture could have done with more rain and/or watering. I could have got them started earlier too.

We do have larger ones on the plot. These specimens in the next picture (on the right) are nearly ready to harvest.

The asparagus patch is one of our greatest gardening achievements so far. This is a not-particularly-impressive picture. Practically speaking, the plants are really healthy and sound. For the first time (in June next year) we'll be looking forward to harvesting organically grown asparagus spears. In this picture you might think the couch grass at the side is encroaching on the raised bed, but actually I dug a small trench to keep it away which is very effective as the couch grass doesn't cross it.

My mother told me that my grandfather (who had several allotments) hardly even used to water his. I try to adopt the same approach. Otherwise it is way too much work for us. I've got used to planting just before it rains and nurturing the soil so that it retains water for a long time. I also make extensive use of mulches. Which brings me to our next picture:

Not exactly neat and tidy but very effective on the scale of things as well as being ecologically sound. Here is a slightly raised simple bed edged with cardboard boxes (from mail order goods) and topped with wood chippings from our communal heap on the allotment site The advantage of this technique is it gives the worms a place to hide out (underneath the cardboard) and escape the winter chills.

I planted dwarf broad beans in this space at the weekend. Bare rooted raspberries went in next door to these. More onions and garlic can wait until November.

Last but not least the strawberries. These are recently transplanted - they didn't do so well in the old water butt where they were before as it was difficult to provide them with enough water.

They're looking a bit tatty - but as you can see they're fruiting in October - I'll give them a bit of TLC and they'll be in good shape for next year.

Really glad to say that I won't be buying any more organic slug pellets. Our froglets must have done very well and I saw a juvenile in early autumn - so hoping they'll do the slug patrol for us next year. It's great to see so many spiders and ground beetles too.

The Gardening Year. The journey.

2009-10-16T11:01:00.004+02:00

Just to cheer you all up after that bout of global number-crunching - here's some sanity: the latest picture of our plot. Year Four and the Avalon Pride peach tree is flourishing as you can see.

We're much further on with winter vegetable production - with leeks in various sizes which usually last until January.

The poached egg plant (Limanthes Douglasii) was still flowering yesterday - it has self-seeded - that's the THIRD time this year. Beautiful.

World Food Day - Crunching the Numbers about Food

2009-10-16T10:14:00.003+02:00

Received an email from Roger Doiron over at Kitchen Gardener's International with some interesting stats in time for World Food Day tomorrow. He's allowing bloggers to republish them so here we go. (Normally I find numbers a bit scary, but these, I'm sure you will agree are important and enlightening). Thanks Roger.

1: number of new kitchen gardens planted at the White House this year AP
1943: the last time food was grown at the White House White House
20 million: the number of new gardens planted in 1943 LA Times
40%: percentage of nation's produce coming from gardens in 1943 LA Times
7 million: estimated number of new food gardens planted in the US in 2009 NGA
$2000: amount of savings possible per year from a 40' x 40' garden KGI
90%: percentage of fruit/vegetable varieties lost in the US the last 100 years CNN
3500: number of vegetable varieties owned by Monsanto Monsanto
18,467: number of new small farms counted in the last agricultural census USDA
4,685: number of farmers markets nationwide USDA
4,100: number of Wal-mart stores and clubs in the US Wal-mart
187,000 ft2 : average area of a Wal-mart superstore Wal-mart
60,112 ft2: average area of a farmers' market USDA
9.5 million: number of imported food shipments arriving in the US each year Huffington Post
226,377: number of establishments registered to export food to the US Huffington Post
200: number of on-site inspections of these establishments conducted by the FDA last year Huffington Post
76 million: number of people who fall ill each year due to food poisoning CDC
50 gallons: volume of sugared beverages consumed per person in the US each year LA Times
22,727: number of Olympic-sized swimming pools those beverages would fill Answers.com
$15 billion: annual estimated revenue of a penny-per-ounce tax on soda LA Times
$20.5 billion: Coca-Cola's gross profit in 2008 Coca-Cola
72 million: number of American adults considered obese CDC
33%: percentage of US children likely to develop obesity or Type 2 diabetes CDC
10-15 years: average number of years their lives will be shortened as a result CDC
57 years: average age of the American farmer USDA
25 days: average shelf-life of a Twinkie Snopes
350 parts per million: sustainable level of CO2 in atmosphere 350.org
390 parts per million: current level of CO2 in the atmosphere NOAA
31%: percentage of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions attributable to food and agriculture IPCC
2020: year by which many geologists feel the world will have reached "peak oil" production UK Research Centre
10 calories: average amount of fossil fuel energy required to produce 1 calorie of food energy in industrialized food systems Cornell
29,100 calories: estimated fossil fuel calories required to produce one order of Outback Steakhouse Aussie Cheese Fries Men's Health
1 billion: number of hungry people in the world in 2009 FAO
9.1 billion: projected world population in the year 2050 US Census
70%: percentage increase in global food production required to feed that projected population FAO
70%: percentage of world's fresh water used for agricultural purposes UNESCO
1.8 billion: number of people expected to experience "water scarcity" in the year 2025 UNEP
0: number of new, oil-rich, water-rich, fertile and inhabitable planets we are likely to discover in the next 40 years
1: number of people needed to make a positive difference in any of the above: you!

The Gardening Year (and this blog's first birthday)

2009-10-12T13:52:00.008+02:00

It's nearly a year since I started this blog. (3rd. November, 2008 to be exact).

In gardening terms - reflecting on past successes (and failures) is an important process. So if it's alright with you readers - that's what I'm going to do for the next two weeks until this blog's first anniversary.

The picture opposite was taken on 18th. April, 2008. In the next few posts I'm going to include more recent photographs - you'll be able to track our progress that way.

We'd taken on our plot in early summer 2006 and it had been completely derelict then. I wish I'd taken a photograph at the very beginning - to prove it, but my little one had not long been born, and taking pics was the last thing on my mind...

Notable features at the start included brambles as thick as your thigh which I had to dig out, dozens of sacks full of broken glass... The lot. I mention this because I've met a few new plot holders recently who are starting in a similar place. Although at least they had their plots cleared, whereas I did mine by hand with a scythe. So don't lose heart new plotters - it is possible. Whatever you do, though don't rotovate. You'll only chop the weeds up and compact the ground - get some advice from Garden Organic about 'Starting an Organic Allotment' instead.

So, what can we see in this picture? Starting in the foreground: A weedy and still bramble stricken strip of ground covered in mulch fabric, newly planted gooseberries, newly planted rye grass and clover lawn underneath the apple trees I inherited (the one in the picture is the old variety - called Newton Wonder), inherited daffodils, newly planted asparagus bed on the left - a few raised beds and a few sack fulls of rubbish.

In 2007 when I took on the plot - most of the areas surrounding it were uncultivated. Now we have neighbours. By year four - our heavy clay soil has been much improved due to the almost constant addition of various mulches and manures. These included: rabbit manure (from a local rabbit breeder), cardboard and wood chip mulch for the paths (delivered to the site by local tree surgeons), home-made compost (since I cleared the plot from derelict there was a great deal of green waste to deal with), cocoa shells (an organic and fairly expensive product which I used sparingly on the asparagus patch and around the peach tree), 'Strulch' (also a fairly expensive product used on raspberries, it lasts a long time and is made of mineralised straw so it also feeds the soil), comfrey leaves and last but not least: kitchen waste treated with Bokashi Bran and buried in trenches.

The improvement in the soil means it is generally much easier to work - and direct seed sowing will finally become a possibility this coming Spring. The clearance of neighbouring plots has generally been a positive thing, but the clearances of vegetation mean that strong winds have been a difficulty too - and so I've planted appropriate wind breaks. Photographs to appear in the next few blog posts.

At the beginning I toyed with the idea of making a static design for the plot and then following it. I'm glad I didn't now. The lay-out of the plot evolved gradually. Some features (like the apple trees) - were fixed - but in general I observed soil, sun and shade and made decisions as I went along. The plastic raised beds worked out quite well as I moved them round quite a bit. They have a five year guarantee so whilst they're not indestructible they're fairly sturdy.

The cardboard and wood chip mulch I've used for the paths has lasted a season which means it is extra work to replace it - but because this adds organic matter to the soil, I feel this has been worth it. I'd advise new gardeners to keep an eye on the principles of permaculture whilst they are designing their layout. Think about putting your shed in the middle of your plot instead of at the end and use several compost heaps and water butts dotted around instead of just one - it really does make the work easier.

My blogging skills have improved over the past year. I'm currently without a camera as my compact and fairly simple Samsung L700 has finally packed up. Good news in some ways as this means I can finally upgrade to an entry-level digital SLR. Another fast learning curve...watch this space...

Composting Toilet Saga Continues

2009-10-08T13:17:00.007+02:00

The saga of our composting toilet continues. Sigh. News of our site's supposedly subversive efforts has hit the local press. See this link.

Meanwhile a very nice chappie from a lovely local composting toilets company has seen this blog and contacted me with an offer to come and talk to our local council and try to convince them to do the right thing. They say they've never had a council refuse them yet. These composting toilets seem super efficient, very attractive and are wheel-chair friendly. It's worth a shot, have a look for yourself at how lovely these nifty models are these days - see NATSOL

And if that doesn't work, please tell your friends and sign our petition at this link:

Thanks very much.

Guerilla Gardening. Urban Food Production.

2009-10-02T17:01:00.004+02:00

Just received this great film from a friend about the Abundance Project featuring Guerilla Gardening and Urban Food production. Watch it at this link.

Allotments, Art and Creativity

2009-10-01T13:37:00.011+02:00

There's a lot going on at our allotment site. Not just the growing - but all the creativity that comes along with it. We have artists, poets, craft workers and business people of all kinds in our number. This willow horse is lovely, isn't it? I took the picture last year sometime and of course the willow has rooted now. There were also several wicker rabbits on site. I've forgotten the artist's name now, bless them, but I'll find out and add the detail to this post.

Then there are the picture people. Plot holder Nellie Maan for example. Nellie has a vast amount of international experience with art and business. She opens her studios sometimes as part of Open Artist Studios events. Together with her other half, she's doing interesting things with board games as a tool for creative enterprise. Click on this link for more about Nellie's work. To find out about Cheshire Open Studios click here.

Garden Organic For Schools

2009-09-22T11:19:00.004+02:00

We made it. We're still alive. It's the fourth week of school. Two hours a day so far. Time to start exploring the 'Garden Organic for Schools initiative'. Before we delve into how it is relevant to the National Curriculum - let's start with how it came about. See this link:

As readers may remember - Garden Organic and their wonderful staff have accompanied us (in spirit) on our family's 'Organic Food Journey' since my daughter was born. I breastfed my daughter - so she had a great start in life. When she was six months old - I attended a 'Garden Organic For All' training weekend in Ryton, near Coventry. I'll never forget the help and support I experienced there, it really helped set our family up for life. (I have particularly fond memories of the first class restaurant and the chocolate bread and butter pudding - they really pampered us). The 'Organic Food for All' programme has ended now, I think but it existed to reach out to people with limited resources to help them get growing.

Anyone reading this blog who looks at our allotment plot now might get the impression we've been growing food organically all our lives. Not so people. Four years ago, when my daughter was born I was on a very fast learning curve. On the training course Garden Organic taught us about crop rotation and tested us on the main vegetable families - in the fog of new parenthood, I recall my embarrassment as I didn't know any of them properly. Four years on, things are different and I feel a lot more confident about how to grow organic food. So there is hope for all you newbies! Writing this blog has helped too.

Our school choice was heavily influenced by access issues and the fact that the building is close to our allotment site. Some of the parents (and staff) we meet at the school gate are fellow plot holders. So, hello folks. I know that some of you subscribe to the posts on this blog, I'm always really glad to know that someone is actually reading this stuff! And thanks for all your hard work in our allotment community.

Allotments and growing spaces are sometimes hard to come by round here and lots of households don't have any access to them. People think our city is quite rich - but the recession affects the leafy-laned schools too - there are two main industries here: finance and retail - and both of these industries have been hit hard. There are masses of two-up-two-down houses in our district which only have a courtyard and no growing space. Tourism is all very well - but tourist facilities often benefit only large companies based elsewhere and not the local council-tax payers who actually live here.

Our school used to have an allotment on our site, but recently I understand they've had to give it up. I was told by a fellow plot holder that although the allotment was just across the road from the school - they couldn't spare the time away from the curriculum to ship all the children over there and back again. Just shows what sort of target-driven pressures they must be under these days (see: A Parent's Guide to the Early Years Foundation Stage) http://www.parentsguidetoeyfs.wordpress.com/

All things are connected. At any rate, we have a school garden - that's a start.

The baseline is: although our school has a food policy - we feel they have not yet made the connection between growing and eating. We're due to start school meals next week - but as far as we know - although the food is fairly balanced - none of it is organically grown or locally produced. Our parental assessment tells us there's definitely room for improvement there.

There would be plenty of scope for a community composting initiative. Let's hope they're reading this.

And then there is Climate Change. As a family - we started measuring our household carbon emissions years ago and our child will grow up with an awareness of social and environmental responsibility - with the knowledge that although the situation is critical, there are things that can be done. NOW. See: The Carbon Trust site for ways in which schools and small and medium-sized enterprises can save energy and money.

But it all comes down to a question of listening doesn't it? I'd like to say our allotment was a gift. But it wasn't. It was completely derelict when we took it on. Due to my other half's disability I've done all the heavy manual work on it single-handedly for years. That's getting easier now the soil is better but it was really tough at first and without the support of Garden Organic I'm sure I would have given up a long time ago. I've seen people throw in the towel because they made mistakes, underestimating the work involved or didn't know anything about labour saving techniques.

I've also seen newbies give up because our council doesn't seem to know much about horticulture. They cleared the plots opposite ours with bulldozers - removing all the top soil and not realising what they were doing. These plots were plagued with flooding problems for years.

It's very clear to me that local authorities (and schools) should be making growing easier for people. There should be proper access and consultation (not just lip service) for people with disabilities to empower and enable. And the council should adhere to the statutory equal opportunities policy. If they want people to live healthily - combat food insecurity and cut carbon emissions - then they have to make it easier for people to 'grow their own'.

I was once criticised by someone who reckoned that instead of 'complaining' about conditions in society - I should just 'get on with it'. As our allotment - and the rest of our decades of voluntary activities - (including our contributions to the local committees we are a part of) show: the truth of that is: we've been 'getting on with it' all along...

Battle for composting toilet on site rages on

2009-09-13T09:52:00.012+02:00

There has been some controversy about our site's plan to build a composting toilet (just one!). Our site is one of the largest in the U.K., I believe.

One brave Liberal Democrat councillor I talked to has agreed to donate £500 of his expenses allowance to support the plan. In a street surgery he told me that some other councillors refused to support the project saying it was 'too political'. (Obviously there is a revolutionary plot behind the idea isn't there?) No seriously, given the diversity of social standing of our plot holders - we've got everyone from people with flash cars and huge gardens at home to people on the breadline - I can't think of anything which would be less political - and if you ask me, the phrase 'it's too political' is just a poor excuse to do nothing.

On the ground, as an organic gardener - I'm well aware we have less than basic facilities which don't appear to be anywhere near the national standards or best practice seen on other allotment sites.

Dozens of plots are off the mains altogether. Watering is often a problem for this reason - as organic gardeners we mulch a great deal, according to Organic guidelines to save water - but at present we have one small corporation water butt between thirty-odd plot holders - no stand pipe - and this butt is often unusable - in hot weather the water pressure is non-existent and you turn up at the plot with a few hours to spare only to find there is no water because the butt isn't refilling fast enough. Many of us have installed extra butts to collect water from our sheds, but the situation still represents a difficulty for anyone with any sort of health challenge as all this often means carrying water for quite a distance.

Our lack of basic facilities also affects our ability to reach out to the community. One fellow parent remarked in exasperation one day: "They ought to try toilet training a toddler on a site with no hand-washing facilities - a mile or more from the nearest loo..." I couldn't agree more.

So much for local and national government rhetoric about healthy living and encouraging people (and children) to take more exercise and eat more fruit and veg. Much of it seems to be nothing more than lip-service.

We have disabilities in the family - and whilst if you are able-bodied, squatting behind the shed or over a bucket may be an ( adventurous) option - for anyone with a disability - it presents problems. When we have an Open Day, or visitors to the site - I lose visitors. As soon as they find out the toilets are so far away, many with 'toileting challenges' have to head for home.

It's time our Council shifted their priorities and started to understand the true meaning of the word 'sustainable development' . They've just spent £15 million odd on new headquarters for themselves which allow them to sup champagne whilst overlooking the racecourse in comfort. See this link: Still - what can you expect - it's only a few years since they they tried to sell our site off to build a tennis court....plot holders have got long memories, thank goodness.

Attitudes to people with disabilities could do with a shake-up too. After attempting a discussion about disability rights with a council representative on Friday I was told that 'disabled people' needed plots 'near the road'. I had to point out the Equal Opportunities basics here: that not everyone has a disability you can see for starters - (what about mental health issues?) - and not everyone is in a wheelchair(so access requirements are different).

Finally - surely what we should be aiming towards is empowering people - not shunting them off in some sort of car park ghetto. We have no intention of moving to be 'near the road' - when we've put in sustained effort to convert our plot from derelict for the past four years and are just beginning to reap the benefits.

So - readers of this blog - who WOULD like to learn more about the benefits of composting toilets and recognise their advantages in terms of saving costs - and water - I'm enclosing this link - there is a wealth of information out there if you search for 'Composting Toilets' but this link is good to start - click here.

AND dear readers - don't log off without signing our petition please! You don't need to put your postal address down, and you can click the options to hide your email address too, if you wish. Thanks very much fellow plotters - we really appreciate your help. Sign the petition here.

Composting Toilets!

2009-09-10T19:26:00.001+02:00

Your support is needed for a petition to secure composting toilets for our Hoole Allotment Site.
To sign the petition follow this link.

Sustainable Food Evening

2009-09-10T18:44:00.004+02:00

Off to this sustainable food evening tonight...organised by Friends of the Earth.

Hoole Allotments - new community website

2009-09-08T14:03:00.002+02:00

At last our allotments have a new website. Here's the link: Enjoy!
http://www.hooleallotments.btik.com/home.ikml

Autumn Raspberries

2009-09-06T23:04:00.005+02:00

I'm back. Earlier than expected. Thanks all you readers for wishing us well. School start - so far, so good. Here's a picture of some of our autumn raspberries. Variety All Gold. As far as we're concerned, they really are the original fast food. Little One loves them- (ours often never make it home, but just get eaten on the spot). It's understandable - they're delectable.

If you really want to add something to them, try searching for a recipe for Raspberry Pavlova. Or even simpler - I made one up for raspberry 'mess'. Crushed meringue. Lots of raspberries and whipped cream.

One word of warning. Pick them frequently. I turned up on the plot today after a week's absence only to find quite a few were wasted. They were overripe and because the weather has been quite wet, some had started to go mouldy. They could really do with picking every day.

Some people think the yellow ones are strange - but they look so pretty as a contrast to red ones. And the best thing: I went to a supermarket this week and autumn raspberries are selling for £2.5o for a very small punnet - and they're not organically grown either. I reckon this year we must have had at least thirty punnets worth...

Short Break

2009-08-30T08:47:00.003+02:00

I'm taking a short 'break' from this blog to help my daughter settle into school. Back in two weeks!

Sweetcorn, Pumpkins, Main Crop Potatoes

2009-08-24T18:20:00.004+02:00

Before the leaves start to fade - I wanted to share these photographs with you all, my readership. The mass of leaves - sweetcorn in the foreground - pumpkins and courgettes - main crop potatoes and raspberries behind show just how fruitful the allotment has been this year.

Time for a break between shifts. There were so many bumble bees on these clumps of lavender today.

Foraging for Cherry Plums

2009-08-23T19:41:00.010+02:00

Aren't these lovely colours? Blackberries. Red and yellow cherry plums. Little One and Other Half had been out foraging and had found a tree in a local park that was laden with them. Eaten raw, they weren't quite as tasty as some plums I've had - I believe it does vary - but I was nonetheless entranced. We've planted cherry plums on the allotment - they're growing fast, but not fruiting yet - it's too soon. Still - when we do get them - there will be masses, so I've been looking forward to finding easy, quick and tasty recipes for cherry plums.

Jam is the obvious one - but we've got lots of that and wanted to try something savoury. Came across a great-sounding recipe for lamb stew with cherry plums which we're going to try.

Cherry plums have lots of other attractions too. They flower really early in the year, so the blossom is lovely. We've planted them as a hedge and a wind break. They're also used in Bach Flower remedies.

Grow Your Own Organically. Sunday's Harvest.

2009-08-16T17:41:00.008+02:00

I've spent a mere four hours at the allotment this week. I'm almost looking forward to the autumn as the weeds are still growing fast and I sometimes I feel I can't keep up. But the last half an hour of my visit made it all worth it. That's when I pick the harvest to take home - and I'm home early today, so I can prepare all this lovely fruit and veg and store some of it - cooked, prepared and ready for a hard working week.

So what have we got? From left to right. Blackberries. Collected in clean tin cans - I clean them in the dishwasher (I consider this an essential item if you're cooking a lot - just make sure it is 'A' rated for energy efficiency). When I get the blackberries home I put some aluminium foil on the top and put them straight in the freezer. The tin cans protect them whilst they're being transported. They never stay in the freezer for very long. A few weeks maybe at most.

Apples.

These are windfalls. I've got plenty of chutney left over from last year (and it's still good!) - so I don't think I'll need to make it this year again. Instead the apples will go into a series of apple and blackberry crumbles. I check them over, wash them and cut the bad bits out if there are any. I don't bother peeling them, as the skins are quite good and they are organic after all...Then they go into a pan for ten minutes with lemon juice and some sugar. I put the cooked apples into pyrex dishes, let them cool and then freeze them.

I've got crumble topping ready in the freezer too (make it in advance with butter, flour, oats and sugar - you can do dairy and gluten free by using soya marg and gluten free flour). Can't give you exact measurements I'm afraid as I rarely measure anything but if you 'Google' crumble topping you'll find a recipe. Alternatively, phone your mum/grandma/grandad!

So, that means when I need a crumble - I whip the apple base dish out of the freezer, check over some blackberries - put them on the top of the apples, pop the crumble mix on top and off you go. Today's haul will be good for about four of these crumbles I would imagine.

Potatoes

Believe it on not, these are the last of the Lady Cristl first earlies about four pounds of them. There are a few slug holes in them, but not many. Some of them are huge and we're using them for potato salad, and as diced potatoes to add to a lentil stew. (Which I prepared earlier today in my hay box (see previous post).

Lettuce

These are Little Gems, my favourite. For lunches during the week.

Basil

The basil is Greek Basil (the one with the smallish leaves) and I'll be eating it in a lovely feta cheese salad this evening.

Raspberries (not in the picture)

White and red. Not many as most are autumn fruiting. But enough for my toddler's supper this evening.

So, I'll be spending some time preparing veg. this evening, and some time cooking. We're in our fourth year of allotmenteering - our heavy clay soil is lightening up now- and the work investment is starting to pay off. We've been self-sufficient in garlic, onions, blackberries, blackcurrants, gooseberries, cooking apples, new potatoes and main crop potatoes, raspberries, herbs, lettuce and salad leaves for a whole year now. Nature's bounty.

National Allotments Week

2009-08-10T18:35:00.004+02:00

To kick off National Allotment's week here's a link to an article about the cost of food in Britain and what we can do about it, (sent to me by a good friend). Enjoy. Click here to read Martin Hickman's piece called: "We can still feed ourselves, but for how much longer?"

Remembering Hiroshima and the Peace Declaration, 2009

2009-08-06T17:13:00.007+02:00

I've broken my usual rule of posting here once a week at least. I've got some good reasons though. It's Hiroshima Day today - the day we remember the dropping of the atomic bomb and I've been documenting news on global nuclear disarmament on my news blog . Nuclear contamination affects our food sources directly. Here's a small part of the news coverage of the Hiroshima Peace Declaration and the Memorial Service which took place in Japan this morning.

Broccoli, Courgettes and blurry photographs

2009-07-27T09:11:00.012+02:00

There's something very real about this photo. It's far removed from the glossy shots you see in 'foodie' magazines. A little bit blurred even. It's a 'just-come-home-from-the-allotment-and-put-things-on-the-table-tired-now-but-happy' sort of a photograph. I like to help other growers along - so this is definitely a 'you-can-do-it-too' sort of picture.

And there's another thing I'm proud of. This digital snap does NOT illustrate a glut. We've grown just enough broccoli and courgettes (two or three plants) to have some for our evening meals, without getting fed up with them, and without wasting anything.

These were low maintenance plants. Once I'd raised the broccoli in biodegradable pots at home I just planted them out - threw them in with a net over the top, held down at the sides with bricks. I really didn't pay them much attention after that. I can't even remember weeding them. And people say brassicas are really difficult to grow...?

As for the courgettes - it was the same story with them too (didn't need the nets though). No doubt the rain helped. There I was at the beginning of June - worrying about how I was going to water the plot, and in the end - I hardly needed to.

Even if we don't eat these vegetables today (and I don't make it down to the allotment every day - I'm there once or twice a week at the moment) - these vegetables will still be much fresher than the ones we could have bought in the supermarket.

Here's another blurry photograph:

In this one, you can see roughly how big the head of broccoli is by comparing it to the size of my (largish) hand. That's another thing about organic growing. Some people will tell you organically grown fruit and veg always turns out to be smaller than 'conventionally' grown veg. Don't believe a word of it.

Is the food industry 'playing' with our lives? Food Inc.

2009-07-20T16:38:00.009+02:00

'Food Inc' (the documentary) is making waves in the U.S. Not least amongst the major 'players' of the food industry. This clip shows a mother who lost her son because he ate contaminated food. She's fighting for new food safety legislation. Lots more about Food Inc on YouTube. See also BBC's Radio 4's The Food Programme for a discussion: Food and Film.

Nasturtiums and Marigolds

2009-07-14T11:46:00.010+02:00

Nasturtiums and Marigolds. Both clumps of flowers self-seeded. Saves time and money.

I went to the trouble of raising about fifteen seedlings last year - but this year, I didn't need to. They look really attractive in the middle of the plot - and the bumble bees love them. I'm aiming to have something in flower every month of the year so these yellow and orange blooms do the 'July' shift...

Some people say these plants are invasive, but they're not difficult to keep in check - if you've got too many - just pull some up before they flower and add them to the compost heap.

I put the tree stumps in place to add some interest for my daughter, who's off to school in September - she likes using them as stepping stones.

Nasturtiums come in all sorts of vibrant colours. You can use both flowers and leaves in your salads. Follow this link for some great recipes: Salmon-cucumber stuffed nasturtium leaves, nasturtium-strawberry salad...see Old Fashioned Living.

You can eat Marigold petals too. Try: Stuffed Tomatoes with Marigold Blossoms (and basil). You need French Marigold petals for this dish. I'm not much good at latin names, but I also like the appearance of Calendula Officinalis, which has a larger flower than the French Marigolds in the picture. I grew Calendula Officinalis last year too. All seeds from The Organic Gardening Catalogue.

How to grow peaches

2009-07-08T16:29:00.013+02:00

It's been quite a journey. It began with an 'Avalon Pride' peach-leaf curl resistant peach tree, planted in 2006. The peach tree cost about £26.00

I don't know anyone else who has grown a peach tree successfully AND organically outside in the North West of England. In the first year (2007), I spent a good while fretting about frost protection. The peach tree lost it's blooms and succumbed to peach leaf curl, even though it was supposed to be peach leaf curl resistant.

By the second year, I left the tree to it's own devices. The blooms stayed on. I planted garlic round the base (which is supposed to deter fungal diseases) and hoped for the best.

To my delight lots of fruitlets appeared. I made the mistake of thinning them. (We had about twenty originally and I took about a dozen off). Don't follow the advice you get from gardening books too slavishly!

We were left with FIVE fruits, and here is a picture of one of them. They're about half the size of the ones you see in the shops, so here's hoping that in a week or two, with some sun - they might even be ready to eat. Anyone else with a peach tree out there? Let me know via the comments box...

Blackcurrant Harvest

2009-06-30T17:45:00.004+02:00

I could have left them a little longer...(there's a few in the picture here that might have benefited from a few more days in the sun) - but there seemed to be lots of ripe berries on our three blackcurrant bushes - and you sometimes have to do things when you can - so I went for it.

The variety shown here is called 'Ben Connan' and these are from a Welsh Fruit Farm organic stock. They were planted in October 2007 (nearly two years ago) so this is our first crop - they cost £5.50 each and will hopefully crop well for about ten years. That's an investment then.

As for preparation and cooking...if you cut them off the branches in bunches, you can sit down in and watch a film and use a fork to take the fruit off.

We must have bagged about twenty small punnets full in total. If you bought twenty punnets of organic blackcurrants it would cost you how much?...£40 perhaps?

So, here's an overview of this week's harvest: Onions to store, onions to eat - a huge bowl of blackcurrants, new potatoes (variety - Lady Christl - only picked a few of them) shallots, fresh sage and a few lovely sugar snap peas gifted by a fellow plot-holder.

First ever open day on our allotment site

2009-06-22T17:05:00.015+02:00

I'd been so busy with work, family and getting the plot ready for our first Allotment Open Day, I didn't even notice our allotment committee had put an advert in the paper about it.

I was late turning up on Saturday - rushed out to the plot, anticipating rain but instead met with a constant stream of well-wishing visitors - all interested in what we were growing, how we were growing it, and why - visiting dignitaries included a trained herbalist and a local government representative. (I'd been talking to the poor chap about rabbit manure and related topics for about twenty minutes before I realised who he was...)

All afternoon I waxed (happily) lyrical about the challenges of converting a derelict plot (ORGANICALLY of course) - the advantages of mulching, the dangers of frost, foxes, mice, pigeons, slugs and what to do about them. It was great to stop for a coffee and chat for a little while, instead of labouring...

Even if I do say so myself - everything looked pretty good on the plot. There were even a few concrete illustrations of our allotment plotting skills. I was just about to showcase the mini-pond when a shining new froglet had the foresight to climb out of the washing up bowl onto a stone - as if to demonstrate the point!

I made a pretty good pitch for Garden Organic too - handing out some leaflets, listing the many benefits of being a member and sharing fond memories of the chocolate bread and butter pudding I consumed at their first class restaurant at Ryton where I did my training to become a mentor for the Garden Organic Food for All programme (the training took place at the training centre, I mean - not in the restaurant....)

During the course of the day I realised how proud we should be - after all we're one of the largest sites in Britain. About half the visitors were allotment holders from other sites comparing notes - or people who wanted a plot.

Whilst mulling over the best time to prune cherry plums we talked hard politics too...everyone noticed we've still got lots of derelict plots on site, and no-one (including me) can come up with a good enough excuse as to why the council hasn't done anything about this situation.

The derelict plot next door (the one I photographed for this blog back in March) STILL doesn't have an owner - and there are more of these - around twenty I would guess. It's crazy - I don't understand it - we have a huge waiting list. And judging by all the visitors to our site there are loads of people who are desperate for a plot, bless them.

Still, there's talk of progress in other directions. A composting toilet! That would be an improvement - as we have around 200 plots and no 'facilities'. I tried to explain how difficult this is for all kinds of visitors (families with toddlers, those with disabilities in the family to name just a few). Yup. Composting toilet(s)? are the way to go!

The day was rounded off by a lovely barbecue - so thanks to the committee. Met a lovely lady from a local housing trust who talked a lot of sense and has a wonderful vision of where we might go from here...

Looking back - it is less than ten years since our site was under threat from being sold off and turned into a tennis court. This was documented in local newspapers.

I had the good fortune to meet one of the people who played a substantial part in saving our skins. Our friend told me how 'the powers-that-be' had tried to keep the sell off plan hush, hush. But this 'local hero' saved the day. He used his rights under the Freedom of Information Act to secure documentation of a secret council meeting. When the news came out - and with the spade-work-support of plot holders and nearby residents - the political 'tide' was turned.

So thanks to 'Mr. Hero' and all the other people who took part in the struggle. Without you - we wouldn't have fresh new potatoes for tea today...and I for one don't know what I'd do without the plot...

For those who'd like to know more about the current status of allotment waiting lists in England - check out the survey 'Allotment Waiting lists in England' on the NSLAG (National Society of Leisure and Allotment Gardeners) website, written by Margaret Campbell and Ian Campbell and supported by Transition Town West Kirby in conjunction with the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners.

Garlic Harvest

2009-06-15T17:37:00.007+02:00

Do you sometimes have moments when you wonder why on earth you're doing what you're doing?

I've had plenty of those times in the last three years - converting our allotment from derelict. I must have removed at least a hundred bags of broken glass, old pots and other rubbish from the site. Not much fun.

But this weekend has been one of those times when, although it's still hard work, activities on the plot seem to be getting easier and more pleasurable. I've taken up all the garlic and brought it home in my Pashley tricycle. It's a whole year since I bought the tricycle and there's very little maintenance. I asked the bicycle shop to put that green gunge in the tyres and I haven't had a puncture once. That's pretty good going on our allotment site. And as you can see, it is perfect for transporting vegetables.

The bulbs are a really good size and (I think) they smell really good - in fact our whole house smells of fresh garlic. Not a stale and unpleasant smell, but vibrant. That's enough garlic to last us for the whole year and we've given some to neighbours too. Once the bulbs have dried, I sort them through, store the good ones in baskets and use the others as soon as I can.

I like the sound of this garlic soup - especially since we also grow fresh sage on the allotment - but the possibilities are endless really.

Garlic is particularly useful when someone in the family has a cough or cold. I make a simple, instant soup sometimes too - using Marigold organic stock, which comes in a vegan and low-salt version. I just chop one fresh clove of garlic - then put a teaspoon of Marigold into a cup and drop the garlic into it. With a piece of bread it's a great pick-me-up. Then there's garlic bread for barbecues...

This weekend was a big weekend on the plot work-wise. It's Open Day next Saturday and I've agreed to show people round our plot so I'll need to cut the grass too and planted out some clumps of Marigolds which had self-seeded to smarten up the bush tomato beds.

Emptied the old compost heaps and created new ones - our pro-wildlife policy is really kicking in now - lots of different ground beetles which had been breeding in piles of logs I had left around - and in the wood mulch I used for some of the paths (there are a huge number of different ground beetles and many eat slugs, I believe). I've stopped using organic slug pellets altogether now - which is good news on cost grounds too as they're fairly expensive and there are large areas to cover. Our plot has settled down - and with all these wildlife friends we don't seem to need them so much now.

Everywhere you look there are now hundreds of worms - I'm pleased to say the character of our soil has completely changed due to these guys. When I first started tilling the plot, the soil came in huge lumps and it was really difficult if not impossible to get a fine tilth. We've added a huge amount of organic matter now and the soil is much easier to work. I listened to my alter ego 'Gardener's Question Time' yesterday on the radio and Anne Swithenbank seemed to confirm the view that on a heavy clay soil, if you've added lots of organic matter, the soil improves by Year Four.

I emptied out one compost barrel which contained well-rotted rabbit manure. I put half of this on the asparagus bed and used half to create a new strawberry bed using six plants that someone had given us. The well rotted manure was teaming with worms too - I covered it with some porous fabric and cut holes to plant the strawberries through.

Carried on harvesting the new potatoes (Lady Christl) - and planted leeks in those beds. Planted out a couple of Lovage plants (which are good to use for chicken soup, I understand). The Globe Artichoke plants I'd raised at home were ready to go out too.

On the wildlife front, the mini-pond is fine and the big news - next-door-but-one a fellow plot holder has set up his very own honey-bee hive. I went over to say 'hello' to our stripey, furry friends on their very first day. It's all very exciting. I'll post some pictures as soon as I can.

New potatoes with butter - home grown gooseberries for dessert

2009-06-09T15:20:00.006+02:00

I'm finally beginning to understand why farmers always seem to be talking about the weather.

If we're going to get serious about producing enough fruit and vegetables to sustain a small household - weather, sunshine, daylight hours, watering and timing are important factors.

Most gardeners I know have already planted out their courgettes, squash, tomatoes, aubergines, cucumbers and melons. These are all heat-loving plants. And here in the North West of England we've hit a chilly patch - with lots and lots of rain. When this happens growth seems to slow down or stop...and you start wondering if it will ever start again...

Lettuces and salad plants are alright for a few days in these cooler temperatures as they don't like things too hot. Of course if it rains a lot you don't need to water so often. Wielding a watering can is quite a chore when you have a largish space. I'll have to find a more workable solution for this one. Mulching helps enormously - and I've ordered a long hosepipe today(50 metres).

We started to harvest the new potatoes last week. This variety is a first early potato called 'Lady Christl' and they're really delicious. It is such a simple meal too. Last night we had new potatoes with butter and one organic beefburger each (they were on special offer). A small bag of organically grown new potatoes costs around £2.50.

Our home grown harvest will probably give us about fifty meals for two adults and a toddler. So if we'd bought potatoes at the shops this would have set us back £125. Here is what my order from the Organic Gardening Catalogue looked like:

1 x seed potatoes LADY CHRISTL 3 kg (cost: £6.25)
2 x potato GOLDEN WONDER
1.5kg1 x CARROT Chanteney
1 x PARSNIP Cobham Improved Marrow
1 x LETTUCE Little Gem
1 x CUCUMBER Long White Paris
1 x LEEK Monstruso de Carentan
1 x MELON Sweetheart F11 x Rocket Wild

Total: £25.22 with a ten per cent 'Garden Organic' membership discount delivered to my door:

http://www.organicgardeningcatalogue.co.uk/ (postage free for orders over £25)

Home-grown gooseberries for dessert. It was the first time we'd been able to harvest gooseberries from the allotment. The variety we chose was 'Greenfinch' and they were grown in the partial shade of our large Newton Wonder apple tree. I didn't think they would do so well in partial shade, but they are fine now.

I could have staked the bushes, but I just didn't get around to it in time, so when the rains came I decided to harvest all the fruit, small and large - so the slugs wouldn't get them. I gathered a decent bowlful. If we'd bought the equivalent amount of organic gooseberries (which are difficult to get hold of round here anyway) - this would have probably cost us around £20.00. So that's more or less how much I paid for the two bushes. It's taken two years to get fruit from these. They weren't difficult to maintain - and if anything I neglected them as there was so much else going on around the plot.

So the past three years of sometimes heavy (unpleasant) and often dirty work converting our derelict allotment is finally starting to pay off. But there are some things you just can't buy with money: my daughter's squeals of delight as she unearths her little potatoes and places them carefully in a pot - watching her 'wolf' them down at tea time - no questions asked - her face buttered and smiling...

U.N. World Environment Day (this Friday)

2009-06-02T11:34:00.010+02:00

Organic gardeners have a carbon footprint a third smaller than regular gardeners. That's one reason why Garden Organic is urging more of us to go organic in the garden. And if you follow the link on their site which tells you about UN World Environment Day (this Friday) you'll find more tips.

We've done lots of these things already on our plot - including creating a mini pond. And here's the best news - three froglets emerged from our washing up bowl pond yesterday!

This picture qualifies as the WORST photograph on the planet - I've got the best excuse though. My daughter was so excited about the frogs she was jumping up and down on my back at the time. Sigh. Maybe I'll get another chance to do a better one. That's 'reality' blogging for you...

To see the posts with pictures and descriptions of how we constructed the pond - scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the 'mini-pond' section of the archive...

Our tiny, tiny froglet has just emerged from the water and is resting on a stone. Note the subtle ambience created by the curve of our recycled washing up bowl in the background...

Avalon Pride Peach Tree

2009-05-27T21:31:00.004+02:00

May. It's that time of year when you feel as if you've put a lot of effort into your kitchen garden - and it's not paying off yet - as there isn't an awful lot to harvest. It's too early.

But look at these. They are very small peach fruitlets left over from thinning our Avalon Pride peach tree.

It's been quite a journey for us all. The tree went in two seasons ago (in autumn 2007). The first year it was hit badly by frost, and despite being sold as 'peach leaf curl resistant' it got peach leaf curl too.

I sprayed with Bordeaux mixture the first year, didn't want to do it again if it could be avoided, as this is no longer recommended for organic fruit growing. So I decided to start growing garlic around it. I'd heard garlic is a natural antiseptic and that it would keep fungal diseases like peach leaf curl away. So far we're in luck.

Peach trees are said to flower very early in the year, and that presented us with another challenge. It gets quite windy down on our allotment plot, and it's almost impossible to keep decent frost protection in place on a small tree. Also, as regular readers will know, our plot is some distance away from the house and I can't go down there every day, so even if I did use frost protection, I couldn't take it off regularly to allow pollinating insects to get at the flowers. I have heard that some people use paintbrushes to pollinate peaches. But if you ask me, life really IS too short...

So this spring, we decided to let our peach tree fend for itself. It survived the frost. I don't exactly know whether this was due to the weather alone, or the fact that the tree is now older and taller - (and therefore less susceptible to frost). We now have some frost protection in the shape of a Cherry Plum hedge, (cherry plums were once used as a wind break for orchards) so that might have been a factor.

As far as pollination goes, this is supposed to be tricky too. The reason is the same - the early flowering - there aren't so many pollinating insects about. But this year on our allotment our rosemary bush flowered really early too - and I noticed a lot of bee activity early on.

So, as you can see - we ended up with quite a number of fruitlets - some of which I have removed to enable the other peaches to grow strongly and well. There were about twenty five fruitlets on the tree, and I've removed about ten. I hope this was the right thing to do, so far I've not found anybody who is growing an Avalon Pride Peach Tree in the U.K. I'd be glad to hear from readers if they know someone I can swap notes with...

So - looks like all we need now is a hot summer....and for the vandals to stay away.

What to have for tea (not)

2009-05-20T20:26:00.006+02:00

We interrupt this blog to bring you an important Public Service announcement...

Greenpeace say:

Rice is daily food for half of the world's population. Genetically modified (GM) rice, on the other hand, is a threat to our agriculture, our biodiversity and a possible risk to our health.
At present, GM rice is not grown commercially anywhere in the world. But Bayer, the German chemical giant, has genetically manipulated rice to withstand higher doses of a toxic pesticide called glufosinate, which is considered to be so dangerous to humans and the environment that it will soon be banned from Europe.

In just a few weeks, the European Union will decide whether or not this GM rice can enter EU countries, appear on supermarket shelves and end up on our dinner plates. If the EU approves the import of Bayer GM rice, farmers in the US and elsewhere may soon start planting it.

If you feel able to sign the Greenpeace petition, go to this page.

A working mum's allotment

2009-05-20T17:02:00.014+02:00

Our allotment is pretty but functional. (Although at times like bank holidays we're really glad to be there, instead of sitting in a traffic jam, for example). The bottom line is: we need to produce organic fruit and vegetables that we actually EAT.

We're into our third year now. It's taken a while to get the plot up and running. It was derelict when we took it on. The first picture in this series was taken today. The second shows the plot back in early Spring before the leaves appeared.

Time to take stock of what we've produced so far. Which techniques have saved time and money. What went well. And where we need to improve.

So let's call our reality check 'JOYS AND CONCERNS'. Starting with some JOYS:

1. I haven't bought a single lettuce so far this year, and have been eating them since early March. I've got into the habit of succession sowing and know more about the different types that will see us through the cold seasons as well as the summer. Perhaps we are never going to have to buy any ever again!

I eat quite a bit of salad, and today's supermarket visit revealed that organically grown salad leaves are at least £1.50 per bag. So that probably saves us about £6 a week on lettuce alone.

2. The Giant Winter Spinach was great, it's just finished so will sow more of that again later this year.

3. The mini pond and the tadpoles are coming along - so I'm not planning to buy organic slug pellets this year, I'm hoping they'll do the job for me.

4. The comfrey patches are thriving. I make three cuts a year, and use it to make compost and to fertilise. I'm hoping that with this and home made compost we won't need to buy anything in any more to add to the compost or enrich the soil. That saves money and effort on transport.

. 6. We've made an effort over the past year to focus on bee friendly plants. These poached egg plants are just the ticket (Limanthes Douglasii). They look really pretty and self-seed - so I won't need to sow them again next year. The Rosemary was useful for bees early in the season and even our sage is flowering (I've just heard you can eat the flowers in a salad, so I'll try that.)

. 7. The asparagus looks fine. We won't be able to start harvesting it until next year, but at that time it will fill the hungry gap in May - when there aren't many vegetables available.

.8. We aim to mulch on a regular basis and try to do so when the soil is warm and it has been raining. (Last weekend it rained a lot, so I was out mulching). There are at least two reasons why this seems to save us time, labour and effort in the long run. Firstly we don't have to water so much. And secondly mulch acts as a weed suppressant so we don't have to weed so much either.

Both of these things are important to us as we don't have much time, and our allotment is quite a journey, so we can't just pop down every evening to check on things.
In this picture you should be able to see three kinds of mulches. We use cocoa shells and/or Strulch (mineralised straw) for crops and wood chip (with cardboard underneath) for the paths. Both of these materials are fairly pricey but Strulch goes a long way. The wood chip is sometimes available free on site. This picture, along with the next one, takes us to some of our:

CONCERNS:

1. Any sort of frost protection tends to blow off. Not being able to go down to the plot as often as we'd like we sometimes get hit by frost damage. These early potatoes will recover, but they're not a pretty sight right now:

2. Still on the subject of potatoes, I'm really not sure whether main crop potatoes are worth the trouble. You need to be so careful to get all of them out of the ground properly and it is so much work to carry them home.

3. I'm still not fond of broad beans! They just don't seem to work for us. Slugs, mice...

What to do in your garden in May

2009-05-18T18:37:00.003+02:00

There's lots to do, and not much time to post (due to the fact that I've been away out on the plot actually DOING IT - instead of writing about it!

Still - I'm enclosing this link from Garden Organic which features a month by month break down on what we should all be doing (if we weren't hampered by weather that's colder than we feel it should be) - difficulties in rousing ourselves in the rain...and so on...

I find this page on the Garden Organic site is a great one to come back to, as it reminds me of planting windows, things I might have missed...

http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/todo_now/index.php

Apparently the weather is set to improve for Wednesday and I'm really glad, as I've got a traffic jam in the greenhouse in the courtyard due to the weather - can't move anything out until it warms up and don't want to do the next batch of planting until warmth will ensure my seeds germinate. Still - I'll be in touch with an update in the next few days...

Greenpeace Digs In

2009-05-13T15:35:00.005+02:00

Sometimes we lose our way in life. Since I left Greenpeace Germany back in 1993 I've really missed working with the team of committed individuals I knew then.

Someone asked me quite sternly today why I had never mentioned my Greenpeace past. My friend's argument was - the things I learned and experienced in Greenpeace teams, are highly relevant to all sorts of campaigns and debates taking place now. Thanks for the prompt, M. I've turned over a new leaf - I'll be talking (and writing) about it again.

Fifteen years on, and Greenpeace is still connecting things up in my life. Climate Change. Allotments. Just look at this video. Makes me come over all emotional. 42,000 people supporting - but we need 100, 000. So follow the Airplot example, fellow fruit and veg growers.

We're GOING to win - we're GOING to win - we're GOING to win...

Organic heritage lettuce outperforms commercial counterparts

2009-05-06T14:27:00.004+02:00

I love the organisation Garden Organic - I really do. (And I'm not getting paid to write this, either). People at G.O. have been such a support and inspiration for me, since I joined, and got into veg growing, just four years ago. I suppose I'm still a beginner, compared to many. At any rate I'm still learning lots. About life. Still making mistakes. Oh, and I'm learning about lettuce too.

Apart from a brief fling with 'Winter Density' - as far as lettuces are concerned so far I've stuck solidly to my Little Gems. They're the right size for a quick lunch.

But there are lots of other varieties out there to try. Charlotte at Garden Organic sent me these lovely photos. This one is called the 'George Richardson' lettuce - in honour of it's owner, who donated the seed to Garden Organic's Heritage Seed library after his death in 1997. Mr. Richardson had been growing the variety and saving its seed for over 60 years.

Garden Organic gives us a bit of background on this one, too. They say that:

'A collection of heritage lettuce varieties has outperformed their commercial counterparts in new findings by the UK’s leading organic growing charity.In research trials carried out by Garden Organic, funded by the EU, the charity found that twelve heirloom accessions from its Heritage Seed Library collection performed better than the next best commercial standard by showing greater ability at withstanding poor weather conditions and downy mildew, as well as the scrutiny of taste tests.

Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library, which has been protecting endangered vegetables under threat from extinction since the 1970s has a collection of over 800 vegetable varieties of which seed can no longer be bought. In this latest research, part of a EC-funded project aiming to stimulate the use of the genetic resources of European leafy vegetables, the organisation took lettuces from its own collection and trialled them against several commercially available ‘standard’ varieties to see which would show most promise against a range of criteria.

Despite the commercial lettuces being bred to withstand certain types of disease and weather conditions, a recurring top contender proved to be an heirloom Cos lettuce variety known as ‘George Richardson’. The lettuce, which was named after its owner, was donated to Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library after his death in 1997. Richardson had been growing the variety and saving its seed for over 60 years.

During the trials, in which infection levels of downy mildew (the most damaging disease to lettuce) were recorded, George Richardson was given a rating of 7.5 on a 1-9 scale, where 1 =100% infection and 9 = 0% infection. Only one other commercial variety narrowly beat this – the variety Kitare - with a score of 8. George Richardson also performed outstandingly on the taste panel, coming out well on top, with an average pleasantness score of 4.6 on a 1-5 scale, Kitare, incidentally scored only 2.

Convincingly, George Richardson also withstood frosts well, showing almost no damage to its leaves after a minus –5C frost.And it wasn’t just George Richardson, other lettuce varieties from the charity’s collection also did well including Bunyard’s Matchless, Bronze Arrow and Rouge D’Hiver.

Phil Sumption, Research Officer at Garden Organic, said,

“The research results were surprising and clearly showed the potential of heritage or landrace varieties. With climate change we need varieties that are robust and those from our Heritage Seed Library performed well under severe weather and disease pressure. Garden Organic is confident that there is potential for re-introducing some of the varieties or using them in breeding programmes in the future.”Ironically, last year’s particularly poor, wet weather, in which the charity’s Heritage Seed Library lettuces performed so well, almost led Garden Organic’s researchers to abandon the trials. However persistence paid off and the charity will now build upon the findings from this research by getting growers to trial the promising varieties by growing them on commercial holdings.

For more information on Garden Organic’s research please visit this link.

Child Development and Gardening

2009-04-28T11:56:00.005+02:00

This is the first photograph readers have seen of my beautiful daughter, aged three and a half. After a long discussion with fellow Green Parent readers I've been inspired to come out and share something of my parenting philosophy with the world. Forgive me for being a bit slow on the uptake here, folks, but I've suddenly realised that being VISIBLE as a green parent, may help others who are trying to do things differently too.

As far as child development is concerned, we know that pretty much all the important stuff happens between birth and the age of three. You don't need expensive complicated toys to keep little ones amused.

In this photo my daughter is playing with a coir compost brick which I put into a bucket of water. She was fascinated by the process of watching the brick expand into compost and this provided no less than THREE HOURS of entertainment on one particularly wet day, when we were both confined indoors. But then daughter has been filling pots with compost and putting seeds in them since the age of one and a half.

If you analyse all this in terms of motor skills and sensory development - there's probably the meat and two veg there for quite a few 'Early Learning' educational assignments...

Readers will know that we don't have a garden. I'm sure lots of other families are in this situation. We're lucky enough to have an allotment - and I know these are difficult to come by right now. As you may remember, I started converting our plot from derelict soon after having my daughter. It was really hard work and I believe EVERYONE, including families with small children ought to be given a lot more support when they take on a plot, in terms of access to information, networks, tools, childcare even. I've seen many people give up because they find it too difficult.

As parents we're constantly told to keep our children away from junk food, get them to exercise more and give them creative possiblities. Providing growing spaces is a way of doing all these things. My daughter's attitude to food has been shaped by a very practical relationship to the origins of food - and the progress of our veg patch. We've already spent so many happy days together on our plot - putting down roots with other plot holders (small and large) in our community.

I was outraged yesterday when a taxi driver told me he had tried to get an allotment and his local council had sold off the site. The council hadn't maintained the plots - and had allowed them to become so derelict that they had become really difficult to cultivate. Of course no-one wanted to take them up then, and the council had the perfect excuse to sell off the land. This shouldn't be allowed to happen.

I'm adding my voice to the many others calling for a huge increase in the land that is available for people to grow fruit and vegetables. We're all in for a tough time in the recession and I honestly believe a growing space can make a big difference to communities. It's good for people's mental health and helps them link up with each other. Governments and councils can achieve this food vision if they want to. Like everything else it is a matter of political will. We need more growing spaces, simple as that. Check out the Landshare scheme. It's a 'place linking people who want to grow their own fruit & veg to space where they can grow it'. Let me know how you're getting on with it via the comments box.

Okay, I'm getting off my soap box now to get on with watering my seedlings...

Olive oil and apricots. Where do yours come from?

2009-04-16T14:51:00.013+02:00

I love fresh tomatoes and lettuce with olive oil in the salad dressing. My daughter enjoys dried apricots as a snack. If you buy these, watch this video and you'll be prompted to go through your kitchen cupboards and check packets and bottles to make sure the transport and production of them are not harming hard working fruit and veg growers like ourselves.

Added later:
I know readers are interested in this (see the comments below) - so am posting this extract from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign about labelling. Copy follows:

Decisions are being taken in April on the labelling of goods in supermarkets from illegal Israeli settlements - write to Hilary Benn TODAY

Lawyers from the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs the Food Standards Agency (Minister- Hilary Benn) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Minister- David Miliband) are right now drafting new guidelines on how goods from illegal Israeli settlements in the Palestinian Occupied Territories are labelled and sold in the UK. These guidelines are crucial in that they determine how supermarkets label produce form the illegal West Bank settlements.

Feedback from the supermarkets makes it clear that consumer action is having a significant effect on their attitude towards settlement goods. It is therefore urgent that we keep up the pressure on the government during the next 2 weeks. In particular we must pressure the Government to obtain, and publish, an expert legal opinion on whether or not trading with the settlements is itself legal.

Please write immediately to Hilary Benn (Hilary.Benn @defra.gsi.gov.uk), copying your letter to your MP, demanding that the labelling of settlement produce clearly indicates its illegal origins. There is a model letter available which includes the postal address. See Palestine Solidarity Campaign

What to plant now

2009-04-12T14:38:00.008+02:00

I'm determined not to miss any planting windows this year. So here is a run down of this week's plantings with photos. I've set up a growing system for myself, which I tweak occasionally. Work routines seem to help. So here's what our small courtyard looks like at the moment. Three mini-greenhouses plus a few tables and chairs to raise the pots up a little. We're into our second big phase of planting:

From left to right:

Little gem lettuces in a plug planter, started a month ago. Some of these I'll take to plant out today on the allotment and I'll put a few in the courtyard for the odd sandwich, and in case I can't make it down to the lottie during the week.

Wild Rocket ready to plant out - this is a perennial plant so I'm hoping it will save me some work as I won't have to plant it out again every year.
Large coir pots with Courgettes (3) to be planted out when they are large enough.
Sweetcorn
Balconi tomatoes - yellow and red
Small pumpkins
Lunch box cucumbers (long white paris)
Globe Artichokes
Two large pots of leeks to plant out in June.
Melon
Basil
Pot of strawberries recovering from their journey through the post.
Sugar snap peas
Two tomatoes a bit further on
Two pots of flowers
Pot of calendula
Tray of green and gold Orach

In this picture there's calabrese (started off a month ago). Coriander and lettuce seedlings (Lollo Rosso) to be planted out when they are big enough.
Oh, and broad beans in root trainers. They'll go out on the lottie in about ten days, I would think.

Close up of the lettuce seedlings. Best get on down to the lottie. Good weather waits for no man. (Or woman).

Tadpoles!

2009-04-07T17:17:00.003+02:00

Looks like some of our tadpoles have made it. The water in our mini-pond looks quite clear. Needs a bit of topping up with rain water when it gets hot. So far so good. For those who've just tuned in to this blog, here are the posts which describe how we constructed it (and where we got the idea from).

2009-04-01T16:30:00.001+02:00

You remember the very first post on this blog? 'Making life more beautiful'. It showed something I look at every day - my window box - in summer.

Well, I'm quite proud of the early spring version too. My Christmas Roses have finally started to come into flower. I'm hoping this is going to be an easy windowbox that saves me time, too as these plants could happily stay in there all year round and still look presentable. Giving me more time to keep up food production on the allotment.

I've found a good link with tips on how to care for and propagate Christmas Roses. Do comment and tell me how yours are getting on...

New dedicated international organic page at Helium

2009-04-01T11:45:00.005+02:00

Big News. Karyn Sparks has just finished building a Certified Organics Zone at Helium and has placed my article "Assessing the success of the organic food movement" on there.

Helium is a web-based writing community which is attracting a huge global audience right now. Hope readers like it and thanks Karyn. It is really good to know that we're a global movement!

Living Simply

2009-03-24T11:42:00.005+01:00

I've stopped thinking of myself as a virtuous person. I don't think I am. Every human being on this planet makes mistakes, becomes impatient, angry, emotional. I'm no saint - I'm a questioner.

I took my saint-less self along to the Quaker-led conference in Llandudno on the North Wales coast at the weekend with my family, (child and atheist other half). I'm going to write a few words about this, as I know that some Quakers are following this blog.

The weekend was called 'Living Simply'. It was a chance for people from Wirral, Chester and North Wales to explore what this might mean for them - in the context of peak oil/climate change and the rest of it. 'Living Simply' I felt, is just now, and has been for many years in fact, something that I do. For many years, a long time before I started talking directly to Quakers.

I discovered I don't want to imbue this thing (Living Simply) with all sorts of ideological meanings that I don't feel it should have. I feel it really puts people off. And I don't want to put people off, it's really important to save resources, cut your emissions and grow your own food.

I'm not vegetarian. We don't eat much meat. We don't have a car, we don't have a television (this astounds people - but please be assured - there is no shortage of information in our house!).

So, there were lots of joys at the weekend. Thank you everyone for organising it. I went to two work groups. One was called 'Combatting the Media'. The other I initiated - I called this 'Building Training for Organic Fruit and Vegetable Production'. The groups lasted 45 minutes each.

The 'Combatting the Media' group was particularly interesting for me. We talked about the 'red tops' - what sort of news hits the headlines and why. I tried to explain the sorts of challenges journalists are facing right now. Not a lot different I felt, from people in other industries hit by the recession with job cuts. Journos have a special place perhaps because (like teachers) people expect certain things of them. But like everyone else, they're fallible.

I talked a little bit, (in an individual capacity) about the NUJ campaign 'Journalism Matters'. That's a national campaign to protect quality journalism and it's vital role in our democracy. I painted a picture of what I thought would be a typical scenario:

Budget cuts in the newsroom - reporters wanting to cover particularly issues, but not getting the travel expenses or resources that they might need to do the best job they can. Not being able to travel to where the news is - to witness it yourself, but having to make do with telephone research. Needing to work faster and faster. Producing copy for print publications and with the Internet, producing web copy that's updated very fast, maybe more than once an hour. Having to multi-task. Not just writing, but photos too - using a video recorder...

I mentioned to the assembled company that the NUJ had an ethical code of conduct. Someone laughed. The expression on my face didn't change - I just took it as an indication of the ways in which quality journalism has been eroded. Maybe this started with Blair and his spin doctoring. Can we find our way back to something that consistently educates, informs and entertains without appealing to humanity's baser instincts? Our group scratched the surface of a discussion on the power of blogging, what blogs are, and what they can (and can't do).

Several insights came out of the organic food production group. We talked about Tim Lang, Garden Organic and the fact that only 5% of fruit is produced in the U.K. We collected and exchanged information about available training - in colleges of further education, at Garden Organic. There were some very experienced gardeners in the group and some newbies - so I hope during the course of the weekend that helped them get in touch with each other.

We talked raised beds and the pros and cons of them. Someone reminded me that railway sleepers are generally coated with preservative. One person did a presentation of the 'bag garden idea' which she said had come from South Africa, where land was in short supply. Put soil in a bag, (plastic or otherwise) and grow vegetables in it.

Allotments and the Allotment Act came up too. Shortages of them. We mentioned the allotments petition on the Wirral and someone said although the Allotment Act states that local authorities have to provide allotments if six people want them, there is no time scale attached to this, and so it is a blunt tool.

How to get round this, when people want land to grow vegetables on? If people have large gardens and they can't tend them, then you might be able to share with a neighbour. Check out the Landshare project.

As for the children - they got on with their bit. Building sandcastles on the beach.

Spring fruit, vegetable, plant and flower inventory

2009-03-19T09:36:00.009+01:00

Victoria Rhubarb. Two crowns planted last year. Peeping through their mulch.

Asparagus bed. Twelve Crowns. Planted as mini-plants in spring 2007. Can't remember which variety I planted, so I'll have to look it up, but that's another useful post perhaps...I've used modular raised beds fitted together to make a large unit and various kinds of mulches. Cocoa shells. Rabbit manure last year. Seems to be doing well. It's always slow to show itself in spring. Some say the mulch means the soil is slower to warm. A small trench at one edge and reclaimed fabric I found when I renovated the plot keeps the couch grass from the old path at bay.

Our favourite Autumn Gold raspberries ready to do their stuff. I'm going to wait for a good spot of rain and then mulch them again to keep the moisture in the soil.

Our lovely peach tree (Avalon Pride) made it through the frosts with buds (so far) intact. Compost heaps for perennial weeds directly behind it and on our half plot behind that we have onions, garlic (planted in autumn last year). Shallots planted a few weeks ago. First early Lady Christl potatoes went in last week. One bed on the half plot and two on the main plot. I haven't bothered watering these yet, that's my low maintenance approach, so hoping for some rain soon. Some broad beans under a cloche. Two comfrey beds in all. One on the half plot and one by the shed.

The large square structures on the right don't belong to us. Once the cherry plum bushes which frame the half plot come into leaf, I'm hoping you won't see them so much. I'll have to prune these cherry plums during the summer (they say if you do them in the winter there's a risk of silverleaf which is a fungal disease). There's a wild heap of rough twigs at either end of the full plot, good for ladybirds to overwinter and the occasional fox. I'm not going to remove this pile now until next autumn as spring is a busy time on the plot.

The smallish bed in front of the posh wooden compost heap is destined for Globe Artichokes, which are growing nicely in our mini-greenhouses at home. Blackcurrant bushes on the left, (you can't really see them yet as they've not come into leaf.

So that leaves the black plastic beds in the foreground, six of them if I remember rightly. I've just planted out some Chanteney carrots in the bed in the foreground. The blue pellets are organic slug pellets which I occasionally use for special things. Hoping I won't need these though, once the frogs are up and running! I'm chancing it a bit planting these out now, but there's a bit of a traffic jam at home with all the plug plants I'm raising, and since we've got serious kitchen gardening ambitions this year, there's no room for slackers!

Four more compost heaps. That's six heaps in total plus two huge 'wild' ones. An indication of the huge amounts of green waste we've composted so far on our plot. In three years we haven't burnt anything. We're not allowed to as far as I know.

This is the view I have when I sit on my deck chair in front of my shed. The plants on the left are lavender, majoram and sage. Majoram for pizza toppings. Sage for that wonderful sage and onion stuffing. And lavender for the bees. I'm so looking forward to seeing them again...

Calm before the Storm

2009-03-19T09:23:00.002+01:00

One of those lovely moments where I visited the plot and just stood and stared. Three years of hard work. Peace.

We're nearly ready for Spring, and everything is just about to burst forth. Time for a photo reality check (in the next posts). Need to make sure all is present and correct.

Building a Mini-Pond Part III

2009-03-18T12:20:00.003+01:00

Pond plus frogspawn safely installed. Will post soon about ongoing fruit and vegetable activities!

Building a Mini-Pond Part II

2009-03-13T13:45:00.009+01:00

First construction phase of mini-pond Mark 2. Two washing up bowls side by side. Some nettles (for the sake of wildlife) and a little chickweed visible.

The bowls contain a little washed gravel. We chose a light colour for the bowls so that we could see the frogspawn better.

Used some woodchip to surround the bowls, with some stones round. The two flat stones at the front form a small seat for my daughter to sit on whilst she watches the pond life.
There are flowers planted round the outside and on the outer edge of the wildlife corner the heap is framed by a some beautiful, fairly low informal copper beech bushes.

As you can see, there is no 'fence' at the front of this arrangement. I wonder if the Parks and Gardens department are going to insist that we have one. With two washing up bowl size mini-ponds? It would seem ridiculous to me. We're meeting them at 2.p.m. I'll keep you posted.

Video Guides to Composting

2009-03-10T14:26:00.007+01:00

Stop press. Just had a message from Simon Levermore - webmaster at Garden Organic. He's just finished editing the new Garden Organic Video Guide to Composting.

You can see it on the Garden Organic You Tube channel http://www.youtube.com/GardenOrganic Enjoy.

How to make a Mini Pond (Part I)

2009-03-10T12:09:00.021+01:00

I was thinking - there are probably lots of blog readers out there who would like a pond on their plot or in their garden.

Like me, you may have come across bureaucratic challenges on this one (see previous pond posts and comments). So what's a workable answer for busy people like us who need to press on with fruit and veg planting at this hectic time of year, but still want a home for their frog spawn?

Make a mini pond! Surely no-one can complain a very tiny pond is a health and safety risk, can they? I've found some step-by-step instructions on the BBC Wales 'Wild about Nature' website. You need an old sink, or a washing up bowl and some gravel to start with. I'm going to try this tomorrow. I've got two old ones I could re-use.

I've also found out that the Allotments Regeneration Initiative have a brilliant new site. For a small fee they'll send out fact sheets. They have one on 'Health and Safety on allotments: advice on activities requiring special management'. They say:

'Low fencing should not be necessary around a pond or water feature unless there is a drop from a well-used edge into deep water (more than 1.5m). Low fencing around a pond draws attention to the hazard but might not necessarily prevent access to the pond - it is only a partial solution and can lead to a false sense of security...'

(There's a mismatch of information going on here as it was the council who sent me the ARI leaflet and Parks and Gardens insisted that I would need a fence for the first pond design I suggested - and there's no way that was 1.5 m deep - more like four inches.)

No matter. ARI also specifically advocate the use of washing up bowls for small ponds. Hooray! We might get our pond after all! Although I don't know how I'm going to afford the architect's fees to draw up the plans which I still need to submit to our council.

For your further delight and entertainment I'm including here a few more links to lovely frog and pond websites: Turning Earth has great pictures of happy tadpoles and frogs in a mini pond in Yorkshire.

Froglife is great too. Includes answers to burning topical questions such as 'I feel I've got too much frog spawn, what can I do?'

International Womens' Day - More pics

2009-03-07T17:40:00.008+01:00

Here's a picture of the 'Make Gardens Not War' stall before the crowds started coming.

A selection of wild flower seeds displayed by another stall holder.

The Garden Organic Master Composters were in evidence too. There was a constant stream of people until three coming and viewing the Gaza film: 'Living without a bathroom' discussing the issues and taking leaflets. Lots of interest in Rod's blog, Joan's blog and the rest of the materials. The last picture is of a signing choir.

International Women's Day Part Two

2009-03-07T12:53:00.005+01:00

The time is 12.a.m. and I'm blogging from International Women's Day, sitting on the 'Make Gardens Not War' stall.

I'm listening to Christine Russell, M.P. for Chester making the introductory speech. So far she has mentioned the following issues: childcare, equal pay, part-time workers rights, maternity pay, flexible working hours for carers. She's also referred to the Millenium Development Goals. The fact that many women die in childbirth every year worldwide.

She's now finished. She has made no mention of the impact of war on women's lives globally. No mention of peace, no mention of food and water issues.

There are lots of people coming up to he stall to talk about Gaza, the film from Gaza I'm showing on my lap top and peace issues. Will report as the day goes on.

International Women's Day - Make Gardens Not War

2009-03-07T09:20:00.012+01:00

I'm making an appearance at International Women's Day today with a stall. I've called it:

'Make Gardens Not War'.

Half the stall is going to be advice on organic fruit and veg growing (with lots of brilliant info. from Garden Organic and my own experience.

The other half reflects the situations of people in war zones, who can't grow their own food - or can only do so with difficulty. Because their water supplies are contaminated, or because they live in a conflict zone and the supplies don't get through. We know that women tend and produce much of the food on this planet.

A young film maker from Gaza has contacted me and sent greetings on International Women's Day and a link to his film which I'm hoping to show today on my lap top - he makes the humanitarian case under siege with his documentary called simply: 'Living without a bathroom'

Ayman T. Quader says: 'This is a story I made about the impact of Israeli siege over Gazans. He describes his film like this:

Shaban El-Bobali is a 47-year- old man living in EL-Maghzi refugee camp in Gaza strip. Shaban represents one of many families that living in the same situation or even worst because of the drastic Israeli siege on Gaza Strip. Shaban and his family are living in a very miserable situation where they live in a 45-meter house without bathroom and without any resources.
"Death, Destruction, Casualties, Martyrs, and Siege also" Words chosen by Shaban's wife to describe the suffering they are living. Due to the imposed Israeli siege that has been continuing for almost 11 months, Shaban El-Bobali was left unemployed and unable to support his family as many Palestinians citizens'.

I'm going to have a section of the stall devoted to 'Bloggers for Peace' too. Rod Cox is from Chester and he is currently on his way to Gaza with aid supplies in the convoy. http://www.rodcoxandgaza.blogspot.com/

Last but not least, there is my friend and blogger Joan Meredith, she is currently on her way to Court to be tried for her protest at Aldermaston last year. She's a grandmother, 78 years old and has lost count of the number of times she has been arrested for her beliefs. We all know that the nuclear threat threatens us all, with or without a garden.

Follow her progress on http://www.joanmeredithsblog.blogspot.com/

The slogan 'Make Gardens Not War' has been used throughout the years by different organisations. I ordered t-shirts with the logo on from fellow blogger at apifera farm but they haven't arrived yet, that's a shame.

The proceedings on International Women's Day are usually opened by our M.P. Christine Russell. Hoole Community Centre in Chester from 11.a.m. I'm going to try and post again with reactions, photos and comments.

Information and leaflets kindly provided by Chester Stop the War Coalition, Trident Ploughshares and many others.

Sustainable Development Policy and Your Council?

2009-03-06T18:29:00.008+01:00

When I had a call from Parks and Gardens today I was still holding out some hope that local government might be paying more than lip service to the UNCED agreements (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development including Local Agenda 21) the spirit of which at least should have filtered down to elected representatives and our civil servants. How wrong I was.

The issue at hand was the planned wildlife pond. We met in the car park on site to discuss it. As you'll remember, my plans for this were featured in blog posts recently, together with a photograph.

Since we were dealing with health and safety issues, as we were walking up to the plot I thought I would take the opportunity of explaining to Parks and Gardens how I had removed around three hundred bags of broken glass and rubble from my plot in the past three years. Single handedly. So I know something about health and safety. When I referred to the history of the plot Parks 'lady' said: 'Did you inspect the plot when you took it on?'. At first I wondered why she was asking this question - then I realised it seemed she was trying to spell it out to me that she felt the council had no liability (or indeed any interest) whatsoever in issues like this.

While this may be true legally (I don't know at this point) - it seems to bypass the issue that with peak oil and food shortages (and given the fact that as Tim Lang said in his video in a previous post - Britain is only growing 5 per cent of it's own fruit) local government should be doing all that it can to encourage people to grow their own. Offering plots which are derelict as mine was (unused for fifteen years at least) does not fit this particular bill.

On the way to my plot Parks 'lady' then proceeds to explain to me what Health and Safety issues are, and what my tenancy agreement means. I nod my head at first but then realise how incredibly patronising she is, and tell her so.

We're walking past a huge water butt which I had always been worried about when my daughter was smaller. It's quite clearly a death trap for small children. The last time I mentioned it to the council they came back with the unhelpful comment that parents were responsible for the safety of their children at all times. Gosh. As if we didn't know that, eh?

Parks lady was taking great pains to emphasise that she was only interested in 'my child's safety'. So I took the opportunity of asking her what she though of above mentioned water butt. I don't think she liked what I was saying so far and labelled me as 'aggressive'. Funny that. My friends call me 'feisty'. I'm assertive, I emphasised. (As soon as you disagree with them they label you as 'aggressive'. A good way of dismissing what you are saying? ASSERTIVE, I said again.

Then she said the death trap water butt was the 'City Council's responsibility'. My first thought at hearing this was 'I thought you WERE the City Council and even if you're not, you're still council...how about passing the message on...?) Then I realised of course they were passing the buck. In 25 days time round here there is a restructuring of the whole thing to create a new unitary authority so the City Council will no longer exist anyway.

So, we get to my plot-and-a-half, I take them round a bit, show them all the small trees, neat beds ready to go. On the way I point out an apparently derelict plot next to ours and the difficulties this will cause us this season as all the seeds on it are going to blow over. According to the council there are no derelict plots right now. What about this one, I say:

Rosebay Willow herb. The lot. More 'non-derelict and used plots in the background'. We have a huge waiting list and I've raised this issue too.

Then we come to my wildlife patch at the front. I explain how I plan to recycle an old paddling pool and edge it with available materials. As you can see from my previous posts it doesn't look amazing at the moment, but that's because it's a WILD LIFE corner. It isn't supposed to be TIDY.

So, it was Parks 'gentlemen' turn to speak. He was wearing a sweatshirt which said 'recycle' on the front and back. I had already explained how I had salvaged the wee paddling pool from a skip. He actually stood there and asked me accusingly (and I felt in a bullying and aggressive tone) 'Why didn't you use pond liner?'

Things went downhill from there, I feel. I proceeded to point out the the basic tenants of sound environmental policy i.e. 1. Reduce 2. Re-use and 3. Recycle. I don't think he liked my highlighting the logo on his sweatshirt either.

Then he challenged my use of 'available' materials (i.e. branches and twigs) - 'Why didn't I use willow? he said' there is plenty of willow growing over there (and pointed). I had to set him straight on allotment policy, I'm afraid and said I wouldn't dream of picking other people's crops without asking, and anyway, I didn't see what was wrong with using materials that had been generated on my plot.

Park gent's next objection was that 'it didn't look very nice'. (I had thought the visit was about health and safety issues and not aesthetics, but there you go). Park gent knew the person who had had the plot before...Yes, I said, so do I - obviously I said, there aren't many flowers to see at this point but explained anyway about the brightly coloured flowers that edged the pile, and the carefully selected copper beech bushes which framed it (bought those at BTCV).

Next, the said pair wanted a 'plan' of the proposed pond. (I've sent the council three emails about it this week - they already had a photograph and measurements - but they still want a 'plan'. Maybe I should think about an architect?

What more do you need? I said, whipping my tape measure out, and measuring up. Shall I draw you one? (searching for the back of an envelope in my bag). There's not much to add, I said. Did a quick drawing and put the measurements on it, in front of them.

We need a 'fence' they said so that your child can't fall in. (Remember what the council said on past occasions about parents taking responsibility for their children at all times and the death trap water butt?). Well I said pointing to the twigs and branches pile - I was planning to sink the small paddling pool into the ground and draw the branches around it as a barrier. Would that be alright? No, they said.

Well then, I said, if I can't do it like that, will you tell me how I CAN do it. Well, said Park lady, picking up a stout twig, if they were sort of bending OVER the pond like this...'Can I take a photograph, I said, so that I will know how to do this). 'No' she said. 'You will only use it against us'. ?

Right, I said, there are some adaptations to be made, and as I said already it is not finished. So I'll finish it, won't fill it with water yet and we'll meet again, shall we, so that you can tell me what you think? They okayed this suggestion reluctantly and are coming again next week. I'll keep readers posted.

The shame of all this is, I wanted to get the frog spawn and plants in soon, otherwise it's going to be another whole year.

As my daughter and I rushed away for an appointment - I was still fuming but felt slightly better after meeting a fellow allotmenteer who said he'd exactly the same experiences (with those two from the council).

The joke of it is, there are loads of people on the site who already have bucket sized ponds not much smaller than the one I have, and even some people's drainage ditches are more of a health and safety risk than our proposal.

When will they realise that they should be enabling and assisting people instead of creating barriers at every opportunity. At the end of the meeting my daughter said: 'I didn't like them very much, mummy'. No, I said. I didn't either.