Leeks seeds and early cauli

Of all the seeds popping up at present it is the leek seeds that make me smile. They come folded over and then straighten up and often keep the seed husks like little caps!  These are a new variety for us - Crusader F1, just for a change as we have grown the old Mussleborough for some years.  You can see more of our seed sowing on YouTube channel Grow to eat.

We are still getting a few veg from last year from outside. Tops of Brussel sprouts and odd bit of kale that is quickly going to seed. Usually we have Cauliflower in the poly tunnel to fill that gap but this years have not really come to much. This very small head today. Well, it is fresh and supplements BirdsE frozen peas!

Sigh. Had to buy some carrots this week. First for over two years.

Come on spring I need fresh veg!!

Organic?

I went to the induction day to become a volunteer Master Gardener on Saturday.

I will talk more about the role of encouraging people to grow more food themselves and the organisation in the future  but as I had to take two buses to get there I had plenty of time to contemplate what to say if asked "Was I organic?".

I certainly don't pay out deliberately for things labelled organic - for the garden or in our food consumption.
If it meant rescuing a plant from devastation I may well reach for some sort of spray but would check its harmful side effects first. I might even give up on those grounds (but more likely not bother if it was an expense!).
I compost and recycle.
I keep plastic use to a minimum and keep it off our land.
Look after and try and improve growing area soil.

OK. As I neared the door I felt quite confident.

Turned out they were lovely people and their definition was

"A practical way of producing food that makes best use of resources and works with the environment".

Came away thinking, yes I can do this! Which was a boost as retiring can knock your self confidence a bit.

So I may include a bit more about gardening in this blog and include news of things a Master Gardener may do.  I would encourage any keen gardener to join in!  www.gardenorganic.org.uk  (formerly Henry Doubleday research).

Climate ex

Exchange, eliminate, revolution, whatever it is currently.   I personally I have been irritated by the disruptive behaviour on climate awareness. Not that I disagree with them, just how they are going about it.

Found it hilarious the other day on TV News from London when a commuter opened his briefcase and threw his sandwich box at the protesters on the top of the tube. But mostly I thought what a waste of food!

We are crossing central London in the next few days I have had to solemnly swear to my husband that I will not engage in any knee capping of Climate protesters.  I did point out that the two weeks they have spent on the streets disrupting traffic and people's working lives that we have probably done more good than them. We have:

• planted another tree (our 30th in 5 years)
• ordered another 20 feet of native hedgerow plants to extend our 60 feet of established hedging 
• sown winter vegetables to avoid any food miles for fresh food
• filled another wheelie bin with recycling waste (our council take nearly everything and provide a full size wheelie bin for it). This time I topped it up with old paper correspondence and out of date leaflets.
• used scrap wood for our fire in the evenings rather than turn on the oil fired heating. And put the nails from the pallet wood in a bucket for metal recycling later.

I wonder what each of the Climate protesters has done to make a positive lessening of their personal footprints?  If they had all gone and planted a tree as well as just making a noise UK would be considerably nearer its tree planting/re foresting target!!

Now dear, what about any Remainder protesters? Am I allow to......

Summer veg

Now all the family have departed for other holiday destinations I can have the time to reflect on the veg garden.  Plus its too hot to do much outside although I am taking the opportunity to wash blankets and pillows!

Like everyone else there have been days this year when we have wanted to give up gardening.  Cold winter, long difficult early spring then the "big dry". 

What went well?
Broad beans - very light crop with loads of black fly. Enough from one single row as I don't particularly like them.
Dwarf French beans - despite looking poorly when they went in and got cold and blasted by easterly winds are cropping well despite not being very big plants at all.

Washing up bowl full one day.

Courgettes - again plants took a while too get going and now won't stop, Pleas all round for NO MORE courgettes for tea.

Tomatoes - slow, slow and much smaller than ever before but are now cropping well Sold 4lbs at the garden gate yesterday and have enough flowing through for tomato sauces and soups as needed for us.

Cucumbers - one big one every 2 or 3 days so more than enough for us and the visiting grandkids who all adore slices and would prefer that to sweets.

Peas - surprising left alone by pigeons and we had loads off a short 6 ft row. Grandchildren loved to help pod these and it teaches them where food comes from (city dwellers - peas come from Tes**cos!!).

Carrots - only managed to get one row and second sowing to come up as it was much too ho for germination. Husband watered a lot and now we have fairly decent crop.  Had a thunderstorm last weekend so he quickly re rotovated where the broad beans were and put in 2 more rows in the damp soil.  Hotter now so not much hope there.

Runner beans - weird.  No other word for it. Multi stems all from the base and very thin at top of poles. Beans are small, short in length and liable to go to seed quickly,  Had a sneek round a few veg plots on way round village and most people's seem the same.

Cabbage - look like lace with so many white cabbage butterfly but they are big. Pity no one wants to eat them as hot meals are just not wanted.
Leeks - good crop as they went in early, may be going to seed and again no one wants much hot food at present so I am hoping they last out til Sept.
Broccoli - came and went with very small heads withing days.  Got a couple of meals and some soup.
Parsnips - poor germination but after the one day of rain those that are there are putting in some growth for the winter.
Potatoes - poor, the seed pots were effected by cold in the shed, made early growth then just stopped when it went over 25C.  What we have dug have been small and very dry to cook with, just as they turn soft enough for boiled they go to mush in the pan.  Not bad roasted but again who wants the oven on?
Sweet corn - very short but put on 2 feet after the thunderstorm and we straightened the flattened ones back up.  The soil was so dry they were tossed about in the winds as the storm raged round us. Thanks to hares eating the side shoots early on there are some plants with no cobs but some are doing well.  A light crop predicted.
Lettuce - I should have photo'd those! Have you ever seen lettuce literally cooked in the ground?Husband has replanted among the shade cast by tomatoes plants and meanwhile I am BUYING lettuce to go with cucumbers and toms.
Radish - great early crops but later ones devastated by flea beetle.  So easing off planting more.
Spring onions - good crop off the seeds on a tape.  Really recommend the ease of this.  But we have not used them all up quickly enough and they are getting big and tough now.
Onions - grow from seed this year and have done really well.  Ready to use and mostly medium sized.
I will stop by soon and reflect on the fruit crop.  Just remembered the one task I was going to try to do today which will take 20 mins outside - if I can stand the heat as it is all ready 29.8C at 10.30 am.

Shower water

Every morning I shower using the bath with the plug in and try not to use too much soap and stuff. When done, I scoop a big bucket of water out and use it to keep this trough watered.

Well worth the effort.

Do you remember milk bags?

I was putting the last of the stored kitchen items into the backs of the new kitchen cupboards when I found this un-used Jugit for use with milk bags.

It was the eco idea of 2010 to replace milk cartons. You brought 1.5 lt bags and put in the jug where a spout pierced the bag.

When it first came out the price of the milk bags undercut cartons. After a few months the price crept up and the stocks became unreliable in supermarkets.  I remember I went over to 6 pint cartons about then - saving the number of cartons I put in recycling and getting a good unit price. Only once failing to use up the milk before it went off.

It was a good idea and if the bags could be recycled too in the UK (they can be, apparently it happens in Canada) because you can freeze the bags easily. 

I did see that the milk bags and jugs in use in a Costa this week - I assume it saves lots of space in not putting hundreds of big milk cartons in their commercial city centre bins.

Now I wonder what use I can put the jug too??  If I can't think of something soon I think hoarding it for 8 years is long enough!!

Hot here but..

It may be hot here and dry but I am not going to complain - we could be living in this village in Greenland being threatened by an iceberg.  See this link to BBC News

Looking out of our windows all I can see is quickly ripening cereals and patchy crops of potatoes. If you look carefully at the crops there are lots of gaps in the rows where nothing has come up.  It will definitely be a low harvest for potatoes and an early one for cereals.

Interesting stranger

We were having lunch in a cafe (cum shop cum community hall) in a small village on the coast of Skye last week when we and a holidaying Scottish couple got chatting to a young Swiss backpacker.

He is going overland through Europe to South America (via Japan/Russia) without using air transport. Apparently he runs a solor panel installation scheme in Switzerland so is very interested in being carbon neutral in life.  https://www.footprintless.org/


The Scots couple were trying to explain the idea of a Bothy (free basic shelter) and how he may find one by a lough somewhere nearby on a mountain trail.  My husband was trying to explain the weather forecast was for rain in the late evening and my (motherly) brain was trying to commute his route round the world if he was in Scotland having come from Ireland via France by hitchhiking. Was he sure he wanted to go via Korea?

We were talking about getting up to the Faroe Islands and going to Denmark by ship.  I was sure one of our neighbour's friends had contacts in Faroes so promised to get some information and introductions when we went home ourselves.

As a mother of similar aged young males - I am admiring and worrying in equal measures.