Tag: allotment

Biodynamic gardening

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A little film about our organic allotment and some of the biodynamic gardening methods we use to enhance the health and vitality of our crops. Nettle tea for overall health, the ‘cow pat pit’ for incredibly potent, life-giving soil improvement, ‘mausdorf starter’ for maintaining the perfect compost heap……

There are loads of other amazingly effective organic and biodynamic methods that I’ll write about and film at a later date. In the meantime I hope you enjoy this little Autumnal video tour of our allotment garden.

Homegrown happiness!

Sweetpeas

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sweet peas

Sweet peas have to be one of my all-time favourite flowers. They’re so easy to grow, look amazing and smell heavenly. A jam jar full of sweet peas on the kitchen table just says Summer!

I’ve been growing these flowers and saving their seeds for such a long time that I can’t actually remember our varieties, but something similar to Cupani, Lord Nelson, Hi-Scent, Heathcliff and Anniversary. All long stemmed, with an incredible scent and ranging from deep purple to pinky-white in colour. Sweet pea seeds and seedlings are widely available to buy and are a brilliantly abundant addition to any garden! I wouldn’t be without them……

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What is Biodynamic Gardening?

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Biodynamic gardening is really just a fancy name for a method of gardening that’s been around for thousands of years – practical gardening wisdom handed down over time and widespread before the arrival of chemicals, pesticides, fertilisers and the intensive farming practices of the 19th and 20th centuries. It is the ancient art of watching the skies and using the rhythms and patterns of the sun, moon and stars to guide the sowing, tending and harvesting of crops. Our ancestors used this knowledge to their advantage, so that their crops were stronger, tastier, healthier and more productive. Afterall, they completely relied on their homegrown produce, so it had to be good. A quick trip to the supermarket was not an option!

Thankfully, these days you don’t need to be an expert in the solar system to work it all out! Biodynamic gardening calendars are widely available and suggest the best times for all your gardening jobs.

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Early-Spring Gardening

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I love every season, but I think Spring has to be my favourite. There’s just so much anticipation in the air, from the first bulbs of early-Spring to the luscious blossoms of mid-Spring and the definite ‘no-turning back’ growth of late-Spring. Everyone and everything has an extra spring in their step….

This is the first of three posts about the joys of springtime gardening on our allotment. It started out as one post, but was just getting crazily long, so I decided to split it – early, mid and late spring. Happy days and happy gardening everyone….

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Natural Henkeeping: The Coop

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This is the first in a series of posts about keeping chickens. The coop, the run, food, water, natural health and happiness will all be covered.

We’ve been keeping chickens for years, first in our garden at home and now on our allotment. I just love their quirky characters, their feathery good looks and their delicious protein-packed eggs. What a gift! We currently have 5 chickens, all rare breeds, but in the past we’ve raised chicks, re-homed ex-farm girls and given a final home to old unwanted chickens that don’t lay anymore. We’re not allowed to keep a noisy cock-a-doodle-doo cockerel on the allotment, so it’s an all female environment! They give us fresh eggs and in return I think we give them a near perfect life

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