Healthy sustainable food production on small spaces plus books and gardens
Sally is an experienced organic gardener, smallholder and writer. Here you can read about the organic one-acre plot and walled garden that Sally has set up at Empire Farm in Somerset. Sally blogs regularly about what's being grown and raised, her greenhouse, the organic allotments and her walled garden, as well as matters that concern her - climate change, healthy soils, organic growing, peatfree compost, biodiversity, sustainability etc. She writes about her 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 Healthy Vegetable Garden, The Climate Change Garden and Living on One Acre or Less. She is a regular contributor to Country Smallholding Magazine.
Weatherwise, 2023 has been a weird year. Over winter we had mild, wet spells and then extreme cold, a wet March and April and then the weather flipped to hot and dry. No wonder people are concerned about insect numbers,
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Last summer I had the chance to visit the rewilded walled garden at the ground breaking Knepp Estate in Sussex. I have been keen to apply some of the principles of rewilding to my walled garden and jumped at the
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The RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch took place last weekend and its something I do every year. But for me, its not just about watching for birds and recording their numbers – its about learning more about my garden…. I love
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I have been finding loads of earthworms this week as I plant bulbs which is really encouraging as it’s a really good sign that my soil is healthy. Earthworms are vital for healthy soil. They pull organic matter into the
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As an ecologist, I love exploring salt marshes and shingle banks where conditions are truly extreme for plant and animal alike. It’s here that you find sea kale, thrift, yellow-horned poppy, sea lavender, sea pea, sea campion, sea blight and
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Tulips, chill and climate change Tulip bulbs are back in the garden centres, heralding the time of year when we start trawling through the bulb catalogues and planning our colour combinations for spring. Of course, no bulb display is complete
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Here are a few top tips to help get you through the heatwave when you can’t use your hose pipe Prioritise the areas of the garden that need water – pots, newly planted trees, shrubs and other plants, the veg
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It’s been a summer of ants and I am not just thinking of flying ants that appears on balmy summer nights. No, I am thinking of those evil red numbers that emerge from the ground and swarm over your gloved
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Hoverflies are regular visitors to fields and gardens, flitting around flowers where they feed on nectar and pollen from late spring to autumn. Hoverflies, or flower flies, are a fascinating group of insects that mimic the appearance of bees, wasps
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Our gardens are important wildlife refuges and to sustain a healthy insect population in our gardens and allotments, we need a wide diversity of flowers for as much of the year as possible. Read on to find out about my
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