- Today I'm gonna show you
the type of things that can happen
when you work with seeds, weeds, and compost.
If I had to summarize the season so far,
it's been an emotional roller coaster.
April was freezing, May was terrible weather,
June was bone dry, and I was speaking to
a veteran grower in this area,
and he said in his 40 years of experience,
this was the toughest season yet.
But what does surprise me about the garden
is its ability to catch up, to flourish,
and also to still produce amazing harvests.
On this channel, I do like to feature gardening tours
in between all of the different growing tutorials.
But today I thought I'd bring the two together
to show you as many tips and ideas in action
that you can use as inspiration
to apply in your own growing space.
So this garden consists of 22 beds outside.
We've also got a solar tunnel,
soft fruit all around the border,
and we use trellises to create a walled garden effect
on a budget, so effectively we're creating
a nice growing microclimate within the space.
The core philosophy and foundation of this garden
is no dig, which means, spreading
a three to five centimeter layer of compost
over the surface of these beds every year.
As well as no dig, I also like to make my own
a hundred percent natural mineral and biological amendments
to improve soil and plant health.
And that's something I'll be featuring
a lot more on this channel.
(water splashes)
Being a family kitchen garden,
this isn't a place to make money through selling veg boxes,
but to supply us with as much food as we possibly can
through all four seasons.
And I believe one of the best ways that we can improve the
productivity of our growing spaces over the long run
is by actually trying different varieties.
Now picture this for a second.
Why do we go to a cinema?
We don't go to the cinema to watch the same film
over and over again.
We go there because we either hear a good thing
about a particular film,
or we're curious to see what happens.
And by the time the end credits appear,
you're sat there and you think,
wow, that is one of my film personal favorites,
or you're gonna be thinking,
I'm not gonna be going out of my way anytime soon
to watch that again.
Now it's much the same when it comes to choosing
vegetable crops or varieties to grow.
We have our firm favorites, or our go-to varieties
that we grow at time and time again.
But by only growing these select few varieties,
you could be missing out from discovering other varieties
that could actually replace your firm favorites.
Now, let me give you an example.
This bed here was where I grew this year's broad bean crop.
And usually I'll choose an Aquadulce
or a Bunyards Exhibition,
but I thought I'd try something different.
I'd seen this new variety called Ratio.
In all my living memory of broad beans,
I've never had such a brilliant crop.
So that's now become a firm favorite.
And if I hadn't have tried it,
and if I just stayed with what I was familiar with,
I could have very much missed out on that opportunity.
Because we have such a huge range of options
as gardeners when it comes to different crops,
it's easy to just settle with what we know
because we can easily get overwhelmed.
But if you just choose to grow three new things
every single year, you might be surprised by what happens.
The three new crops I'm growing this year are
Aztec broccoli, caraway, and amaranth.
Now I have no idea what the caraway is doing,
but this and the Aztec broccoli seem to be loving life.
Now, this stunning variety is Amaranthus Cruentus.
And I think just because it's so beautiful,
it deserves a place in the garden just for that reason.
Imagine this spread in little pockets throughout the plot,
it would look amazing.
Now, as well as these young leaves being edible,
you can chuck them into salads,
what I'm really growing them for is for the seeds.
You can treat them like a grain, and use them in anything
such as soups, smoothies, and also bread.
The thing about trying three new crops every single year
is that you have no idea what's going to happen.
And there are guaranteed
gonna be some failures along the way,
but when you do get a surprise,
it is honestly one of my favorite things about growing food.
And the amaranth, and also this Aztec broccoli
are well on their way to becoming
a regular feature in this garden,
but only if this tastes good,
because I've heard mixed reviews.
Another new thing that I've tried this year,
which is now on its way out, are field beans,
right in front of me here.
And in a very small section,
they produced kilos worth of beans.
And they're a great broad bean alternative,
especially for small spaces
because they're very narrow, but they grow very tall,
and it's something I recon you should try out.
A massive element that contributes
to the productivity of this garden is succession planting,
and that's rapid succession planting.
As soon as I harvest a crop,
I want something else going in as soon as possible.
This is where the onions were, now, there are leeks.
This is where the new potatoes were, now, there are kale.
I've got Red Russian kale, and this is a new variety
I'm trying called a Hungry Gap kale,
but I've dubbed it the self-harvesting kale
because when the leaves get a certain size,
they kind of flop over and snap,
which makes it easy to go around
and choose what you're going to eat for dinner.
This runner bean archway here has very much become
one of the highlights of the growing season.
And it's also an excellent demonstration
of how you can greatly increase the productivity
in small spaces, and let me show you why.
Now in a garden, we have paths.
Paths are important because they're
a safe way to get from A to B.
But it can be quite frustrating having paths
in a small space when you ultimately
want to grow as much as possible.
So instead of using things like wigwams
or vertical trellises in your raised beds,
what you can do is utilize this underused vertical space
between two beds, you can span it with an archway like this,
so you can grow anything climbing, such as nasturtiums,
runner beans, sweet peas, peas, up and over.
So you've still got your pathway,
which you can just about squeezed through,
but suddenly you're turning this underused space
into productive space, and you're opening up
something like a square meter,
or nine square for valuable space in your raised beds too.
So effectively, you can double your production.
Another way of improving the productivity of small spaces
is instead of growing things like potatoes in raised beds,
grow them in containers.
And it's something I'm only properly
giving a go this growing season.
And to be honest, 'cause it's my first proper go,
I'm pretty pleased with this result.
I'm really happy with the haul of potatoes.
And I've got this spent compost,
but the good thing is, I have a need for it.
Because the other day I was on Readly,
and I was reading one of the articles
in the Kitchen Garden magazine by Stephanie Hafferty,
who said that used or spent compost
is a great thing to plant your Christmas spuds.
So I've been inspired by that article
to give that project a go myself.
This video, in fact, is kindly sponsored by Readly.
Readly is awesome.
It's an online magazine subscription service
that gives you access to over
5,000 top quality titles in a single app.
And you also get back editions as well.
Now my reading style is, I'm a browser.
I like to just flick through,
and if anything stands out, a particular article,
I'll then read it.
And what Readly does really well
is that it has a bookmark function.
So if there's anything you want to save for later,
you can bookmark it and come back to it later,
which is what I'm doing today
with growing Christmas potatoes.
I've got the article bookmarked so I can save ideas,
and bring them to the garden and use them.
And the other thing is, is that it has offline access.
So whether you're in the garden or traveling,
like I was earlier this summer,
traveling up to Scotland to film some interesting content
for this channel for winter content,
the offline function made it easy.
As well as a huge amount of gardening titles on offer,
many of which, I'm sure you recognize,
I'm also enjoying craft beer and brewing,
something to keep me busy over the winter months,
whenever I'm not mulching the raised beds.
And another thing is its self-build and design.
Because fun fact, if I wasn't a gardener,
chances are, I would've gone down
the sustainable architecture route,
and it's a subject that I still love.
So as you can see, I love Readly because it offers
a paper-free way to tons of inspiration.
And I've got a special limited time offer
for two free months subscription to Readly,
And then it's only $7.99 after that,
and you can cancel any time.
And then another brilliant thing about it is,
one subscription gives you five accounts,
which means you can get your
friends and family involved as well.
So this is a process I'm gonna use
to plant my Christmas potatoes
inspired by Stephanie's article.
I'm going to mix one third good compost
with two thirds spent.
Half fill a 25 or 30 liter container
or compost bag with this mix.
Push two seed potatoes five centimeters under the compost.
I've gone for the blight resistant Sarpo Miras,
which are gonna be perfect,
and I had some spare tubers lying about.
Cover with more of the compost mix
so the container or bag is three quarters full,
then water well.
Leave it in a sunny, sheltered spot.
Whenever there's a risk of frost,
bring your plants indoors.
And then when they naturally start dying back,
cut them back to the base.
And now you can just store these containers of potatoes
in a cool, frost-free shed or garage.
And then when it comes to Christmas,
you just tip them out, and enjoy eating
homegrown, fresh potatoes.
Now the polycrub to the left of me is looking fantastic.
but firstly, I have to be completely honest with you,
these IBC tanks basically saved this season
because our spring dried out, our stream dried out,
and we're not on mains water.
And during June, that was not fun,
and this was a real lifeblood of the garden,
that kept us going.
Now they're not the prettiest, they're quite industrial.
These are a second hand that are put on unwanted pallets.
But what we have done is we've used this as an opportunity
as a trellis for growing our runner beans.
And because this is a thermal mass, they work so well.
We're here in the polycrub, and it's a pretty hot,
it's 40 degrees Celsius, so about 105 degrees Fahrenheit.
I just wanted to highlight a really good
jalapeno variety of pepper.
So if you're looking to grow one, I recommend La Bomba,
and it is just becoming absolutely laden with fruit.
I'm not actually pinching this out.
I'm just gonna let it grow, and see what happens.
But I'm definitely gonna grow this variety every year.
This polycrub is a really magical space.
I'll be doing a full tour later this season,
but I've got loads of carrots coming out,
had lots of herbs, more peppers, sweet corn,
the first cobs are on their way,
and of course the tomatoes, which are
the thing I always get most excited about.
And I've just spotted the first tomato
starting to change color right here.
So I'm about to get pretty loaded.
Another thing that's really exciting
is that all the cucumbers and gherkins are starting to come.
There's actually a lot more,
now that I'm down here, than I realized,
and we're doing something different this year,
we're marching the base with wool.
This is from some packaging,
so if you get frozen goods coming through the post,
this just is a nice way to maintain moisture.
And I reckon I could use this for a couple of
growing seasons, and I can put it on the compost.
So definitely encourage your friends and family
to save this over autumn, winter, and spring,
ready for the following growing season.
Weeds such as nettles
play a really important role in the garden.
Not only are they a great compost ingredient,
but they are also fantastic for making free liquid feeds.
This here is a garden's smelly liquid feed
using just nettles.
So what I do to keep it maintained
is I just continuously put in fresh batches of nettles,
and then cover this with water.
And the whole goal is that you leave this for two weeks
when you just set it off, and then you come through
and I dilute this, kind of one to 10.
So I would go in with some kind of container,
fill it up with this nettle juice,
put it back into the watering can,
and then I can go around the garden.
Because at this time of year,
especially if you've got new raised beds,
the soil health might not be fully realized,
and some of your plants might be struggling
to get the nutrients they need.
So this is just a nice supplement.
As you're watering them, you put in some extra nutrients
down into their roots just to help them continue producing.
One of the goals for many gardeners
is to be as self sufficient as possible.
And I think a really important part to remember
is that you're not only looking for crops
that produce really well, but also taste good.
Now, I do enjoy courgettes and marrows,
but truth be told, there's only so many you can deal with.
But there is a squash variety hiding under these leaves
that I am extremely excited about.
Now this here is something really cool.
This is spaghetti squash.
In fact, it's my first year growing it,
but it is absolutely laden.
And if you store them in the right conditions,
in kind of a cool, dark shelf of around 10 degrees Celsius,
or 50 degrees Fahrenheit,
they should last you up until the end of winter.
So I cannot wait to see these develop,
and become one of our winter staples.
Self-sufficiency is very much about embracing seasonality.
And it's about that knowing that every single month
in the calendar year brings new harvests.
And that means new flavors, and different recipes.
The hungry gap is one of the hardest times for gardeners,
which is why I'm transplanting loads of cabbage, leeks,
purple sprouting broccoli, and kale to see me through.
And the good thing is, they're also really tasty.
The reason that I don't sew all of my winter veg
all in one go in early spring is because
I'd miss out on all of the space to grow summer crops.
I had broad beans in here, for example,
but now I'm replacing them with leeks,
and kale, and everything else like that.
And yes, I might not be able to grow all of these leeks,
but what they're doing is helping to maintain soil health
by maintaining living roots in the ground.
And the other thing is that I can actually sell
bunches of leeks, they are hugely popular,
'cause I am in Wales after all,
and that selling of leeks can help raise money
to cover my seed bill in preparation
for the next growing season.
These are the kale that I transplanted
for the self-sufficiency kale video.
You can see they've settled in really nicely.
And the thing that I love about winter vegetables is,
you just leave them in and harvest them whenever you want,
there's no rush.
Unlike a lot of summer crops, such as peas,
you're trying to pick them all the time because
you don't want them to turn too big, and too starchy.
And that is why having fresh vegetables
during winter is such an asset.
One thing that I think all gardens can do
is let some of their crops run to seed.
I've got onions here, coriander, lettuce, dill as well,
because they add such visual interest,
some nice structure to the garden
that you'd never get otherwise.
For example, this fennel here didn't create a bulb
because of the terrible conditions.
But I let it grow, I can still use the fronds,
but I'm letting it flower.
Not just because of the beautiful yellow flowers,
but to actually save fresh fennel seed
that I can use during winter.
Now, what are these flowers?
They might look like something that you'll
only ever see in an ornamental garden.
But these in fact, maybe to your surprise, are leeks.
These are leek flowers.
So these were planted last year.
And instead of harvesting them by April,
we let them grow on, and look how beautiful it is.
And one of the big benefits of letting some of your
crops run to seed is, of course it looks nice,
but it's also a great free way
of attracting pollinators into your garden.
There's something I've only mentioned once before
on this channel, and out of everything that I've mentioned
so far in this video,
this is the key thing I want you to take away.
It's kind of the realization that your own vegetable garden,
or allotment, is your personal greengrocer's.
You've nurtured it, and then you own
all of the food that is in here.
You know, you just go pull out a carrot like that.
You see, a kitchen garden is a true sign of food security.
Right now, I have beans, carrots, cucumbers, courgettes,
potatoes, greens, onions, beetroot, kohlrabi, herbs, fruit.
So many things that I can put into my dinner tonight,
or preserve for future use.
And even if you only have a small space,
and you don't have many crops,
it doesn't matter because that one ingredient
that you harvest tonight can become
the centerpiece of your meal.
And I think the main thing when it comes to self-sufficiency
is you shouldn't put pressure on trying to get
a hundred percent of your vegetable needs
from your garden space.
Instead, you should set yourself a challenge,
where every single day, you eat one thing from your garden,
even if that means a little sprinkling of parsley.
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