Predators!

SO angry with myself right now, having planted a whole packet of my posh seeds in time with the new moon the mice have eaten every single one overnight, now I will have to wait a whole month before I can plant again!  Hungry mice in spring time can devastate a crop, even with the polytunnel open for the cat and catnip spread everywhere.

In praise of the Brassica

 This early springtime with our seedlings only just hardening off is often called the hungry gap. As well as foraging for wild garlic, sweet cicely, and ground elder, nothing fills the hungry gap like the cabbage family with broccoli, kale and spring greens. Going out to the patch to pick these purple lovelies is a really good way to add even more vitamins to any foraged salad bowl. Way better than a bunch of flowers!

First spring of the new world!

Following the deadly spread of covid 19 virus growing your own food just went from a hobby to a way of life for the food emergency that is bound to come so....without being anymore post apocalyptic about it.....Today the polytunnel got a soil conditioning treat with chicken manure pellets and then some nicely rotted straw on top. With the seedlings safely out of the way from any slug predators!

Horse Chesnut soap

So one main new crop I haven't had to harvest before this no shopping month, is horse chestnuts. I have collected,chopped and dried them then poured off the milky tea that I will use to wash my clothes and plates, pots and pans. I'm afraid to say it doesn't store well so make up small batches at a time, and I'm not sure it's very good on my gardening work clothes! 

My main problem is how to store my pumpkins so I can use them all winter.

No shopping October halfway update

So I'm finding those little pumpkins which aren't going to grow full-sized are perfect for turning into a basic fermented kimchi style side dish. 

The month is going well although I have eaten a lot of chard! The discovery of a lost vacuum bag of olives today was delightful and im grateful to all the friends who have brought me little packets of treats to help me along! Love love.

October 2019

This month I'm attempting to eat just from the garden and whatever supplies I have in my larder, perhaps a way to prepare for the coming changes in the UK?
The first thing that's happened is I've noticed my eye being drawn to things I don't usually see as food like dandelion leaves as well as radish seed pods to augment the haul.

Real Majik wands

Autumn hard wood cuttings taken from a guelder rose in my garden. They are this year's wood

cut just below a growth bud, dipped in rooting hormone solution (willow wands immersed for a few days in water) then pushed into the ground.

And here is the bed, the following March, buds bursting into life although not fully leafed yet, for anyone concerned that it can't be that easy.