Permaculture

The frost has still been hanging around but I have been creating my plan to grow my permaculture paradise. It’s very small but being and working in the garden growing food is very pleasing for body and soul. It will be a 5 year ongoing project but I am trying to work with nature and understand the working relationship. Gardening and being in nature provide exercise, sunshine and food that has not been tampered with. It’s an essential part of my new reality. I may not be able to garden in the conventional way but being in a wheelchair should not hold me back.

The birds and the bees are regular visitors and all is well in my nano garden.

Black Gold

Today’s task was to harvest the homemade compost and to start the new compost heap with the resources available in the garden. The heap was emptied and started again with layers of leaves collected and started in a black plastic bag, rabbit poop and bedding ( available locally), earth from pots from last year, grass clippings and kitchen waste. It then was sprinkled with water and covered with a layer of the leftover wool material that had been pecked at for weeks as nesting material for the birds. The area is not wheelchair accessible but in the corner is a broken plant pot allowing me to deposit waste collected that will be added weekly. The compost available now is black, dry and liquid gold for the garden.

Compost bin part 1

Today’s gardening task with help is going to be crucial to continue to reduce the waste from the garden as well as home  and decreasing the waste produced and sent away. The compost heap. It’s small but bijou. My grow beds will get a top up on a regular basis and I intend to put waste to better use. Secret to good compost seems to be in the planning: brown and green waste. Seems I have a variety of that so walk with me.Bacteria are the future !

With a little help ....

A few days ago I had the idea to put some marigold seedlings out into the sunshine. To protect them at night I gave them a blanket, the insert of the packaging received from  www. Pipersfarm.com .  ( one of us  eats meat and buying it from pipers farm means it’s sustainable, grass fed and they even have packaging that can be recycled) so, having recycled the cardboard, inside the refrigerated packaging this wool blanket kept things very cold) First I thought it would be an ideal cover for the compost bin but then I had the idea to insulate my seedlings that may not be completely ready to be planted out.

Upon waking I wondered why it was falling apart but in observing the comings and goings of various birds one little bird must have told another  : ‘hey if you are looking for warm suitable nest material, look no further, that tiny garden there has some for the taking.’

And there I thought recycling was my responsibility solely but I find that with a little help from my nature friends, it’s happening naturally.

New home

We moved to our little cottage because I was unable to live in the previous house as my new reality means getting about in a wheelchair. I live in 3 rooms, the kitchen, bathroom and bedroom and my living space expands into the garden in summer. As a ramp has now been installed I am getting out a little in the garden and creating a growing space there.

10 fruits to grow in the garden

Fruit trees, bushes, crowns and canes are an investment to start with but after 3 to 4 years, cared for, they will provide you with a return each year.

Three trees were gifted to me this year, apricot, greengage and victoria plum.

Here is our selection to provide fruit throughout the year:

1. Rhubarb- purchase them as crowns. These are the very first fruits of the season, make excellent pies, leaves used in mordanting fibre, crowns can be used as a dye.

2. Strawberries - lush, easy to grow in pots or as groundcover ( works well with rhubarb in a pie)

3.Apricot - tree, needs to be planted where the sun shines most day as it is a warm weather tree.

4. Blackcurrants, white currants and red currants : bushes providing berries in July/ August, excellent for jams, jellies and cordials.
5. Cherries - A morello cherry tree can flourish on a north facing wall and provide a good crop provided it is netted when the cherries ripen, otherwise the birds will strip the tree.
6. Gooseberries - a prickly bush, makes good jelly as it is high in pectin.
7. Plums,greengages, damson - eat fresh, can or freeze, jams and jellies.
8. Berries - Raspberries, Tayberries, Loganberries, Blackberries, Mulberrries, Blueberries cultivated and wild.
9. Apples and pears - If you have space you can create a succession of harvests lasting from October to January.
10. Quinces and Medlars-

What vegetables to grow in the garden?

No matter how small or how big your plot it can be daunting to decide what you are going to grow.
Much depends on where you are situated on the globe, what hardiness growing zone you are situated in. This will help determine what plants are most likely to survive in your climate band. Our  garden is situated in hardiness zone 8 meaning that the lowest average temperature is - 7C. It does not mean that we can grow olives but it does mean that our soil may warm up quicker than in other places in the UK.

Having established which zone you live in a trip to the local garden centre and visiting local gardens will give you an indication of what you can grow in your climate.

My first list is made up of the vegetables that can be produced in our climate:
Potatoes
salad leaves
chard, spinach and broad beans
courgettes
borlotti beans
peas
globe artichoke
asparagus
spinach
leeks, onions and garlic
butternut squash and pumpkins
sweetcorn
french and runner beans
carrots
beetroot
florence fennel
cabbages, broccoli, brussels sprouts


With heat the following could be grown :

tomatoes
cucumbers
courgette
peppers
chillies
tender herbs such as basil and chervil
aubergines

Secondly, I have a list of foods that we eat regularly as well as vegetables that are produced by local farmers  such as asparagus, onions and potatoes. I will still grow a small amount of these such as small tasty carrots, salad potatoes, spring onions, but not vast quantities as I am limited on space. It is however important to include them in small measures for diversity and the nutrients they bring to the garden.

My vegetable plot is allocated to 4 categories :
50% are vegetables we eat daily and weekly ( i.e. salad leaves)
30% are vegetables that we eat 2 or 3 times per week ( i.e. potatoes, carrots, onions, peas, beans)
20% are vegetables that we eat every couple of weeks or are more specialised ( pumpkins, sweetcorn, tomatoes, cucumbers, etc)

The above gives an indication of what  we can grow, how much space in the garden will be allocated to that produce to avoid gluts of items we will not eat.

I like growing vegetables that are best eaten freshly picked from the garden and give my tastebuds an explosion such as tomatoes, salad leaves, herbs, sweetcorn and cucumbers that in general are quite tasteless in shops. 



( broadbean seedlings - January 2010)

Resources

Garden action provides a tool to set your town in the UK and it will then produce a vegetable gardening calendar for each month based on your area.

My interest lies in edible plants and Plants for a Future has an interesting selection of unusual plants that could be used in the garden.

What fruits to grow in the garden follows in a few days.

How big a garden do you need for food production

Once you have made a decision to grow all or some of your own herbs, vegetables and fruit the next step is to find the right place in your garden to do so.

The vegetable garden should have the following elements:

• requires maximum sunlight ( not shaded by buildings and trees)
• requires good soil which is well drained
• is free from weeds and other competing plants
• has access to a suitable water supply
• is sheltered from prevailing winds.

In the end it all depends what you have available. In our garden some areas are sheltered by trees and walls and sunlight is not always prevalent all year around due to the surrounding buildings. I am trying to use the sun facing patio to create more growing conditions for sun loving plants. Shady areas in summer are great to grow salad leaves as they tend to bolt in sunny places.

Some herbs such as parsley, coriander and basil can be grown amidst the vegetables but annual herbs such as rosemary, sage and lavender can be grown as hedge plants at the edge of borders.

The size of your vegetable garden depends on what space you have available but to feed a family of four with a rotation of crops ( 2 seasons in each plot) would need to be between 80 and 100 square metres. ( An allotment is 250 square metres).

In principle it is therefore possible to grow much of your food requirements from a family garden or allotment. What to grow follows in the next post in this series.

Resources and inspiration for small gardens with big yields:
The Dervaes family- urban homestead
City Farmer
Butterflyhillfarm