I listened to the advice and then experimented to see what was possible. The cold does mean a slightly different approach but the key point is that it has not stopped us growing useful food crops through the winter. I should add that this is the sixth winter and they have all given us at least -10C,  2m above ground, at the bottom end of the garden.

The first thing I did was to invest in some crop protection in the form of a small polytunnel and then some  ’solar pods’. This has allowed us to sow winter lettuce in late autumn and harvest from about mid February onwards. It also extends the season both ways by giving an earlier start and later finish e.g. harvesting tomatoes and courgettes in late October last season.

This year the winter lettuce were left too late and did not germinate;  in the end we only had some Little Gem which were hanging around in an outside container. They were transferred to a pod very late in the year but have continued to grow and have survived the sharp frosts.

Another pod has some late sown cabbage which are just beginning to ‘heart up’. That should give us some much needed fresh greens in a month or so. They were very densely planted so some edible thinings might be taken soon.

Outside there is still a good supply of leeks and parsnips.  Some were harvested today which was not that difficult as the ground was only frozen for the first couple of  inches! I remember a few years back using a blow lamp to thaw the ground in order to dig some parsnips,  by torchlight!

The leeks (Musselburgh) have done very well, they are big and have little sign of disease.  Ditto the parsnips which have suffered some slug damage round the tops. Both should keep us going for another 2-3 months.

As the year rolls round it’s  time to start thinking about the coming season.  No major changes are planned as we know what works and what does not grow well in the garden. The one thing I always say is that we must make better use of the polytunnel and I am determined to do that this year!

Coming up in 2009;

• single crop square metre bed trials
• more on using rock dust and sea minerals for soil remineralisation
• a news series on how to start growing organic food from scratch
• more podcast interviews
• a redesigned web site

Recent natural disasters have once again forced a return to the inventive use of land, roof tops and any other available space are used to grow food. Cuba has shown the world what can be done and learned many valuable lessons.  You can read the full article here.

Nothing to do in the garden at the moment - it’s too cold! The seed order will be the next activity, think I’ll try some Celeriac this season.

Join the forum discussion on this post

Every so often this story crops up somewhere or other; the latest has cropped up on City Farmer who is reporting work carried out at California State University. The idea is not new but is it good way to feed cities? Is it sustainable? The answers to both questions is no.

Hydroponics has been around for a long time and nothing much has changed about the way it works. The idea is simple; as plants can only take up nutrients dissolved in water then it follows that the easiest way to grow food is to supply all they need in the water they drink. It’s as simple as that. I should add that which ever way you supply nutrients, whether it’s by using manure or any other fertiliser, the nutrients always end up dissolved in water. That is the only way that plants can feed. The photograph shows the roots of hydro watercress.

The problem with hydroponics is that the only to get a stable, reliable and quantifiable dose of nutrients into water is to use artificial fertliser specifically formulated for hydro growing. It’s no use just chucking in a handful of your usual plant food and hoping it will work.

Some will say there is nothing wrong with that but the fact remains that producing hydro nutrients requires the full force of the artificial fertliser industry. That means mining minerals, moving them round the world and then a lot processing to make fertiliser. Not only does that take enormous amounts of energy it also uses up raw material at an alarming rate. The photograph shows tomatoes in a hydro tank.

There is already concern that the world’s supply of phosphate is reaching its end. That will cause a crisis in food production for those relying on artificial fertilisers so using more for the large scale adoption of hydroponic growing will just hasten the crisis. The other big problem with hydro is that it requires a constant supply of energy. The nutrient solution is pumped around by electric pumps and it is usual for there to be heating and lighting in a hydro greenhouse. Some of the energy consumption could be offset by using renewables and simple systems.

Having said all that hydro could be an attractive solution for growing food in cities if it could be achieved in a closed loop system. Some years back there was a trial in Australia of nutrients produced by worm composting. The hydro system was setup on the roof of a restaurant and was to supply salad greens to the chefs. The food waste was to be composted on site and nutrients made to feed the plants. If it had been solar powered it would have been an almost ideal closed loop waste management food production system. I could never find any information on what happened so assumed it failed. If you know different please tell me.

I have also done my own experiments over the years and have tried to produce a closed loop growing system. It is certainly possible for anyone to make liquid fertiliser by pressing comfrey leaves and nettle leaves (separately.) That makes quite a good balanced plant food but because it is made from plants it is not consistent and not stable so is of no use for media less hydro systems. It does work with media based
systems that act as a buffer and iron out any irregularities.

I know there are several brands of ’organic’ hydro nutrients on the market but there is still the problem that they break down over time and need a lot more management. I may be wrong, it could be that some clever person has solved the problems but if they have they have kept it very quiet!

My recommendation would be to use recycled containers of home made growing media and home made fertliser. That does work and IS sustainable.

Some of the beds have been cultivated, manured or had compost added depending what is to be planted next season,  and then covered with their blankets.  Other beds have been sown with a green manure that should over winter. The main aim is to keep the rain off to stop soil compaction and nutrient leaching.

I used two varieties of green manure this year; Hungarian grazing rye and winter tares. (Right >) The rye was mostly eaten by the resident pheasants. They did not go for the tares  which means I’ll be using more of that next season. The trouble is that the grazing rye does a good job of mining nutrients from the deep clay and its long roots also break up the soil. Tares fixes nitrogen, provided the whole crop is incorporated, which is useful but not required on every bed so it’s a difficult choice.

There is not much left to do now excpet a general tidy up and order the seeds for next year. Just right for these cold dark days.

I used no-dig for many years on my raised beds and each year there were fewer weeds. When we eventually moved there were no weeds at all. Digging disturbs weed seeds which then germinate. Not digging disturbs no one except adjacent plot holders.

The other big myth about digging at this time of year is that we need to add as much muck as possible. The bloke next to me used to do that and was often heard to say that the ground was very hungry as he always had to add more manure in the spring.

What happens is that winter rain washes out the nitrogen which ends up in the local river rather than in your plants. The answer is to keep the soil covered during winter. I have some plastic sheets cut to size for the beds without green manures or crops. The manure is rotovated in and then the bed is covered. The result is that when they are unwrapped for spring the soil is rich black and crumbly.

The other thing that rain does is compact soil. So by next spring your nicely dug soil will be flat, compacted and out of nitrogen. Your back might be better though, just in time to dog it all again.

Researchers are discovering that growing your own food—however much or little you can do—is better for your health than anyone ever suspected. And the nutritional value of what you harvest is almost the least of it. Growing your own food by messing around in your own garden proves to be nature’s fruitful way of cultivating your health—physically and psychologically.
(Read more)

I went back to gardening many years ago when I was working at home on computer based projects. It was the ideal antidote for long hours at the keyboard. It was also a way of getting cheap organic food when it was difficult to find in the shops. Now a research project has proved what we all know, gardening is good for you!