All about sustainable food production on small spaces plus books and gardens
Read about the one-acre plot that Sally Morgan has set up at Empire Farm in Somerset. Sally blogs regularly about the plot – what's being grown and raised, her polytunnel, and the certified organic allotments on the plot, as well as matters that concern her - climate change, soil, organic growing, peatfree compost, biodiversity, sustainability etc. You can read about Sally’s visits to farms, gardens, allotments and growers during the year. You can also find out about her workshops that she runs from Empire Farm and the books she has written, including The Climate Change Garden
I can hear you all shouting ‘of course save seed’ and as generations of gardeners have done, I diligently save seed each year because locally-adapted seed is best – or is it? I have saved parsnip seed for the last
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There must be a lot of ‘peat is best’ gardeners and growers around as they account for more than 60% of the peat bought in the UK. They claim there are no alternatives but there are plenty on offer. And
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It’s the height of the cut flower year and the new flower farm is looking simply fab! Wandering around it in August, its hard to believe that less than a year ago it was an overgrown, weedy pasture once used
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Love walking round the #organic #allotments on the one acre plot and seeing the ingenious #recycling and #repurposing of items on the beds – nothing goes to waste here. The eagle-eyed amongst you will be able to spot pallets, containers,
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There’s been a lot of tweeting around compost in recent weeks; the #peatfree campaign which is vital to saving our peat bogs, biodiversity, climate change and flooding; the risk of #aminopyralid contamination in manures and composts and the growing popularity
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Coming back from the one-acre plot the other evening, I noticed a comma butterfly flitting around an overgrown patch of brambles festooned in flower. Stopping to watch, I was mesmerised by the sheer wealth of insect life in this sunny
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One year on and I’m back a #RHSHamptoncourt. This year I went on the preview evening as well as the Tuesday to make sure I could get to see everything. If you want to see the show gardens, I would
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It was a comment from one of the speakers on BBC Radio 4 Farming Today (Sat 15 June) that got me thinking about #nectar, or rather the lack of nectar. The topic of discussion was flea beetles and oilseed rape
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Hurrah, some rain is forecast. I know it’s June and we all want to be outside enjoying the sun and the last thing we want is rain. But 2019 has been a dry year so far. Down in the South
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I’ll never tire of sitting down in the plot on a sunny day to simply watch and listen. Today the phacelia was alive with pollinators, mostly honey bees and bumblebees, while the birds were in full voice. The video says
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