Yorkshire Kitchen Garden

It's been a while since I posted here, so although it's late, I would like to wish you a Happy New Year.

It's now very nearly the end of January, and soon the gardening season will be upon us. No more sitting indoors wishing the weather would improve, we can get out and do some actual work. Leave a message to let me know what your plans are for this year. Are you trying any new varieties? Or will you be changing the way you do things in your garden? Expanding, or scaling down?

This year, I am planning to try trailing tomatoes for the first time. If you have grown these in the past, any tips or suggestions will be appreciated. I am also planning to make another attempt at sweetcorn, hopefully it will be 4th time lucky. For some reason, I never have much luck with it.

One of the great things about the internet is the range of useful tools and resources that can be found. This is true for gardeners as well as everyone else. In this post, I would like to share a few goodies that have caught my eye. I hope you will find them useful, and if you have anything you would like to recommend, just leave a message. Don't forget the url!

BBC Virtual Garden Designer - A free software programme that helps you to design your garden in 3D. It's actually aimed at general gardeners, but could also be useful for growers of edibles, to help give you an idea of how a new design will look.

Kalyn's Kitchen: Weekend Herb Blogging - A great community venture. Each week bloggers post pictures and information about herbs. Informative and fun too.

Paul's Garden World - Nice variety of information about many aspects of gardening, this link takes you to the vegetable section. The information offered is easy to understand, and should prove useful to beginners.

Alenka's Printables - Selection of cute seed packets you can print out for free.

HP Spring Garden Kits - A range of plant tags, to do lists and planners you can print out for free.

Garden Organic Compost Guide - The title says it all, if you haven't started a compost heap yet, this guide tells you everything you need to know.

Posted by Kate at 03:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My recent post about growing an indoor herb garden attracted a great comment about using organic seeds. I thought I would take this opportunity to explain why this is a good idea.

Before I begin, please let me make it clear, I am not against the use of non-organic seeds. If that is what you choose to use, then so be it. It's not up to me to tell you what you should put in your garden. We all have choices, and I believe it is important to respect the choices other people make. In addition, the following comments are only my personal opinions.

Why Use Organic Seeds?

There are a few reasons why I would choose to use organic seeds. The first is that I tend to grow species which are native to my area. This means organic seeds do indeed produce better plants because they are growing in their ideal condition.. Even, when I grow plants which come from other parts of the world, they are well established species, and the seeds have been developed over many decades which means they have evolved into plants which grow well in my climate. Therefore, they need little in the way of extra help. After all, if something grew perfectly well in a Victorian garden, it really doesn't need assistance to help it grow in a 21st century one.

The next reason is a little more controversial. The problem with non-organic seeds is that a growing number have been genetically modified, which has rendered them infertile. This means that you won't be able to save seed from them to use the following year because they won't produce any. This practice is good for seed producers because they can 'copyright' their product. In other words, you will have to buy new seed each time you wish to grow a particular plant. Now, I don't know about you but I find this a rather sad indication of the world we live in. For generations gardeners have traded seeds, cuttings and so on. And also used their existing plants to create new varieties. With increasing reliance on genetic modification this tradition will come to an end. I personally think this would be a tragedy.

It is true, that not all non-organic seed is infertile, but there does seem to be an ever increasing amount which is GM and which is unable to reproduce itself.. Furthermore, the necessity for these modifications are not always as black and white as they are claimed to be. Producers will say that making these alterations results in stronger, healthier seed. However, if gardeners used varieties which were native to their part of the world, or which were heirloom/heritage varieties, these modifications would not be necessary because they would have plants which were perfectly adapted to their environment.

There is a longer term danger. Just suppose that one day, all plants are grown from GM seed. Imagine the effect this could have on our environment. Species would be unable to cross pollinate, leading to a decline in plant life, and also insect and animal species which rely on those plants for food. Your garden may seem as though it just your personal bit of green space, but trust me it is more than that. To an endless number of creatures it is both home and a jolly good restaurant. Remove that food supply and you remove an important part of the food chain. The logical conclusion would be a very barren world indeed.

As I said at the beginning of this piece, these comments are only my personal opinions, but they are shared by a growing number of people. As a gardener you can do your bit to preserve our natural heritage, by choosing organic seed, and gardening organically. Try to grow local varieties, or if they are not available choose heirloom or heritage seeds and plants. These are traditional varieties which have proved themselves through decades of use in normal gardens. To paraphrase an Irish saying, we don’t own the earth, we are just keeping it safe for future generations. Organic seeds may be small, but they are a big part of this.

Further Reading:

Garden Organic
The Organic Gardening Catalogue

Posted by Kate at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

First of all my apologies for my absence recently. I somehow managed to get a nasty virus on my pc, which resulted in the whole system needing to be reformatted. I'm not sure how it happened because I use a range of up to date security software, but I suppose there is always something that can slip through.

On the kitchen garden front, it is safe to say winter has well and truly arrived in Yorkshire. This week we have had a succession of thick frosts, which do make everywhere look delightful, rather like a scene from a Christmas card. On the downside, it is also extremely cold, and gardening is difficult because the ground is so hard. I'm waiting for a warmer spell before I venture out to do any work.

Well, the weather may not be suitable for gardening, but there is plenty to do indoors. You could follow the advice in my previous post, and start an indoor herb garden. This is a great way to have access to your favourite herbs all winter long. Alternatively, spend a comfy evening by the fire, armed with a notebook and a selection of your favourite gardening catalogues, and make some plans for next years crops. Begin by detailing what you grew this year, how it worked out, and so on. Now, plan next years harvest. List all the 'regulars', in other words crops you grow from year to year. Then, choose a few new varieties. They say variety is the spice of life, and this applies in the garden too. If you are feeling artistic, why not draw up a plan, detailing what you will grow and where. You can do this with a pencil and paper, or try a purpose made garden design software package. Type garden design software into your favourite search engine and see what comes up. You may even be lucky enough to find a good quality freebie, there are some out there.

I'll leave you with a kitchen tip. Cabbage is one of my favourite winter vegetables, but it's not always that popular with children. There are two ways I have found to get my kiddiwinks to eat cabbage. The first is to use a firm white cabbage, chopped up finely and made into coleslaw. The second is for cooked cabbage, try adding a teaspoon of mint and a sprinkling of black pepper to the cooking water. It reduces the cabbage taste which many children find overpowering.

And if you would like a recipe for coleslaw, this is mine:

1 white cabbage (chopped finely)
2 apples (sliced)
2 carrots (grated)
6 tbs mayonnaise (add more if you require a moister texture)
1 tbs vinegar
sprinkling of black pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl, and chill in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes or until needed.

Posted by Kate at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)