Garlic

The Edible Quote

Regarding the general Seminis [Monsanto’s vegetable Division] business in Africa, the main project is the hybridisation program where Monsanto is actively working in all areas to convert growers from growing open pollinated varieties to hybrid varieties.

~ Monsanto Website

Garlic

The Strange Case of the Organic Jekyll and Hyde

When one uses the term “Organic” with reference to food consumed by the general populace, it tends to conjure up warm fuzzy feelings about good farming practices and people up to their elbows in compost and earthworms. The truth is however slightly different.

It’s taken me a while to write this post as I’ve been struggling with how I’d like to present the argument and at the same time be rational and fair to all of the truly organic players in the market. I have a particular bug-bear with the term “organic”, as I feel that it’s been overused and prostituted for the benefit of corporate interests and skillful swindlers at some accreditation agencies. I’d also like to preface my discussion below with a clause that I make no claim to be an expert, this is my opinion and I’d like it to be seen as such.

Broadly speaking there are two kinds of organic growing going on in the world. The first is the warm fuzzy kind, where gardeners, growers and farmers are actively looking at ways to improve the soil health, nutrient and organic content within their soil. They make tons of compost every year, practice no-till, and generally care more for their soil than they do for the actual plants that they are growing in it. Truly organic farmers are actually soil farmers, with a vegetable byproduct. This is what organic farming should be all about, where the soil gets a chance to provide the nutrients, sustenance and protection to the plant that it was originally designed to do. Once one gets to this stage you will be amazed at the response you get from the seeds and plants that live in your soil.

I’m going to use my own property as an example and explain what we do, as this in my mind is exactly what should be happening if someone would like to make an organic claim on their property or their produce.

When opening a new piece of ground for planting we will either use black plastic over well watered ground, this is to exclude light from the grass that is growing there and thus kill it, or we will just remove the existing grass, form beds and plant straight into the soil.

Once the plants have “gotten away” we will start to add compost / vermicompost on top of the beds and allow the soil organisms to take the nutrients into the soil. Typically we will apply a top dressing like this 2-3 times a year. Once a crop has been harvested we will either leave the remains of the crop in the bed allowing it to break-down naturally, or it will be lifted and put onto the compost heap. Our compost is made with the chimney method and we find it the best way to get plenty of compost quickly.

There are NO other supplements that we add to our plants or soil.

When I say no other supplements I mean NO other supplements, not an organic fertilizer, nor an organic pesticide nothing, not even homemade remedies…. nada, squat, zilch!!! The soil looks after the plants and in-turn we get great produce.

Now, it will take about 3 years using the above process to get soil to a point where it has a great nutrient and “gogga” population that will allow the plants to react favorably when they come under attack or stress from external sources (insects/disease etc). Just remember that you will never have a plant population that is always 100% pest/disease free, even if you use chemicals and toxins to “help” the plant. The minute one adds a chemical (whether organically certified or not) to the plant or soil you are detrimentally affecting the soils health, as well as the macro and micro organisms that make up the soils ecology. We sometimes loose an entire crop to some kind of failure, be it caused by weather, insects, disease or even simply poor conditions for that crop. That is one of the things that as a truly organic grower you will need to learn to accept.

Now let’s get to the other side of “organic farming/gardening”. This is where conventional farming practices are used, but instead of conventional fertilizers, chemicals and toxins to produce the crop, the farmer uses “organically certified” fertilizers, chemicals and toxins. There’s minimal emphasis by the farmer with regards to his soil health nor is there an emphasis on increasing the organic content of his soil. People something is wrong here when a person can still put chemicals onto plants/soil (yeah I know they are organic chemicals) and then claim that they are organic. This is generally what you buy in the stores as organic produce. It may be certified organic but there is a good chance that it never followed the “natural” principles of organic farming.

One cannot rip the soil up with a plow, throw on some organic fertilizer to give nutrients to the plants and then expect that the plants must fend for themselves. It’s the soil that does most of the work, it’s the soil that releases nutrients for the plants to take up, and it’s the soil that is literally the immune system of your vegetable garden. Once you tamper with the soils health you tamper with the health of the plant, and in-turn you tamper with the nutrient content and quality of the food that is harvested from this soil.

I’d like to leave you with this question. How is your next organic purchase grown? It may be time to start asking for organic produce that is really grown organically.

When one uses the term “Organic” with reference to food consumed by the general populace, it tends to conjure up warm fuzzy feelings about good farming practices and people up to their elbows in compost and earthworms. The truth is however slightly different.

It’s taken me a while to write this post as I’ve been struggling with how I’d like to present the argument and at the same time be rational and fair to all of the truly organic players in the market. I have a particular bug-bear with the term “organic”, as I feel that it’s been overused and prostituted for the benefit of corporate interests and skillful swindlers at some accreditation agencies. I’d also like to preface my discussion below with a clause that I make no claim to be an expert, this is my opinion and I’d like it to be seen as such.

Broadly speaking there are two kinds of organic growing going on in the world. The first is the warm fuzzy kind, where gardeners, growers and farmers are actively looking at ways to improve the soil health, nutrient and organic content within their soil. They make tons of compost every year, practice no-till, and generally care more for their soil than they do for the actual plants that they are growing in it. Truly organic farmers are actually soil farmers, with a vegetable byproduct. This is what organic farming should be all about, where the soil gets a chance to provide the nutrients, sustenance and protection to the plant that it was originally designed to do. Once one gets to this stage you will be amazed at the response you get from the seeds and plants that live in your soil.

I’m going to use my own property as an example and explain what we do, as this in my mind is exactly what should be happening if someone would like to make an organic claim on their property or their produce.

When opening a new piece of ground for planting we will either use black plastic over well watered ground, this is to exclude light from the grass that is growing there and thus kill it, or we will just remove the existing grass, form beds and plant straight into the soil.

Once the plants have “gotten away” we will start to add compost / vermicompost on top of the beds and allow the soil organisms to take the nutrients into the soil. Typically we will apply a top dressing like this 2-3 times a year. Once a crop has been harvested we will either leave the remains of the crop in the bed allowing it to break-down naturally, or it will be lifted and put onto the compost heap. Our compost is made with the chimney method and we find it the best way to get plenty of compost quickly.

There are NO other supplements that we add to our plants or soil.

When I say no other supplements I mean NO other supplements, not an organic fertilizer, nor an organic pesticide nothing, not even homemade remedies…. nada, squat, zilch!!! The soil looks after the plants and in-turn we get great produce.

Now, it will take about 3 years using the above process to get soil to a point where it has a great nutrient and “gogga” population that will allow the plants to react favorably when they come under attack or stress from external sources (insects/disease etc). Just remember that you will never have a plant population that is always 100% pest/disease free, even if you use chemicals and toxins to “help” the plant. The minute one adds a chemical (whether organically certified or not) to the plant or soil you are detrimentally affecting the soils health, as well as the macro and micro organisms that make up the soils ecology. We sometimes loose an entire crop to some kind of failure, be it caused by weather, insects, disease or even simply poor conditions for that crop. That is one of the things that as a truly organic grower you will need to learn to accept.

Now let’s get to the other side of “organic farming/gardening”. This is where conventional farming practices are used, but instead of conventional fertilizers, chemicals and toxins to produce the crop, the farmer uses “organically certified” fertilizers, chemicals and toxins. There’s minimal emphasis by the farmer with regards to his soil health nor is there an emphasis on increasing the organic content of his soil. People something is wrong here when a person can still put chemicals onto plants/soil (yeah I know they are organic chemicals) and then claim that they are organic. This is generally what you buy in the stores as organic produce. It may be certified organic but there is a good chance that it never followed the “natural” principles of organic farming.

One cannot rip the soil up with a plow, throw on some organic fertilizer to give nutrients to the plants and then expect that the plants must fend for themselves. It’s the soil that does most of the work, it’s the soil that releases nutrients for the plants to take up, and it’s the soil that is literally the immune system of your vegetable garden. Once you tamper with the soils health you tamper with the health of the plant, and in-turn you tamper with the nutrient content and quality of the food that is harvested from this soil.

I’d like to leave you with this question. How is your next organic purchase grown? It may be time to start asking for organic produce that is really grown organically.

Garlic

The Flipside of GM Seed.

In this last week I’ve had two emails from people that are concerned about the effects on GM on our food security. I’ll come to the two mails shortly, however I’d like to lay a foundation as to why we are in the predicament that we are.

We are in a predicament you say? Howso? Well to start off South Africa is the only country in Africa that has embraced the GM seed houses with their efforts to rid the world of Open Pollinated and Heirloom seeds. Every other African country has turned away from the tide of GM food and many other countries will only accept food aid if the whole grain has been crushed to ensure that this seed cannot be planted and infect their own local crops. In my opinion it’s a hard thing to do but in the long run it many actually protect these countries in the future, when GM crops are the only ones available on the open market.

In South Africa, we eat GM food and GM derived foods every day… without us knowing it. The current estimation (2010) is that more than 75% of our maize production is GM, if you eat soya, canola, sunflower  and many other staple food you will be almost guaranteed to be ingesting some of them. It’s hard to believe but South Africans eat GM foods every single day.

A large percentage of the meat produced in South Africa is produced with the aid of feedlots, whether Beef, Lamb/Mutton, Pork or Chicken. GM grains are used to feed these animals to get them to a point where it’s economical to slaughter them. In-turn you are eating GM organisms that are transferred unadulterated into your system where they in turn can do damage to your own system. The term Grain-Fed in any meat product is possible the worst thing you can put into your body, as none of the aforementioned animals eat grain in their diets naturally. They are either grazers or omnivores and only a very small portion of their diet is naturally made up with grain. Their digestive systems are not designed to break-down large quantities of grain. They are kept in cramped feedlots and grain is fed to get them to a point where it’s worthwhile (economically) to slaughter them. The faster they can turn a feedlot around and get the next batch in, the more profit they make. No thought is given to the animals or the proper environment that the animals need for a quality life.

Grass fed and free-range animals on the other hand, get a choice as to what they want to eat, and naturally they will eat what they prefer. This form of animal raising takes a while longer, but the meat that is produced is infinitely better. Better flavored, better for your health and better for the animal. There are scientific tests that are available that prove that eating grass fed beef/mutton will actually LOWER your cholesterol level. Not something that the feed-lot industry would like you to know about. (Much like the “no MSG Added” clap-trap, just be careful about the marketing ploy of grass finished beef/mutton, it’s not the same as grass fed)

So that’s just one example of how South Africans eat GM foods, I could go on with all sorts of things like Milk, Yogurt, cheese, Margarine (do you still eat that stuff?), Cooking oil, Mielie Pap, Corn Chips, Your kids cookies, or your babies formula and even your favorite cereal are just a few examples of GM infected food stuffs that you put into your and your families mouths.

In fact in today’s South Africa, if you buy a processed food you are almost always infecting your kids with a GM contaminated ingredient.

Tina sent me a mail about GM and it’s effects on our feed security. Her concern is outlined in the following extract

“I shudder to think of the possibility of GM seed cross pollinating with Rural farmer indigenous and Heirloom maize Varieties and feel that we as seed savers should do something about it!

On a more serious note this is a massive threat to our food security for the future, if Their GM maize infiltrates local varieties and open pollinated seed what happens then?”

My answer is twofold. First, the problem has already started! Our Government is already distributing GM seed (with the help of the GM Seed Houses) to rural communities for them to plant. This in effect allows GM pollen to infect neighboring crops, this in turn will create a crisis when the GM seed houses decide to prosecute locals for “infringing” on their patents. However the biggest loss is that of traditional landraces, heirloom varieties and open pollinated varieties as these are all infected with GM pollen, the net effect is that GM houses will have the “intellectual rights” to historical varieties that have become infected with the GM pollen.

Secondly, once South Africa is at a point where ALL maize varieties are GM infected, we will have no option but to plant the GM seed stock and pay the royalties that the GM houses demand. This brings to mind a very pertinent quote from Catherine Bertini the Executive Director of the UN World Food Program. “Food is power! We use it to change behavior. Some may call that bribery. We do not apologize.” If and/or when this point is reached in your life, you will very possibly have to change your behavior to that which the UN decides is desirable. Free choice goes out the window, you will have to do as the UN says or you will not be able to feed your family. That I believe is where GM crops will pay a major role in subduing the farmer. Especially if terminator, traitor, gene-deleter and similar gene’s are allowed to become a standard feature in future GM seed production.

The next mail comes from Martinette a friend of mine and is in fact a link to a site that has picked up on alarming weed resistance in the US to glyphosphates (Trade name Roundup sold by Monsanto). I’m not surprised by this and it just makes logical sense that resistant strains of many weed organisms will develop when any chemical control is implemented (One very good example are DDT resistant Mosquito’s in parts of Africa)

The scary thing for me is that Monsanto representatives are recommending that farmers use “Cocktails” of a number of different and potentially illegal chemicals to help control the resistant weeds. Note that it’s only the control and not eradication that they can do. What happens when these weeds develop a resistance to the new cocktail and even more dangerous mixes need to be made to once again “control” the new super resistant weeds?… or will they be called SuperHyper Resistant weeds???

Garlic

What’s in our Garden

At this time our season is winding down to late summer, we have many beds that are opening up for our winter planting and seed processing is high on our daily chore list. In the open beds we will be putting in Hard Red Winter Wheat, as well as a host of pea’s, cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, kale and some of the root crops like turnips, carrots and beetroot.

We now have to eat our way through a number of crops so that we can get to the seed and it’s a great way of gaining firsthand experience and taste tests on all of the new produce. We still have about 20 tomato varieties that need to ripen so that we can add the seed to our catalogue and then there are all the chilies that are almost ready for picking. Our corn varieties are almost ready and we have Krug Dent and Golden Beauty that will be up soon. The Indian Rainbow, Ciskei Mielies will soon follow and I’m really hoping that Stowell’s Evergreen Sweetcorn will make it before the first frosts, I did plant it a bit late. Our bean and pumpkin varieties are going to be great this coming year and you are in for a real treat.

As for the rest of our little farm we’ve had a run-in with some stock thieves that tried to make-off with some of our livestock but thankfully they were scared off before they could do any damage. Our lambing season has started and we have our first lamb (an ewe) of the season.

Garlic

Magic Shelf Issues

To illustrate a point, I’ll use a real life example. A friend’s daughter spent a few days over at our place in December. Dani is almost like a daughter to us, she is in fact the daughter of our closest personal friends. At dinner she said that she would like to help milk our cow the next morning. The next morning once most of the milking had been done, Dani got her chance at milking the cow, she was given a quick lesson in how a cow’s udder worked and an explanation on how to strip the milk from the teats. I must say that she did an admirable job on her first try. She was only given the opportunity to strip the last, so there was not much milk on offer (we normally do this with first timers) but she got about a cup’s worth of milk out. My wife said that she would strain the milk for her back at the house, and then she could drink it. Her immediate response was “Is it fresh?” we all had a good chuckle and thought it quite cute, however the implications of that seemingly innocent question are far reaching.

Another illustration which we have had a few times is the following scenario. We like to involve the children that visit us in collection of food that will go onto their plates, so they often help to lift, pick and clean veggies for our meals. We have come up against resistance and horror from these kids, as they say the veggies are not fit to eat because they have been grown in the dirt or they have dirt on them.

The only exposure that kids have to food production nowadays is the permanently stocked shelves in their local supermarket. These magical shelves are the sole providers of food, every time they walk into a store the shelves have food. The only fresh food is produced by these shelves! So if the food did not come out of a shop then it’s not fresh. If the food does not come in a clear poly bag, nicely washed and packaged it’s not fresh. If the food has not got a label on it…. It’s not fresh.

The daunting thing is, if food needs a label it’s probably not fresh.

Just think about that statement guys, when was the last time you ate a meal, just one meal where everything on your plate did not have a label? Even the fruits and veg in your local grocer or supermarket are individually labeled or bagged…….. Maybe it’s not just the kids that have magic shelf issues?

In some European towns we have seen farmers markets that literally appear and disappear in a matter of hours, these are held every day in some areas and as few as once a week in others, however one can walk up to the bakers stand and buy a few rolls or a loaf of real crust bread, stroll next door and buy some fresh veggies or maybe a seasonal entrée and a few meters further you can get some real smoke cured meats, we have even seen freshly slaughtered fowl available. All of the produce on offer was grown or produced by the seller. Often there is only a price and no description and one is hard pressed to identify what is on offer. It’s simple, one is expected to know what everything is….. just by looking at it.

In just one generation, the loss and lack of knowledge of the real food chain is astounding. Some kids genuinely believe that stores produce the food that they eat. They have no concept that there is a real live, dirty, smelly chain of events that needs to be performed EVERY DAY to ensure that these stores have food available on the shelves.

Society is so far removed from the often grubby and uncomfortable process of food manufacture that they do not, nor care to understand that food production is a process, they only see the final result of often an entire years hard work and effort. Most of this work and effort is by the farmer, a person whom they never see or meet and is often ridiculed and negatively stereotyped.

Most consumers only see the final product, the lifespan of that final product is often less than a few days, and sometimes even considerably less. No consideration is given to what was required to get that perfect, glossy, poly wrapped food item onto the magic shelf.

So guys, here’s the challenge. Try and eat one meal, just one, where everything is fresh. No labels and preferably locally grown. Drop me a mail with your adventure in trying to procure and eat a “real” fresh meal, I’d love to hear from you.

To illustrate a point, I’ll use a real life example. A friend’s daughter spent a few days over at our place in December. Dani is almost like a daughter to us, she is in fact the daughter of our closest personal friends. At dinner she said that she would like to help milk our cow the next morning. The next morning once most of the milking had been done, Dani got her chance at milking the cow, she was given a quick lesson in how a cow’s udder worked and an explanation on how to strip the milk from the teats. I must say that she did an admirable job on her first try. She was only given the opportunity to strip the last, so there was not much milk on offer (we normally do this with first timers) but she got about a cup’s worth of milk out. My wife said that she would strain the milk for her back at the house, and then she could drink it. Her immediate response was “Is it fresh?” we all had a good chuckle and thought it quite cute, however the implications of that seemingly innocent question are far reaching.

Another illustration which we have had a few times is the following scenario. We like to involve the children that visit us in collection of food that will go onto their plates, so they often help to lift, pick and clean veggies for our meals. We have come up against resistance and horror from these kids, as they say the veggies are not fit to eat because they have been grown in the dirt or they have dirt on them.

The only exposure that kids have to food production nowadays is the permanently stocked shelves in their local supermarket. These magical shelves are the sole providers of food, every time they walk into a store the shelves have food. The only fresh food is produced by these shelves! So if the food did not come out of a shop then it’s not fresh. If the food does not come in a clear poly bag, nicely washed and packaged it’s not fresh. If the food has not got a label on it…. It’s not fresh.

The daunting thing is, if food needs a label it’s probably not fresh.

Just think about that statement guys, when was the last time you ate a meal, just one meal where everything on your plate did not have a label? Even the fruits and veg in your local grocer or supermarket are individually labeled or bagged…….. Maybe it’s not just the kids that have magic shelf issues?

In some European towns we have seen farmers markets that appear and disappear in a matter of hours, these are held every day in some areas and as few as once a week in others, however one can walk up to the bakers stand and buy a few rolls or a loaf of real crust bread, stroll next door and buy some fresh veggies or maybe a seasonal entrée and a few meters further you can get some real smoke cured meats, we have even seen freshly slaughtered fowl available. All of the produce on offer was grown or produced by the seller. Often there is only a price and no description and one is hard pressed to identify what is on offer. It’s simple, one is expected to know what everything is….. just by looking at it.

In just one generation, the loss and lack of knowledge of the real food chain is astounding. Some kids genuinely believe that stores produce the food that they eat. They have no concept that there is a real live, dirty, smelly chain of events that needs to be performed EVERY DAY to ensure that these stores have food available on the shelves.

Society is so far removed from the often grubby and uncomfortable process of food manufacture that they do not, nor care to understand that food production is a process, they only see the final result of often an entire years hard work and effort. Most of this work and effort is by the farmer, a person whom they never see or meet and is often ridiculed and negatively stereotyped.

Most consumers only see the final product, the lifespan of that final product is often less than a few days, and sometimes even considerably less. No consideration is given to what was required to get that perfect, glossy, poly wrapped food item onto the magic shelf.

So guys, here’s the challenge. Try and eat one meal, just one, where everything is fresh. No labels and preferably locally grown. Drop me a mail with your adventure in trying to procure and eat a “real” fresh meal, I’d love to hear from you.

Garlic

What’s in our Garden

Well, we are still playing catch-up with our harvests, the first flush of tomatoes is slowing so we only do tomatoes every 3 days now, but it’s time to process other veggies, beetroot and carrots are high on the list. We have been picking pumpkins for a while now, and it’s nice to watch our stock of winter storage pumpkins growing. An update on the Atlantic giants, they seem to have recovered from the sever grazing from the bull, and it looks quite positive that we should get some fruits for seed, so don’t despair.  This just shows one of the benefits of no-till planting and good organic practices.

With all the rain in Gauteng over the last 2 weeks we have had a dreadful time with the melons, they just can’t take the excessive moisture, and have literally collapsed. The Moon and Stars melons however seem to be able to take the moisture and are still doing well.

Planting is going on again for winter and we have set out a number of seeds direct sown as well as seed raised in seed trays for transplant in a few weeks.

Garlic

What should you be planting now (Late Summer- Autumn)

It took me a few years to work out that a winter veggie garden is not planted just before or in winter. (OK I admit, I can be a tad slow) The winter garden is one that is planted in late summer or very early autumn, with very little planted in winter. In winter all growth either slows down or just plain stops. So to get your winter crops, most of what you are going to be eating will need to have 70-80% of its growth completed before winter sets in. It’s no use waking up in April or May and deciding to plant a winter garden. Now is the time, especially with most of summer behind us and only 3…maybe 4 growing months left, what can or should one put into the ground now?

Very simply you should be looking at short season crops and winter veggies. These two groups are very broad and many vegetables fall into both groups. I’ll start with the short season crops as this is what needs to go into the ground ASAP to make sure you get a few harvests in before autumn sets in and the first frosts start to paint the countryside white.

Bush beans are a great one but they need to be in before mid/late Jan. If you plant enough now you can get a good few kilo’s into the freezer before frost kills the plants. Give them plenty of mulch and organic matter to speed up growth and keep them at their best.

In the warmer area’s you can still plant some squashes, typically patty-pans, marrows or a quick crop of little gems. I find however that if we plant after Christmas we never get a good yield and the plants are plagued with mildew. So if you don’t mind spraying then go ahead.

Peas are a good late summer / autumn crop, we plant about 60 meters of double row peas every year. Our kids hate shelling the pea’s but always love to eat them. Where we live the heavy winter frosts kill the peas off, so we need to make sure everything is harvested before the heavy July frosts knock the plants out.

Carrots, now here is a good all year crop, you can basically plant them any time of the year except the dead of winter. Plant a few rows now and another in a month’s time. With the slowing of the seasons they will store quite well in the ground. Over winter we hardly ever lift our carrots as the winter chill keeps them dormant, and in the ground they stay fresh. If you have some of our Purple Dragon Carrots leave at least 10-15 plants in the ground and grow your own seed. Don’t incorporate fresh organic matter into your carrot planting as the organic matter will give you deformed roots. Rather plant the carrots into a bed that was well improved for the previous crop.

Beetroot, also another good all season crop, treat it the same way as your carrots and either process a whole lot or leave in the ground and use as needed. We often do a few meals with the small sweet plum sized beets that are thinned out to make space for the ones growing on. The young leaves also make a great addition to salads.

Spinach is a crop that just keeps giving. Plant a few and reap the rewards. My wife makes our spinach in a simple way that just brings out the flavor. Fry up some onions until they are clear, add some water (1/4 cup) add finely chopped potato until it’s reduced to mush, then add the chopped spinach and let it simmer down. Add Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. It’s also good to make a huge pot and freeze the balance for later.

Lettuce is actually a cool season crop, and performs better when temperatures drop slightly. Now is the time to plant them for a great harvest in the next 2-3 months.

The Brassica’s. Now is the time for brassica’s… Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Kale, Broccoli etc. If you want to have success with these vegetables, just simply prepare. Smother your beds with compost and organic matter, these puppies are hungry. They are what’s termed as gross feeders, and will handsomely repay you with outstanding crops if you feed them well. Plant some seed into cell trays and plant again in 2-3 weeks time and then again 2-3 weeks later. One of the benefits of heirloom brassica’s is that they tend not to ripen all at the same time. Each plant has a slightly different growth rate so the 3 week window will give you a good spread for the dinner table. With the Hybrid stuff they all ripen at the same time and then you are up to your ears in one or other variety… which can get a bit tedious.

Don’t look at planting tomatoes, potatoes or peppers or other long season crops now, as they will not make it before winter. Especially on the Highveld. Elsewhere or if you have a green/hot house may be different.

If you plan your winter planting now, you will have the best producing winter garden ever. You will be able to put fresh produce onto your table and be able to bless a few friends with your winter harvest. So have a walk through your garden one evening, with a glass of wine or a nice cold beer and look at where you can free up space for a winter planting. Decide what you would like to plant……… and get sowing.

Garlic

What’s in our Garden

This is the season when all the work starts, we are picking about 10-15 kg’s of tomatoes and bags of beans every day now, it’s getting to the point where every surface is covered with brightly coloured tomatoes in all colours shapes and sizes. Every 2 days we blend them down and reduce them into ‘sous’ for winter.

Our potatoes are ready to lift and we have had a number of meals with fresh taters from the garden. With our hectic festive season I did neglect to lift them earlier. However, that said you can also leave them in the ground and harvest as needed, they will keep perfectly. We are still waiting for some of the pumpkins to ripen so that we can lift them for storage and beans are a big effort right now to get into the freezer.  We will be doing carrots and beetroot later in the season so there is no worry there.

As for the rest, Lacy our Cow is pregnant again, which is a good thing, but the Bull we used flattened our Atlantic Giant planting so you will have to wait another year for Giant Pumpkin seed, it’s been a total failure this year.