Brickhurst Blog

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2010-10-12T08:01:00.000-07:00

The Brickhurst Trust has requested that this and the two previous posts be hidden as we are awaiting external mediation.

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2010-10-03T05:59:00.000-07:00

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2010-09-30T09:51:00.000-07:00

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Big cats?

2010-06-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

TThat's Henry. I named him because I don't intend to eat him. I got the chickens a couple of weeks ago and I'm collecting five Indian Runner ducks next week. Unfortunately two of my Light Sussex pullets got taken by a predator last week in broad daylight with me about a hundred feet away.

Matt and Julia have had attacks on their pigs and there are rumours of a big cat in the area. Above are Matt and Julia with a load of water melons for the pigs that were over ripe and rejected by a supermarket. The chickens love watermelon too.

Nearly Solstice and mixed results

2010-06-18T10:54:00.000-07:00

As you can see the cucurbit beds are doing quite nicely. They needed a dressing with bonemeal (£27 for 25kg I was shocked) and wood ash because some off the courgettes looked a bit off color but everything looks pretty good now.

Here's one of the watermelons

Unfortunately it seems the mulch beds have been a complete failure as compared with the dug beds

I've started digging all the mulch beds. I can't afford to take years to get these productive. I'm planting marigolds, sage, russian tarragon, japanese catmint, catmint, thyme, coriander, basil and other things like chives and garlic chives throughout the beds. Legumes are coplanted with everything but alliums.

As so many of the things in the mulch beds have failed I've scrapped the documentation I was going to do on the vegetables I'm growing.

Once I have the problems ironed out I'll keep track of that again.

The herb garden has gone berserk and I think it's a wonderful jungle, that's the milk thistle

I thought I'd say a little bit about the forest garden. I've been planting cider apples, a couple of pears (One of which was killed by the deer. I had to bridge graft one of the apples as it was completely ring barked. I took of a couple of twigs from the tree long enough to cover the gap and got to it with my grafting tape.)

The tree dosn't look too bad.)

There are a couple of Albizia julibrissin , three Honey locusts Gleditsia triacanthos a load of gooseberries and some named cobs. There are also a few cherry plums.

For later addition I'm growing a lot of the other plants for the forest garden in the polytunnel garden. The above is the American ground nut Apios Americana I'll have enough of them this year to risk putting some into the garden. They fix nitrogen as well as being a useful food.

Watering is the main chore at the moment but it looks like it might rain today.

Flea beetles

2010-06-08T22:28:00.000-07:00

The picture is of the beginnings of a nettle and comfrey tea. The picture was taken about 3 weeks ago and now it's a brown stinking mess bt it's really good plant food.

I haven't posted for a while because there have been some problems and I wanted to wait ntil I knew what was going on before posting about it.

It mostly boils down to a lack of water. I was hoping that the mulch beds would retain water well and for large plants it does but it's not terribly good for seedlings. Because the plants were water stressed we've had an invasion of flea beetles. Once the garden gets going a bit more and the herbs I've been planting arond the edges of the beds get going things will improve and I decided to dig the beds in the polytunnel garden where I had the strawberries for brassicas and I think that's far enough from the beetles to avoid the problem. There's also a water supply nearby so I can water them more frequently. I planted Jerusalem artichoke Helianthus tuberosus
some Taro Colocasia esculenta This is a tropical plant but if we have a decent summer we may get something. I have a plant in my bender that I've kept going for 3 years. I also planted a few sweet potatoes Ipomoea batatas

In any case, the flea beetles mean all the brassicas have been hammered. Everything else is getting big and growing well but I've decided to dig in the mulch in all the beds for next year. The dug beds have been the most successful.

I need to have a long think about water. Wish I had the money to get a trickle watering system.

No sign of tutors or tutorials yet so no progress on the diploma front.

I've been feeding all the beds with wood ash and bonemeal. Several thjings were looking a bit deficient but they're looking better now. I've also been using rock dust and mycorrhyzal fungi (They work together although the rock dust people talk about worms on their packaging it's mycorrhyzal fungi that pass the minerals to the plants.

Six Bay trees were planted arond the edges of the main garden Laurus nobilis

All the strawberries were moved into the fenced garden as the rabbits were killing them all by digging them up. They have a bad habit of digging round the roots ot my perennials and damaging them Fortnately Star killed his first rabbit yesterday so maybe he can help scare them off. I portioned it and fried it up for him.

Compost problems

2010-05-18T09:16:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back and it turns out that there's a bit of a problem. Although it looked reasonably good wet, it's a bit coarse and has a bit too much woodchip in it and some things aren't doing very well, specifically the brassicas and the carrots. Things are doing a lot better where the beds were dug and the soil mixed in with the compost. I'll be making some finer stuff over the next few days by collecting nettles before they flower and comfrey and building a compost heap with that. If I get it before the seeds set it should be ok and I'll top dress the beds with it once it's well rotted down. Although I don't like digging as it destroys the existing soil ecosystem I may have to do some digging at some stage but for now I'll see what can be done with top dressing.

I moved what strawberries survived the deer into the new garden and we made some more beds in there. That bed is about 10m long by 2.5m wide and about a foot deep. Another 48 strawberry plants were planted in there.

I've completely lost track of what's planted in that garden as I've misplaced my notes. Most of it was listed in the seed order I listed earlier in the year. In this garden things are planted in overlapping clumps and swathes in an attempt no create something that looks a little more natural than straight lines. Edible herbs and flowers are also scattered around. The herbs in the hotbeds and some of those from the herb garden will also be planted in when they get a bit larger, I suspect postings will get a bit more regular here when I start my diploma.

I'll be planting butternut squash tomorrow and starting my tea and compost making, weed control and watering is a daily task although Anne got the stuff to extend the drip irrigation system in the polytunnel extended to almost all the rest of the tunnel.

All the large seeded things seem to be doing well.

It's early days, the beds will improve with mulching and that takes time.

Back soon.

Under the weather

2010-05-09T10:11:00.001-07:00

I'll be back posting next week. I have a painful abcess so I'm taking time off till it clears up.

Busy times and a dauntingly large list of things to record

2010-04-30T02:57:00.000-07:00

Sorry I haven't been keeping up with the docmentation but I had a massive planting and I'm looking at a daunting list of things to docment which will take me a little while to transfer from paper to here.

After a couple of dry weeks we finally had some rain yesterday so everything should germinate soon. I've used up all the compost in the immediate vicinity so the next big job is shifting quite a few tons of compost from the other side of the farm to the new gardens.

I found that the deer had ripped off the tube and ring barked one of the cider apples I planted last autumn so I took some cuttings and made a bridge graft on it and grafted a few scions to other apple trees to try and save the variety. It was done a bit late so I may lose it but we have some 10 year old root stock that I'll be layering in the autumn and then we'll get serious with the fruit trees.

We have a new Wwoofer called Nicholas who's been a great help.

I will try and get this huge planting post out of the way in the next couple of days but for now I'm having a day off.

The rest of that planting

2010-04-24T03:31:00.000-07:00

My email program blew up this week and I lost a few emails one of them was from a potential Wwoofer I wanted to answer and now I have no means of contecting them. If you see this could the potential volunteer in Sussex (Or was it Surrey) please email me again.

A huge amount has been planted in the last week Matt gave me Toby's old garden to work with and it was already mulched in many places with cardboard and a foot of compost.

I decided to turn it into a wilderness of veg. Things are in clumps or in edges. I've tried to make as many edges as possible. I've sown many more than will eventally grow there as I'll be using it as a source of baby veg and will thin it down to it's evental state.

Planting.

Melon bed 2
Lemon coriander Coriandrum sativum throughout bed

South to north
Watermelon black montain Citrullus lanatus
Collective farm woman Cucumis melo inodorus
Melon Tigger Cucumis melo
Cucumber Gherkin National Cucumis sativus

Melon bed 3

Coriander Coriandrum sativum throughout bed

Watermelon black montain Citrullus lanatus

Pumpkin Full Moon Cucurbita maxima

Cucumber long green ridge Cucumis sativus

Pumpkin Atlantic Giant Cucurbita maxima

Cucumber Gherkin National Cucumis sativus

Melon bed 4

Lemon coriander Coriandrum sativum throughout bed
Watermelon black montain Citrullus lanatus
Cucumber long green ridge Cucumis sativus
Collective farm woman Cucumis melo inodorus
Cucumber Gherkin National Cucumis sativus

Melon Minnesota Midget Cucumis melo

I still have pages of planting to transcribe so I'll do it when it cools down later.

A very busy week and a lot of planting

2010-04-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

We had an extremely busy week last week, with the help of two Wwoofers, Leia and Noah and Jose and Matt who live here we've made a good deal of progress. There are now four melon beds and five vegetable beds and bean trenches dug all around the perimeter fence.

A bean trench is just a spade depth trench alongside a support like a fence that you fill with compost.

Melon bed 1 is the covered one melon bed 2 is the one directly South of it melon bed 3 is next to melon bed 1 and 4 is South of that.

From South to North

Melon bed 1

Courgette De Nice A Fruit Rond Cucurbita pepo
Winter squash Burgess Buttercup Cucurbita maxima (Plants for a future is down at the time of writing)
Cousa Courgette Trieste half long Cucurbita pepo
Winter squash Blue Banana Cucurbita maxima

Winter squash Anna Schwartz Hubbard Cucurbita maxima
Courgette Nero di Milano Cucurbita pepo
Pumpkin Jack O'Lantern Cucurbita pepo (I think)
Courgette Green bush Cucurbita pepo

These were planted a few days ago and all have germinated now.

Melon bed 2

Short season Water Melon Blacktail mountain
Short season Canteloupe Collective farm woman
Melon Tigger
Cucumber Gherkin National

Blacktail Mountain was also planted in the polytunnel with the ginger.

A lot more to follow too tired to write more.

Update on the gardens.

2010-04-11T01:34:00.000-07:00

This amazing fungus is growing in hotbed 1. Haven't identified it yet but I've been a bit busy.

On to the update. Hotbed 1:

Garden Catmint Nepeta racemosa Germinated well
English sage Salvia officinalis Germinated well
Anise Hyssop Agastache foeniculum A few germinated
Japanese catmint schizonepesa tenuifolia No sign of germination
Chinese liquorice Glycyrrhiza Uralensis (Gan Cao) No sign of germination (I do have a few plants from last year though)
Feverfew Tanacetum parthenium No sign of germination (But I have more and the ones in the herb garden seem to have germinated)
Russian Tarragon Artemisia dracunculoides Germinated well
Artichoke Imperial Star Cynara scolymus Germinated well Nearly time to put these out. I'll leave them a couple more weeks just in case of frost
Giant cape gooseberry Physalis peruviana Germinated well but most were eaten by a slug or snail
Dwarf cape gooseberry Physalis pruinosa Germinated well
Tomatillo Verde Physalis Ixocarpa A few germinated
Aubergine Snowy F1 (One that slipped through) Solanum melongena A few germinated
East Indian Lemongrass Cymbopogon flexuosus Germinated well but quite a few seem to have been eaten I really need to get some nematodes
West Indian Lemongrass Cymbopogon citratus Germinated well but quite a few seem to have been eaten
Chilli Numex bailey piquin Capsicum annuum A few germinated
Chilli Bhut Jolokia A few germinated
Pepper Red Cheese Capsicum annuum A few germinated
Chinese milk vetch (Huang Qi) Astragalus membranaceus Germinated well
Asparagus Conover's collossal Asparagus officinalis
Shamanic tobacco Nicotiana Rustica Germinated very well
Tobacco Havana Nicotiana tabacum Germinated very well
Tobacco Virginia Germinated very well
Grain Amaranth No sign of germination.These seeds may have been collected too early I was in a rush to leave my last project. I reseeded with some of the original packet from last year
Quinoa Chenopodium quinoa No sign of germination.These seeds may have been collected too early I was in a rush to leave my last project. I reseeded with some of the original packet from last year

Water melon Blacktail mountain (Got the name wrong in the original post short season) Citrullus lanatus Germinated but got eaten replanted

Hotbed 2
Dyers greenweed Genista Tinctoria No sign of this but then it was allowed to dry out completely just after planting. I'll try again.
Peppermint Mentha Piperita Germinated well
Celery tall Utah Apium graveolens dulce Germinated well
Pepper Italian pepperoncini Capsicum annuum Germinated well
Tomato box car Willie Lycopersicon esculentum Germinated well
Chilli Navaho
Chilli Serrano tampequino A few germinated
Aubergine Early long purple 2 Solanum melongena Germinated well
Indian pot chilli A few germinated
Pepper Santa Fe Grande A few germinated
Tomato Ailsa Craig Germinated well
Chilli Numex Espanhola A few germinated
Chilli Delhi hot A few germinated
Pepper Anaheim A few germinated
Tomatillo purple Physalis ixocarpa Germinated well
False Saffron Kinko (Safflower) Carthamnus tinctorius Germinated well
Tomato Black Russian Germinated well
Pepper D-asti Giallo Germinated well

Echinacea angustifolia Germinated well

Cucumber Marketmore Cucumis sativus Germinated well

Basil Holy, green Ocimum tenuiflorum Germinated well

Celery Red Soup Germinated well

Lemon Coriander Coriandrum sativum Germinated well

Celery Green soup Germinated well

Okra Hill country heirloom red Abelmoschus esculentus Germinated well

Oysterleaf Mertensia maritima May have germinated (Might be a weed seed can't tell yet never seen this plant before)
passiflora edulis No sign yet

and in the top of the bed in 4 places Melon Collective farm woman Cucumis melo inodorus Germinated well

None of the pots put outside to stratify have germinated yet. Nor the big pots on the floor in the bender (These may have been eaten by rats we're using eradibait to reduce their numbers. It's a substance made of corn cellulose wheat flower and molasses it coats their gut and prevents the signal that makes them drink from reaching their brain. They die of thirst horrible for the rat but safe for everything else. Unfortunately they are competing for our food and present a risk of disease so they have to go).

All the plants in trays in the bender have germinated except the papaya but it hasn't been warm enough in here for that one. If I put it in the hotbed it may germinate.

Forgot to say the passiflora caerulea germinated (Two of them)

Pretty much everything in vegetable beds one and two have germinated but in the polytunnel only the thyme, sage and radish have come up. Most of the beetroot seedlings were eaten so I replanted them.

I planted 19 pieces of ginger Zingiber officinale in three rows at the Eastern end of the polytunnel in between the rows of sage and thyme. (They'll be coming out before the ginger gets large)

That's it for the moment The herb beds are germinating but they're a bit small to see what's what yet.

The rest of bed three and a melon bed

2010-04-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

This is a melon bed. It's good for growing the whole cucurbit family and it's bigger than it looks in this photo check out the relative size of the wheelbarrow to the right of it. I haven't put the polythene cover on it yet because I'm letting it settle for a day or two before planting it.

I'll describe the details below.

Planting was completed in bed 3 in the vegetable garden yesterday; to the north of the Arran pilot First Early potatoes Solanum tuberosum I planted pink fir apple (A strange shaped long thin pink potato ) and to the North of that Kestrel second earlies. The potato is an incredibly useful plant. It has medicinal and other uses in addition to it's use as a staple food. The wikipedia article is also well worth reading.

At the northenmost end of beds 1 2 and 3 I planted about a half dozen seeds of artichoke Cynara scolymus Violet de Provence (Has medicinal uses and is a curdling agent) These will be a permanent feature assuming they germinate and survive the rabbits (I will block their run in a day or two but I want to take a few for meat first to pay me for my lost beetroot seedlings and deter the others).

The potatoes didn't quite fill the bed so I did a block of Parsnip Pastinaca sativa Gurnsey
and a block of Carrot Daucus carota sativus Cosmic purple (My favourite carrot it's purple outside and orange and yellow inside. Intense colours. Intense colours in vegetables indicates they contain a lot of flavinoids so a lot of the veg I grow is darkly coloured).

Another block of beetroot Beta vulgaris craca Boltardy and pea Pisum sativum
Oregon sugar pod all around the edges of the northern half of the bed.

On to the melon bed.

You start by piling up about a metre's depth of unrotted horse manure and stable sweepings. (You can make it thinner if you just use horse dung without the straw but it makes much better compost with a decent amount of straw in it and you don't want it hot enough to burn your plants). You can make the bed as long as you like but 8 -10 metres is a good size.

A melon bed can be used for melons, courgettes, pumpkings and squashes and cucumbers. For melons and cucumbers you leave the plastic on but you can take it off in mid june (In Southern England, cooler climates can leave the plastic on but it means more watering if you don't have drip feed) for the squashes and marrows.

This work really takes it out of you so if possible get help. You'll be moving several tons of horse manure. You often find that stables that keep their horses indoors are willing to give their manure away for nothing if you ask nicely. The more of this stuff you can get the better. This manure will be feeding the beds next year and will themselves become raised beds because they kill at the perennial weeds with their heat and the darkness under them. Hotbeds without manure have to be huge.

You then put a layer of compost about 6cm thick on top of the manure. You can plant this quite densely because there is a lot of food in the hotbed below (Cucurbits love feeding they;ll get huge) This job could have been done a month or to ago to give the stuff an even earlier start but I'm a bit behind schedule in a few areas because of the sheer amount of barrowing to do. Once the main beds are made the pace will get easier.

Use a pole digger to make holes about a metre apart for some hazel or willow poles, twist them together and tie them off.

Tie in some cross bracing I just put in a horizontal pole here but I'll probably reinforce it with a latice of poles which is a must for windy areas. You leave it to settle a day or two before planting but it can be planted up even in frosty weather once covered. Not sure how far below zero though the other hotbeds have been fine down to about -5 so far but I'm not expecting too much more of that now although it's still possible.. I'll post another pic once it's covered.

I'm working on a big post as a status report on how things are growing and I've taken a lot of photos that need to be winnowed down so my next post should be soon. Not a lot you can say about barrowing manure hence my lack of posts recently.

2010-04-07T02:06:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one for now Made the third bed in the vegetable garden and planted half of it with First early potato Arran Pilot (These could have been planted indoors in February but I needed the covered space for other things) the half planted was also planted with broad bean Witkiem Manita and peas were planted on either side, Pea Mange tout Carouby de Mausanne on the western side and pea Early Onward on the eastern side. The bed was dug in this case. (Only to one spade depth) after a dressing of about 3cm of mixed manure and compost was spread over the bed.

I've been going through the plants I brought with me and many of them including quite a few cuttings from my last project seem to have made it. I'll go into detail on that soon.

I sent in my application form for the diploma in applied Permaculture yesterday so with some luck I'll be qualified in a couple of years.

The picture is of one of the few remaining strawberries after the deer had finished with them. The hungry time for the wildlife is nearly over so hopefully there will be fewer losses now.

More herbs

2010-03-24T02:39:00.000-07:00

Leia double dug the remaining large intense bed and one of the small beds so they got planted up. I'll list them later in the post but I'd like to meander for a bit.

Almost everything planted in the hot boxes has germinated (In bed 2 the only thing not showing is the dyer's greenweed) I'll get some photos for the next post. A few of the cuttings I took from my last project are showing signs of life so I may have some more plants for the forest garden than I thought.

In the big pots indoors there's been signs of life but unfortunately a rat has been rummaging in the pots and I don't know how much will survive that. (Can't avoid rats here it's one of the reasons for having raised platform beds)

My plant collection looks like it's been hammered by deer and the elements. I'll list what's survived when I know later and when we get going with the forest garden. A lot of the plants I've been planting in the herb garden are for understory plants and for the edges. I already planted a couple of cider apples, a couple of dessert pears, some cobb nuts (Named varieties I'll list them when we get into the forest garden) I have ginko biloba, honey locust, silk trees and some mulberries to go in as well as a bunch of grape vines. Until the plants get well enough spread and established we're vulnerable to losing species or varieties, the deer are remorseless and Star doesn't seem to have deterred them very much.

The strawberry beds I put in last September have been hammered. I won't know how bad the damage is for a few weeks yet. The grass is beginning to grow a bit so the deer are likely to be pressuring my plants a little less soon.

The weather has been much warmer recently, spring is definitely here, there have been a couple of t-shirt days.

The mullberries stratifying outside were brought back in and there's a hint of life there.

I need to repot my pineapples and the passiflora edulis soon as they're beginning to grow again. Pineapples are easy. You take the top off a pineapple, pull off the bottom few leaves, dip it in rooting hormone or rub it with crushed willow bark (It acts like rooting hormone). It'll grow on a window sill or in a hot bed over the winter and in about five years you'll have a pineapple and a bunch of baby plants.

I planted up the small bed Leia dug with a white papaver somniferum called Shayma. I want the seeds and I also spread some seeds around disturbed areas. I thought some blocks of white would look nice.

Planted Mertensia maritima and passiflora edulis in the end of hot bed 2, I want to try some of the passiflora in the polytunnel and see if it can survive there. (It's my favourite fruit if you want to grow some just get a fruit from the supermarket and sow the seeds at 30C daytime and 20C night time temps or you can throw it in a hot bed like I did and hope for the best)

Two of my tree tomato Cyphomandra betacea cuttings seem to have pulled through.

Anyway here's what's in herb bed five now from left to right (I'll draw a diagram when I've finished working out what I'm doing with the rest of the space and I need to find out what's still alive in the herb garden)

Mentha spicata var. crispa Curly mint
Origanum vulgare hirtum Greek Origano
Scutellaria lateriflora Virginian skullcap
Eschscholzia californica Californian poppy
Centaurium erythraea Centaury
Lycopus europaeus Gypsywort
Petroselinum crispum Parsley Italian Giant

Allium fistulosum Red Welsh onion

Filipendula Ulmaria Meadowsweet

Borago officinalis Borage (Blue dye from the flowers of this, the flowers are also said to give you courage by making you produce adrenaline. Warriors used to take borage flowers before battle)
Malva sylvestris Mallow (Contains mucilage good edible and medicinal plant)
Papaver somniferum Shayma
Chrysanthemum coronarium Shingiku greens the flowers make a chamomile substitute (Got to find my chamomile seeds)

Four beds dug and planted in the herb garden

2010-03-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

Leia the Wwoofer has been helping me double dig the intensive beds in the herb garden and they've been planted up with an assortment of edible, medicinal or otherwise useful herbs.

The first bed nearest the camera on the left has been named the poisons bed and has some of the more dangerous herbs in it (with a couple of safe ones that I'll duplicate in the edible beds)

They are numbered one to four as you go back from the camera.

Herb bed 1: The poisons bed

From right to left

Papaver somniferum Poppy the giant
Artemisia absinthum Wormwood

Valeriana officinalis Valerian
Atropa bella-donna Deadly night shade
Lactuca virosa Wild Lettuce
Hyoscyamus niger Black henbane
Levisticum officinale Lovage (not a poisonous plant it just slipped in there)
Poterium Sanguisorba Salad burnet (also not a poison)
Saponaria officinalis Soapwort

Herb bed 2
Left to right
Petroselinum crispum Var. tuberosum Hamburg rooted parsley about a 60cm by 80cm block
Agrimonia eupatoria Agrimony
Carum carvi Caraway
Cichorium intybus Wild chichory
Levisticum officinale Lovage

Poterium Sanguisorba Salad burnet

Anthriscus cerefolium Chervil

Herb Bed 3 (Cold frame)
Right to left
Allium schoenoprasum Chives (I also found a few bright purple potatoes that looked healthy so I put them in with the chives I'll give them a feed a bit later)
Monarda fistulosa Bergamot
Calendula arvensis Field marigold (Around the edges of the bed)
Achillea millefolium Yarrow

Isatis tinctoria Woad
Lepidium meyenii Maca
Origanum majorana Sweet Marjoram
Satureja hortensis Summer savoury
Nepeta cataria Catmint
Satureja montana Winter savoury
Teucrium scorodonia Wood sage
Silybum marianum Milk thistle
Ephedra sinica Ma huang

Herb bed 4 (Narrow bed about half the width of the others and a bit longer)

Half the bed was planted quite densely with Fragaria vesca Wild strawberry plants that I dug out of bed 3

from left to right
Artemisia absinthum Wormwood (this can be eaten in small quantities but I'll warn people about it if it germinates)
Artemisia dracunculoides Russian tarragon
Levisticum officinale Lovage
Foeniculum vulgare Fennel

Allium fistulosum Welsh onion

And these are next.

Brought in the Morus seeds from outside, here's hoping they germinate. The Monkey puzzes are germinating will pot them on soon.

The hotbeds are flourishing. I'll report on what's germinated soon but my melons have started so till next time.

A rat's nest of nettle roots and double digging

2010-03-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

This is the old herb garden by the well. There are eight raised intensive beds in it that haven't been worked for four years and the whole area has been colonised by nettles and brambles.

Now the nettle Urtica dioica is a pretty amazing plant, It has a vast number of uses, it can be eaten (cooked of course), you can use it as a vegetarian rennet, you can make a yellow dye from the roots and a green food colouring from the leaves, you can make paper and extract fibres from it, it makes a great compost and plant food and it has quite a few different medicinal uses (see the link for other uses of nettles), but it's aggressively invasive and a complete pain in the neck if it gets into your beds. So, instead of the nice easy job I was expecting bringing the beds in the herb garden back into use I was faced with a problem that could only be resolved by double digging the bed. You see one of the ways you can propagate nettles is by root cutting and it doesn't take much root to create a new plant. So each spade full of soil had to be crushed by hand and then all the roots had to be removed because if just a few roots remained, and the bed left, it would be growing nothing but a mass of nettles within a few months. As it turned out double digging a small bed just two metres by 80cm took me all day and I'll still probably be pulling nettles out of there for the next few years. Here are some pictures of the process.

This is the bed to be worked on. Those little green plants in there are the new nettle shoots. It's quite deceptive the whole bed was one tangled mass of nettle roots down to nearly a metre deep.

The whole bed was like this and I expect all the others to be just the same.

I emptied out a trench on one side of the bed and piled up the soil further on the bed removing as many roots as possible as I went.

Star, of course, loves fetching anything thrown so he kept on dumping roots back in the bed.

Making sure as many roots as possible were removed the soil is piled up in the trench dug and you move along the bed.

There's the finished bed. only seven more to go.

I realise this is pretty basic but I want this blog to be useful to people of all levels of experience.

Second bed in the vegetable garden made and planted

2010-03-11T09:12:00.000-08:00

I finished the second raised mulch bed today and planted it up. The only difference between this bed and the other (apart from being slightly longer due to the length of the timber) is that I put in a thin layer of well rotted horse manure before putting in the compost. This bed is mostly for broad beans but as they are such good companions I planted the rows further apart than they usually would be and planted a row of something else between each one and didn't plant a double row of beans. The beans were planted just about 25cm apart with about 60cm between each row. The compost is about 15cm deep. I've never planted carrots in a mulch bed before as I'm not sure what will happen to them when they hit the cardboard. I usually plant them in a bath or similar container to keep them above the carrot fly's altitude but the sides of that bed are about 50cm deep so I thought I'd have a go, plant a couple of rows and see what happens.

By the way, most of the species links go through to Plants For A Future and give a great deal of detail about each plant including propagation information and medicinal or other uses. Most of the real information in this blog is in those links. If Pfaf doesn't list a plant I usually link through to Wikipedia.

Here's what got planted from North to South (North is to the right of the photograph)

Broad Bean Super Aquadulce Vicia faba major
Turnip Purple Top Milan Brassica rapa
Broad Bean Super Aquadulce
Turnip Purple Top Milan
Broad Bean Super Aquadulce
Beetroot Boltardy Beta vulgaris craca
Broad Bean Super Aquadulce
Beetroot Boltardy
Broad Bean Super Aquadulce

Carrot Nantes 2 (early) Daucus carota sativus

Broad Bean Super Aquadulce
Carrot Nantes 2 (early)
Broad Bean Super Aquadulce
Endive Blonde Full Heart Beta vulgaris flavescens
Broad Bean Super Aquadulce
Cauliflower Purple Cape Brassica oleracea botrytis (Must remember to dust the brassicas with a little lime next week)
Broad Bean Super Aquadulce

French Parsley Petroselinum crispum

Broad Bean Super Aquadulce

Cabbage Derby Day Brassica oleracea capitata

Broad Bean Super Aquadulce

Chinese Mustard Southern Giant Brassica juncea crispifolia

Broad Bean Super Aquadulce

My focus for the rest of the week will be in the herb gardens (There's already a herb garden by the well that's a bit neglected so I'll be bringing the raised beds there back into production and creating additional beds for herbs by my bender)

The first bed in the vegetable garden

2010-03-08T11:03:00.000-08:00

I finally got started on the vegetable garden today and made my first bed from the wood that we cut over the last few weeks. First I laid out the planks for the sides, then using a steel digging pole I made a hole for each of the stakes two at each end and two in the middle of the bed where two planks joined. After hammering the stakes into the ground I nailed the planks to the stakes with 10cm galvanised nails. The bed's just over a metre wide and about 6 metres long. The ground was already pretty clear as the pigs had been using this area last year. I then placed cardboard along the bottom of the bed and filled it with a mixture of Matt's compost and soil from mole hills in the garden. As this bed is for parsnips no manure was added because it tends to make the roots fork although I will add some wood ash and bone meal later on.

The bed was planted up with parsnip White Gem Pastinaca sativa in rows about 30cm apart trying to keep a gap of a few centimetres between the seeds. A 500 seed pack was used in the whole bed.

Parsnips are good companions with the pea family and to a lesser extent with alliums. Around the edges of the bed I planted Pea Delikett Pisum sativum Unfortunately the legumes and the aliums make poor companions (They're antagonists) so I put some garlic chives Allium tuberosum and some salad onion Ishikura Allium cepa near the centre of the bed some distance from the peas. The onion will germinate at 5C but the chives won't until it gets a bit warmer but I only put a few seeds in so it's no big deal if they don't come up. I may put in some radishes as well in the next few days. They won't bother the parsnips which is the main crop for this bed.

More planting despite a waning moon

2010-03-06T09:28:00.000-08:00

Although I prefer planting on a waxing moon my hotbeds were delayed by about a week so I decided to plant anyway. All the following were planted yesterday except the okra which needed soaking overnight.

I discovered that trays in the hotbeds don't work, the two I put in with the Dyer's Greenweed and the peppermint were dry as a bone so I planted them straight into the compost in the hotbed. It looks like the hotbeds will need frequent watering. I'm taking a bit of a risk planting everything straight into them, although the temperature seems right at the moment (Everthing in the first bed is germinating even the tropical lemon grass) I'm not sure exactly how long the beds will stay warm for so I'm hoping for the best but from previous experience I'm pretty sure they'll hold up until the frosts are over. I decided to risk some melons and cucumbers as these are what I want to grow in there after I've pulled out most of the other plants. I collected these seeds myself last year from my own plants and I have a lot of them so I'm not worried so much about them but if I lose the peppers and tomatoes then it'll be a bit late to start again which is why I have some in the bender as well just in case.

here's the planting list:

Bed 1 (The first hot bed made)

Added

Shamanic tobacco Nicotiana Rustica
Tobacco Havana Nicotiana tabacum
Tobacco Virginia
Grain Amaranth (I'm unsure of the species I collected these seeds from plants I grew and lost my notes from when I planted them)
Quinoa Chenopodium quinoa

Water melon Black mountain (Short season) Citrullus lanatus

I planted a few of these along the top of the bed.

Bed 2 (The new bed)
Celery tall Utah Apium graveolens dulce
Pepper Italian pepperoncini Capsicum annuum
Tomato box car Willie Lycopersicon esculentum
Chilli Navaho
Chilli Serrano tampequino
Aubergine Early long purple 2 Solanum melongena
Indian pot chilli
Pepper Santa Fe Grande
Tomato Ailsa Craig
Chilli Numex Espanhola
Chilli Delhi hot
Pepper Anaheim
Tomatillo purple Physalis ixocarpa
False Saffron Kinko (Safflower) Carthamnus tinctorius
Tomato Black Russian
Pepper D-asti Giallo

Echinacea angustifolia

Cucumber Marketmore Cucumis sativus

Basil Holy, green Ocimum tenuiflorum

Celery Red Soup

Lemon Coriander Coriandrum sativum

Celery Green soup

Okra Hill country heirloom red Abelmoschus esculentus

and in the top of the bed in 4 places Melon Collective farm woman Cucumis melo inodorus

I finally managed to get a photo of the woodpecker that's been visiting my feeding station, here he is.

Germination in the hotbed and second hotbed complete

2010-03-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

Several things have already germinated in the hotbed, the Russian Tarragon, tomatillo verde, both the lemon grass varieties and one of the two things I planted the day after the last planting (they needed 24 hours of soaking)
Chinese milk vetch (Huang Qi) Astragalus membranaceus

I also planted some Asparagus Conover's collossal Asparagus officinalis

There's still about half the first hotbed to plant and I finished filling the second one today.

The last couple of days we've had very frosty mornings with bright warm sunny days.

The attempt to double dig a bed with a mini digger didn't work that well, I ended up with a hole full of water because of our fine clay. I used it to save myself a walk to the nearest pond for water for my indoors plants. It might be an idea to make it deeper so I have some water right next to my bender for watering. I'm in two minds though because of mosquitos.
I'm considering just using mulch beds for the rest. I need to get some beds in right now for broad beans, parsnips and some of the herbs. If the weather's good tomorrow I'll get cracking.

Short one today, there's not much to be said about shifting manure and compost which is what most of the work now is all about.

The start of the new beds and todays planting

2010-02-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

We finally got the mini digger working today and started making the beds for the medicinal herb garden (and promptly ran out of diesel), No matter, we have the digger for another day or so and we'll do what we can tomorrow. It's raining heavily outside in any case.

I started planting up the hotbed we finished yesterday. So far from right to left I planted

Garden Catmint Nepeta racemosa
English sage Salvia officinalis
Anise Hyssop Agastache foeniculum
Japanese catmint schizonepesa tenuifolia
Chinese liquorice Glycyrrhiza Uralensis (Gan Cao)
Feverfew Tanacetum parthenium
Russian Tarragon Artemisia dracunculoides
Artichoke Imperial Star Cynara scolymus
Giant cape gooseberry Physalis peruviana
Dwarf cape gooseberry Physalis pruinosa
Tomatillo Verde Physalis Ixocarpa
Aubergine Snowy F1 (One that slipped through) Solanum melongena
East Indian Lemongrass Cymbopogon flexuosus
West Indian Lemongrass Cymbopogon citratus
Chilli Numex bailey piquin Capsicum annuum
Chilli Bhut Jolokia
Pepper Red Cheese Capsicum annuum

We're still in a waxing moon and I prefer to do most of my planting when the moon is waxing (It seems to help germination but that's just my opinion.
I often follow a biodynamic calendar but I haven't got one yet for this year)

Forgot to mention that so far only the tomatoes have germinated, of those the cherokee black have done the best. They all seem to have germinated whereas only one or two each of the others have done so so far. They started coming up about 3 weeks ago and the others started coming this week.

More tomorrow hopefully

One hotbed completed and some planting

2010-02-24T08:59:00.000-08:00

Leia came back to the farm yesterday and helped me with some gardening today.

We planted some quick growing stuff in the new bed in the polytunnel and finished the first hotbed. (The bed in the picture is about 3 meters long, about 1.5 meters wide and just over a meter deep) The area around the one pictured looks a bit untidy because it's right next to where a lot of the wood cutting gets done.

The new bed in the poltunnel was planted in rows from right to left with Radish, Giant of Sicily, Pea mange tout Norli, Lettuce Ariana, Salad onion Paris silverskin two rows of Pea Early onward, Sage English broadleaf Salvia Officinalis , Broad leaf thyme Thymus pulegioides the herbs will be planted outside when they're large enough. Planted a tray of Angleica archangelica in a tray that I put outside. I'm hoping we have enough cold weather to break dormancy. Planted a tray each of peppermint Mentha Piperita and Dyers greenweed Genista Tinctoria that I put in the new hotbed.

Here's how to make a hotbed:

Create some walls for the hotbed (We used some polystyrene filled walls from a prefab hut) and fill the bottom with some branches to allow air into the bottom.

Fill with fresh manure (In this case stable sweepings from Mr Miles next door) leaving a south facing slope walking on the manure from time to time to make sure you have enough in there to get hot. They say you need about a meter depth for it to get hot enough.

Cover the manure with about 6 to 10 cm of compost and then cover with glass or plastic. The whole thing should have a slight southward slope. I have the means to make another two of these and we're part way through making them.

These beds will make a good place to germinate most of our warm loving seeds and then they'll be planted up with cucurbits like melons and courgettes, aubergines and okra later on.

Machine hassles and some hotbeds

2010-02-17T11:15:00.000-08:00

Machines often fail here for some unknown reason and this week there's been a lot of it going on. First the mini tractor got stuck in reverse gear and wouldn't come out then the mini digger Danny had borrowed for us turned out to have a duff starter motor (The pic is of me trying to jump start it before we found out the problem).

I've been relocating some old hot beds to near my bender. Over the weekend we had a delivery of manure from Mr Miles our neighbour and a friend of Matt's dropped off a truck load of wood chippings.

These are the hotbeds I moved with Bam Bam's help

The machines are still broken so progress is a bit slow hopefully I'll have some help over the next couple of days and get them finished and planted up. I'm planning on using them to germinate stuff and then to grow melons and other things that like a lot of manure and heat in them later.

New bed in the polytunnel

2010-02-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

We had a lorryload of topsoil turn up yesterday (can't imagine anyone wanting to get rid of topsoil). So I decided to get on with making the beds with the help of our Wwoofer, Leia.

Here's a basic mulch bed:

There was already the end of the other bed there to make one end. The ground was already mulched with a layer of cardboard and some straw. We made some holes with a digging pole and bashed in some posts with a mallet. Then we nailed on the planks Danny made.

We put in a 12-15cm depth of topsoil and then about an inch of well rotted manure. Then we put on about 5-7cm depth of good compost. If I can afford to get some I'll add a few handfulls of rock dust and some mycorhyzzal fungi to the bed with some wood ash and some bonemeal.

The temperature is around 3c or so freezing at night. I planted 5 yucca plants (Yet to be identified) that Matt gave me on the northern end of the new herb garden.

I put the morus alba and nigra outside to stratify for 4 weeks.

A day spent in the woods

2010-02-10T01:08:00.000-08:00

I needed some posts for my beds and I was running low on firewood so I decided to spend the day sorting it out. Matt is our main woodsman. He's a gardener and tree surgeon and he knows a great deal about wood.

The area we were working in yesterday was coppiced last year and Matt took down a few dead chestnut trees as well. Here's a bit of a gallery of the day. The next job will be putting the beds together. Freash horse manure will be arriving this weekend to make the hotbeds.

When I arrived Matt, Julia and the Wwoofer (can't remember her name at the moment, I'll get it later) were putting some new tarpaulins on Matt and Julia's bender.

This is how you split a log for stakes, you bash one of the splitting wedges into the end of the log with a mallet.

Then you use the other wedge to force the split along the log.

Repeat until the wood is the right size.

These posts will then be split diagonally and pointed with the chainsaw to allow them to be bashed into the ground.

This area was coppiced last year the wood has been sitting for a year and is now ready to burn.

Here's Matt showing me how to sharpen a chainsaw. He clamps the saw to a bench then gives each blade 3 swipes with a round file parallel to the mark on the blade filing each alternate blade (The ones pointing in the appropriate direction) then he turns the saw around, clamps it again and does the same to the other side but doing 4 swipes because the left hand is weaker. He then takes a flat file and does one swipe on each of the depth nubs of metal in between each blade (I'm sure it has a proper name but I don't know what it is yet).

He then made sure everything was clean and properly tensioned and put it back together.

It's snowing today again so more tomorrow hopefully.

Delays and more delays

2010-02-07T03:29:00.000-08:00

I'm waiting for a bunch of deliveries at the moment so not a lot is getting done. (Which is why I haven't been posting for a few days)

It doesn't really matter because the first outdoors planting won't be happening for a couple of weeks yet.

This is the slowest month in the gardening calendar. I will be doing some more planting indoors over the next few days but there's no rush right now.

I'll post again whan things start happening.

Back from Wales

2010-02-04T04:24:00.000-08:00

That's Star in Brechfa forest. We got back from Wales last night. The compost still hasn't arrived but we have a couple of weeks till the parsnips and broad beans have to go in so I'm not that worried. We still have the compost Matt made. In about a weeks time there's a poultry show near Canterbury so I'm going to go down and choose some chickens and maybe some ducks. We already have a duck pond so it's time to populate it and hope the fox doesn't get them.

More later.

A few good sources of information

2010-01-30T03:42:00.000-08:00

Here are a few useful links. Many are quite vast libraries.

http://soilandhealth.org/
This contains a large library of downloadable books that I've found of use from soil management to herbal medicine.

http://www.swsbm.com/homepage/
Large materia medica library has a lot of late 19th century herbal medicine books.

http://www.agroforestry.co.uk/

A good source of agroforestry plants. I use them a lot.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/
Very good library of practical solutions to things.

http://journeytoforever.org/
Good self sufficiency library

http://www.pfaf.org/index.php
Online encyclopaedia of useful plants with cultivation details and uses. Over 7000 species listed.

http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/calendar/
Essential reading for new gardeners and useful for old hands.

http://permaculture.org.uk/
Good for networking

http://carolynbaker.net/site/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/
I subscribed to this woman's mailing list she talks about the state of the world and transition.

http://sharonastyk.com/
I like this woman's writing she talks a lot about self sufficiency.

A frosty hiatus

2010-01-30T02:50:00.000-08:00

We had a hard frost last night and rain yesterday delayed the compost delivery. We have a Wwoofer all next week (Volunteers on organic farms http://www.wwoof.org.uk/) so they'll work with Matt for the first part of the week and I should get some help from Thursday onwards because I'm visiting a friend in Wales on Tues/Wed next week. The mini digger should also be here by then and we'll finally get on with it. The first beds should be ready for the broad beans and the parsnips in mid February.

I wanted to make clear that we have no budget here. There is only what comes out of our pockets and what time and equipment people donate. Danny isn't being paid for the use of his machinery and wood but he'll get a share of what we produce as will all who work on it but for the next few months there will be no income of any sort from this project.

I've been debating with my self how to start talking about why we're doing what we are and about the importance of systems. I'm not going to go into the details of what's wrong in the world today in this blog. That current systems are unsustainable and at the end of their useful life should be taken as read. The question becomes how do we respond? How do we create a resilient system that will allow us to live in reasonable comfort indefinitely? The most resilient system I know of is Gaea. Life itself. It is a vast interconnected network that passes energy and materials around in a vast array of forms that are all utterly dependant on each other. We cannot exist independently of that web and the more it gets simplified the more it risks collapse into a state that could not support us. Therefore everything we do must prioritise life.

In an ecosystem complexity produces resilience and productivity. What I am aiming to produce here in the long run is a food producing ecosystem that requires no external inputs once established. A synergy where the system itself becomes self perpetuating. Whatever I produce must do no damage to the life around us and we should aim to increase the diversity of wild life around us.

That process has been going on here at Brickhurst for many years now. Ponds have been dug in many places around the farm. Many more niches and edges have been created. Edges are where the greatest diversity and productivity is. The more edges we can create the more we can produce. I've seen the diversity of life here at the farm explode since I first started coming here nearly 20 years ago.

The only thing that I can see will feed the people of the world after the end of industrial civilisation is to permaculture everywhere we live. We have to live in a way that is compatible with life or we will cease to exist.

One of the most important functions of this project for me is to create a plant bank so we can copy it and pass it on to other people. I'm planning on growing about a third of each thing I plant for seed.

There won't be much to report for the next few days but I'll try and get a post or two up. I'm thinking of putting together a list of sources of good information. I'll have a dig into my links and post a few in the next post.

I'll be chatting with Anne tomorrow, Anne is working on a project of her own here and we'll be doing some seed swapping.

Plans and musings

2010-01-27T03:35:00.000-08:00

Here are some of Matt's piglets. Last year, they and their relatives were living in the area we're going to be creating most of the raised beds. They've cleared all the vegetation and compacted it somewhat but we're expecting a delivery of a large quantity of compost this week and this will be dug into the beds.

Some will be manured and others will just get a green manure in them with some wood ash.

The ph of the soil here is around 6.8 to 7.0 slightly more acidic in places and it is pure clay. No stones at all.

This is the little pond dug into the corner but I'll look into solar irrigation if the resources to get it become available.

We'll also be working in the polytunnel. I have a third of the bed shown plus the area at the end shown to work in. We'll be creating cold frames and hot beds as well to extend out season as much as possible. Another planned project is a polytunnel bender.

I was given a brace of pheasant yesterday so I made a warming stew.

1 brace of pheasant
1 onion
3 medium sized carrots
3 cloves of garlic
a bottle of dry white wine
a bunch of fresh tarragon
100g mushrooms

3 bayleaves
stock from the pheasant carcasses and giblets
seasoned plain flour
olive oil and a little butter for frying

pluck draw and portion the pheasants and dust in a little seasoned flour. Fry the pheasant pieces until lightly brown and sealed. Throw in the chopped onion and garlic. Fry until transparent. chop and put in half the tarragon and the bay leaves.

Pour in about 50cl of dry white wine and about an equal amount of part reduced stock. Cut each mushroom into 3 or 4 pieces and throw in. Simmer for about 45 minutes and add the carrots. Adjust the seasoning. Simmer for another 40 minutes and then add a dash of wine, the remainder of the chopped tarragon and the cream. Bring back just to the simmer and remove from the heat.

Solving the conundrum

2010-01-26T07:04:00.000-08:00

Well the conundrum is resolved. Mick Gould turned up with a great big machine and pulled the trailer and tractor out. Here's a gallery of what happened.

Dogs playing. Star, Lumpy and Pip.

A 20 ton conundrum

2010-01-25T02:58:00.000-08:00

We had a bit of a drama yesterday (Still ongoing until we can find a way of getting it out)

Danny's tractor lost power at exactly the wrong moment on the steep bit after the bridge and the tractor and trailer loaded with tree trunks ended up in the stream blocking the bridge (Which means my car is stuck away from the road until it gets moved)

That pin is all that's holding the whole thing together.

Danny unloaded the trailer and Jim and Bam Bam made to secure the tractor from falling on its side into the stream.

2010-01-23T05:25:00.000-08:00

That's Danny. It's his equipment and wood we're using to make the planks for our beds today. I thought I'd put up a bit of a gallery and some video of the first planks being made.

Danny runs the City Wood Company http://citywoodservices.com/

Planks for beds

2010-01-23T02:32:00.000-08:00

Today Danny and Bam Bam will be cutting the planks for our beds. At the moment they are effectively tree trunks that have been sitting around seasoning for a few years. I'll photograph the process later. Better get some more of those acorns planted. Today I'm planting some more things going through the seeds at the moment. I'll probably also plant my tobacco. (I'm addicted to the demon nicotine) I have Havana and Virginia varieties of nicotiana tabacum http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Nicotiana+tabacum and I also have nicotiana rustica http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Nicotiana+rustica which is the shamanic tobacco and his an extremely high nicotine content. They all should go in around now. Last years crop is still curing in the kitchen bender we used to call the mead hall. It'll be left there till the autumn the whole plants hanging upside down. I'll shred it just before use.

The weather today is overcast and it's about 6C with a low of 3C later.

The bird feeding station is getting busy with coal tits, blue tits and the robin who lives here who picks up what the others drop on the ground. He spent most of the coldest bits of the winter so far in here with us of his own volition eating Star's dog food.

Back later today with some photos of the planking.

Next years wood

2010-01-22T07:23:00.000-08:00

No more gardening got done yesterday or today. Matt and Julia were out coppicing and asked me to help pull out the wood I'll be burning next year so I tagged along to give a hand.

I only managed to keep it up for a few hours before I couldn't do any more Matt and Julia are still out there. We managed to fill up Matt's truck though.

The wood will get seasoned for a year at least before we burn it. It's piled up in pieces left as large as possible but still be handleable by one person. Those pieces will be chopped to the correct size for whatever burner they end up in just before use. A lot of the land around here has been coppiced for hundreds of years so we're lucky to have a free and sustainable source of heating fuel. (Well not free, takes a lot of effort to extract and prepare it)

As you can see in the photo the tits found my feeder yesterday. I bought a bunch of fat balls from the pet shop but I'll have a go at making my own next year. Means I have to clean my window so I can get better pictures of the birds. The one I put up today looked so washed out I had to doctor it a bit in Gimp before using it.

The weather is drizzly and occasionally rainy but the temperatures are up around 6C As soon as I can afford it I intend to buy several Min/Max thermometers. I need to track the temperatures in the bender, outside, in the polytunnel and in all the hotbeds. As this blog is meant as a record of the gardens I'll be recording those here once we get going. I'm hoping to be able to get started on making the new beds in the next few days.

Signs of life in the sunshine

2010-01-21T05:39:00.000-08:00

The first speck of green in my seed trays arrived yesterday, could be a weed seed as I didn't sterilise the compost but if it is something I planted it'll be the Chinese giant pepper. I took the day off because the weather was foul. Sleet and snow but not sticking fortunately.

Planted a quarter of a kilo or so of acorns that Matt gave me that he said came from an oak he wanted offspring of. He said it had a straight trunk and an open habit.

Planting more later today.

The sun is now out in force so my batteries are recharging nicely.

I'll post again after the planting.

Preparing to make the hotbeds

2010-01-19T05:38:00.000-08:00

This is one of the old hotbeds knocking around the farm. Mr Miles will be delivering a load of manure in a few days so it's time to drag them over to the area I'm working in and get them ready for use.Hotbeds are wonderful things. If you don't have central heating and a lot of window space it's about the only way you'll get a lot of your plants germinated in time.

You don't really need all that polystyrene, you can get away with making a big pile of manure on top of a pile of twigs, making some hoops of some flexible wood like hazel or willow and draping a sheet of polythene over the top.

Todays planting:

I'm still planting for the forest garden, many of these should have gone in in the autumn but I wasn't ready then. We'll see what comes up even if I get just a few things to germinate it will have been worth the effort and I can try again next year. Some of these seeds won't germinate until 2011 in any case. Some of the deeply dormant seeds need a year outdoors to germinate.

Ceratonia siliqua, Carob http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Ceratonia+siliqua Code L (Needs scarification I use an old fire brick to do that see picture above) This plant is frost tender and may not do well here but we'll see what happens.

Cinnamomum Camphora, Camphor tree http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Cinnamomum+camphora Code O (Not dormant) This will be germinated indoors.

Juniperus Communis, Juniper http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Juniperus+communis
Code DD 36 (Deeply dormant I expect that these will germinate spring 2011)

Lyceum Chinensis, Chinese wolfberry http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Lycium+chinense Code O

Morus Alba, White Mulberry http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Morus+alba 2 weeks at 16-20 C then 16 weeks cold stratification or in my case put outside after 2 weeks indoors and hope for the best. This is the plant that silk worms eat. If I successfully germinate some I intend to get hold of some.

Morus Nigra, Black mulberry http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Morus+nigra Same germination process as the while mulberry above. I love the taste of these but haven't had any since I was a child.

Olea Europaea, Olive http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Olea+europaea Olives will grow here and they can live for 2000 years. As to whether they will fruit, well we'll see (Although I personally probably won't these trees grow slowly) DD 34

Passiflora Caerulea Passion flower or maypop http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Passiflora+caerulea 1 week @ 4 C then 30 C during the day and 20 C at night. This one is going to be a challenge.

Rosa Rugosa Alba http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Rosa+rugosa DD39 I scarified these in an attempt to reduce the 2 years it an take for them to germinate.

Schisandra Chinensis, Magnola Vine http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Schisandra+chinensis Code O Another of the 50 Chinese fundamental herbs. I'm going to try and grow as many of those as will handle this climate.

My bird feeding station.

Out of pots

2010-01-18T07:49:00.000-08:00

Went to the polytunnel garden to get some more pots to plant more seeds today and discovered I'd used them all. A couple of years ago when I was gardening in a couple of allotments in Manchester I discovered a wonderful resource. It seems that florists are often pleased to get rid of the plastic buckets that flowers come in but with a few holes drilled in the bottom they make very good plant pots. So it seems that one of my jobs for tomorrow is to locate all the local florists and see if they have any to get rid of.

The picture today is of the first few beds I made in the autumn last year. There are 4 beds of winter onions there, the rest are plants I brought with me to be propagated.

I spent today doing house keeping. It takes quite a bit of physical work living off the grid. Water must be collected from the well, wood must be brought in and some of it gets chopped into kindling, rubbish must be taken to the dump (There's no conventional house here so we don't get rubbish collection) As I've only just started creating my gardens I'm still dependant on the supermarket. I'm astonished by the sheer bulk of plastic waste I produce in a couple of weeks. It'll be good when I need less from there.

One of the tricks I've discovered about becoming self sufficient is not to try and do it all at once. You make yourself self sufficient in a few things gradually and then one day you realise that you haven't been to the shops for ages and you're nearly there. I'm not sure I could easily give up coffee though and the substitutes you can grow here like dandelion root or roasted acorns just don't do it for me. The process has begun though. The picture above is one of my garlic beds. It's looking a bit sorry for itself after all that snow but it'll pull through and it'll be ready by the end of summer so that's one more thing I won't have to buy at the shops.

The deer here are voracious and there are many of them. We don't have all the fences up yet so they're hammering my plants. They seem to particularly like strawberry leaves. I'm hoping that enough pull through to give us a crop this year. I have 2 beds of them so far but there's not a lot left of them at the moment. One of the main reasons for putting the nursery right by my bender is that they're less likely to attack my plants with my dog Star making the racket he does when they appear outside. Hopefully I'll have my camera with me when I next see them. If I get a picture I'll put it up.

Preparing the ground for the nursery garden

2010-01-17T07:27:00.000-08:00

Today we started work on zone 1 or what I call the nursery garden. It was entirely covered in brambles and brush from the young trees we cut down in the area a few months ago.

This is where I plan to do most of the plant propagation and where I intend to hold my stock of medicinal herbs. All the things I do most frequently will be done here.

When Danny turns up with the mini digger we'll double dig beds all the way down this area.

This is how the area looked this morning.

As you can see with Bam Bam's help and a strimmer we made short work of clearing it.

No planting today but I think you can see we had a productive day.

Saturday's planting and musings on forest gardens

2010-01-16T06:34:00.000-08:00

Today's planting was all for the forest garden. A forest garden is planted so that the structure of a natural forest is emulated as much as possible but where all the species used have a use. Most of the tree planting so far here at Brickhurst has been in the form of orchards and coppice. My approach to the forest garden I intend here is a little different.

The forest has 7 distinct layers.
1 The canopy
2 Secondaries
3 Shrubs
4 Herbaceous
5 Rhizosphere (Roots)
6 Soil surface (creepers and strawberry type plants)
7 Vertical (Climbers)

If you get the balance of plants right a forest garden will provide you with food, materials such as dyes and fibres, medicines and a host of other things.

Here's what I planted today

Betula Lenta, Sweet or cherry birch http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Betula+lenta PC4-6 used as a sweetener and for it's sweet sap. It's also a good medicinal plant.

Caragana Arborescens, Siberian pea shrub http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Caragana+arborescens Code L Requires scarrification I usually rub the seeds on a brick until the membrane around the seed just wears through. This plant fixes nitrogen and produces edible seeds and shoots

Humulus Lupulus, Common Hop http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Humulus+lupulus

Needs a period of cold to germinate used in beer and as a mild sedative This will be part of layer 7

Liquidambar Styraciflua, Sweet gum http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Liquidambar+styraciflua PC 8 Mostly medicinal can be used to make gum. Canopy tree.

Mahonia Aquifolium, Oregon Grape http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Mahonia+aquifolium MD 16 Shrub layer edible berries and some medicinal uses

Phellodendron amurense Amur cork tree http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Phellodendron+amurense MD 12 One of the 50 main Chinese medicinal plants

Punica Granatum Pomegranate http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Punica+granatum MD14 Not sure how well this will do here, it's frost tender but I'll try it in some sheltered corners and see what happens.

Pyrus Communis, Wild pear http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Pyrus+communis MD16 Canopy fruit edible cooked or bletted, can be used as rootstock for large trees some medicinal uses.

Tsuga Heterophylla, Western Hemlock http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Tsuga+heterophylla

PC canopy tree has a number of uses see the link.

I'll leave it there for today but back tomorrow and if the weather is sunny as promised by the Met Office I'll be clearing brambles for the medicinal herb garden.

Today's planting

2010-01-15T05:34:00.000-08:00

Sharon Astyk http://sharonastyk.com/ says that you should plant something every day, harvest something every day and preserve something every day. As my kitchen isn't built yet preserving will have to wait but the planting needs to happen now.

I finally managed to get a barrow load of compost through a couple of hundred metres of slush so the planting has begun.

I'm focussing on two main types of thing that need to go in now. One are the seeds that need a period of cold and the others are members of the tomato family that need a long season.My bender stays quite warm as long as the fire keeps going and from now on the fire won't be allowed to go out until the weather warms up.

Here's what I planted today. Information about the plants comes from the Plants for a Future website. I use them a lot for information.

As I don't have a refrigerator I'll have to put seeds that need stratifying outside in pots and hope for the best.

Stratifying seeds:
Elaeagnus Angustifolia http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Elaeagnus+angustifolia
MD12 (Moderately Dormant needs 12 weeks at 2-5 C)

Arbutus Unedo, Strawberry tree http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Arbutus+unedo
(Pre Chill min 3 max 10 weeks We'll bring these indoors at the end of February)

Celtis Australis, Nettle tree http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Celtis+australis
MD12

Zizyphus Jujuba, Chinese date http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Ziziphus+jujuba
MD12

Acer Saccharum, Sugar Maple http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Acer+saccharum
MD12

Seeds planted in the warm

Araucaria araucana, Monkey puzzle http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Araucaria+araucana

Quercus Ilex, Holme Oak http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Quercus+ilex

Pinus Pinea Italian Stone Pine http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Pinus+pinea

Carica Papaya (No plants for a future reference this plant cannot live outdoors here in the UK but I thought I'd have a go at keeping a couple in pots indoors http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papaya )

Aubergine Rosa Bianca http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Solanum+melongena

Chillis Bhavnagari long, Black Hungarian, G-4 Cobra, Yellow Scotch Bonnet http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Capsicum+frutescens

Peppers Chinese Giant, Italian pepperoncini, Sweet Chocolate http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Capsicum+annuum

Tomatillo Da Milpa, Physalis Ixocarpa http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Physalis+ixocarpa

Tomatoes Black from Tulsa, Black Krim, Black Pinapple, Bloody butcher, Carbon, Cherokee Purple http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Lycopersicon+esculentum

So there we are, the first seeds are in, not that it's made much of a dent in the seeds I bought this year let alone the other several hundred varieties from previous years that really could do with going in this year. Well, what is possible will be done.

Waiting for a thaw

2010-01-15T02:17:00.000-08:00

The compost heaps are still covered with snow but it's now thawing fast.

While we wait I thought I'd tell you some of the things we did last autumn.

The first few trees in the forest garden were planted in September. It was a bit early to move them and we may have some losses but they were dug up with as much of the root ball intact as possible. For now there are a couple of pears, a couple of cider apples some cherry plums and a bunch of fruit bushes. In the next couple of weeks I'll start producing the planting diagrams and I'll list the varieties. All around the polytunnel garden we've planted redurrants, gooseberries, blackcurrants, a couple of holm oaks, some chocolate vines and a large bed of Apios Americana, the American ground nut which is one of the species I hope eventually to use to produce vegetable oil. Another 10 simple mulch beds have been made with a couple of proper wood sided beds in that area so far. 2 beds contain strawberries, 3 others contain a mix of plants brought up with me from my last project in Wales, I intent to propagate them for the forest garden. I'll list them when I put up my first proper design document. There are two beds of garlic and all the other beds contain winter onions.

Mulch beds are the quickest and easiest way of making beds. You start by clearing whatever is growing there at present to the ground. You then cover the area of your bed with a layer of cardboard (Preferably without too much coloured ink on it) then depending on what you want to plant in it you sprinkle an amount of well rotted manure onto the cardboard and then a few inches of properly rotted down compost. to keep down weeds you keep mulching it as they appear with more compost or you can cover the bed with straw or haylege to suppress unwanted plants.

The bulk of the beds we're going to make we intend to double dig with a mini digger and lined with planks made here at the farm by Danny. I have double dug beds by hand before but it is back breaking work and the planned 150 beds would take me a couple of years to dig if I had the stamina.

To double dig a bed you mark out the area of the bed, then you dig to a spades depth a few feet putting the earth you dig out to one side. You then dig down another spade depth and mix that earth with the first earth you dug out and you work back along the bed until you have mixed up the earth to two spades depth all along the bed. You fill the bed to ground level, put in your restraining planks then mix the remaining earth with whatever mix of compost and manure you want for what you intend to grow in it and fill up the box made by the planks. (The stakes to hold the planks are better on the outside in my opinion but some prefer putting them inside for appearances. You never dig or stand on a raised bed once it's made. From now on maintenance will mostly be mulching as you put back the organic matter your plants will use up.

I'll document the process in pictures once we get started in earnest.

The photograph is of a chicken hut on tall legs to prevent the fox taking the chickens. It isn't occupied at the moment but that will change in a few weeks after we visit the agricultural auction.

Detailed notes

2010-01-14T03:46:00.000-08:00

I use Nicky's nursery quite a lot http://nickysnursery.co.uk/ and so far I've spent about £350 on seeds this year. We're only up to the C's in the herbs but I have a lot of older seeds from previous years and a proportion of those will germinate. They were stored in plastic tupperware type boxes with some silica gel in the fridge before I came here but refrigeration is not yet accomplished here yet although I have some thoughts on a solar ammonia-water adsorbtion freezer.

I intend to show as clearly as possible what things cost as I intend this blog to be as complete a record of the process of becoming self sufficient as possible. When I can afford it we'll get the rest of the alphabet of herbs. These will be for the medicinal garden. Where possible the seeds are organic, if not they are heritage (Any F1 hybrids are accidental).

We will be taking the seeds of these plants in due course and they will be separated as necessary to maintain the strain.

Here is the list of seeds:

SPR001 Sprouting Seeds Alfalfa 50g. 1.60

VEG536 Vegetable Organic Sourced Artichoke Imperial Star Organic Sourced 25 seeds. 2.35

VEG349 Vegetable Artichoke Violet de Provence 50 seeds. 1.35

VEG464 Vegetable Cardoon Gobbo di Nizzia 20 seeds. 1.60

FS-ZZ001 Free Offer FREE WILDFLOWER MIX SEED PKT. 0.00

VEG001 Vegetable Asparagus Connovers Colossal 100 seeds. 1.20

VEG156 Vegetable Aubergine Snowy Eggplant 20 seeds. 2.45

VEG321 Vegetable Organic Sourced Aubergine Rosa Bianca Eggplant 50 seeds Organic Sourced. 2.70

VEG739 Vegetable Beans Organic Sourced Broad Bean Super Aquadulce Organic Sourced 50 gram. 6.50

VEG204 Baby Vegetable Beans Climbing French Bean Hunter 50g. 2.00

VEG872 Vegetable Beans Pea Bean 20 gram. 1.50

VEG698 Vegetable Organic Sourced Runner Bean White Emergo Organic Sourced 100g. 3.25

VEG647 Vegetable Organic Sourced Runner Bean Enorma Organic Sourced 100g. 3.75

VEG937 Vegetable Kale Borecole Hungry Gap 1 gram. 0.69

VEG416 Vegetable Kale Palm Tree or Dinosaur Kale 50 Seeds. 1.20

VEG032S Vegetable Cabbage Black Nero De Toscana SMALL 75 seeds. 0.75

VEG019 Vegetable Broccoli White Sprouting 400 seeds. 1.20

VEG300S Vegetable Broccoli Purple Sprouting Late SMALL 150 seeds. 0.59

VEG018 Vegetable Broccoli Purple Sprouting Early 400 seeds. 1.20

VEG933 Vegetable Brussels Sprouts Red Bull 150 seeds. 1.25

VEG717 Vegetable Organic Sourced Cabbage Winnigstatd av 250 seeds Organic Sourced. 1.25

VEG658 Vegetable Organic Sourced Cabbage Derby Day Av 100 seeds Organic Sourced. 2.45

VEG660 Vegetable Organic Sourced Cabbage Marner Large Red 100 seeds Organic Sourced. 2.45

VEG659 Vegetable Organic Sourced Cabbage Advantage Av 100 seeds Organic Sourced. 2.45

VEG340 Vegetable Calabrese Green Sprouting 500 Seeds. 1.10

ALT055S Oriental Veg Chinese Cabbage Yukina Savoy SMALL 150 seeds. 0.59

ALT060 Oriental Veg Chinese Cabbage Wong Bok Mandarin Cabbage 250 seeds. 1.10

FS-PH012 Physalis Peruviana Cape Gooseberry Golden Berry 100 seeds. 2.80

FS-PH016 Physalis pruinosa Dwarf Cape Gooseberry Ground Cherry 100 seeds. 2.80

VEG532 Vegetable Carrot Cosmic Purple 500 seeds. 1.25

VEG438 Vegetable Carrot Lunar White 400 seeds. 1.65

VEG437 Vegetable Carrot Oxheart 400 seeds. 1.65

VEG359 Vegetable Carrot Purple Dragon 500 seeds. 1.35

VEG751 Vegetable Carrot Solar Yellow 2g pkt. 1.50

VEG750 Vegetable Organic Sourced Carrot Bambino Organic Sourced av 500 seeds. 1.35

VEG748 Vegetable Organic Sourced Carrots Napoli Organic Sourced 300 seeds. 1.55

VEG696 Vegetable Organic Sourced Carrot Flakkee Organic Sourced 500 seeds. 1.35

VEG648 Vegetable Organic Sourced Carrots Nantes 2 Av 2000 seeds Organic Sourced. 1.35

VEG490 Vegetable Carrots Royal Chantenay Av 700 seeds. 1.10

H222 Herb Carrot Edible Leaf av 1000 seeds. 0.95

H050 Herb Sage English av 70 seeds. 1.15

VEG754 Vegetable Organic Sourced Cauliflower Medallion Organic Sourced 30 seeds. 2.75

VEG419 Vegetable Cauliflower All The Year Round 300 seeds. 1.35

VEG420 Vegetable Cauliflower Autumn Giant 300 Seeds. 1.25

VEG041 Vegetable Cauliflower Purple Cape 200 Seeds. 1.65

VEG270 Vegetable Cauliflower Snowball 100 Seeds. 1.10

VEG716 Vegetable Organic Sourced Celeriac Prinz 50 seeds Organic Sourced. 1.45

VEG549 Vegetable Celery Leaf Dark Green Soup Av 1000 seeds. 0.95

VEG672 Vegetable Celery Leaf Red Soup Av 1000 seeds. 0.95

VEG653 Vegetable Organic Sourced Celery Tall Utah Av 1000 seeds Organic Sourced. 1.20

ALT003S Oriental Veg Celtuce SMALL 300 seeds. 0.59

VEG615 Vegetable Chicory Pain De Sucre 1g pkt. 1.35

Wf234 Wild Flower Chicory 550 seeds. 1.35

ALT068 Oriental Veg Shungiku Greens 600 seeds. 1.10

ALT058 Oriental Veg Tokyo Bekana 250 seeds. 1.65

ALT037S Oriental Veg Chinese Chives New Belt SMALL 80 seeds. 0.59

H018 Herb Chives Garlic 200 seeds. 1.15

H021 Herb Corn salad Lambs Lettuce 1g pkt. 1.15

VEG600 Vegetable Courgette Green Bush 20 seeds. 1.30

VEG587 Vegetable Organic Sourced Courgette Nero di Milano Organic Sourced 15 seeds. 1.25

SPR028 Sprouting Seeds Cress Selection 74 Organic Sourced 35g. 1.60

ALT040 Oriental Veg Greek Cress 2000 seeds. 1.00

ALT024S Oriental Veg Cress American Uplands or Land SMALL 750 seeds. 0.59

VEG350 Vegetable Cucumber Cucumber Gherkin National 40 seeds. 1.50

VEG551 Vegetable Organic Sourced Cucumber Marketmore Organic Sourced Av 35 seeds. 1.35

VEG133 Vegetable Cucumber Long Green Ridge 40 seeds. 1.65

VEG871 Vegetable Dandelion Pissenlit 1g pkt. 0.95

H221 Herb Italian Dandelion red rib 500 seeds. 0.95

H251 Herb Organic Sourced Dill Hera Organic Sourced 400 seeds. 1.25

VEG552 Vegetable Organic Sourced Endive Blond Full Heart 1g pkt Organic Sourced. 1.35

VEG586 Vegetable Organic Sourced Fennel Romanesco Organic Sourced 175 seeds. 1.35

VEG938 Vegetable Fennel Florence Mixed 0.5 gram. 0.95

VEG249UK Vegetable Green Manure Winter field bean 250g. 4.25

VEG722UK Vegetable Green Manure Winter Mix 250g pkt. 4.25

VEG634UK Vegetable Green Manure Spring Mix 250g pkt. 4.25

BV020 Baby Vegetable Organic Sourced Kohl Robi Logo Organic Sourced 75 seeds. 1.65

VEG585 Vegetable Organic Sourced Leek Carentan Organic Sourced 225 seeds. 1.55

VEG650 Vegetable Organic Sourced Leek Blauwgroene Herfst Tadorna Av 250 seeds Organic Sourced. 1.80

VEG391 Vegetable Organic Sourced Leek Blauwgroene Herfst ARDEA Organic Sourced 250 seeds. 1.80

H162 Herb Lemon Grass West Indian C citratus 0.25 gram. 1.95

H091 Herb Lemon Grass East Indian C flexuosus 500 seeds. 1.65

VEG535 Vegetable Melon Tigger 6 seeds. 1.50

ALT052 Oriental Veg Mustard green in snow 1 gram. 1.00

ALT064 Oriental Veg Chinese Mustard Southern Giant 800 seeds. 1.00

ALT010 Oriental Veg Mustard Spinach Tendergreen 400 seeds. 1.00

VEG470 Vegetable Okra Hill Country Heirloom Red 20 seeds. 1.45

VEG760 Vegetable Organic Sourced Lettuce Arianna Organic Sourced 300 seeds. 1.95

VEG525 Vegetable Organic Sourced Lettuce Marvel of Four Seasons Organic Sourced 1000 seeds. 1.20

VEG666 Vegetable Organic Sourced Turnip Purple Top Milan 2000 seeds Organic SOurced. 1.35

VEG487S Vegetable Tomatillo De Milpa SMALL 20 seeds. 0.79

VEG213S Vegetable Tomatillo Verde SMALL 100 seeds. 0.69

VEG214S Vegetable Tomatillo Purple SMALL 50 seeds. 0.69

VEG076SP Vegetable Turnip Snowball x 2 packets. 1.75

H084S Herb Watercress SMALL PKT 1000 seeds. 0.75

VEG936 Vegetable Onion Borettana 1 gram. 0.95

VEG934 Vegetable Onion Kosma 1 gram. 1.05

VEG657 Vegetable Organic Sourced Onion Sturon 200 seeds Organic Sourced. 2.70

VEG057 Vegetable Onion Red Baron 250 seeds. 1.55

VEG088 Vegetable Onion Senshyu 500 seeds. 1.75

VEG941 Vegetable Salad Onion Shimonita 500 seeds. 1.05

VEG382 Vegetable Salad Onion Ishikura 400 seeds. 1.45

VEG272 Vegetable Salad onion Paris Silverskin 2 gram pkt. 1.45

VEG697 Vegetable Organic Sourced Salad Onion White Lisbon 2 gram Organic Sourced. 1.25

H170 Herb Par Cel Zwolsche krul 400 seeds. 1.00

H042 Herb Parsley Hamburg Rooted av 500 seeds. 1.05

H043 Herb Parsley Plain or French 500 seeds. 0.95

VEG618 Vegetable Organic Sourced Parsley Italian giant Organic Sourced 300 seeds. 1.29

VEG768 Vegetable Parsnip Guernsey 2 gram. 1.10

VEG061 Vegetable Parsnip White Gem 500 Seeds. 1.10

VEG511 Vegetable Peas Pea Delikett sugar snap 50g. 2.25

VEG367S Vegetable Peas Pea Oregon Sugar Pod 50g. 1.30

VEG064L Vegetable Peas Peas Hurst Greenshaft 250 gram. 8.75

VEG510L Vegetable Peas Peas Jaguar 500g. 8.75

VEG063L Vegetable Peas Peas Early Onward 500g. 8.75

VEG130L Vegetable Peas Pea Mange tout Carouby de Mausanne 500g. 8.25

VEG723 Vegetable Peas Organic Sourced Pea Norli organic sourced 50g. 2.45

VEG268 Vegetable Pumpkin Atlantic Giant 10 seeds. 1.75

VEG705 Vegetable Pumpkin Full Moon 10 seeds. 2.05

VEG656 Vegetable Organic Sourced Pumpkin Jack o Lantern 10 seeds Organic Sourced. 1.75

VEG443 Vegetable Peppers Sweet Chinese Giant 20 seeds. 1.55

VEG447 Vegetable Peppers Sweet Italian Pepperoncini 25 seeds. 2.90

VEG880 Vegetable Peppers Sweet D Asti Giallo 25 seeds. 0.95

VEG217 Vegetable Peppers Sweet Chocolate 15 seeds. 1.85

VEG445 Vegetable Peppers Sweet Red Cheese Pepper 15 seeds. 2.20

VEG813 Vegetable Peppers Chilli Indian Bhavnagari Long 25 seeds. 1.35

VEG850 Vegetable Chilli Collection Chilli Starter Collection 1 av 10 seeds per pkt Anaheim TMR Black Hungarian Navaho NuMex Bailey Piquin NuMex Big Jim Santa Fe Grande. 2.99

VEG851 Vegetable Chilli Collection Chilli Starter Collection 2 av 10 seeds per pkt Scotch Bonnet Yellow Indian Cobra Delhi HOT Pot Chilli Numex Espanhola Serrano Tampequino. 2.99

VEG351S Vegetable Tomato Ailsa Craig SMALL 30 seeds. 0.65

VEG709 Vegetable Tomato Ananas Noire or Black Pineapple 15 seeds. 1.55

VEG789 Vegetable Tomato Black from Tula 15 seeds. 1.15

VEG790 Vegetable Tomato Black Krim 15 seeds. 1.15

VEG379 Vegetable Tomato Black Russian 25 seeds. 1.25

VEG280 Vegetable Tomato Bloody Butcher 30 seeds. 1.35

VEG836 Vegetable Tomato Box Car Willie 15 seeds. 1.25

VEG707 Vegetable Tomato Carbon 10 seeds. 1.90

VEG706 Vegetable Tomato Cherokee Purple 30 seeds. 1.40

BZ113 Tree Seed Acer Saccharum Sugar Maple 15 seeds. 1.90

BZ036 Tree Seed Araucaria araucana Monkey Puzzle 5 seeds. 3.95

BZ165 Tree Seed Juniperus communis 25 seeds. 2.25

BZ201 Tree Seed Pinus pinea Pine Nut 5 seeds. 3.00

BZ098 Tree Seed Tsuga Heterophylla Western Hemlock 25 seeds. 1.25

BZ205 Tree Seed Betula Lenta 50 seeds. 1.25

BZ073 Tree Seed Caragana Arborescens 25 seeds. 1.15

BZ161 Tree Seed Carica Papaya 20 seeds. 1.50

BZ007 Tree Seed Celtis australis 25 seeds. 1.25

BZ008 Tree Seed Ceratonia siliqua 25 seeds. 1.25

BZ155 Tree Seed Cinnamomum camphora 12 seeds. 1.75

BZ011 Tree Seed Elaeagnus angustifolia 30 seeds. 1.50

BZ014 Tree Seed Liquidambor styraciflua 25 seeds. 1.25

BZ156 Tree Seed Lycium chinensis Chinese Wolfberry 30 seeds. 1.25

BZ215 Tree Seed Mahonia Aquifolia 1g pkt. 1.55

BZ030 Tree Seed Morus Alba 200 seeds. 1.45

BZ049 Tree Seed Morus nigra 200 seeds. 1.45

BZ109 Tree Seed Olea europea 10 seeds. 1.75

BZ116 Tree Seed Phellodendron amurensis 25 seeds. 1.35

BZ081UK Tree Seed Prunus avium Wild Cherry 20 seeds. 1.65

BZ062 Tree Seed Prunus Mahaleb 20 seeds. 1.65

BZ024 Tree Seed Punica granatum nana 15 seeds. 1.50

BZ139 Tree Seed Pyrus Communis 20 seeds. 2.25

BZ169 Tree Seed Quercus Ilex Holm Oak 10 seeds. 2.75

BZ193 Tree Seed Rosa Rugosa Alba 20 seeds. 1.65

H240 Herb Vitex negundo heterophylla 50 seeds. 1.25

BZ108 Tree Seed Zizyphus Jujuba 5 seeds. 2.15

BZ063 Tree Seed Arbutus Unedo Strawberry Tree 50 seeds. 1.65

H077 Herb Hop Common av 50 seeds. 1.50

H177 Herb Madder. 2.75

FS-PA040S Passiflora Caerulea 28 seeds. 1.58

BZ206 Tree Seed Schisandra chinensis 30 seeds. 1.95

VEG-FREE1 Free Offer Peppers Chilli BHUT JOLOKIA 5 seeds FREE PKT. 0.00

==================

Goods Total : GBP 289.15

Shipping : GBP 8.17

TOTAL VAT : GBP 9.79

==================

Invoice TOTAL : GBP 307.11

==================

VAT Analysis :

VAT Goods : GBP 8.56

VAT Shipping : GBP 1.23

------------------

VAT TOTAL : GBP 9.79

Order_Currency: Sterling (UK) (GBP)

H003 Herb Balm 750 seeds. 1.15

H002 Herb Anise Pimpinella anisum 280 seeds. 1.05

H206 Herb Alexanders Black Lovage 20 seeds. 1.65

H001R Herb Angelica 1 gram pkt. 1.20

H145R Herb Agrimony Common 40 seeds. 1.25

H122 Herb Anise Hyssop 500 seeds. 1.10

H199 Herb Balm of Gilead 160 seeds. 1.25

H118 Herb Greenweed Dyers 50 seeds. 1.25

H116 Herb Goats Rue French Lilac 50 seeds. 1.05

H115 Herb Gipsywort 400 seeds. 1.25

H029 Herb Feverfew 800 seeds. 1.35

H073 Herb False Saffron Kinko 10 seeds. 1.00

H028 Herb Fennel Sweet 260 seeds. 1.05

H150 Herb Eschscholzia Californica Orange av 300 seeds. 1.10

H253 Herb Echinacea angustifolia Coneflower 50 seeds. 1.85

H022 Herb Cumin av 300 seeds. 0.95

HERB002 Herbs Collection Culinary Herb Garden Collection Thyme Sage English Tarragon Russian Basil Sweet Parsley plain or French Coriander Chervil plain Dill Mint peppermint Chives Lovage Sorrel large french Fennel sweet. 11.25

H225 Herb Coriander Lemon av 200 seeds. 0.95

H020 Herb Coriander 250 seeds. 1.15

H210 Herb Clary Painted Sage Mixed S Viridis syn S Horminum 80 seeds. 0.90

H229 Herb Chinese Motherwort Leonurus sibiricus 350 seeds. 0.95

H197 Herb Chinese Milkvetch 50 seeds. 1.25

H242 Herb Chinese Licorice Glycyrrhiza uralensis 80 seeds. 1.25

H016 Herb Chervil Plain 800 seeds. 1.00

H014 Herb Chamomile Matricaria chamomilla 3250 seeds. 1.00

H110 Herb Centaury Av 1000 seeds. 1.00

H212 Herb Catnip Japanese 300 seeds. 1.20

H126 Herb Catmint Garden Nepeta mussinii 100 seeds. 0.95

H010 Herb Caraway 280 seeds. 0.95

H009 Herb Burnet Salad 300 seeds. 1.10

H008R Herb Borage 100 seeds. 1.00

H108 Herb Basil Holy Green 500 seeds. 1.45

H105 Herb Basil Lemon 1 gram pkt. 1.35

H161 Herb Birthwort Aristolochia clematitis 2g pkt av 35 seeds. 1.50

FS-ZZ001 Free Offer FREE WILDFLOWER MIX SEED PKT. 0.00

==================

Goods Total : GBP 46.55

Shipping : GBP 6.13

TOTAL VAT : GBP 4.07

==================

Invoice TOTAL : GBP 56.75

==================

VAT Analysis :

VAT Goods : GBP 3.15

VAT Shipping : GBP 0.92

------------------

VAT TOTAL : GBP 4.07

Composting toilets

2010-01-14T02:47:00.000-08:00

We compost all our waste. At it's most complex a composting toilet can be an edifice with seperate chambers for composting in situ with fans and so on but at it's most simple it's a comfortable plastic bucket, sawdust and a compost heap (Ventilated with a layer of brush to allow it to get hot enough to kill anything nasty) We feed the result to our trees as it may be unsafe to use it directly on crops but the cycle is closed. The ashes from the chestnut we burn in winter ends up on the vegetable beds, we eat the vegetables and feed our composted waste to the chestnut.

Coppicing extends the life of trees. The oldest coppices here are over 1600 years old. You can tell how old a coppice is by the diameter of the ring the tree forms. Some of ours are 15-20 feet across. They used to power brick kilns made from the clay here hence the name Brickhurst.

One of the things I would like to do with the beds is to incorporate charcoal as it acts as a massive surface area for microorganisms and helps create soil but you need to do it during a fallow year as it sucks nitrogen out of the soil at first. Could be ok for an annual medicinal herb crop during that year. We're also going to be using mycorrhizal fungi all over the place.

If I can find the money I'll get some rock dust and remineralise all the beds too. Rock dust + mycorrhizal fungi = astonishing effects.

The fungi feed the plants minerals from the rock dust and the plants feed the fungi sugars and the result is extra large veg.

If you can't afford the fungi incorporate some woodland soil in your beds. Just a little should do it.

Rain at last

2010-01-14T02:04:00.000-08:00

It started raining last night so it looks like I'll be able to get started soon.

As soon as the compost heaps are accessible it'll be time to start planting. One of the first things to go in will be the solinaceae. Peppers, tomatoes, tobacco and those first few first early potatoes under cover. In a few weeks when the weather has moderated a little we'll be looking at putting plants, (dormant under cover in pots for their first year) like honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), grape vines bay trees and an assortment of other things into their final positions.

The gardens will be in several zones. Zone 0 is my bender and it's immediate surrondings. I'll describe that in another post. Zone 1 is the area immediately around my bender and it's where I'll put the things that I use most often and it will also house my high attention nursery. To the west of that are two fenced off areas that once held the pigs. There is a small pond in one corner and we also have access to a water supply powered by a solar powered pump from another pond which irrigates the polytunnel. In the summer water is in short supply here so we make a lot of ponds around the place. One of the side effects of this has been an explosion in the variety of wildlife around the place. This will be where the bulk of the raised beds will be. They will be about 3 feet wide by 20 or 30 feet long. Double dug with wooden surrounds. Once dug once they will never be dug or stood on again. Management will be done by continual mulching.

Companion planting will be done throughout and rotation on a 4 year rotation will be done and in breaks in production green manures will be grown in the beds. Eventually we will install an irrigation system from the ponds.

Another important job to do now is to plant those seeds that need a period of cold to germinate. In an ideal world one would refrigerate the seed in damp sharp sand for a specific length of time but I've found that frequently just a few weeks of exposure to freezing weather outside does the trick.

The year turns, we should be through the worst of the cold for this year, although there will certainly be a few more cold snaps.

Come on thaw, I've had enough snow.

Meanderings and description

2010-01-13T03:26:00.000-08:00

Any garden starts with the soil. We're lucky here at Brickhurst because Matt has been busy for the last 5 years making a mountain of compost.

Our neighbours have horses too so there's a ready supply of manure too but hopefully we'll only need external inputs to bring up the fertility of the soil here for the first couple of years and then with some luck and hard work we'll have closed as many of the nutrient cycles as possible.

It is possible to build up fertility without external inputs and we intend to create such systems and document it here. We already have some quite large comfrey patches which will be extended and green manures will be used but for some things like making a hotbed the only thing that will do is raw manure.

We will be using a number of hot beds. Although my bender has a small conservatory made of a mix of glass and polytunnel plastic, it won't be large enough to accommodate all the seedlings we will produce this year so our only option will be to create them.

The hot beds we use here are made of four sheets of 10cm thick (approx) polystyrene backed by aluminium sheets that came in as salvage from somewhere arranged to create a box that contains a layer of twigs at the bottom for ventilation, then a 1m depth of manure then compost on top sloped towards the south with old double glazing units as glass, again sloping south.

We'll first use them to germinate the seeds that need it warm and need a long season like tomatoes, peppers and so on. Once they are large enough and the polytunnel becomes warm enough for them cucurbits will be planted in the exhausted hot bed. The following year the contents will be used to fertilise the raised beds.

The picture is of my solar panels.

Welcome

2010-01-13T03:05:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my new blog.

It is my intention to document here the process of creating a large vegetable garden, a forest garden and a medicinal herb garden here at Brickhurst Farm near Tunbridge Wells in Kent in the UK

The farm is an existing Permaculture farm and many of the areas of orchard here are now mature.

The vegetable garden will be run on a Jeavons type system and will be run organically although we do not have organic certification.

The people at the farm live in low impact dwellings called benders and burn wood for fuel that we coppice here.

The only service we have here from the outside world is the telephone (And my dongle)

I intend to use this blog to document the entire process of becoming self sufficient to anable others to follow suit if they desire to do so.

Work on the gardens will start as soon as the snow that has buried the farm has melted.