My Gardening Notes

What it looks like when food grows everywhere » Transition Culture

2012-01-14T11:59:00.000Z

What it looks like when food grows everywhere » Transition Culture

Shades of "I have a dream" (ie that song from back when.....).

Wouldn't it be nice to see something "living" (ie food growing) in many of the places where we currently have tarmac? I think the time will come...so a sneak preview above of "Back to the Future" or, to be more accurate in this case, "Back to the Past".

New Zealand Food Growing Ban

2011-12-05T15:23:00.001Z

Coming soon - to a country near us - ie New Zealand:

New Zealand Food Growing Ban,(Police2Search Homes) - YouTube

First they went for America, now they are going for New Zealand.

Are we next - here in Britain?

Some thoughts besides the first ones that might occur to people, ie:
- how to keep growing our own food freely
- how to do seed swaps

....but what about our food banks?

....what about our Harvest Festivals?

....if someone/somewhere In Authority decided they had it in for you personally...then they could (in theory) play silly b*****s and "have a go" just for handing someone a drink of water (ie from my reading of what they are proposing in New Zealand).

Never put it past a "jobsworth" who doesnt like you personally or is out to protect their job from even looking for petty stupid little things to quote against you.

Now where were my books on guerilla foodgrowing? . It would prove "rather" interesting to see any bone-headed law enforcer trying to prove just WHO it was that had planted any guerilla-grown food...

2011-12-05T15:18:00.000Z

NZ Food Security

2011-12-05T15:17:00.000Z

» New food bill in New Zealand takes away human right to grow food Alex Jones' Infowars: There's a war on for your mind!

16 Ways to Use Your Whey

2011-12-04T16:48:00.001Z

16 Ways to Use Your Whey « How to Homestead | Simple Living | Homesteading | Homesteaders | Homestead Blog

Seems appropriate to put it up on this blog - as it's a "moving in direction of self-sufficiency" type blog - rather than strictly gardening only one.

Self-sufficiency - aka one aspect of this being "make your own soft cheese/yogurt/etc/etc" and hence get leftover whey...

Planting a survival garden

2011-11-22T07:58:00.001Z

Planting a survival garden

Always useful to have a new take on things - and there's a few tips I wasn't aware of in this article.

LIVING FOR A YEAR WITHOUT GROCERIES

2011-11-10T08:36:00.000Z

Living HOMEGROWN: What We Learned From Our Year Without Groceries

Shared - and check out her blog for more...

Storing vegetables without plastic

2011-11-05T08:59:00.000Z

Life Less Plastic: Storing Vegetables Without Plastic in the Refrigerator

....and when you have all those vegetables and fruit - then next comes the storing....

Growing Microgreens - YouTube

2011-10-08T09:50:00.001Z

Growing Microgreens - YouTube

more on microgreens

Growing microgreens and sprouts at home - YouTube

2011-10-08T09:49:00.001Z

Growing microgreens and sprouts at home - YouTube

Clip on how-to that peeps might be interested in.

CREATING SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOODS ON 10 ACRES OR LESS

2011-09-17T07:52:00.000Z

Projects: Small is Successful | Ecological Land Co-operative

An interesting paper on those who have done this.

Click on the link given on this webpage to access it.

Pickling Vegetables

2011-08-11T06:08:00.001Z

Pickling Vegetables - YouTube

More on pickling vegetables from YouTube.

Pickling Vegetables

2011-08-11T06:06:00.000Z

Pickling Vegetables in One Minute - YouTube

...and a helpful clip on pickling vegetables from YouTube.

‪GM Crops Farmer to Farmer‬‏ - YouTube

2011-08-09T09:50:00.000Z

‪GM Crops Farmer to Farmer‬‏ - YouTube

A 23 minute short film by a British farmer visiting his U.S.A. counterparts to see how genetically-modified farming has turned out.

‪The Future of Food‬‏ - YouTube

2011-08-09T09:49:00.000Z

‪The Future of Food‬‏ - YouTube

A film from the U.S.A. called "The Future of Food" - which is good on the history of food production.

‪Dig For Victory and Our Future‬‏ - YouTube

2011-08-08T10:31:00.000Z

‪Dig For Victory and Our Future‬‏ - YouTube

More wartime "Dig for Victory"

‪Dig for Victory‬‏ - YouTube

2011-08-08T10:28:00.001Z

‪Dig for Victory‬‏ - YouTube

Dig for Victory in World War 2 on YouTube

‪The Wartime Kitchen & Garden - Episode 8 (1/3)‬‏ - YouTube

2011-08-08T10:27:00.000Z

‪The Wartime Kitchen & Garden - Episode 8 (1/3)‬‏ - YouTube

Wartime foodgrowing on YouTube

‪The Victorian Kitchen Garden: January Part 1‬‏ - YouTube

2011-08-08T10:24:00.000Z

‪The Victorian Kitchen Garden: January Part 1‬‏ - YouTube

YouTube clips re Victorian kitchen gardens

BUYING A PRESSURE CANNER IN BRITAIN

2011-08-08T08:04:00.000Z

The Cottage Smallholder » You can buy a pressure canner in the UK!

See link to above post on the Cottage Smallholder blog.

Good news for those who have been wishing to buy a pressure canner for a while - but not been able to find one here in Britain.

The bad news is - maybe not possible if one has a ceramic-topped cooker. Darn it! That's me out personally then - as I have the wrong type cooker for that. NB: can't really figure out just why a ceramic cookertop wouldn't "work" - so if anyone knows the answer then please post up a comment explaining.

GROWING YOUR OWN WHEN ALL YOU HAVE IS A "MATCHBOX" SIZE GARDEN

2011-07-25T07:14:00.002Z

Grow your own edible urban jungle - Telegraph

An interesting link for those with severe size restrictions in space available for foodgrowing.

On the "how much space have you got?" tack - there are Councils that are STILL giving existing allotment holders extra allotment space - even when the waiting list locally is literally years long. This has happened recently in my own area - and we have a years long waiting list.

So - can I put in a plea for:
a. Those existing allotment holders with more than 1 allotment to give up the extra plots they hold voluntarily if they are in an area of high demand. Allotment sizes were originally designed to be enough for the typical family of the time - ie 2 adults and 4 children to be able to grow the majority of their fruit/veg for 8 months of the year - so now that the typical family size is 4 people (ie 2 adults, 2 children) AND we know a lot more about vertical gardening/have polytunnels available/have dehydrators and freezers available then one allotment plot is plenty for a household. Please don't be greedy with our scarce space. If you are in an area with a long waiting list - then your second plot means another household having to wait literally years to get their first plot.

b. Local Councils to refuse to allow anyone to have more than 1 allotment if it is an area of high demand.

How to Build a PVC Hoophouse for your Garden - The Westside Gardener

2011-05-30T10:00:00.000Z

How to Build a PVC Hoophouse for your Garden - The Westside Gardener

Harvesting and preserving medicinal herbs

2011-05-23T15:07:00.000Z

The Chatelaine's Keys » Blog Archive » Harvesting and Preserving Medicinal Herbs

More from Sharon Astyk's blog on this.

IT LOOKS GOOD - AND ITS MEDICINAL

2011-05-23T08:56:00.000Z

The Chatelaine's Keys » Blog Archive » The Medicinal Ornamental Garden

IT LOOKS GOOD - AND IT'S EDIBLE

2011-05-23T08:55:00.000Z

The Chatelaine's Keys » Blog Archive » Gertrude Jekyll Meets Edible Landscaping: The Ornamental Edible Border

A post from Sharon Astyk's blog on edible and attractive gardening.

How can we grow more food locally?

2011-05-07T06:53:00.000Z

How can we grow more food locally? Pam Warhurst of Incredible Edible Todmorden speaks in Bath » Transition Culture

I am a great admirer of Incredible Edible Todmorden and their project to start growing food anywhere/everywhere in their little town - for people to help themselves to for free when they want. Envy...envy...wishes that were happening in my area...

So - link above to hear more about what they are doing.

WINTER GARDENING

2011-05-01T19:22:00.000Z

Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op: My Winter Garden

Think this is what I call "thinking ahead". Part of the maximising food production from ones garden/pocket handkerchief/matchbox (delete as appropriate) is ensuring that food production is kept up throughout the year as far as possible. Why have a "hungry gap" if it's avoidable?

MAXIMISING THE AMOUNT OF FOOD GROWN

2011-04-30T20:09:00.000Z

40 Gardening Tips to Maximize Your Harvest - Organic Gardening - MOTHER EARTH NEWS

Always a subject on my mind - due to having a matchbox size garden. So - all tips welcome here..

Planters & Containers - gardening when you don't have room to...

2011-04-27T06:09:00.001Z

Planters & Containers - Harrod Horticultural (UK) Garden Supplies

Having checked out ideas for others who are wondering about how on earth to manage the unmanageable and grow some food - even if they only have a flat - this firm has a lot of ideas on this. Nope - this is not an advert. for them - as they arent the only ones doing this sort of thing and they are more expensive than some - but 'twill provide "food for thought".

The Windowfarms Project

2011-04-26T19:14:00.000Z

The Windowfarms Project

Good website on windowfarms - for those lacking enough outdoor space.

Growing Mushrooms In Coffee Grounds | How To Grow Mushrooms

2011-04-26T05:30:00.000Z

Growing Mushrooms In Coffee Grounds | How To Grow Mushrooms

Who knew growing mushrooms could be so easy?

There was me googling for how to grow mushrooms in woodchip and getting a bit offput by the thought of having to sterilise the growing medium in a pressure cooker - and ...bingo...coffee grounds are suitable and come already sterilised.

Growing salad leaves in guttering | BBC Gardeners' World

2011-04-25T12:12:00.000Z

Growing salad leaves in guttering | BBC Gardeners' World

More info. on gutter growing of foods

Keep Your Mind Out of the Gutter – But It’s OK to Garden in One

2011-04-21T17:45:00.000Z

Keep Your Mind Out of the Gutter – But It’s OK to Garden in One

Gutter gardening - for those desperate for every bit of space. Maybe some gutter could be fixed along the edge of a balcony wall or on a garden wall?

How to Make a Self Watering Planter from an Old Milk Jug | eHow.com

2011-04-01T06:26:00.000Z

How to Make a Self Watering Planter from an Old Milk Jug | eHow.com

Instruction details passed on by a "virtual friend" who has tried them and says she is growing lettuce all along her kitchen windowsill in ones she has made.

Vertical Veg

2011-01-21T20:54:00.001Z

Vertical Veg

I do like highlighting people who have "done a lot with a little" - ie made the absolute best of a tiny amount of space. So - another one for my collection.

Protesting against the sale of OUR woods

2011-01-04T08:28:00.001Z

Forest of Dean protesters fight big woodland selloff | Environment | The Guardian

Good to hear that people are starting to get organised to protect OUR woods from being sold-off.

Maybe some ideas here that can be copied?

SAVE OUR FORESTS

2010-12-24T16:05:00.000Z

Save Our Forests Campaign « Philip Carr-Gomm’s Weblog

Happy Christmas everyone - and one last pre-Christmas task on the list - to sign the Save the Forests e-petition linked to in the blog post above on Philip Carr-Gomm's blog.

URBAN FARMING

2010-11-15T08:26:00.000Z

Urban Farming intends to eradicate hunger by optimizing the production of unused land in cities, rooftops, walls, in planters, malls & sidewalk cafes

Some ideas are worth transplanting to Britain.

Here's another good one from America.

GROWING FOOD IN YOUR BACK YARD - TRANSITION HAWAII

2010-11-06T16:51:00.000Z

YouTube - AKAMAI BACKYARD Trailer

MAKING YOUR OWN LOW TECH FRIDGE - ZEER POTS

2010-10-30T09:41:00.000Z

How a zeer pot fridge makes food last longer - Practical Action

A little experiment for anyone trying to live as off-grid as possible.

SAVE OUR FORESTS

2010-10-30T06:32:00.000Z

38 Degrees | Save Our Forests#petition

Who will stand up for our forests and the species that live there?

A link above to sign the petition against the Governments proposed sell-off of our forests. Once they're gone - they're gone for good and we will no longer have access to them to walk freely in them.

Homemade Dehydrator - How to build one of your own

2010-10-27T05:38:00.004Z

Homemade Dehydrator - How to build your one of your own

This has links to instructions on how to make your own dehydrator for those not wanting to flash the over £200 cash that I've recently spent on an Excalibur dehydrator.

Another one can be found on:

http://www.rawpaleodiet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/JerkyDrierInstructions.pdf

(EDIT: darn newer links still not working on Blogger - so need to type it all in....).

REQUIEM FOR OUR FORESTS?

2010-10-26T07:04:00.000Z

A magnificent forest. But the Government may wield the axe - UK Politics, UK - The Independent

With the Coalition Government's proposals to sell off a substantial chunk of Forestry Commission land - where to next? Will our forests still be there? Will we still have access to them, if so, for recreational purposes? What about the species that have their home there?

THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS

2010-09-22T08:31:00.002Z

Just a filler post to stop the slight hiccup in bringing over a link.....

See free film below.

FILM - THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS

2010-09-22T08:21:00.002Z

...and now for something completely different - the film "A Secret Life of Plants".

I found it - in installments - on YOuTube. So - just work your way through clicking on the installment links to view it:

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 1 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 2 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

2010-09-22T08:21:00.000Z

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 2 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 3 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

2010-09-22T08:20:00.000Z

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 3 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 4 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

2010-09-22T08:19:00.001Z

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 4 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 5 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

2010-09-22T08:19:00.000Z

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 5 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 6 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

2010-09-22T08:18:00.000Z

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 6 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 7 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

2010-09-22T08:17:00.001Z

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 7 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 8 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

2010-09-22T08:17:00.000Z

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 8 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 9 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

2010-09-22T08:15:00.001Z

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 9 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 10 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

2010-09-22T08:15:00.000Z

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 10 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 11 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

2010-09-22T08:14:00.001Z

YouTube - The Secret Life Of Plants (part 11 of 11) - Music by Stevie Wonder

THREAT TO SEED BANK

2010-09-21T07:48:00.000Z

The battle to save Russia's Pavlovsk seed bank | Environment | guardian.co.uk

Fingers crossed that this important seed bank will be saved for posterity.

HOPS AGAIN

2010-09-19T11:10:00.000Z

Hmmm...so for eating in April only....unless...I've seen a mention of pickling them..

Hop Production at the Hop Shop, Castle Farm, Kent

Anyone eaten hop shoots?

2010-09-19T11:08:00.000Z

Whilst I'm looking for ways to eat those hop shoots...

Anyone eaten hop shoots? - Vegetarian & Vegan Recipe Exchange - tribe.net

HOPS

2010-09-19T11:06:00.001Z

BT - Hops in the Backyard: From Planting to Harvest and the Hazards in Between

Now pondering growing some hops next year - I like the sound of that growth rate mentioned above.

In my case - I'm not planning on becoming an alcoholic - I've read that hopshoots are edible and used to be commonly eaten (something along the lines of "treat like asparagus"). I have no idea what I will think of them - but worth a try...

VEGETABLES TO GROW OVER WINTER

2010-09-18T07:59:00.002Z

Top 10 vegetables to grow over winter - Telegraph

For those who want to keep the garden supplies coming over winter...

Other possibilities are:
land cress, Swiss chard, welsh onions, mustard, oriental greens, rocket.

STORING SURPLUS GARDEN PRODUCE

2010-09-13T07:32:00.001Z

YouTube - Dehydrating the Garden Harvest - Part 1

I give a link above to the first of a series of clips by katholicos (a virtual friend on a Forum I visit).

I've now got the same "posh" dehydrator as she has - a 5 shelf one in my case - and my first results are now in the kitchen - ie tomatoes and apples.

Katholicos tells me that one can either leave dried fruit and vegetables as is (ie in the slices, etc one has originally dried them as) or blitz them in the liquidizer. So - I think I will keep half my tomato slices as slices and blitz the other half into tomato "dust". She tells me that one can rehydrate a tablespoon or two of this tomato dust and use as pasta sauce or just put a tablespoon or two of the "dust" into casseroles/stews/soups.

More experiments coming up....

PERMACULTURE VIDEOS

2010-09-01T06:00:00.000Z

Permaculture Now! - Favorite Videos

oOOH...just found this resource - lots of videos on permaculture.

Happy viewing..

Vikki's Verandah

2010-08-30T07:57:00.000Z

Vikki's Verandah

All sorts of useful bits and pieces of info on this blog interspersed with the photos/etc - like how to grow an apple tree from seed/a cheap way of making a henhouse/etc.

SURVIVAL GARDENING

2010-08-30T07:49:00.000Z

YouTube - Survival Gardening Part 1 peak oil, food storage, TSHTF

An interesting YouTube clip (with links to others). Survivalist or no in outlook - we all want to maximise our foodgrowing.

The New Agriculture

2010-08-30T07:46:00.000Z

The New Agriculture

Whew! WAY too technical for me - but for those who are interested in maximising the nutrients in the food they grow - and understand the scientific language - y'all have a good day now reading this...

Who will feed us in 2050?

2010-08-30T07:20:00.002Z

For those of a more "academic" turn of mind - a document that has been produced by the ETC Group (?Swedish I think?) on this. Now I didn't know that only half the worlds population currently is deemed to be adequately nourished - that's at current population levels.

http://www.etcgroup.org/upload/publication/pdf_file/ETC_Who_Will_Feed_Us.pdf

Today's Kitchen Garden

2010-08-30T07:14:00.000Z

Today's Kitchen Garden

...and a little something to read today - ie a new gardening blog I've found.

Small Farms Library

2010-08-30T07:07:00.001Z

Small Farms Library - Journey to Forever

What a resource! Lots of free ebooks about farming. Just because they're out-of-print certainly doesn't mean they're out of date.

One that caught my eye instantly - is on Humanure - errr...a subject we will all have to think rather more about in the future possibly?

Season extenders (Permaculture Forums: permaculture)

2010-08-29T16:36:00.000Z

Season extenders (Permaculture Forums: permaculture)

Discussion on Permaculture Forum on extending the foodgrowing season - lots of ideas I've never heard of...

Solar Sunspaces and Greenhouses

2010-08-29T16:32:00.000Z

Solar Sunspaces and Greenhouses

A good how-to website for those seeking to maximise year-round food production - with solar greenhouses.

Vegetable harvest yields

2010-08-21T05:52:00.001Z

Vegetable harvest yields : Thrifty Living

As I'm no good at fancy links - and ANY links I type in on my blogs are still currently not working (courtesy of some change Blogger has made?) - I give above my starter link for an article on the yields of food one can grow in a limited space. "Take it to the max" has a new meaning to me...

So - thinking "What gives me most bang for my buck? - ie greatest weight of produce.." and its:

leeks - 60lb per 8' x 4' bed
tomatillos - 56lb
daikon radish - 50lb
parsnips - 50lb
beets (cylindrical) 50lb
swede - 48lb
collards - 45lb
sweet potatoes - 45lb
tomatoes - 42lb
summer squash - 40lb
salsify - - 37lb
carrots - 35lb
courgettes 35lb
beets (round and green) - 35lb

Add in lettuce - as I dont think this table takes account of cut and come again techniques with it and the possibility for starting it off on indoor windowsills.

Practical sanitary and economic cooking adapted...

2010-08-19T19:37:00.001Z

Practical sanitary and economic cooking adapted...

An 1890 book by Mary Hinman - with plenty of recipes we might still usefully use today.

We farm for a hobby and make it pay

2010-08-19T19:25:00.001Z

Full text of "We farm for a hobby and make it pay"

A free e-book by Henry Tetlow - written in 1938 - for your delectation and delight...

VERTICAL GARDENING

2010-08-17T06:10:00.000Z

Veg on walls / RHS Gardening

An article of interest on one of my interests - ie vertical gardening.

The organic gardener's handbook of ... - Google Books

2010-08-11T20:20:00.001Z

The organic gardener's handbook of ... - Google Books

a free e-book on natural ways of dealing with pests and bugs in the garden. Enjoy!

Worm Composting

2010-07-24T15:27:00.000Z

Worm Composting

...more about worm composting...

Cheap and Easy Worm Bin!

2010-07-24T15:25:00.000Z

Cheap and Easy Worm Bin!

Looks easy enough that even I might be able to manage it if I want to...

LATEST URBAN FOODGROWING FIND

2010-07-21T21:35:00.001Z

foodgirl.ca - Book Blog

Lots of examples here of communities growing food in urban areas - with photos to have a look at them.

BAG GARDENS

2010-07-16T19:10:00.000Z

Urban farming in Helsinki, Finland — City Farmer News

An article I came across here on bag gardens. I'm a great fan of this idea - eminently portable..

HOW TO CALCULATE THE EARNING POTENTIAL FOR GROWING FOOD ON YOUR LAND

2010-07-14T20:16:00.004Z

SPIN-Farming Offers “Calculator” That Quantifies Earning Potential of Backyard Farms — City Farmer News

Ah-ha. With my "business head" on I thought this might provide a little "added incentive" to those who are thinking of growing food in a more "commercial" way..ie not just for themselves. With being American - it needs adapting for us - but hopefully it will give people a basis to work from.

DETROIT ROCKS!

2010-07-11T08:16:00.002Z

I've been following what is happening in Detroit for a while now with admiration and so here's the latest media article about it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/11/detroit-urban-renewal-city-farms-paul-harris

(EDIT: Darn - another one where it hasn't come up as a clickable link for some reason - so it needs to be typed in the "search" banner to come up.....)

Right - must get back to my own little patch - where the tomatoes are doing a good imitation of "Day of the Triffids" and are nearly as tall as me! I've grown tomatoes a couple of times previously - but they've never been QUITE like this before - as in absolutely enormous. I think there are two differences this year - I used the compost that Which magazine rated as the best and I'm feeding my plants with dried seaweed diluted in water once a week.

GARDEN DESIGNING

2010-07-10T06:59:00.001Z

As someone who has changed and changed again - many times - my plans on how to cram as much as I possibly can in my tiny garden....

I've been wondering what "tools" are available for doing this more easily and I found:

http://sketchup.google.com

which is a free Google tool for doing 3D designs of anything.

Whilst starting to explore my way round that website and googling for garden designs - I found Permaculture Planet designs - a good selection of 3D designs for permaculture style gardens. Not being any good at complicated linkies - try googling for:

http://sketchup.google.com + "Permaculture Planet" and click on the first link on the Google Page and you can find a "page" by them (complete with a link to other designs of theirs). I was thinking "Who ARE these people?" and found their website to see what else they have.

Permaculture Planet - The World's Permaculture Resource Portal & Directory

BBC iPlayer - Ben Fogle's Escape in Time: Episode 1

2010-07-08T19:49:00.001Z

BBC iPlayer - Ben Fogle's Escape in Time: Episode 1

Oooh....a goodie little TV series on IPlayer for a while. A challenge between 2 families living as Victorian farming families for a week.

VERTICAL GARDENING - GUTTERS

2010-07-06T05:29:00.001Z

How does your garden grow? - Juneau Empire

Don't throw out your old gutters - "gutter garden" with them..

SLUGS

2010-07-03T19:26:00.002Z

Bad Slugs: Learn to Recognise the Garden Pests ~ SLUG OFF

Whilst searching for remedies for slugs - I found the above website all about the little "critturs" - so enclosed here for interest.

With slug collars for plants retailing at at least £2 each - then I am also keeping note of a DIY alternative. Worth it - even if I have to buy the bottles specially:

http://myzerowaste.com/2009/06/plastic-bottles-slug/

Having found that the standard idea of filling slug traps with beer doesnt seem to work on the ones round here - I've been searching for other things I could fill that slug trap of mine with and come up with the following:
- a little yeast/warm water/sugar - which apparently starts working when warmth has helped it ferment a bit

- a 50/50 mix of milk and water (to my surprise - I've found two slugs in that so far - so it does seem to work)

- watered-down yogurt

- sour milk

(?possibly having some porridge oats in with the yogurt, milk or sour milk?)

I'm also bearing in mind upturned grapefruit halves - where I'm told they all congregate and can be duly despatched to Slug Heaven with some salt thrown over them. The salt I know DOES work - once you've actually spotted the darn things - they fizz up and that's that....err...and a bit of a gooey mess on the ground..

RE-LOCALISING OUR FOOD SYSTEM

2010-07-01T07:14:00.001Z

The role for social enterprise in creating a sustainable food system Transition Network

...and a game to play to help work out how your own area can do this.

VICTORY GARDENING - 1st WORLD WAR ERA

2010-06-27T14:23:00.001Z

The War Garden Victorious (War Gardens turned Victory Gardens) - 1919 Chapter 1

A free e-book that might be of interest now. Who knows - though it's nearly a century old - there could be some "food for thought" in there. Note to self - bad puns tend to result from glasses of wine with Sunday lunch.....

AQUAPONICS

2010-06-27T07:26:00.004Z

Basics

A link above to a mainpage from the website http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/

I've been wondering where one could find more information about this - since reading about Rhonda Jean having that as part of her self-sufficientish lifestyle in Australia. The "Path to Freedom" website (ie the Dervaes family in California) also seem to be experimenting with this now. Found this eventually - in an obscure German blog.

The basic idea of "growing" both fish and food in the same space sounds like good space utilisation to me. That's not to mention the fact that the "environment" other fish come from really doesn't sound appealing these days - oil spills for instance...

Another link on this (from Britain this time) is:

http://gardenaquaponics.wordpress.com/

A LOTTA FOOD IN A LITTLE SPACE

2010-06-19T17:39:00.001Z

Still reading away everything I can find on cramming a decent amount of foodgrowing into a tiny little garden - and balcony gardens are even tinier than mine is - so there's got to be some useful hints tucked away in these for me. Got a few hours reading here to find them:

http://lifeonthebalcony.com/

http://the6x8garden.blogspot.com/

http://balconygarden.wordpress.com/

http://balcony-garden.blogspot.com/

http://www.thebalconygardenproject.org/

Crop Swap

2010-06-15T07:03:00.002Z

Ah-ha - found that link I was looking for - as I got lost when the Guardian link didn't work:

Plant for life Crop Swap

CROP SWAP - again...

2010-06-15T07:02:00.001Z

The article in the Guardian that started me off down this road - as I was trying to find the link at the end and it didn't click through:

Grow your own fruit and veg with Neighbourhood Crop Swap Life and style guardian.co.uk

Oak Park Crop Swap

2010-06-15T07:00:00.001Z

More on crop swapping:

Oak Park Crop Swap

Crop Swap

2010-06-15T06:59:00.001Z

Crop swapping - now there's a name to think on - and a "growing trend" (don't all groan at the pun...):

Crop Swap - Home Page

5 A Day Garden • Gallery

2010-06-04T11:39:00.000Z

5 A Day Garden • Gallery

....and here's the photos of their half size (ie 1 person size) trial garden.

5 A DAY GARDEN PLANNER FOR 2 PEOPLE

2010-06-04T11:36:00.001Z

5 A Day Garden • Home Page

Click on the left-hand side bar on "download the garden planner" to see the worked-out plan for growing enough fruit and vegetables to meet the "5 a Day" requirements of 2 people in a garden just 10 square metres.

If my maths is correct this equates to 48 square feet per person - eg a strip of land 12' x 4' and 2 windowboxes per person.

It's been done by a commercial firm - so ignore the bits about their products and just pick out that plan (all done for us - grin).

CENTRE OF PARIS TURNED INTO A FARM

2010-05-24T19:50:00.001Z

BBC News - French farmers turn Champs-Elysees into huge farm

Love it......!!

When oh when do we get a British version of this? Wouldn't it be great to go into the centre of one of our major cities and see that a major road had been turned into a farm overnight?

COMMUNITY GARDENS - GERMAN STYLE

2010-05-15T16:57:00.001Z

Here's a link to an article about an urban community garden in Germany - and other stuff worth reading on this blog as well:

Inside Urban Green: The Princess Gardens: A Berlin Community Garden

Harvest Brighton & Hove

2010-05-14T06:26:00.001Z

Harvest Brighton & Hove

Keeping food (growing) local. A chance to see how it's done in Brighton.

Kokopelli Seed Foundation

2010-05-09T09:09:00.005Z

I've never heard of this before - but what a good idea.

The idea started in France and has gone worldwide. It has been set up to help Third World Farmers deal with the fact that it has now been made difficult for them to save seeds - courtesy of F1 seeds being the only ones that are made available for them to buy and the fact that many of them cant afford to buy them. Many of these farmers have been saving their own seed - but are now unable to do so because of this.

The idea is a "Community-Supported Seed Fund" to help them deal with this (bet M*nsanto loves this - not!).

The gist of it is that anyone can save seeds on their behalf - including us.

A pumpkin or melon contains hundreds of seeds
A tomato contains around 70 seeds
A lettuce going to seed may produce up to 10,000 seeds

A 10 metre x 10 metre garden is big enough for 150 tomato plants (which would produce 6kg of seeds). 6kg of seeds is enough to provide 40,000 packets of 30 seeds each.

The Kokopelli Seed Foundation advises people on what seeds to grow and can provide starter seeds to start up your "seed factory" (NB: Please people - I DO hope no-one abuses this idea by asking for starter seeds to set up a "seed factory" and just keeping them for themselves.....). Please use your own (non F1/non G.M.) seeds to run a "seed factory" - or if you really really cant afford your own - then make sure you DO use "starter kits" for the seed factory purposes they are meant for (and not your own use).

The book with full details is "The seeds of Kokopelli" by Doninique Guillet.

The website is:

www.kokopelli-seeds.com/third-world.html

Farming Today - PART 2

2010-05-08T12:47:00.000Z

The podcasts that accompany this programme

Farming Today