International Women's Day, Chester. Organic Fruit and Veg growing workshop
Thanks to everyone who came to the International Women's Day Organic Fruit and Veg growing workshop I led in Chester on Saturday.Joan Meredith - a Trident Ploughshares Activist (pictured) and I united...
View ArticleWhat to plant and sow now
Lady Christl new potatoes went in on the allotment yesterday. Didn't bother watering them in as I'm expecting it to rain soon and that's part of my new strategy. Working with the weather.I was really...
View ArticleStrawberry Planters
Things were looking a bit dismal in our courtyard. Partly because I've tried to go low maintenance this year. But there's one project I wanted to complete very soon and that's the strawberry planter....
View ArticleQuaker Winter Gathering
This weekend brought a change from sowing and planting:"Living adventurously" - the Quaker Winter Gathering weekend in Bala, North Wales.I took a series of photographs on Sunday morning, including...
View ArticleCommunication and Organic Gardening
Where did that familiar expression come from: "There's no point in doing something - unless you tell people what you're doing"?It's an expression which is so important for many of us who are involved...
View ArticleAllotment Plan update
It's an important time of year - but where we live the ground is still too cold to sow seeds without cover. The new potatoes I planted two weeks ago are not showing yet. That's fine, they will...
View ArticleWhat to plant in Spring
Now that the first really warm days are upon us - we're finally able to do a little more in the veg. patch. At this time of year - when things get busier - I have a job writing everything down that I'm...
View ArticleWhat's growing in the kitchen garden now?
Time is short. People often think they don't have enough to maintain a kitchen garden. This week I had just twenty minutes to spare. So I picked rhubarb and a little asparagus and shot these pictures...
View ArticleGrowing and eating Asparagus organically
I'd resolved to post at least once a week on this blog. This last month though, has been so busy I just haven't managed it. The weather had been so cold for so long, once things started warming up, I...
View ArticleBecoming self-sufficient with your kitchen garden
On the fourth birthday of our organic allotment - which we converted from derelict (when I say, derelict - I mean derelict - at least one hundred sacks of broken glass and rubbish removed) - it's time...
View ArticleAllotments Open Day. National Gardens Scheme.
Haven't posted recently I know - good excuses though. Preparing the plot for Allotments Open Day this coming Sunday. We're part of the National Gardens Scheme now and it was really popular last year....
View ArticleCommunity kitchen gardening and the National Gardens Scheme Open Day
With the hot weather, growing, watering, preparations for the Open Day and only a few weeks left of my daughter's first year of school - we've been run off our feet and I'm just catching up with the...
View ArticlePeach harvest. Avalon Pride Peach Tree.
Sorry I've been away so long, readers. We've certainly had some joys and challenges in the past few weeks. As far as organic gardening is concerned - I've had to prioritise 'doing' rather than...
View ArticlePeter Melchett kicks off Organic Food Fortnight. Live Chat. The Guardian
Fellow organic and would-be organic plotters may want to tune in to today's Guardian live web chat which features Peter Melchett of the Soil Association. He's taking questions on organics for schools,...
View ArticleCanadian Tar Sands. Not the answer to Peak Oil.
Chief Al Lameman of the Cree First Nation (Centre) with Chester Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace Delegation.Odeon Cinema Manchester, England showing of "Tar Wars". Sept 17th.Event organised by the...
View ArticleAutumn in the organic garden
As we feel the first frosts in the air and the growing season slows down - I'm tempted to look back at the two years I've been writing this blog - and the others...we've had our allotment for...
View ArticleComprehensive spending review. Parsnips, leeks and winter hardy lettuce.
As many of us in the U.K. wait for the government's comprehensive spending review's axe to fall over their heads, their homes and their lives - our allotments and gardens (if we are lucky enough to...
View ArticleStop School League Tables for Five Year Olds
Happy New Year to you all. A strange title for a post on an organic gardening blog - but I feel the international petition to "Stop League Tables for Five Year Olds" will be of interest to followers of...
View ArticleIn which Questioner ponders Spring plantings on the allotment
For gardeners each Spring is like a new love affair. This time everything will be different. Better. More hopeful. Exciting. The land I work is rented - but after four years - we belong to each other...
View ArticleKaren Reissman speaks at the Guildhall, Chester tonight, 7.30 p.m.
Several years since I heard Karen Reissman speak at the radical National Union of Journalists Conference at the Quaker Meeting House in Manchester. Now it seems even here in middle England there is an...
View ArticleRedcurrant harvest. Redcurrant and strawberry chutney. Summer puddings.
After a long pause and the drought back in Spring - AND the very testing conditions for gardeners - I'm back writing this blog. Today's haul from the allotment includes large quantities of redcurrants...
View ArticleWhat to do with autumn and summer fruiting raspberries
Favourite spot on the planet. Deck chair looking across the plotI've just looked at the date on the last blog post and can't believe it was last summer. A bereavement in the family and various other...
View ArticleRHS Level One Certificate in Horticulture
I haven't had an awful lot to do with the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) so far - having written that I remembered that the allotment I had in the North West was featured in the RHS yellow book of...
View ArticleOn visiting Bristol's Botanic Gardens
Spent a glorious few hours today at the Botanic Gardens in Bristol. One of the last sunny days in autumn the light today was beautifully soft and I wandered round enjoying the Chinese Medicinal Herb...
View ArticleMythology of the Rowan (Sorbus Acuparia)
Sorbus acuparia (Rowan)So is is time for me to start learning the latin names of plants, fruit and vegetables. In terms of learning and adult learning in particular I feel I need to first connect with...
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