Pamela Weaver

Whether you’ve got a lot of space to work with or you’re simply hoping for a few tomatoes in containers, it can be hard to know where to start with your vegetable garden. Just deciding what to grow can pose a challenge for some, but the best advice anyone could give you is, happily, simple: Grow mainly what you like to eat. Courgettes are easy to grow – as legends of neighbours of grow-your-owners hiding from yet another delivery of them can attest – but if you’re not that keen, having kilos of the beggars at your disposal is a waste of time. Keep things interesting by growing at least one thing that’s “exotic”/you’ve never tried and best of all, ignore the people who tell you to keep it simple and don’t grow too many different things: variety is half the fun of it. Some canny inter-cropping will see you getting more out of the same space too. Once you know what ... (more)

Organic Farming Can Tackle Climate Change

The UK’s Soil Association has announced that if all British farmland was converted to organic farming, at least 3.2 million tonnes of carbon would be absorbed by the soil each year – the equivalent of pulling almost 1 million cars off the roads. Research undertaken by the association (available for download here), further suggests that a worldwide switch to organic farming could offset 11% of all global greenhouse gases. Among the other findings: widespread adoption of organic farming methods in the UK would offset 23% of the country’s agricultural emissions through soil carbon... (more)

Landshare.org

Landshare.org is a British initiative that looks to re-think the way we produce and grow food. The community puts people who have land in touch with people who want to produce food and encourages people to get talking and working together. The idea is that people with a bit of spare space can offer it to a would-be grower in exchange for some of their harvest. The British TV station Channel 4 has set up a web site and forum based around the aims of the organisation. If you're looking for some inspiration and would like to get involved, why not check it out. www.landshare.org ht... (more)

Grow your own carrots

The taste of a freshly pulled organic carrot simply can’t be beaten by anything you get at the shops – even dyed-in-the-wool organic-skeptics admit that they taste better. For a product that’s widely viewed as something of a poster child for everything that’s good about natural produce (who can resist photos of baskets of them, complete with their fan of green foliage?), it’s interesting to note that carrots are quite possibly one of the most tweaked-with vegetables around. Originating in Afghanistan, selective breeding over centuries has improved everything from the appearance ... (more)

Starting seedlings in toilet roll inserts

If you don’t have small kids in need of home-made “binoculars”, it’s probably a long time since you’ve attempted to devise a recycle-friendly use for toilet roll inserts. Well here’s one: they make ultra-cheap, biodegradable seedling holders. And best of all, they’ll keep cutworms and other garden lurgies at bay during your plants’ most vulnerable period. Here’s how. Save up a decent stash of the inserts – if you’re staying organic, make sure you choose the unbleached variety – and then simply cut strips .5cms apart and about the same depth into the roll. Fold the strips downw... (more)