Germination, Slugs and Coffee

It's March. Sowing time for a lot of things; I'm told it's a time of hope, but for me it's a time of worry. You see, last year I didn't have much luck with my direct sowings. Seedlings didn't have much of a good start. The ant infestation (I'm talking a lot of ants here) often left them disturbed and nibbled off in their infancy and then... slugs happened.

We've spent a year disturbing ant nests (seriously, we must have found at least 20. Lots and lots and lots of ants) and putting powder down. I guess we'll see later in the season if that worked but right now we're pretty ant free. As for slugs? Well my strategy is to dispose of them when I find them but mostly I expect to lose some of my crops and sow extra accordingly.

There are precisely one billion and seven magical home remedies for curing your garden of slugs. I've never found one 100% effective or all that useful on a large scale. A tactical strike at the perfect time can help though. I'm using coffee grounds - free from a local shop - to top dress the soil where I'm sowing prime slug snacks. That's a purple mizuna above. The coffee grounds should act as a deterrent until the seedlings get properly established and are able to withstand an attack.

But I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.

Storm Damage and Spring Promise

We've had some storms recently but as we live in a flat on top of a hill with only a distant view of the sea we didn't suffer any damage here. The allotment however? Well until today we hadn't got chance to check. When I did I found this: 

Our green house door has detached and deposited glass about the place. In the back ground you can see the pond being dug out. Unfortunately the weather didn't get the hole any deeper for us. 

One of the compost heap filled with plastic that the last occupants left (...thanks) for us lost it's front 

I was initially worried about the olive tree as it seems to have gone brown. I examined the leaves and this is just mud. Caking the leaves a foot off the ground. Shows how heavy the rain was. 

Was gratified to see this though. My onions have grown, nice and tall. Last time I saw them they were just bulbs. I'd covered them with chicken wire to discourage bratty birds. Seeing their heads up let's me know spring is on it's way. 

Which means I really need to get sowing next week...

Unusual Alliums

We've had our allotment a year and we've spent most of that time just ripping it apart. We've had to dismantle rotten edging, cut back the overgrown hedgerow, depose of all the plastic and the dismantled greenhouse (!!) we found in the overgrown hedgerow, and just throw away a lot of trash. There's still some falling apart compost bins which are filled with a mix of compost and disintegrating plastic, a half finished green house, the wall that's holding us up needs to be rebuilt and - oh yeah - we have to get the thing ready for planting.

Sometimes the idea of burning it all seems like a good option

While the main structural work has been stressing us out we've had a couple of tiny areas ready to bring us happiness. Barely a quarter of our plot in in production at the moment but the small area we do have had given us all sorts this year. Chard, kale, enough garlic to see us through the year. We've got a good collection of herbs and edible flowers. We just need more, more of everything, before we can start eating more home-grown vegetables.

But a box arrived this week that will help us make a tonne of meals in the future. Some awsome, unusual, perennial aliums. Perennial vegetables rock my socks for three reasons:

1. You buy it once and you're all set
2. Generally they are way less fuss than their annual counterparts
3. I get a cool crop for very little effort. 

I have a perennial kale that has my undying love and some globe artichokes that I'm somewhat indifferent to so it's about time we adopt some more perennial veg into our lives. As we love all things allium the Unusual Allium Collection from Otter Farm (now out of stock I'm afraid). 

I've wanted to grow Egyptian Walking Onions for years so that's what sold me. Along with it came Nodding Onions, Siberian Chives, Babington's Leek, and Daffodil Garlic. All of them now have a space on our plot and I'm so excited! 

Eden Inspiration

We love going to the Eden Project in Cornwall. Admittedly the show stopper of the place is the fabulous Rainforest Biome. It's were all my dreams of growing tamarind and climbing trees come from. Also there is a big ass waterfall. But if you can pull yourself away from a rainforest in coastal Cornwall there is a huge amount of inspiration that you can take away with you for your own edible landscape.

The Mediterranean Biome - otherwise known as the one less likely to make you pass out - has more attainable edibles. Especially if you are blessed with the Devon coastal climate like we are. There are the herbs, the rosemary, basils, thymes. Stuff we're all well acquainted with. But have you thought about olives? We've had a single olive charming us with it's old man nature and evergreen leaves out on the balcony for three years or so. We've never had fruit because there isn't another one for it to make babies with so we scooped up two more olive trees in the Eden project shop. They are living on the allotment now and we're hoping to encourage them to perform.

He likes to stare out to sea and complain about the youth of today

Speaking of performances I was enticed by all of the wonderful chillies displaying their best. I've not really explored growing chillies before. I've bought the occasional plant but in more of an impulse buy than any well thought out effort to provide myself with all the heat I'll need. These two changed my mind.

The charmingly named 'Stumpy'

The appallingly whimsically named 'Fairy Lights' 

Of course we picked up seeds in the shop. From Sea Spring Seeds if you are interested.

Our other main inspiration stop was the Global Allotment. Which is the allotment I'd like mine to look like in a parallel universe where I could get permission for a Banana Tree.

Can't exactly get this one past the committee

It was full of stunning edibles that aren't that unusual on our plates but raise eyebrows when they are in our plots.

I'll give you three guesses

I also love the plant markers.

Both of these can be grown from supermarket produce (if your supermarket sells lemon grass and tumeric that is) so I didn't buy any of them in the shop.

So did I mention Eden Project has a shop? Well it does and it's not your average souvenir shop. If it was my local garden centre I'd be there all the time. As it's not I'll just wish it was and drop a bunch of cash each time we go out there. Why? Well...

• The book selection is amazing. They have not just a book but a good book for any aspect of sustainable living you can think of. 
• They have a really cool deli section with lovely local produce. Get a big tub of the Cornish sea salt if you've never had it before. 
• T-shirts. Eden project logo, well made and adorable. 
• All of the ethical goods you can think of 

and then...

• gardening supplies

From the amazing, huge and - frankly - orgasmic selection of seeds and plants we took home... a lot. We promised ourselves a miniature tea plantation as a wedding present and finally got around to buying our first tea plant. It's out on the allotment now, we'll tuck it under fleece in case of cold weather and this time next year I expect to be sipping home grown green tea. The other plant we took home, this time for a life of indoor/outdoor living is a kafir lime. I imagine it's leaves are going to get exploited around here soon too. 

Following on from other inspirations we picked up some Quinoa seeds, some French Beans (Triofono Violetto) recommended by Gayla Trail and some tulip bulbs as fallen in love with on our honeymoon. I've always though tat plants make the best reminder of an amazing trip. 

A Cheats Way To Plant More Bee Friendly Crops In Your Veg Plot

Just let things bolt. And when you see a bee drunk on pollen, all over the globe artichoke you didn't pick you'll see why.

There are other benefits too like edible flowers and self seeding. But that's a really happy bumblebee.

Grow Write Guild Prompt #10: Write about a plant that you do not understand. You tried. It died. What does it want?

Beetroot you bastard. It's not that I don't appreciate you. I adore you, you know I adore you. I go out of my way to buy you. I willingly pay for you. How can I love you more than that? And when I get you home I put you into a red flannel hash. And it seems like we are friends. We are friends aren't we?

Then why won't you grow? I've tried all different varieties: Cylindra, Boltardy, White, Choggia, Detroit. And the best you can do is a minuscule swell and a frantic bolt. I get that you might not like the conditions on the balcony. I try to put you in the biggest pots but still it's hot and dry. I'm sorry that I sowed you at just the wrong time this year. I'm sorry that you germinated to be met by a freak and harsh frost.

I'll do better. I'll do anything. so when I do my autumn sowing won't you grow for me?

[This post was written as a response to the 10th prompt of Gayla Trail's Grow Write Guild. Check it out.]

Allium Harvest

With the leaves starting to dry and fall over it was time to pull our onions and garlic. I had a great time with the onions this year. I didn't want to put them into traditional rows or just mix them up and put them all over the place so I mixed the traditional rows with my more polyculture-mishmash by panting them in a row along the path. They grew up big and strong and I got about 15 this year. Not too bad considering how pain in the ass our plot has been. 

The garlic was disappointing. It barely formed cloves. I think the long cold spell knocked them back, they weren't able to put on weight before it was time for them to die off. We planted loads though so we ended up with a fair few bulbs even thought they are tiny.

Next year I want more onions probably around 25 white, 25 red. The quantity of garlic was okay. I guess I'll just have to prey for better conditions next year. And I'm hoping to get some shallots this year. We didn't have enough space at the right time to get them in this time around. Next year though.

While I'm waiting for next year I'm going to get some bhajis on. 

Grow Write Guild Prompt #9: Change the lyrics of a song to reflect your relationship with a particular plant or food crop

So this challenge was technically about changing the lyrics to a song but as I have a) terrible taste in music and b) no sense of rhythm I picked a poem. Sorry.

I flicked through my portable Dorothy Parker and found last years poem. I present it here unchanged.

The Apple Tree

When first we saw the apple tree

The boughs were dark and straight,

But never grief to give had we,

Though Spring delayed so late.

When last I came away from there

The boughs were heavy hung,

But little grief had I to spare

For Summer, perished young. 

But this year requires a little butchering. My apologies to Ms Parker.

First Year's Growing (which may be based on The Lady's Reward)

Lady, lady, never start

To turn your plot with all your heart;

Keep you grass looking green;

Or your neighbours might get mean.

If your fruit you want to cook,

Net it from that god damn rook,

Never allow the weeds to grow;

So tall you cannot use the hoe

With this weather you'll need to pray

To get a cherry flower in May.

Lady, lady, never speak

Of how much you hate leek-

She will never make friends, whose

Planting follows an unusual muse

Never complain your plot is bad,

They'll think for you it's just a fad.

Never let on you know what to do,

Or you'll get a talking to-

And if you get some veggies, kid,

You’ll be the first that ever did.

 

I know, I know. I actually getting veggies but the the yields are low because it's our first year and anyway it rhymes so there.

A second idea comes from Stephen who is convinced that Green Day's Good Riddance opens with 'Another turnip on the fork stuck in the road'

[This post was written as a response to the 9th prompt of Gayla Trail's Grow Write Guild. Check it out.]

Silver Linings (are red)

Although I'm still annoyed by the pests on the allotment, although I haven't been able to grow much and although the amount of work to do seems massive there is still joy to be found.

A peace offering from my plot.

This was my mid morning snack on Sunday. Enough to take the bitterness out of my mouth about another ants nest found and another slug attack.

I Bought A Book: Abundance

So regular readers will know that we love Alys Fowler and if she puts out a new book we are going to buy it. And regular readers will also know we love preserving. You can probably guess that I'm pretty happy with Abundance so let's just dive in with the details.

This book is much more than traditional preserving. It's beyond just chutneys and jam. It does that too and we'll get to that later but for now we'll start at the beginning. The first chapter of this book is called 'On Growing'. This is a book on preserving that starts with advice on how to grow things worth preserving. So awesome. The list of vegetable varieties best for home growing and old fashioned storage is invaluable to me.

The book then talks you through storing your vegetables (including an amazing idea for a modern take on the clamp) before landing on drying. There is advice on drying whole fruit, vegetable crisps, tomatoes and, well, most things you can grow. I gave the fruit leather a whirl. I've made fruit leathers a bunch of times before but this time I made a thrifty batch of blackcurrant crumble from pulp leftover from cordial making.

Chive Blossom Vinager

From the pickling section I went straight for herb vinegar. I had some chive blossoms appearing on the balcony so I put them into white vinegar for a week. After a strain I bottled it up and gave it a tentative taste. Delicious. I'm also looking forward to pickling fennel and doing some Beetroot Marmalade as the season marches on.

Salamoia Bolognese

The fermenting chapter excites me. I haven't fermented before (on purpose, that is) and now I'm super excited to get some sauerkraut started and for my cucumbers to grow up enough for dill pickles. While I assemble my kit for that I picked a really simple recipe to play with. I have a Rosemary on the balcony and a sage on the allotment so I made the Dry Salted Salamoia Bolognese. I swear I swooned taking the picture of it. It smells so delicious.

The next chapter, On Sugar, has the lovely jams and jellies. It also displays the best thing about this book perfectly. There are by the numbers recipes for beginners but if you want to experiment you are totally supported. All the whys are explained in an accessible way so you can put them to good use coming up with your own interpretations. I made some blackcurrant jam using the basic jam recipe and, on the advice of the book, cut my usual level of sugar to make a much more subtle tasting jam.

Sugary Trio - Cordial, Jam, Leather

On Bottling continues with the theme of amazing advice and exciting recipes. I made some cordial from blackcurrants. If you are wondering where all those blackcurrants come from at this time of year I'll tell you. They where in my freezer. Lori from Shute Fruit suggested that if you come into a great deal of fruit in summer you can freeze it to make jam out of season. It might sound counter-intuitive but last year when I was working as a gardener and brought home 3kg of blackcurrants (and picked so, so much more) it was all I could do. I whipped them out for this trio of jam, leather and cordial.

Back to the book but on the subject of freezing, On freezing is the next chapter with helpful tips about what goes in the freezer and how long for. I'm intrigued by the broad bean Falafels. The last chapter was the most intriguing to me, and one I could definitely read a whole other book on. It talks about the top to tail eating concept and applies it to vegetables. Which is so amazing I don't even know where to start. If I didn't save my carrot tops for dyeing I'd totally try out the Carrot Top Pesto.

So my advice? Go, go buy this one now. It's amazing.

Abundance: How to Store and Preserve Your Garden Produce Growing Harvesting Drying Pickling Fermenting Bottling Freezing

A list of things I hate

Part of growing in an organic system is that you wait to see if you have a problem before dealing with it. So I have a problem. Or two.

Some people say this is fascinating animal behaviour, I say it's creepy

Ants

I knew we had ants nests on the allotment but I assumed that the disruption of digging the things over would have disrupted them enough for them to get the hell out. No. I still have ants. I hate them.

Yeah, just creepy

There where way more ants then we thought and even though I've personally put an end to three queens there are still far to many to grow successfully. They disrupt my seedlings, they eat my strawberries. They must be stopped. We're looking into traps.

Also evil, they are my favorites

Slugs

Just... carnage

My usual slug prevention method is to over plant and remove them as I see them. Possibly because so much of the allotment still counts as wilderness we're still getting a lot of slugs. Too many places to hide. again they are decimating my crops and stopping any seedlings from getting past the adorable baby stage. We may have to take drastic action here.

Even the nasturtiums? It's so ON.

Allotment Inheritance

When we got the allotment we noticed two things. One was a closely shaven crop of weeds, the other was the huge ass artichoke plant in the middle. Last year we cut a few of the artichokes off to give to friends, cut down the flowering spikes at the end of the season and then proceeded to do absolutely no maintenance on it.

Looking good (and like an artichoke)

Despite dire warnings it didn't die and this year we are ready with a fresh crop. Despite the insistence of some people it is a fresh crop of artichokes not cardoons.

Let's take a rant break. A man complimented me on my lovely cardoons, I corrected him and told him they where artichokes. He continued to tell me the merits of cardoons. Why he didn't believe me I don't know but our conversation continued in that vein. Considering a t-shirt that says 'despite having boobs I do know my shit' but I suspect I'd wear it out pretty quickly.

Soaked and ready for extensive prep 

Let's get back to me and artichokes. I've had them before, notably at the Riverford Field Kitchen, and I'm okay with them. But as I'm only okay with them and not madly in love the amount of prep that goes into cooking them seems excessive. I've managed to avoid it for a while. But as I'm growing my own I may as well steam some and see what happens.

What happened was this

• I spent forever chopping off the inedible bits
• I spent another forever steaming the edible bits
• by the time they were done I was really hungry

So I did the old gardeners trick of toss random steamed vegetable with pasta (and a little roasted red pepper, possibly some cheese... I forget) and it was... okay.

Now eat, and rest

So the verdict on my inherited artichokes. Well I'm going to keep them around and I may even eat some instead of just forcing them off on friends. It's a stunning plant, I'm glad it's there and I don't think it tastes too bad either.  

Breaking the rules and trusting the plants

Gardening has rules. It's true. Some of them are 'rules' old gardeners tales passed on. You're supposed to plant bulbs with the top pointing up but try pointing it down sometimes and see what happens (spoiler: it grows) Some rules are worth following though and this post is about how I broke one of those.

Move plants when they are dormant. It's simple. When plants are dormant they have pulled all their energy in on themselves and that's the best time to move them. However sometimes a plant just needs to be moved. And you can't wait for a better time.

Six inches too high. Either it goes or it's roots have nowhere to rest

Out allotment is tiered and we've made the decision to take some of those tiers out. Some are impractically small, some are mostly caved in anyway, so whatever. We decided to get rid of some of those tiers so earth is being shunted around right now.

A rhubarb was sitting precariously on top of a pile of earth that needed moving. We didn't always know this. When we got the allotment it had been cut down so we couldn't see the rhubarb there. Then we put a mulch over that part of the plot. In March when I removed the mulch there was a rhubarb. Surprise.

So I wasn't attached to the rhubarb. I didn't put it in and I really only like eating it one way. As I needed the ground beneath it to be six inches lower I had two choices: move or kill.

New home, please don't ask about the broken glass. 

Not to look a gift plant in the whatever I moved it. At the wrong time of year. But you know plants will generally put up with a bit of rough treatment. Their purpose is to grow after all. I'm also giving it a gentle start with some pampering.

I say pampering, it looks a lot like carnage. After being moved plants can undergo transplant shock, their roots aren't making the same sort of contact and everything is different. They aren't getting the nutrients that they need. The outer leaves are a great big energy suck for them. Leave them in and they'll go flaccid, weakening the plants in an effort to respire.

With A Haircut

So it's worth it to cut everything down to the young growth. It gives the plant less to do so it can concentrate all it's energy on establishing it's roots. There's still no guarantee it will thrive but taking a risk with rhubarb is better than having none at all.

Grow Write Guild Prompt #7: Write about one plant that is currently in bloom

I'm often telling people who ask that I don't know anything about flowers. I'm a vegetable grower. I barely know a tulip from a daffodil, I'm not even going to attempt tulip vs narcissus.

In bloom, battered and beautiful

There are flowers I do know. Flowers I've picked to sell to local restaurants: borage, fennel, rocket, nasturtium, viola, elder, wild garlic, chive, dianthus, pea, broad bean, brassica flowers, calendula. Flowers I've dyed with: Californian poppies, calendula again, dandelion. Flowers that grew on the playground: daisy, dandelion, buttercup. And yes, even flowers I just like the look of: aquilegia, sweet peas, valerian, lilies.

It is a quirk of my brain that when asked to think of one - just one - I go ahead and think of those 22. Even narrowing it down to just those in bloom now it's still a big list. Instead I pick one that isn't on it at all.

Five white petals, yellow in the centre, barely noticeable and one of my favourite things

The strawberries are in bloom.

The flower of a fruit is the greatest flower of them all. It warms my veg growers soul. It turns into food. The petals drop, the centre pushes outwards, the colour changes from green to red. A strawberry flower is the most delicious promise hidden in the delicate, angelic white.

Promises, promises

[This post was written as a response to the 6th prompt of Gayla Trail's Grow Write Guild. Check it out.]

Honeymoon In Bath: Things To Take Home

While we where in Bath we stopped at a couple of really cool gardens and parks. I came home with bags of ideas about designing spaces, planting combinations and fell in love with a few new plants. This post is to catalogue all that inspiration. Standby for pictures.

Things That I Could Possibly Do Now

Lettuce grown in teacups for baby leaf. How adorable.

Possibly for the first time in my life I fall in love with tulips especially when they are...

Precious specimen plants raised in gorgeous planers. Hostas, of course, are also edible

Things That Will Take A Little Planning 

The Herschel Museum handles it's small space really well, keeping you intrigued

Wisteria, another new love

One Day (Or Perhaps Just In Dreams)

If I had a lawn... wild parts and tightly clipped grass paths look fabulous.

Not in my lifetime, I don't think

In The Tool Box: Cobra Head Weeder and Cultivator

I am a child of consumerism. I wish I wasn't. I'm a smart person. Smart enough to know when I'm being advertised too, smart enough to know that I'm being sold a disposable life style practically all the time and smart enough to know that it isn't a good thing. I'm as self aware as I am smart though and I have to admit that part of me wants it to be true. Part of me want to believe that this product will revolutionise my life. Okay, not the whole of my life but the bits of it that the product is relevant to at least.

Sometimes I've been right: there's the Vitamix, MAC lipstick, a flattering overcoat, the iPad. Mostly I'm wrong as evidenced by Urban Decay nail polish, interchangeable knitting needles, and about half a dozen lifestyle books that I bought before I gave up buying lifestyle books.

I'd given the Cobra Head had a big mental build up. I saw it. I thought I must have it. I imagined all I could do with it. I grumbled at every task I had to do without it. I begged Stephen to buy me one. For the good of the allotment! And he ordered me one. From America. A whole other country.

It's covered in mud or it isn't a tool.

Therefore the question that this review seeks to answer is does the Cobra Head live up to the hype that I piled upon it. The answer is yes, hell yes. You could stop reading now and just order one but if three words aren't enough to convince you after suffering through my long rambling opening paragraphs read on.

The Things At Which I've Found My Cobra Head To Be Very Good At

I've been using the cobra head for almost everything since I got it but yesterday I set aside a test bed around 50 cm by 50 cm to display what the Cobra Head is awesome for.

This bed, in between the grass path and the wood that is holding some horticultural fleece down is full of weeds. It wasn't two months ago. The weeds are mostly annuals, young annuals, with one or two perennials that escaped the last weeding.

I could dig this over but I want to disturb as little of the soil structure as possible. Digging that small of a space would be awkward anyway. I could hoe but some of the weeds have gotten large enough to make that a pain, and I'd loose track of the perennials before I could get their roots out. Along the back are some willow cuttings that I need to be delicate around so large tools, again, aren't going to be ideal.

What I'd do ordinarily is take out the perennials, probably with a fork, take out the larger annuals with a hand fork and then hoe over the rest. Using three tools, a quite a bit of time and a lot of the energy I don't always have to spare. Instead: Cobra Head.

First the docks and dandelions. The Cobra Head is built for this, it's sharp end tunnels down and dislodges the root. At least enough for me to get my hands down there and pull. It is an efficient tool, disturbing as little of the surrounding area as possible which is great for my poly-culture hodgepodge of a planting scheme.

Then the larger annuals get plucked out, grab hold of the tops and the cobra head goes in just enough to pull the roots. After that I just scuffled the weed seedlings out as if I were hoeing, leaving them there to die in yesterday's harsh wind.

Then I dropped a pile of dead grass on it, which kind of screwed up the after shot and had no horticultural benefit as far as I know.

Finally I used the cobra head to put some new plugs in there. When the weeds pop up back around them the cobra head will be perfect for taking them out without harming the plants I want. All of that took twenty minutes or so, could probably have done it in less had I not been messing around with a camera.

I'm in love with my cobra head and I'm sure the more I use it the more uses I'll find for it. Unfortunately the only way you can get one in the UK is order them direct from the manufacturer, it's a bit of a pain but even with shipping with the US it works out fairly cheap. At the very least check them out, but you really will want to buy one.