Growing Plans - The Wheel Goes No-Dig

I am more excited about the coming growing season than I have been for a long while.

I am going back to a system of smaller veg beds. I originally had the veg plot divided into 68 beds separated by grass paths. But those paths were a complete pain to mow, offering miles of edges for slugs to hide underneath.
So gradually I joined the smaller beds together until I was down to 28. The advantage of this was a lot less grass edge, simpler mowing and bigger beds which were easier to rotavate. The disadvantage was having to walk on beds to get to plants and it being more difficult to organise crops within the beds.

So this winter I am biting the bullet and going back to many small veg beds, but I am doing it differently. There won't be grass paths between the smaller beds. Instead each of the larger beds will be divided up into free-standing beds with permanent sunken pathways in between.

This means that using the rotavator will be difficult. Manoeuvring it in such small beds is difficult and it will kick the soil all over the paths.
Instead I am going for no dig.

The plan taking shape on the ground

I have been highly sceptical about no-dig in the past, seeing it as a fad which generally requires more mulch than a garden can possibly produce which in turn encourages slugs and usually seems to demand raised beds using forests of wood as edging (given that we don't have access to natural materials like rocks).
There are alternatives to raised beds, such as lasagna beds, but even the name puts me off! These rely on layers of mulch and compost which can go straight down even onto turf. As long as the layers are thick enough this will create an instant fertile bed.
There are also systems which rely on black plastic to cover the ground, but this just feels completely wrong to me.

Then I came across Charles Dowding's method of no dig where he uses compost as a mulch. The advantage of this is that it is not so attractive to slugs as all the rotting material is not sitting on the veg beds. In theory the compost mulch keeps weeding to a minimum too, though I suspect that a fair bit of weeding will still be required.
Of course, we are back to the original problem of how on earth to produce enough compost. Charles Dowding appears to bring in large quantities of soil improver made from green waste. This often comes with plenty of plastic fragments in, as well as needing to be purchased and brought in. He also seems to have a close relative with plenty of cows and benefits from bulk deliveries of manure.

So I set to thinking how I could realistically and sustainably mulch my beds.
The solution I have come to combines a host of methods.

Firstly I will collect from all over the smallholding for the compost heaps. I am hoping to grow Miscanthus elephant grass and to chip short rotation coppice willow to give bulky material to add. I already grow plenty of comfrey but again will make sure that I harvest this on a regular basis.

My compost heaps, the key to my new system.

But this still won't be enough, even with the addition of plenty of bedding from the poultry.

I am using cardboard to exclude light and protect the soil surface too. Everybody who visits has to bring all their boxes with them!

Beds protected for the winter, light excluded so that emerging weeds expend all their energy then die off.

Here I have put nitrogen rich poultry bedding under the cardboard. 

I will let the ducks (aka slug hoovers) in before planting.

I am also planning on using green manures. However, most of these need digging in which goes against the whole philosophy of no dig. So I am being selective. Field beans seem like a good option as they are hardy so will give protection to the soil over winter, but in the spring the tops can be chopped off and moved to the compost bins while the roots will be left in the soil to add structure and nutrients. Unfortunately I made all these decisions a little too late to sow field beans so I am growing them in modules in the polytunnel so they can hopefully be planted out soon.
I also have a plan to trial sowing oats in early autumn next year where crops have been harvested. I don't see a reason why I can't use the whole oats which I buy as part of my fermented poultry mix. I know it germinates.
Oats are not frost hardy, so should die down with the first heavy frosts. They will then protect the soil over winter before being raked off and moved to the compost bin in spring if they've not already rotted down.

The first bed to go into active service. 

Two rows of garlic cloves and I will sow parsnips down the middle when the time is right.

I do anticipate a potential increase in the slug population, which is one of the major problems of no dig in our climate. But I am hoping to make good use of the ducks to control this, letting them into areas at critical times to clear the ground before tender crops go in.

It is going to be a time of trying out new ideas and it will be more work to begin with getting it set up, but I have high hopes for my new growing system.
The disadvantage, if you see it that way, is that it looks more 'rustic'. Usually at this point in the year I would have beautifully rotavated beds and the overall design of the veg plot, which I call The Wheel, would be clear for all to see.

So why go no dig at this point?
Firstly it is about going back to smaller beds again, where Mr Rotavator becomes a little clumsy. The appeal of a lot less weeding is a draw too, though I think this may be overstated as part of the sell.
The main reason is gut instinct. After eight years of cultivation my soil is lovely to work and grow in now, but it doesn't feel like it has much life in it. When I leave a bed uncultivated for a while it becomes full of worms and it is beautifully crumbly, even at the end of winter when the bare soil has been beaten down by the elements.
The theory of no dig is to protect the surface of the soil and to keep the life within it undisturbed. Not just worms but less tangible elements, particularly mycorrhizal fungi which form a linked network through huge areas of soil and interact symbiotically with plant roots.
I will have to take peoples' word for this, but I am prepared to give it a go and see what happens.
Of course, mulching is not exclusively for no-dig systems, but it will go right up the list of priorities. The idea is that the time working and shifting compost is made up for by spending less time weeding and digging. I am hoping too that mulching more effectively will help crops get through dry periods and make for better conditions for vegetables which don't like the soil to dry out.

As I say, gut feeling says this is right for my plot right now.

I will keep you updated through the year.

The first green shoots of 2019

On the third Saturday of each month I now run a course on growing your own for people with high aims but little experience. I run it for members of Fenland Smallholders Club.
Last month I showed them how to plant garlic cloves - one didn't even realise that a clove of garlic would grow into a bulb, so there will be lots of magical revelations through the year.
I planted the cloves into  undug ground covered with a good layer of compost, according to my new no-dig regime. I then netted them before the ducks could snozzle them up again.

The group are over here next in a week's time so today I thought I had better check on the progress of the garlic. I am very pleased to report that it has taken well and is growing fast. Garlic is remarkably hardy and actually needs a period of cold to ensure that the clove splits to make a bulb.

Meanwhile in the polytunnel I am waiting for the mangetout Oregon Sugar Pod to get going. Germination has been slower so I decided to cover the seed modules with fleece to help things along. Mangetout should be my first crop of the year.

Mangetout just poking its head above the surface.

Carrots, carrots, carrots, carrots, carrots...

Read on for details

Growing carrots is surprisingly tricky. They are really hard to get going.

So many times they just don't appear. I should rephrase that. So many times the slugs get to them before you even see them.
Starting them in modules inside where they are more protected is not really an option either.

I have found a way round this problem though. The polytunnel has proved to be a perfect place to grow carrots directly in the ground and I have had a bumper crop from quite a small space.

As for the outdoor carrots, it is the first sowings of the year which are the most unreliable. In fact now that I have the polytunnel option, which also brings the harvest even further forwards, I probably won't bother with the first outdoor sowing dates.

Another problem with outdoor carrots is carrot flies which can smell a carrot from miles away. They lay their eggs and the larvae burrow into the carrots and munch away. The polytunnel keeps the carrots safe provided the doors are shut. Outside I have found the only sure-fire successful deterrent to be covering the crop with mesh.

And so to this year's crop. With the early outdoor sowings largely failing and the crop covered with mesh, I confess I just kept walking past and not checking what was happening. There were plenty enough carrots for our needs being produced in the polytunnel.

Two days ago it was time to sort out the bed where the carrots were sown, to clear it and prepare it for next year's crop which will be potatoes.

To my surprise there was a bumper crop of carrots! Some had grown overly large. Some had slug holes, though not too many. Some had just grown into very inconvenient shapes as I had failed to thin out the seedlings earlier in the year.
I'm not setting a good example here, am I?

I pulled, scrubbed and cleaned up a whole sink full of carrots and more, then went onto the internet in search of inspiring carrot recipes.
I like to cook like this, picking a crop and then having a day preparing all sorts of dishes.

On the menu were soups (fantastic for using up bulk amounts of vegetables), a couple of dip-type concoctions and some frittery type treats.

I worked on three dishes at a time. Most of my effort went into peeling, chopping and grating which left a bowl full of treats for the chickens and geese (as any food which has been near inside a kitchen is not permissible to feed to livestock, I obviously performed the vegetable prep outside).

By the end of the day I had a kitchen full of carroty treats.

Left to right: Falafels with carrots hidden inside; sausage, carrot and cumin hash; roast carrot soup; Thai carrot and lemongrass soup; carrot, cumin and sunflower seed dip; carrot, sweet potato and feta fritters; carrot pate with lime and coriander seed. Spot the theme?

Ran out of time to make carrot and walnut cake. Tomorrow.

All recipes can be found on the internet.

My next day like this will be leeks (if the pumpkins in the hallway don't start going soft).

The Very Best of Fenland Smallholders Club

My weekend was devoted to Fenland Smallholders Club.

Saturday 17th November 2018
Our first Beginners Grow Your Own Group
Once a month for the next ten months I am leading a Beginners' Grow Your Own Group. Today was our first meeting.
Before we got started on my tour of the veg plot, the orchard, the soft-fruit area and the nuttery, I had a plan to get our caravan moved. We had parked it up on the gravel driveway and Sue and I just couldn't get it moved on our own. Many hands made light work.
We hope to use this caravan to house volunteers if we can attract them to spend time here on the smallholding with us.

I am initially running the BGYO group as a ten session course and hope to give people all the skills they need to become pretty much self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables (unless they fancy the odd banana and orange!)
There are a range of participants, all smallholders, ranging from complete novices who are about to embark on setting up for growing food to others who have been doing it for years but want to extend their activities.

For this first session I tried to focus on the big picture such as choosing a site, deciding how to arrange beds and where to place perennial and annual beds. We looked at issues such as water supply, placing sheds, climate and microclimate and options for indoor growing.

Time flew past. I fed everybody with a couple of soups I had knocked up using one of my many pumpkins and bade farewell.

I still had some of the afternoon and evening to embark on my first ever basket-making without a tutor to guide me. I started with a basic basket which I had made before on courses. I made a couple of beginner mistakes, but overall the techniques came back to me. In fact, without a tutor to rely on I learned a lot more when I had to figure things out for myself.

It's all coming back to me now

I would dearly love to have another go straight away, but unfortunately the willow needs soaking for several days.

Sunday 18th November 2018
Preserving Day




Sunday was the main Smallholders Club meeting, for which Sue had done most of the organisation. We set off early and managed to get into the village hall in good time to set everything up. The day started with a talk by Sue on using a dehydrator. Her notes for the talk were on the equivalent of an old-fashioned fag packet, much to the amusement of others. Sometimes our teaching skills come in very useful.

After the talk there were about ten tables covering all aspects of preserving which club members kindly ran. There was onion stringing, eco-wraps, fermenting, jam and chutney, freezing, vinegars and cordials, bottling, sausage-making... everything you could want to know. We also had a jam-swap, which with hindsight I should have named the Jam-boree. This worked really well and will become an annual occurrence.

Lastly the pumpkin soup left from yesterday made a very popular appearance on the refreshments stand, alongside cakes, pizza and cheese scones which others had brought along. That one Crown Prince squash, with just a few onions and leeks and a small packet of sweet potato, had made three large pans of soup and provided about twenty five warming lunches. It had made a fair bit of money for the club too. 

One particular nice moment was to see Steve, a professional gardener, mentoring one of our younger members in the art of onion stringing. A bonus for Sue and I too as we got all our onions strung and all our garlic plaited. And that was that. 


A very busy weekend which hopefully lots of people learned a lot from and enjoyed.

Pink Fir Apples - Late Developers come good

Nothing much was expected of this year's potato harvest. A dry, dry start to the year ensured the tubers never had time to grow well.
The rain arrived just in time to avert a total disaster but the yield was still appreciably down. Many tubers were not much more than pea size and the more prone varieties were pretty scabby.

Pink fir Apple potatoes are weird and wonderful shapes, branching like grotesque ogre's fingers

The only positive is that for the first time in years we have not had blight in the potatoes or tomatoes.

So far I have harvested the Arran Pilot, earlies which were surprisingly good considering conditions. However, my favourite Red Duke of Yorks pretty much disappeared without a trace.
I harvested the Charlottes and Kestrels a while back. These Second Earlies are normally the most reliable of all the spuds, but I only got half a sack of each this year.

And so into Autumn. I wanted to begin harvesting the maincrops a couple of weeks ago, but the earth has again been too dry to make digging much fun. After Saturday's prolonged rain I decided to have another go, but it was still hard going. The Desirees were somewhere between ok and disappointing and then I came to the Pink Fir Apples.

Yes, Pink Fir Apples are actually spuds! They are a very late variety. In a blight year the harvest can often be all but lost as the tops (haulms) have to be taken off before the tubers have had time to even begin swelling.
As I pulled out the nasturtiums and marigolds which had invaded the Pink Fir Apple bed, it became apparent that these late developers might actually have done quite well.
I scraped the dry soil away and they just came tumbling out of the ground. They are weird and wonderful shapes, branching like grotesque ogre's fingers, but that doesn't matter for they don't need peeling. We don't have a great problem with slugs any more since the duck slug patrol was introduced, but Pink Fir Apples really don't seem attractive to these slimy little blighters anyhow.

The success of my Pink Fir Apple potatoes is a victory for diverse growing, whereby several varieties of each vegetable are grown as an insurance policy. Something is bound to succeed!
If my recollection is correct, last time we had a bumper Pink Fir Apple crop was a similarly dry year.

The Rewards Flow In

What a great time of year it is!
Growing and rearing has slowed down considerably, the summer lull is over and now the activity picks right up again as we harvest and process all the wonderful produce from the smallholding. The dehydrator is on almost constantly, the freezers are bursting at the seams, the juicer is squeezing the life out of fruit and vegetables and the preserving pan is bubbling away.

Produce comes in thick and fast and is so varied. Here's just a few images to whet the appetite.

 

Turkey Surprise

Another catch-up post which should bring us to mid July.
The drought continues... enough said about that. It is becoming a real problem.

Linseed field casts a blue shimmer as if reflecting the constant blue skies

The field next to us is almost always wheat. When it's not it's rape. The field behind us is almost always sugar beet. But this year we have something different, presumably because of the poor sowing conditions early in the year. Instead we have maize in the back field, as opposed to sweetcorn. This is a biofuel crop - astonishing that some of Britain's most fertile land is used to feed our energy consumption rather than our bellies. This change of land use did mean that we had two pairs of lapwings which I presume attempted to nest. I think the crows got them though.
And in the field next to us we have a delightful blue see of linseed. It is certainly attracting the cabbage whites at the moment.

In the veg plot, I have harvested the garlic and should really do the same with the shallots and onions. All these crops tried to bolt this year, unsurprisingly.

The broad beans are processed, mostly blanched and frozen and their place will be taken by Purple Sprouting Broccoli plants just as soon as it rains and I can dig even the tiniest holes in the soil. I almost missed the calabrese but caught it just before the buds opened. This freezes really well so I grow the crop to mature in two groups rather than over a long period.

Blanching Calabrese

Raspberries and Blackcurrants went mad this year. We are picking bags and bags of them. Every available space has now gone in the freezers.
When this happens Sue hunts through for last year's produce and digs it from the bottom of the freezers for wine and jam making.
She has just set a blackcurrant wine going and we were excited to be informed that raspberries make just about the best country wine going.



I always reserve one or two veg beds for bee crops as well as letting some parsnips go over to flower in their second year. These are a wonderful magnet for hoverflies.
This year I planted a cornfield mix with added barley and wheat. It hasn't quite turned out as I expected, for the whole patch filled with phacelia and borage. I am not sure whether this was residual seed in the soil or whether it was in the cornfield mix.
Anyhow the proper cornfield flowers are coming through underneath now and the whole is a blaze of colour and buzzing with bees.


The Pekin ducks we bought as 10 day olds are growing at stratospheric rates. Now big enough to be safe from crows, we let them out a couple of days back and herded them into the veg plot. The pond in there has dropped right down and is rather green, so I put the hose on to top it up. I didn't expect them all to just go diving right on in, but by the time I returned from the tap they were having a whale of a time. They were looking a bit green though!
We put some tyres and old planks in, for ducks are quite capable of getting waterlogged and drowning if there is no easy way out.
Amazingly having a proper bath and a thorough preen instantly changed the ducklings into ducks. There yellow down was superseded by creamy white and they suddenly look all grown up.

The meat chickens we had are now gone - don't ask if you don't want to know! They reached their weight in a much shorter time than we had anticipated. They only got a stay of execution as we did not have finishers ration in. This is the non-medicated pellets they are fed for the last week or two as the growers pellets need to be withdrawn.

Chickens just hanging around waiting to be plucked.
(they are not alive).

'Processing' the chickens was a big job, spread over two mornings. Let's just say that Friday 13th was an ominous date for the last seven. It is made much quicker by wet-plucking. We dip the carcass into a giant pot of water at 160F for 45 seconds. This loosens the feathers just enough without meaning that the skin rips easily. It reduces plucking time from over 20 minutes to under 5. You don't get a perfectly neat finish, but nearly all of our chicken is joined anyway so that it more easily fits in the small spaces in the freezer.
This time I boiled up the chicken feet and made a jelly stock which I divided up to go in the freezer. A good stock makes all the difference to so many recipes and I begrudge paying for those little foil packs.

The other chickens, the ragtag bunch of old ladies which we sentimentally let live on to old age, they are laying no more than two eggs a day between them. It is always a lean time and the drought isn't helping. Here are two of them and a Muscovy duck sat tight in the nest boxes. Between these three they were sitting on a grand total of one egg!


Last weekend we went along to our Country Winemaking group, again part of the Smallholders Club. Tonight we were doing blind wine tasiting. Sue's contribution was some elderflower champagne.
Fortunately we still had some left, for earlier in the week one of the bottles had exploded with such ferocity that it smashed a hole in the side of the plastic bin we were keeping it in.


We returned from Wine group to a big surprise. Four baby turkeys wandering around with the others. I didn't think they were due for another week yet. We had planned on removing the older poults before this happened, but all seemed to be getting along ok so we left them.
The next morning, quite by chance, I got a message from somebody in need of two newborn turkeys as her hen had accidentally destroyed all the eggs she had been sitting on. This was fine by me, for we are going to have excess turkeys this year and some need to be sold anyway.
Getting them out from under mum was a bit of a challenge but the mission was successfully achieved late evening so that the chicks could be put under their new mum in the dark. I have just received news that mum has accepted them and both are doing well.

So that brings us up to mid July. Just a week to go until schools break up for the summer. I'd like to think that will be the cue for endless downpours, but I somehow doubt it. This drought feels like it's in for the long haul.

Hotting Up In The Polytunnel

Early carrots

Sunday 13th May 2018
The Jungle is growing
A bit of sunshine at this time of year and temperatures rapidly soar to over 100 in the polytunnel. Growth is fast.
Crops occupying the beds at the moment are the sneaky ones which will be harvested and gone before the main crops go in.

Mangetout is cropping now

Once all these are gone, their place will be taken with peppers, chillis, tomatoes, basil, sweetcorn, butternut squash, melons and cucumber. These are all grown from seed, sown a while back and patiently waiting for their place in the beds. Once they get their roots down they will grow like billy-o.
They are vulnerable while they are still in modules or small pots, for the soil can dry out within a day and it is easy to lose a whole tray of seedlings. But it's easy to go the other way and drown them too.
With the warmer weather, many seedlings can go outside in the cold frame, where they will not dry out so quickly. But here they become a tempting morsel for the odd slug which finds its way in and spends the days squidged safely in the crevices underneath the modules.

This is why patience is key when sowing and growing. There is no point going too early, for a queue of young plants waiting for their place in the soil makes them vulnerable.

The first coriander of the year and lettuces

Turnips and beetroots coming along nicely

A queue of plants waiting for polytunnel space

Turkey chicks go exploring

Meanwhile outside mama turkey took her chicks for walkabouts today. There are ten of them in all. I was hoping for more like fifteen. They all look strong and healthy though and with the weather set warm and dry I will leave them outside for as long as possible.

Dykes and Drains

With the weather so fine, we took the dogs for a long walk along one of the drains this afternoon. Drains and dykes are such ugly words, but this particular drain is most pleasant at this time of year. The pair of swans have abandoned their nest where the dyke at the bottom of our land flows into this drain, but now we know why, for they have moved further along.

It is good to see that plenty of hares have survived the winter hare coursers this year, though they lead Arthur and Boris a merry dance. Arthur is under the illusion that his stumpy little legs are capable of helping him catch up with a hare half way across a field. To be fair, he has a good go!