Part of the trick with growing things commercially is that you always need to have something to sell. So for us we expect to have a good crop of peppers and aubergines and squash over the next couple of months with about half a dozen beds of sweet potatoes coming through. However our main focus is on providing a succession of chard and spinach that will take us through to Christmas. [...]
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Then add the tomatoes. I wash them, remove the stalks and liquidise them in the blender. Add the Sugar and salt and boil for an hour and a half to reduce the level of liquid. If it caramelises slightly it will add to the flavour but don’t overdo it or cleaning the pan will be tedious. [...] This whole approach to designing a functioning ecosystem from day one is something that we really should be looking at more given that I’m beginning to suspect that what we think of as conventional farming is uncomfortably dependent on cheap oil. [...] Instead I’m going to give you a few pictures of some beauties that we saw. If you’re interested in a little trippette across the channel there’s both a nursery and a garden that you can visit dedicated to these subtle and beautiful flowers. Within striking distance of Dieppe. You have to endure the shame of embarking from Newhaven but well, one can’t have everything. [...] 
In some ways these reservoirs are just like big garden ponds. We’ll be stocking them with Rudd shortly after a bit more fiddling with the overflows And just like garden ponds, one of the things that needs management is removing excess nutrients from the water to prevent algae developing. We’ve already had a couple of minor blooms. Mainly because we had more topsoil in the bottom of the reservoir than subsoil. Hornwort Fundamentally you need to have plants or other organisms that compete with the algae for the nitrates. For emergency reduction we use a product called blue [...] So here’s a selection of 5 vegetables you might have a crack at. Perpetual Spinach, radish, rocket, mixed salad and the carrots. Plants are very susceptible to daylength rather than temperature but we have about 8 weeks before they slow to a crawl. Under protected cropping they really only stop between mid december and when the light turns in mid february but still – if you’re feeling bold this selection should give you the best shot. [...] 
Things to grow at this time of year One of the advantages of having some protection – either as a polytunnel or glasshouses is that you can grab a late season crop of short growing season crops. At this time of year you can get away with quick growing crops like little gem lettuce, pak choi, radishes and spinach. You could also get good results with a cut and come again salad mix. Here are a few Spinach plants we prepared earlier. You need to be quick because we’ll soon run out of Daylight but there’s just under 60 days usable daylight left until next year. So get sowing!. The other thing you should be thinking about is propagating cuttings from plants over the winter. We’ll do a bit more on that soon. [...] 
I’m currently dealing with an excess of tomatoes so I thought I’d tell you about a couple of products we’ve recently taken on which you can buy via our Amazon store to help me in producing tomato and chilli relish, chutney, salsa and passata. [...] While we were in Normandy the other week we went round this amazing Hydrangea nursery about which more later. Out the back were many beds that had clearly been used for display in the past but were now a bit overgrown. In the middle of this fertility was one bed which had been fenced off and was being used for Geese who were busily engaged in clearing the land back to the point where it could be re used. N’importe quoi. Here are the Geese for your amusement and delight. Permaculture French Style Bookmark on Delicious Digg this post [...] 
The Jardin d’Agapanthes is a stunning garden in Normandy, between Dieppe and Rouen. Well worth a visit. [...] |
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