The garden in May can be a busy time for the organic grower. A word of warning do think before you plant out those tender vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers; there is still the threat that it will get cold especially in Northern regions. If you do happen to get caught out, water you plants with ice cold water at first light. This might just save them!

Planting

Seed that was sown indoors can now be planted out in southern regions, I would wait until the last week in May or even June in northern regions. These include- tomato plants, courgette, squashes and pumpkins , sweetcorn, cucumber, pepper and chili peppers. Your local garden centre will sell seedlings if you have forgotten to sow something by now. Some of the bigger farmers markets will also be selling seedlings at the moment. Make sure you ask where they have been growing as they may need hardening off.

Winter greens grown from seedlings in March can also be planted out now. (brussel sprouts, cauliflower etc).

Plant outside – Successional crops of lettuces, peas (main crop and second early) , this will give you peas well into the autumn; beetroot, beet spinach, radishes, maincrop turnips, main crop carrots.

You can also just about get away with another sowing of parsnips a good tip is to plant them with radishes a few centimeters apart. This way you will see where they are and remember to water them as they can take up to six weeks to germinate.

If you have a patch of cooch that you would like to get rid of then now is the time to tightly plant a load of turnip seeds. This will kill the roots and thus rid you of the nasty stuff. I have used two packets in an area 3 foot (about 1m) squared.

Other plants to plant out include celeriac, florence fennel, runner beans, french beans, chervil, marojoram, parsley, leeks and dill.

Other jobs

The slugs will still be doing some damage at them moment, in fact my courgette plants have been devastated. I put egg shells around them and this kept a nice family of slugs in rather than out, doh! Also use beer traps and nightly picks with a torch is supposed to really help. See our 101 ways to get rid of slugs for more ideas on combating the evil slugs.

Keep earthing up your spuds. When the leaves on top reach about 20cm (8ins) drag the surrounding soil up around them. Leaving about 10 cm or 4 inches of growth above the earth.

Put straw around your strawberry plants, this will act as a mulch, deter slugs and prevent rain splash. According to Caroline Foley Barley straw is the best for this job.

Pick alternate berries on gooseberry bushes to encourage bigger berries later on.

Try and keep on top of your weeds with regular hoeing. Weeds such as bindweed, cooch and dandelions will need to be pulled out and burnt. The root of the dandelion could be used as a drink, I have not tried it as I prefer to watch my weeds burn (After a few comments I should note that this was written by Andy in 2004 and was meant to be a bit of a joke! – He certainly makes drinks from Dandelion roots now!!)

If there are any areas uncultivated try planting Alfalfa as a green manure.

Hardening Off

Many organic gardeners will talk about hardening off, but what does it actually mean?

To harden off plants means introducing them to progressively cooler temperatures until they get used to the outside. I tend to stick all my plants on garden chairs and carry out the chairs every morning and take them in at night. I do this every day for 10 days to a fortnight. If you have seedlings bought up in a green house you can start leaving the windows open, in a cold frame you could leave the lid open on the milder nights. Finally, cut up pop bottles over new seedlings will help harden them off.

Croutons –

On of the easiest things you can make are croutons.  Simply cut the bread into squares anywhere between 1-3cm big. Place the bread squares in a frying pan with a little oil, a clove of garlic  (finely chopped) and fry on both sides until crispy.  Serve on the top of soup.

Bread Crumb Topping

If you have a coffee grinder or pestle and mortar break up a slice of bread into a few pieces and grind it up for a few seconds (longer for the pestle and mortar).  You can then use the breadcrumbs on top of gratins, savoury crumbles, in burger mixes and in stuffing mixes for both meat and vegetable dishes.

Bread Pudding

Bread pudding is a really simple way of using up all your stale bread. It was a firm favourite when Andy and I were growing up, my mother would serve it to us warmed up with a bit of cold milk or custard – delicious!

Ingredients

• 175g of Stale Bread – (About half a loaf)
• 175g of Apples – (one large eating apple)
• 125g Dates or Figs – (6 dates 4 figs)
• Tablespoon each of sesame and flaxseed (Optional)
• ¾ to 1 pint of Semi-Skimmed milk
• 1-heaped teaspoon of allspice
• 1 Tablespoon of honey

Method

1. Grind the bread up into small breadcrumbs using a food processor or a rolling pin and a plastic bag and place into a large mixing bowl
2. Core the apple and add it to the bowl
3. Cut the figs and dates into two and add them to the bowl
4. Add the spice, honey and seeds (if using).
5. Pour in the milk – this is tricky part, different breads have different absorbencies so keep mixing the milk in slowly until in resembles a cake mixture. You may not use all of the milk or you may use more than a pint just stop mixing before the mixture gets too sloppy.
6. Cover with a tea-towel and leave for about an hour.
7. Lightly grease a deep baking tray or cake tin and cook on gas mark 5, 160/170^o C for about ½ an hour or until brown and solid.

Pollinating insects such as bees, hoverflies and many other flying insects are absolutely essential to the reproduction of much plant life, to such an­­ extent that if they disappeared then so would many types of fruit, vegetables, flowers and even some arable crops. For pollinating our fruit and vegetables which are not wind- or self-pollinated, it is predominantly bees which are our main allies so it’s these insects we need to encourage into our veg patches.

Bees are attracted to the nectar and pollen in flowers and gather pollen on their legs and bodies to feed to their offspring. Whilst flying between flowers of the same species drinking their nectar, pollen grains transfer from one flower to another as the bee moves around, allowing pollination to take place and the plant to reproduce by producing seed.

In an ideal world we would all have large gardens full of the kinds of flowers that attract the pollinators and the habitat that they require for survival. The reality is that many people who are interested in growing vegetables have neither the time, inclination nor space to grow flowering plants which attract these insects, or prefer to use all available space for vegetable growing.

So, one of the best ways to ensure that pollinators visit your allotment or garden rather than your neighbour’s is to allow a bit of space for flowering plants which are also useful to you. The plants I’m talking about are herbs, many of which are attractive plants in their own right, and which of course go hand-in-hand with vegetable growing, as the flavours will enhance those lovely dishes you will be preparing with the fruits of your labours!

This isn’t an exhaustive list by any means, but just a few suggestions to provide nectar for as long a period as possible. These plants can all be grown in tubs if ground space is not available, and require minimal attention, mostly just needing a haircut after flowering to tidy them up. Some will even repeat flower.

Early: Rosemary

Very early flowering and much loved by bees of many different species, rosemary is also one of the few herbs that is harvestable throughout the year, even in the depths of winter.

Spring: Chives

Main flowering time around April/May, then repeat flowering afterwards, bees will be attracted by the flowers. Don’t put all those flowers in your new potato salad, leave a few for the pollinators!

Early through late summer: Thyme, Oregano/Marjoram and Lavender

Whilst the first two are undoubtedly among the top culinary herbs for all sorts of flavourings, sauces and pizzas, lavender can be used in many ways, from the traditional lavender bag to flavouring bread and biscuits with the dried flowers and perfuming home-made toiletries. All three are adored by bees, which are attracted to the thousands of tiny flowers produced on each plant; a bonus with the first two is that butterflies love their nectar too, and there can be nothing more relaxing than just sitting awhile beside a patch of these herbs listening to the buzz of the bees as they go about their business and watching pretty butterflies flitting about.

Summer and autumn: Borage

This is an annual with beautiful sky blue and pink flowers which is an absolute bee magnet. Although it can be quite a large, sprawling plant, the beauty is that it flowers for months on end and self-seeds easily. Due to the large size of the seedlings they are easy to hoe off, or you could leave another plant to grow to take the place of the original, and have two crops in the same year – effectively giving you flowers for about six months of the year as it can survive light frosts. The added benefit to you is that both the leaves and the flowers are edible, and the flowers look especially attractive decorating a salad or floating in a summer drink.

Now you may well be thinking of your annual courgette and runner bean gluts, and saying that you have never had a problem with a lack of pollinating insects before, and also muttering that the last thing you want to do is encourage cabbage white butterflies into your garden. Well, cabbage whites are going to find your brassicas whether you grow nectar-rich flowers or not, but bees and other pollinating insects need our help, because their numbers are declining due to the loss of food and habitat, use of pesticides and herbicides and, in the case of honey bees, disease and parasites. Every little thing we can do to aid and encourage them by offering them food for as many months of the year as possible will help them, as after all, they are a gardener’s best friend.  

However some crops will also have dual uses, or parts of the plant you may not consider as food can be eaten rather than wasted.  For example any vegetable scrap can be used in a stock pot for soups and stews, including leek tops, onion skins and the tough stalks and ribs of cabbages.  I’ve put together some more uses of common plants, some of which you may have heard of and some you may not – if you have any more then please do leave a comment below.

Courgette flowers

• Both male and female flowers of the courgette can be eaten. You can serve them in a salad or stuff with a cheese (ricotta, mozzarella) and herb filling, then coat in batter and deep fry.

Nasturtiums

• A useful plant for attracting beneficial insects. The flowers and leaves can be eaten in salads, put in vinegar or oil for flavour and colour. The buds can be blanched, pickled then used like capers.  Finally the stems can be used in soups.

Broad beans and Peas

• You can eat young broad beans like mange tout, early in the season, which should encourage the plant to produce more pods.   To prevent both beans and peas from growing upwards usually the tops are pinched out – on both plants this is quite edible and can be lightly fried or used in salads.

Broccoli and Brussel sprout leaves, Turnip tops

• Most plants of the cabbage family have edible leaves.  The young leaves of the turnip can be eaten and are even seen as a delicacy in some parts of the world.
• You can also harvest the leaves of broccoli plants as they are growing, only take a few at a time as taking too many will rob them of the energy to produce good florets.
• Sprout tops make excellent early spring greens, once you’ve harvested the sprouts just let the tops grow for a little longer and use like any other spring green or cabbage.

Beetroot stems

• Beetroot is related to chard and perpetual spinach and all have edible leaves. The younger leaves can be used in salads and the older leaves can be cooked. You can also eat the leaf stems, chop them up finely and add them to a warm salad, soup, stew or casserole.

The easiest way to cram a lot of plants into a small space is to grow them in pots on weather-proof shelves.  Cheap(ish) plastic garden shelving can now be bought from major retailers. However, in my experience these are a false economy as they only have a limited life span – the plastic doesn’t seem to hold up to extremes in temperature and in time they become brittle and start to break.  This is no doubt a ploy by the manufacturers to get us to invest in a new set when they start to deteriorate!

For a very similar price you can buy metal shelving units or if you are a regular visitor to a recycling centre/tip/dump, like me, you may come across metal shelving units for as little as £2 ($3 US, $3.40 AUS). The shelves should allow some air circulation and water to drip down from one tray to the next. Mine contain large perforations (a number of holes punched at regular intervals) but slated shelving should also do the trick.  The shelves also need either tying in place and/or weighed down by placing heavy objects on the bottom shelf.  Clay pots full of soil are sometimes adequate or if the bottom shelf is used for storing heavy items such as bags of potting compost.

Using UV stable plastic covering on your shelves is a perfect way to avoid seedling becoming etiolated (long and leggy) as they reach for the sun on a windowsill.  I’ve found (again) the cheaper shelving units with plastic covering to have a short life span as the zips break and they tend to shrink.  Finding scrap clear plastic from damaged poly-tunnels or again at recycling centres can be a cost effective way to cover your shelving.

As I don’t currently have a plastic covering for my shelving, I use them early in the season to harden off my seedlings slowly swapping them for pot grown summer crops in the warmer months (tomatoes, summer salads, herbs) and winter salads (rocket, mini iceberg lettuces, land-cress) later in the year.

If the shelves are south facing all the crops should get enough sunlight but it might be worth placing tall sun-loving plants on the top shelf (tomatoes, aubergines etc) and shade tolerant plants such as lettuce, parsley and salad greens lower down.  You may find that lower plants do struggle a little but you can always move them up and down in much the same way you would a Sunday roast in the oven.

• Potatoes, brassicas, legumes, and roots
• Legumes; onions, carrots and tomatoes; and brassicas
• Heavy feeders, light feeders, and soil builders
• Roots, brassicas, and all other crops
• Fertility building (grass, clover, vetches), Brassicas, Legumes, Carrots and beets
• Big feeders (cucurbits, solanums), Legumes and alliums, Brassicas and salads, Root crops

All methods of crop rotation share a number of things in common – no crop is grown on the same piece of land year after year, crops are grouped into their plant families and quite often, smaller rooted crops follow larger rooted crops.

The different depths of root means the crops are obtaining nutrients from different layers – a healthy soil structure is also maintained by having shallow roots follow deep roots.

Not planting a member of the same plant family on the same piece of land year after year is for two main reasons. Firstly it ensures that pests and diseases don’t build up such as club root in Brassicas or carrot root fly in the carrot family. A pest specific to a plant family will find there is simply not enough to eat in the three years between its finding its favourite food.

Secondly each crop needs different balance of nutrients and in some cases, especially with the brassicas family, a different pH level. Rotating what goes into each bed and when necessary adding lime, manure or organic matter will ensure each crop gets the nutrition or pH it needs.

Nettle Haggis is perhaps one of the cheapest recipes I’ve ever made (especially if you leave out the bacon) and one of the first to feature on Self-Sufficientish back when the site started in 2004.  It’s particularly good in the Spring with fresh new nettle along with a good handful of wild garlic leaves.

Ingredients

• 4 Medium sized leeks and/or 1 – 3 onions
• 1-6 Cloves of garlic depending on preference or a good handful of wild garlic leaves.
• About a two dozen nettle tops or young nettles (or more) pureed (partially cooked for about 5-10 mins and chopped)
• A large bowl of partially cooked oatmeal – This will determine the size of the haggis
• Sage, Thyme, Black-pepper to taste
• Chopped Fried bacon

Mix all the ingredients together and pack into a muslin bag or clean tea towel and tie the ends. Boil for about an hour and serve with gravy. This recipe is adapted from Richard Mabey’s, ‘food for free’. I have cooked this without the bacon using a tea towel. The end result was slightly sloppy but after placing in the fridge overnight it became a lot more solid and was very tasty (before and after). If you’re going to omit the bacon you may want to add some butter or margarine, or even some fried aubergine .

Lime blossoms make a relaxing tea

Foraging can seem to be synonymous with the countryside, so it might come as some surprise that there could well be a greater diversity of edible plants in a park in the middle of Birmingham than a country lane in the Cotswolds. Urban parks often have rows of gardens or allotments containing plants from all over the world backing on to them. Many of these plants can, and do, regularly ‘escape’ into the surrounding area. Often planted with a large range of plants such as trees, shrubs and bedding plants many parkland species will have edible uses (Consider lime (tilia spp), cherry or sweet chestnut.

Now consider the country lane: it could back onto a field which is regularly sprayed with herbicides. That field will more than likely either contain a mono-crop or pasture land, both of which support very few plant species. On top of that the hedgerow is cut once a year reducing the amount of nuts or fruit that hedge may have produced naturally.

Wild food is the ultimate in local, seasonal food, travelling inches or feet to your plate rather than miles and what’s more it’s free! Although some argue that there may be an issue with pollution for urban edibles but if you avoid industrial areas or busy roads I can’t see this being any worse than a city allotment. However air pollution is not the only thing to worry about and I do always wash what ever I forage from a city, especially if it’s near dog walking territory!

Here is a top ten of some of my favourites.

1. Blackberry- Needs no introduction really, the first wild food many of us eat, versatile, nutritious and utterly delicious. The shoots in the spring are edible (they can be an acquired taste!)
2. Himalayan Honeysuckle, Leycesteria formosa – Sometimes called toffee berry as the berries do taste surprisingly toffee-like.
3. Hawthorn – Young (light green) leaves in the spring and blossom are edible and the berries make a great ketchup when tomatoes have gone out of season.

The first new leaves of hawthorn are edible and full of vitamin C

Fuchsia berries make for an interesting snack, some are better than others!

Gardening indoors
Taken from grow your food for free

You may well grow indoor house-plants, but perhaps seldom think about growing indoor vegetables. Yet a surprising amount of
produce can be grown indoors, on windowsills, in well-lit porches, in conservatories and under skylights. Modern homes are quite often full of natural light in the daytime and are heated in the winter, making them the perfect growing place for an indoor vegetable garden.

Some indoor crops

Herbs can be grown on a kitchen windowsill so they are to hand when cooking. Basil, mint, chives, thyme and
parsley are all suitable for home growing.

Salad leaves Try either whole lettuces in flowerpots or a tray of mixed leaves. Winter leaves such as rocket, mizuna and
mibuna can all be grown on a windowsill.

Mini root crops Compact varieties of beetroot and carrots have been developed, and Japanese varieties of turnips are no
bigger than a ping-pong ball. They will need to be in a large trough rather than a small pot.

Guerrilla gardening

Grey urban landscapes can suddenly be transformed by the wash of colour from flowers, shrubs and even food plants. What’s more, as there is zero rent or yearly subscription to pay, it can be a totally free way to garden.

The downside is it is technically illegal, it seems the practice of removing waste, clearing brambles and weeds to plant flowers and shrubs can by some be seen as criminal damage.

For more information on Guerrilla gardening visit Richard Reynold’s excellent website

Do you garden somewhere unconventionally? We would love to hear your comments if you do!

However, lack of land does not automatically mean no-where to grow. With a little imagination, there are plenty of places to grow your own food. If you are willing to share your growing space the possibilities are limitless.

Garden Share Schemes

Many towns and cities run garden share schemes, these are (unsurprisingly) schemes where people share their gardens or seek out a garden which to share (clue is in the name).  Often, but not always, elderly people who are finding their gardens are getting too much offer whole or part of their garden to grow food. It is not a scheme to get a free gardeners but an exchange where each party benefits from increased social contact, a growing space and a way to keep an unruly part of the garden productive and well kept.

Look on local noticeboards or through local organisations such as your local Transistion towns group for more details. If you find that your town doesn’t have one, then you could consider setting one up – See the Transition Town Totnes website for more details.

Community Gardens

Community gardens can be anything from a small scrap of land to quite a number of acres. Some run a little like allotments where people can just turn up and garden their own space and others have structured volunteer days. They are often teaching spaces and can have links with local charities. My experience of community gardens has always been positive, I have visited many and taught at a couple and never had anything but good experiences. In the UK many are listed on the Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens website

More on where to garden coming soon…