Nature's Life Support Systems

Yesterday I transplanted two varieties of Leek (Varna and Oarsman), with a third (Atlanta) yet to go in, once the second lot of broad beans is cut down. There were some straggly leek seedlings which I ate with my salad lunch, every bit of which I gathered in my hands and took to the plate, as fresh as fresh could be.

Taking produce from the garden is something we, as gardeners, may not exactly take for granted, but we do expect, despite occasional failures, to reap a reward for our efforts don't we? In effect what we are doing is tapping into what Prince Charles last night described as "Nature's Life Support Systems."

The way I garden and produce vegetables has been affected over the years by a few key influences. The first was a lecturer (and sadly I cannot remember his name) teaching part of the geography course at the then Plymouth Polytechnic, who demonstrated on some simple graphs of consumption the exponential growth in the use of natural resources (and that was 40 years ago). Later I read "Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered" by E. F. Schumacher, which put people at the heart of the response to the challenge created by my lecturer. In the 1980s Mrs Soggy and I went on a course where we met Patrick and Shirley Rivers at their farm in the Wye Valley. Two of his books, prompted by their own experience, and also by their research into the effects of factory-scale fish farming off the coast of Africa, made me think harder about what we eat and how it is produced. There have been other and varied influences of course, and in each generation there will be voices speaking out, sometimes in the face of received wisdom, making us think about the way we live.

Last night I listened to another voice, I don't watch much television and certainly don't usually sit through the Richard Dimbleby Lecture, but my attention was well and truly held by a speech given by the Prince of Wales, in which were woven together many strands of the thinking reflected in the sources above, and relating them, as Schumacher, to a world view in which people matter. At the same time humanity was placed firmly in the speech as part of the greater natural order, not as exploiters of nature, rather as vulnerable members of Earth's fragile ecosystems.

As gardeners we are amonsgt the stewards of Nature's Life Support Systems, offering up not just tasty lunch time snacks, but also practical examples of sustainable methods, environmental awareness and harmonious living with nature.

I seem to have left the spade behind and fallen under the philosopher's spell today - normal service will be resumed as soon as possible!

I'll just leave you with a quote from the Prince's lecture (of which more here in The Independent and here on The Prince of Wales website):

"But for all its achievements, our consumerist society comes at an enormous cost to the Earth and we must face up to the fact that the Earth cannot afford to support it. Just as our banking sector is struggling with its debts – and paradoxically also facing calls for a return to so-called 'old-fashioned', traditional banking – so Nature's life-support systems are failing to cope with the debts we have built up there too.

"If we don't face up to this, then Nature, the biggest bank of all, could go bust. And no amount of quantitative easing will revive it."

A quick view from both sides of the garden

A barrow-load of broad bean plants ready for pulling the pods off and the ground released for planting leeks into dibber holes; there are more bean plants still to be removed, but it's raining hard here today. I cut the bean plants off at ground level (the tops will go in the compost after removal of pods) so that the roots and the nitrogen rich nodules will remain in the ground. In front of the barrow are two varieties of beetroot (Boltardy and Cylindra), they both look good and I think I could be in for some pickled beetroot!

The other picture is a view through one of the flower borders, it just appealed to Mrs Soggy.

Over half way through the Year!

Can you believe it? Time really does seem to be flying, and so are the horse flies; a friend of mine in the village had a nasty bite from one and it has gone septic, hope it clears up quickly for her.

So now it's July, you'll find topical advice column on the right has been updated. If you have any topical tips of your own which you'd like to share, please leave a comment. Happy summer gardening!

Congratulations Daughter Soggy

Yes, she did the Race for Life for Cancer research, brilliant.

Nature's Bounty

I couldn't even begin to guess how much food I have gathered in over the years, but it still never ceases to excite me, just picking, handling and of course eating those crops of fruit and vegetables. Here's a few from yesterday.


(Calabrese - Pacifica; Broccoli - Tenderstem Green Inspiration; Salad Onion - Performer; Carrot - Flyaway; Potato - Cosmos; Radish - Scarlet Globe, Pea - Norli, lots of different salad leaves and of course strawberries - variety unknown, we inherited them)

Sunday Roast and Succession Planting

It's a sunny Sunday here, and a pleasure to dig some Cosmos 2nd early potatoes for roasting later with Sunday lunch. You can see sitting there ready the Courgette (variety Defender) in its pot ready to go into the space released by digging a few potatoes. (I wouldn't plant anything from the same family - which potatoes and courgettes are - for anything going on to next year, as that would encourage disease).

Busy, busy, busy

I haven't posted much in recent days, for which I apologise, but it is for good reasons. We have our family visiting from South Africa - timed perfectly for the fresh veggies in season!) and, as all the rest of you with mucky hands will attest, it's busy out there isn't it?

We've been harvesting baskets full of calabrese, the Tenderstem is my favourite, so sweet; sister-in-law Soggy made a delicious broccoli and cheese soup. Beetroot has been cooked, strawberries made into jam or just eaten for breakfast, dinner ans tea and the mange tout peas are lovely, to mention but a few things.

More succession sowings have gone in and I'm just about to do sowings of turnip and swede for the winter.

This morning it's farmer's market and then there's a food fair and craft show in Beaminster, so it's all go.

Happy gardening!

Here are the spinach pies

From plot to table, and friends here for lunch today, that's what it's all about isn't it.

(Oh, and that's some more broccoli on the table for our dinner last night)

Spinach

Yesterday I harvested two rows of spinach, with deep green, and in some cases, huge leaves. I put it all in the sink for rinsing and Mrs Soggy cooked it up with some onion ready to go in a spinach and feta pie (Spanakopita - we first enjoyed it in Greece). It's amazing just how much spinach reduces when you cook it isn't it.

Here are three pictures, one with the sink brim-full of spinach, then the cooked spinach in a container within the sink just for scale then then same closer in.


If I don't eat it without forgetting, I'll post a picture of the pie when cooked.

The succession sown spinach is ready to follow on, but I suspect it won't be as good as this lot.

Broad bean setting

Here's a question for fellow UK gardeners.

We have two varieties of broad bean growing (both spring sown). The flowers on the earlier ones are not setting well and those that have are not producing nice swelling pods. The other variety though are setting well and those pods which have set are growing pretty much as you'd expect.

A friend in the village has had the same problem with his broad beans (a different variety again) - he thought it was a problem with bees, apparently this year there is a shortage of bees with a long enough tongue to pollinate some broad beans. Has anyone else heard of this or had a similar problem?