(gentle music)
(birds chirping)
- Hello, and a very crisp welcome back to the garden.
This morning, we finally had our first official
hard frost of autumn, right at the tail end.
Which means it's kind of the end of the growing season.
And I wanna talk about my three goals
for what I'm gonna focus on next year,
because I'm going to use winter to prepare for that.
And also, some other ideas that I've had
that I want to implement in this garden.
For me, the end of the growing season
isn't actually too sad.
I pretty much ease into winter.
And I'm taking down these Jerusalem artichokes.
And the reason why it isn't very sad
is because I instantly get excited for next year,
for the next growing season.
And truth be told,
I'm a little tired after quite a busy spring and summer.
So I love the slowing pace and the change of focus
into brainstorming and creating ideas,
and dreaming about what I can do differently next year.
The first thing I wanna focus on more next growing season
is growing at least 2/3 of my crops
using heritage varieties.
I found over the last few years,
it's been really easy for me to just settle in
to growing the varieties of crops that I know work well,
but I can't help thinking that I'm missing a trick,
and actually growing things that might be
much better-suited to my climate,
and to my needs and my goals.
And whilst there is so many new modern varieties
of vegetables being produced,
I can't help but think that heritage varieties,
which firstly, have a history, a story behind them,
might actually be what we're actually looking for,
and that we're becoming too detached
from what we used to grow, what our ancestors used to grow,
by just getting caught up on trying to grow
the most productive tomato that might actually,
not taste the best, I'd rather grow for flavor.
I want to have the most tasty vegetable garden possible.
And I think heritage varieties is where I'm gonna find
the best opportunities for that.
When I hear of stories of seeds catalogs
many, many years ago having 200 different varieties
of cabbages to choose from, for example,
and now we might only have 10 or 20,
I think that proves just how much opportunity
we could be missing.
And the other important thing about supporting
heritage seed varieties is you're keeping them going.
You're keeping them,
you're keeping that history and tradition alive.
And you're also supporting smaller-scale seed producers
who tend to care a lot more about heritage varieties
instead of the much larger seed producers
who are just so intent on getting their own varieties,
which they can own and make as much money from.
Now, of course,
the other benefit of growing heritage varieties is that,
if you liked them, you can save their seeds.
Because they're not hybrids,
as long as you save them from seeds using the right methods,
you will be able to grow them time and time again.
Those are the core reasons why I'm gonna be doing
a lot more in terms of heritage vegetables
and varieties next growing season.
And because I'm playing with the long game in mind,
I'm willing to sacrifice productivity
in the quest of actually finding
those really special varieties
to become a core part of this garden.
So why don't you think to yourself,
"What few vegetable varieties could I grow,
"that I could look for a heritage version
"that really excites you?"
Because if it turns out well,
chances are it's gonna become one of your staples.
So my second goal for the next growing season
is to actually continue searching
for the more unusual and exotic crops
that I could potentially grow in this garden.
Now, of course,
they're not gonna be super suitable for our climate,
but by using things such as undercover growing
and being clever with the seasons,
there could be so many things that could hold potential
in terms of producing food.
Right now, what I'm doing, I'm clearing away this oka,
which is also known as New Zealand's yam.
It's dying back because of the hard frost.
And this is one of the first unusual varieties
of vegetables that I grew and it was great.
It was tasty, productive, and now,
it's become a firm favorite that I grow every year.
One of the foundational rules of self-sufficiency
is to grow things that you actually enjoy eating.
And there could be so many crops out there
that you've never tried that could suddenly become
one of your firm favorites.
And you'll never know unless you give them a go.
And that's something that I'm trying to do.
I'm trying to look at what other crops exist
out there in the world that I can grow
that get me really excited year-on-year.
So I'm not just sticking with growing
all of the normal staples.
I'm actually adding a lot of flavor and a lot of interest,
which makes me more excited for each changing season.
(gentle music) (birds chirping)
What I've come to realize is that my strategy
of self-sufficiency isn't about growing
bulk food of everything, and then,
looking at how I can preserve these massive gluts,
but actually, about how I can have as wide of a variety
of different flavors in crops through all four seasons.
And by utilizing that variety of perhaps having less
of each individual thing, but more choice,
I wanna have more choice,
it means that there's more things to look forward to,
and more things to change and adapt,
and also, pair together when it comes to cooking.
So my third goal for the next growing season is
something you're probably not expecting,
is actually doing more wood-based DIY projects,
here in the garden.
It's something I've been missing for a fair few years.
And I'd love to get a little bit more involved with creating
permanent structures that aren't bought as a kit,
because there's something so satisfying about creating
lasting things with your hands.
So whether it's trellises, arbors, benches,
shelving units, clever types of raised beds,
all these kinds of things,
they're gonna be one of my big projects over this winter
and into spring to really try and help set up
the next growing season and add a little bit more interest
in and around the garden.
So those are the three main areas
that I want to focus on next year.
But of course, there are other little goals that I have.
At the moment, I'm harvesting some kale.
This one actually right here is hungry gap kale,
which perfectly links me into one
of the other goals that I have,
which is actually growing with a lot more focus and intent
on creating a wider variety of crops
available to harvest during the hungry gap.
One of the things that I've been making the most of recently
is a planting that we've done of wild garlic.
And that has been one of the best bits of the hungry gap,
but I'm sure there are many other crops and plants
that I can really utilize to actually turn that period
of scarcity into somewhat of a period of abundance.
Something I felt has let me down a bit as a gardener
is not making the most of undercover spaces like this.
This is easily, the most valuable space.
I think these beds are like two or three times
more valuable than any outside green space, at least.
You know, you can see all these crops as well
growing this time of year.
So what I wanted to do in the next growing season
is to really focus on trying to make this space
as productive as possible.
I think the biggest part of that is being very clever
with interplanting and relay planting.
And I'm just gonna push the limits and see what is possible
because even if I sacrifice some harvest next year,
I'll have a really good idea for what to do in 2023
to get so much food out of this space.
Of course, there's one garden goal that never changes,
and that's about constantly making little strides
to improve the soil health and fertility of my garden beds.
And now is a perfect time of year
to prepare your raised beds for winter.
There's a video right here that shows you how simple it is,
all of the little steps to make sure that your bed
is nicely prepped and ready for springtime next year,
where you really hit the ground running,
and really guarantee a successful abundance in summer.