Organic strawberries.

Having sat for twenty minutes trying to figure out a strawberry fayre/fair, organic-fruit/folk-song pun, I'm fairly sure it doesn't work! Organic strawberries, however, do. I don't grow everything organically, I have to confess - one day, I hope I can but at the moment I only have a limited supply of worm-tea and manure. I've only ever bought one box of Miracle-Grow (great for leaves and flowers) and one bottle of Tomorite (to switch to when the fruit comes), however, and they're still lasting me. It's no worse to use them on the flowers than throw the box away, I suppose. My vegetables, however, are now all organic as are my strawberries.


Strawberries are really easy to grow because they're native. This means the soil tends to agree with them and that they survive even the harshest of winters. Apart from the seeds on their fruit, strawberries can be propagated by runners. These are the mini plants that they shoot off, like spider-plants do. If you can find a friend or relative who grows strawberries, I'm sure they'd be willing to give you some of these in April. There are plenty of varieties available in garden centres, though. Out-doors, they should be planted around the start of april so next weekend should be fine if they are going to be in a sheltered area. 


Two of the best things about strawberries are that they can be grown in containers and can be brought on by a good few weeks if grown indoors. They look fabulous in hanging baskets (nice and safe away from slugs) or a vintage planter. If you bring your planter indoors around September, you can help the strawberries flower (and thus fruit) early. Ours have put on flowers this week, while the outdoor patch are looking very sorry for themselves! (Photos to follow) As always, if you want to use a container to designed for growing in, knock a hole in the bottom of it first or your strawbs will get waterlogged.

When I started gardening, I didn't launch straight into organics for a number of reasons;

• I lived in a flat with very little space and so needed the best yields possible.
• Homegrown produce is still less chemically treated than industrially farmed non-organic produce even if you use soluble, ground applied artificial fertiliser.
• Living in a densely populated area of Leicester, manure was fairly hard to come by (except from garden centres that charge outrageous prices).

I've since found a local riding school that sells pre-sacked manure for 50p and invested in a wormery. The wormery I have is from wiggly wiggler's and was subsidised by Essex County Council in the same way that compost bins sometimes are. The beauty of a wormery as opposed to a compost heap is that you need less space, it takes less time and as well as solid compost you get was is called 'worm-tea'. Worm-tea is essentially worm wee but is an unbelievably concentrated liquid fertiliser. You water it down to about 1 part in 10 and can use it on anything. I also mulch heavily with organic matter - this means chucking things like manure, garden shreddings and leafmould on the surface and letting all the insects and worms work it into the soil. Mulching's great because it stops water loss from the soil and adds nutrients and can help in a no-dig garden.


Indoor Flowering Strawberry plants really cheer you up before you get into the swing of food production over the next few months. It may be too late for indoor strawbs this year, but certainly isn't for a hanging basket or patch. Give it a go and let me hear about your successes!

A Beginner's Guide to Growing Your Own Veg

My proudest achievement at University was (arguably) not my attempt to grow beansprouts from mung beans on the windowsill. Not only did I not eat them but a not inconsiderable population of fruitflies did. My housemates considered this unsanitary which, considering it was a student house, gives you some idea of the scale of the infestation. Since then my vegetable plants have been eaten by pigeons, rats, aphids and spider-mites but thankfully also by me. 

It's suprisingly easy to grow your own food and there's a wealth of books, websites and societies out there to help you. Quite a few of the biggest mistakes I've made, though, could have been easily avoided if I had someone to ask about them. So if, like me, you don't have a friendly allotment holder or gardening grandparent let me give you a few ideas.  

First thing's first, space doesn't matter. The first year I grew veg I grew them in protein shake buckets and grow bags but tomatoes look great in hanging baskets or any container you can lay your hands on. The only difference with container garden is that you need to keep the containers well drained and watered. If you're going to plant something in a container that doesn't have drainage holes in, either drill some in if that's possible or plant in a pot that does have holes in and pop that in the container (as you might for a house plant). Then pop some pebbles or broken up polystyrene in the bottom to stop the holes getting bunged up. Here's my upcycled herb planter made from a used olive oil can. They look abit leggy at this time of year but come spring, it'll look gorgeous.

Secondly, when you are starting out, seed is seed. I really wouldn't spend a lot of money on exotic varieties or brand-new breeds. Keep an eye out for the RHS award of garden merit and names such as marketmore and gardener's delight. These pretty much do what they say on the tin. They may not win you any competitions, but they'll give you a good crop of tasty veg. I also like the multi-packs of seed you can buy - a salad pack with tomato, lettuce, cucumber and onion for example. You get fewer seeds (though more than enough for a garden or container plot) but the varieties are reliable, well established ones. Occasionally they even come with a free propagator (black plastic tray with a see-through lid for starting off plants). 

Instructions on the packet are always really useful but you really can't beat a good old, hard-back gardening book. Grab one from a charity shop so you don't mind getting it grubby and keep an eye out for Geoff Hamilton and Alan Titchmarsh. Often TV 'hobby' books are a bit naff  but these two really do know their stuff and they've got the wait of BBC Gardener's World boffins behind them, too. As for anything else, you can pretty much do with out - I've never owned a pair of gardening gloves. 

Start sowing your seeds when the packet or your book recommends. This will range from February to well into summer. You can stagger your seeding for a staggered harvest but only bother if you have plenty of space.
1. Sow your seeds as recommended and pop in the airing cupboard or on a window-ledge. They need warmth but not light at this stage. 
2. When seeds have sprouted, take out and cover with a clear lid. This can be a propagator lid or just a plastic fruit punnet from your plums. Pop them on a window-ledge where they can get some sun. Try not to shut them out with heavy curtains at night, though.
3. When they're 'big enough to handle' (first two leaves but not getting over-crowded) transplant them into individual pots trying not to muck with roots too much. 
 4. When the seedlings are big enough to be 'hardened off' and put out (time depends on variety), pot them on into bigger pots if required. To harden plants off before putting them out, either leave them out in the sun during the day (except on very cold days) and bring in at night or put into a cloche (mini plastic see-through tent) or coldframe (mini green-house) and close up at night. 

Feeding the birds and encouraging frogs are a great way of getting rid of slugs and other pests and whatever you do, DO NOT kill these:

 Baby ladybirds, much bigger than adults, aphid-killing warriors. Mistaken by yours truly as monster plant destroyer. Bad times.

What is upcycling?

Is upcycling just one of those buzz-words that comes and goes or could it be the most on-trend way to save the planet?

Well, if you've ever planted cherry tomatoes in an old watering-can or hung a plate on your wall then you are all ready an expert. I hadn't come across the  term untill a year or so ago when it sneaked into fashion with its little pal 'shabby chic'. The general idea is to take something that isn't useful as it is and give it a new life as something useful or pretty. There are some fabulous websites about with ideas for upcycling like upcycling.co.uk, but I've found some great books in charity shops from the make-do and mend years. A couple of my most loved upcycled belongings are my toilet planter full of spring bulbs (pictures to follow on flowering), my tea-cup candles and jigsaw piece earrings. I still have a long way to go -the late Elspeth Thompson (to whom I owe in part my love of gardening) even created a home from two victorian railway carriages.

Though the maxim is useful and catchy reduce, reuse and recycle aren't created equally. 

• Reducing is the most eco (-nomical, ological) of all. The less you buy/use, the less there is that has to be made and go into landfill. 
• Reusing is at the heart of upcycling. If you don't want something anymore and it still works, give it away or sell it. You've probably heard of ebay, freecycle and gumtree but why not give misi a go for your vintage (20 years or older) pieces. If it can't be reused for its original purpose (its handle has come off, it no longer holds water) then upcyling comes in. 
• Recycling can then be considered. Recycling is a whole lot better than landfill and a whole lot easier than reducing, but for the entirely green household it can be a last resort. 

Think for a minute about what happens when you recycle. You put your items in a big plastic box (probably a necessary evil) and the council drives (again...arguably unavoidably) down your road at low speeds in a huge van (...). Your unwanteds are picked up, centralised and melted down at enormous temperature and remoulded. This all takes an enormous amount of energy (hello fossil fuels) but is much much better than non-renewable materials like plastic ending up in land-fill.

This is largely with the exception of paper. Which literally grows on trees. Reducing, for a renewable material like this, is the only real way of proceeding in my opinion. It is difficult to reuse more than once, upcycling options are very limited and recycling is fraught with controversy. For example, the US energy information administration states that  "a paper mill uses 40 percent less energy to make paper from recycled paper than it does to make paper from fresh lumber.". This may be true but is far from the whole picture. For a start, it doesn't take into account the energy used getting it there. Nor does it give us any idea of the carbon impact. If trees had been planted to provide that paper in a renewable way, they would have captured carbon throughout their life. You get the idea, its an ethical minefield. In the words of the fabulous Flobots, though, 'if you are thinking, you are winning'. Everything you don't put into land-fill is a success.

And why should you do any of this?Money and the planet. It is eco in both senses. In the middle of the recession we're in, everyone needs to tighten their belts. If that means planting bulbs in something vintage rather than a plastic, orange, patio planter then I think its going to be a great decade.