- Hello, and a very warm welcome back to the garden.
So to continue the celebration of my new book,
one of the topics it goes into is self-sufficiency.
And I wanted to dive into that today
because we all dream of being more self-sufficient
from the space that we grow in.
But there's always little things that you can do
that are going to over time propel you closer
to those goals that you set.
So the definition of self-sufficiency
really is for you to decide,
but once you've decided what self-sufficiency is
and what your goals are,
there's one thing that you can do
every time that you head up into the garden
that is gonna get you that extra bit closer
and over time, this is going to compound.
So if you've heard of marginal gains,
this is a fantastic tool
that all of us gardeners can use to get us much closer
and more quickly to the goals that we've set.
So the 1% rule is nice and simple
and we can all implement it.
Whenever you go into your garden, find one small change,
it can be the smallest of changes, that you can do
that's going to help you reach your goals.
And the idea with the 1% is to signify
that just something really little,
even if it's moving a pot,
and I'll show you a load of examples.
But what you want to do is
by every time you go to your garden
and you make a little small change,
that's gonna build up really quickly
and it's gonna be something that you're going to notice
and it's going to reward you come summertime.
We all know the really famous saying of,
"Rome wasn't built in a day."
And I think it is so true when it comes to self-sufficiency.
It's about making lots of small wins along the journey
and celebrating all of those.
And all you need to think to yourself
every time you go up into your garden is,
what is one small thing that you can do to improve it?
Like, right now, I'm just cutting back
the old growth of this mint plant
so I can ensure that there's more space
for a nice flourish of mint,
which is one of my favorite crops in the whole garden.
I also think it's really important that
each improvement that you decide to make
every time you come up to the garden
is something that excites you.
There's an example here of, this is calendula,
that had self-sown,
and we've potted this up and it's grown up nicely.
And I see this as an investment,
as an improvement for the garden,
because the amount of pollinators it's gonna bring
and the amount of color and joy, and it's really important
that we create a space that we also like to be in
because then we have every reason to be at the garden
or at the allotment at any given opportunity.
So think about what little things could you grow,
such as some edible flowers
or something that's slightly different,
that's actually going to directly help your journey.
What I want you to do is get creative
and think a little bit outside the box
when it comes to making those little improvements
and have it as your like time
to really try out different things as well.
So one of them could be taking cuttings
of a particular plant
so you end up with a load of rooted plants
by the end of this year that you could then either sell
or you could swap them for other plants
or seeds in the future to help save money.
You can do other things, for example,
if you think of a raised bed and
you're perhaps questioning how healthy the soil is,
you could bring a load of old plant material from elsewhere,
even some grass clippings, and you chop them up,
spread it over the top,
just to start adding some more fertility into the ground.
You could do a quick once around your garden,
picking up any pots or planks
that just happen to be laying about
because those are perfect slug habitats.
So if you can just keep it nice and tidy,
you're then reducing slug habitat
which is then going to have a knock on effect
of protecting all of your seedlings.
Another thing you could do,
which is something I did recently was actually empty out
one of the finished compost bins,
put all of the finished compost in a large sack,
ready to use when needed,
and then start filling it up again so I can continue
and not stop with the process of making
as much compost as possible.
You can get a bunch of weeds together
and maybe a handful of leaf molds or wood chip,
stick it in a bucket, pour water over the top,
leave it for a couple of months
and then you've got your own free kind of plant fertilizer
that you can use diluting 1:20.
You could even do something
like measuring a length of fencing or boundary
just to work out if you could fit
perhaps an extra trellis or two there
because thinking about vertical spaces
around the boundaries,
they're one of the most productive parts
of the whole garden.
In fact, I think, undercover growing
is the first most important part of the garden.
And the second most important part of the garden
is actually the boundary.
So spend five minutes thinking about
how you can better utilize those edges.
You could also go around your garden,
looking for the smallest gaps or the smallest opportunities
for you to fill with something to grow.
My favorite thing to do is
I don't actually plan where I'm gonna sow or plant
any of my edible flowers or herbs.
What I actually do is when I see a little gap,
and there's always gonna be little gaps,
I will fill it with whatever I feel I'm lacking.
Perhaps it's dill or nasturtiums or borage.
As gardeners, we really have to value our time.
And also understand that anything we put
into the garden is going to bring something back out,
whether it's something that we've learnt,
something in terms of nutrition
or something to help our local wildlife.
Anything that you do,
and if you set a habit of always making
one little improvement that is not on your to-do list
to help your garden
and to help reach your self-sufficiency goals,
it's an investment into the future.
And I promise you, it will pay off.
So just make that habit and see what happens this season.