Turnip – Brassica Rapa By Andy and Dave Hamilton
Turnip is a member of the mustard family and is related to cabbage. Origins of the Turnip It is likely that it originated in Northern Europe around 2000 B.C. although some sources indicate it may […]
Gardening
The Broad Bean – Vica fabe – Pea Family
Known since Neolithic times find out why this pea relative would have kept the ancient Greek mathematician Pythagoras awake at night. History The broad bean or as many know it as the faba bean has […]
Everything you need to know and some things you dont about Chillis By the Chilli Monster
The chili plant originated in Latin America, where it was cultivated from its wild form by South American Indians. Christopher Columbus is regarded as the first European to sample the fruit, and indeed coined the […]
Radishes – Organic History, Varieties and Organic growing advice by Andy Hamilton
Radishes are one of the crops to give many vegetable gardeners hope. This is because they can be sown, with protection in the second week of January and as they are a fast growing crop […]
Making Seed Raising Mixture (Potting Compost) by Nev Sweeney
Editors Note – In England we might also call this potting compost! Nev has also found a substitute to peat that can be used! I recommend using this mixture in conjunction with biodegradable newspaper pots. […]
(Very) Small Scale Cotton Growing and Processing – By self sufficient guru Nev Sweeney
I am interested in processes, how things are made from start to finish like growing the wheat to grind to make flour to bake the bread sort of thing and I suppose that this is […]
A productive lawn and the advantages of a push mower- By Nev Sweeney the self sufficient guru
Bill Mollison of Permaculture fame refers to the suburban lawn a “green cancer” due to its lack of productivity and the amount of resources required to maintain it. I can’t help but agree in general […]
Organic Gardening on a Budget – By Andy Hamilton
Inspired by this article and his whole way of gardening Andy Hamilton now writes a weekly column on Budget organic gardening for Kitchen Garden Magazine. Organic Gardening on a Budget Whilst on my allotment yesterday […]
Upwardly Mobile – Or vertical Gardening By The self sufficient Guru Nev Sweeny
Like many who would be self sufficientish, I live in an urban area and a perennial problem is to find enough room to grow all the things that I want to. Some years ago I […]
Beans, squash corn matrix
I first heard of the Maize, Squash and Bean poly-culture method of planting whilst at University studying for my degree in Nutrition and Food Science. It was a method of planting used across the […]