Hello Blogger my old friend...

Ive come to talk with you again.

Sorry if there are any regular readers wondering where I am. I have been in the garden but my mind has been elsewhere I am sorry to say. Apparently my job is 'at risk' of redundancy so my time has been taken up with that.

I have been looking after my garden, weeding tending my little shoots and some planting. Ive also constructed a slug trap out of a hot chocolate jar and beer! Lets see if it works!

I'll get back to this with pics and full colour asap

The last few days...

This is the view of my garden this bank holiday Sunday. I'd been given some seedlings from a local guy who had seen my post on freecycle asking for seeds. But I've been prevaricating about the weather. We've been having glorious sunshine, but with an icy edge to the wind. On Friday I had to scrape ice off the car window. But on Sunday it was just so nice that I gave in and planted, leaving the seedlings to their fate. (Gulp!)

As you can see I now have green things that aren't weeds growing in my garden. The garden that was over run with bramble and weeds just a few weeks ago. Hope you like my wigwam for the runner beans. Made with the branches of a tree cut off by my neighbour who must have shoved them into my unkempt garden while I wasn't looking. Neighbourly eh! But he who laughs last etc.

I had a bit of a minor disaster with the seeds indoors - my sprayer wasn't giving them enough water I guess and after the hot sun of Sunday I found a few of my seedlings had wilted to death. But the rest soon perked up after I gave them an emergency infusion of water.

In the garden the radishes are growing as are the spinach I planted a while ago. Ive also got some tomato seeds poking through. I think a potato has poked through as well.

You can see (when I add the photos) that I found a car tyre dumped on the park field where I take the dog for a run. So I got it home and within 10 minutes it was on a carpet base, earthed up and potatoes planted. Now I just need to find another one to bank up the spuds when they come up.

Its raining now which is great as it will bed all my new seedlings in.

BBC Dig In Tour dates - free seeds here!

The BBC DIG In roadshow is where you can get your free seeds these are the dates

Fri 10th - Sat 11th April
Portsmouth Big Screen: Guildhall Square
Fri 17th - Sat 18th - Sun 19th April
RHS Cardiff Show: Bute Park
Fri 24th - Sat 25th April
Swansea Big Screen: Castle Square
Fri 8th - Sat 9th - Sun 10th May
Malvern
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Fri 15th - Sat 16th May
Norwich Big Screen: Chapelfield Square
Fri 22nd - Sat 23rd May
Waltham Forest Big Screen: Walthamstow Town Square
Fri 29th - Sat 30th May
Hull Big Screen: Queen Victoria Square
Thurs 11th - Fri 12thSat 13th - Sun 14th June
Gardeners' World Live: Birmingham NEC
Fri 19th - Sat 20th June
Derby Big Screen: The Marketplace
Fri 26th - Sat 27th June
Rotherham Big Screen: All Saints Square
Fri 10th - Sat 11th July
Middlesbrough Big Screen: Centre Square
Fri 31st July - Sat 1st August
Swindon Big Screen: Wharf Green
Fri 14th - Sat 15th August
Leeds Big Screen: Millennium Square

See the website here

http://www.bbc.co.uk/digin/on_tour.shtml

Seed Bounty

This is the huge pile of free seeds I have received. Every thing from chives, to beans, to salad, even 'lime wedge' seeds from Gordon's the gin people. So more fun.

The rain seems to have worked wonders in the garden, the radishes and the spinach are now showing above the ground - so soon I will have produced my own food - isn't that something. Although I'm not sure that a diet of just radish and spinach will be good for me - even if I am a vegetarian!

The money I have spent so far has been negligible, my biggest outlay have been in the secateurs which cost me 99p at Lidl and the leather work gloves at £2.99. These were a real necessity to protect ones hands against the bramble - as it is I have scratches up my arms and legs and even a few on my body where Ive been caught through my shirt.

Most of my seeds have been given to me or have come via various promotions by companies like the BBC .

The biggest investment of course has been time and effort. But as I am trying to lose weight anyway the 500 or so calories you get for an hours worth of digging is well worth the effort.

WooHoo. Here's my sproutlings - ain't nature a wonderful thing? These are tomatoes and salad sproutings. I also have basil and courgette - I think. (I'm not too good a labelling - got to get better at it!)

Below you can see my garden after a busy Sunday afternoon. Another bed dug, some more seed planting - beetroot, carrots, more salad, more tomatoes.

Lots of clearing and tidying also which culminated in a large bonfire and only one complaint from a neighbour. But don't you just love a good bonfire?

I'm also enjoying the garden for the first time in a long time. Just sitting in the sun, with a cup of tea and the newspapers, waiting for the muscles to stop shaking from the digging and wondering how painful the backs going to be tomorrow. But I've also started to re appreciate baths. I haven't had a bath - meaning I use the shower - for a long time, but since gardening I have renewed my acquaintance with that pleasure - lying in a bath reading a book and a magazine - bliss.

Dig In Roadshow and Free seeds

The BBC's Dig In road show came to Plymouth to day. I think it was the first stop on their tour of the country. The website seems to have gone live now and you can send off for free seeds.

• Beetroot - Boltardy



• Tomato - Gardener's Delight



• Squash - Hunter



• Lettuce - Lollo Rossa



• Carrot - Early Nantes

These will be in my garden tout suite and I'll be following the advice on the BBC website.

Seeds and being good to bees

I wanted to spend last evening getting some more seeds in while I can, especially now that I have two beds dug. I think its wise to plant them and then get on with the rest of the garden. And also after I get home from work, there's not so much time. Later when the days are longer I can do more.

So in the raised beds I planted, purple sprouted broccoli and leeks which are a long term crop. And in the pots and various containers I have planted a bush tomato, Moneymaker tomato, sweet corn and courgettes.

Also as the pic shows I have been good to the bees and planted flowers for them.

This is the result in the various recycled containers, plastic food trays, Coke/Pepsi cans and a Heinz beans tin

Also in other news, my salad is sprouting - that's quick, The Basil I planted the other day is also starting to sprout. Its exciting.

And I sourced some more wood for the raised beds.

Potatoes and Pots

As I mentioned Tuesday was a none gardening day as I have to teach in the evening, but yesterday was a lovely sunny evening after work, so after walking the dog I was in the garden.

I have a local source for some more wood as you can see above, I knocked on the peoples door and of course they are quite happy for me to take what I want.

So yesterday I wanted to get the potatoes in. I was quite worried because I didn't really know what to plant them in. so I had a bit of a root around the garden and I found these.

A whole bunch of bags of different types of compost. There was what was left of the multipurpose compost, a bag of ericaceous compost, some African violet compost, some John Innes compost and the tub is an unused tub of chicken fertiliser pellets - honestly I can't even remember buying them. So I just stuck them in a black bin and gave them a lovely mix up (not the chicken pellets). reading the bags they all seemed to be peat anyway (I know I know don't use peat based compost - but they were already there so I might as well use them)

Anyway after poking holes in the bottom of these brown recycling bags I found under the bramble I used a load of polystyrene crocks that I picked up via freecycle. Bunged in about 4 inches of my compost mix, then about five chitted tubers and then another 6 inches of soil. As per whatever website it was I was reading. Then a good hand full of chicken manure on top - as you can see in the picture and then watered them all in. - Lets wait and see hey?

My main problem then was that I had basically used all of the compost that I had mixed up, so what am I going to use for all my other pots, seeds and plantings apart from those that go directly into the garden.

And yes I had another bright idea. I had loads of pots that were growing not much else but a few spindly bulbs and weeds. All of the pots were planted up using multi compost bought at great expense from various DIY places so I thought I would empty them out.

I haven't yet emptied all of them but this is the results so far.

A large pile of compost which I have sieved through by hand and removed all the roots, bulbs and nasty stuff. An interesting point is that the earth in there felt really warm as I was sieving it.

The empty pots will be used for bush tomatoes and other fabulous stuff I'm sure.

Raised Beds and rubbish

This is the view of my garden as of 7 o clock last night. Two raised beds dug. Its been hard graft really, but all the websites and gardening advisers say that while making raised beds is hard work its worth the effort - we'll see. One of the main problems is that the garden not only slopes left to right but also drops off. So all the earth that comes out of the trenches is being used to try and build up the slopey bits.

Ive been planting more seeds, planted some salad leaves last night £1 from Wilkinson's. And have planted out side, some radish and some spinach. Just waiting for the first shoots now - its exciting.

Found these bags last night in a rubbish bin. They are practically brand new Sainsburys hessian shopping bags, - two of them. The only thing wrong with seems to be a bottle of alcohol has broken in one so it was a bit wet and smelling of alcohol, the other seems perfectly OK. They will do perfectly for some planting of some sort - or even shopping!

As you can see from the pics above - I need more wood to shore up my banks - there seems to be lots about, but I'm worried that some of it might get me in trouble if I take it - it looks like its rubbish but its on people premises so I guess its theirs till they throw it out. I could always knock on their door and ask I suppose m- they might be glad to get rid of it.

Progress

So some progress has been made today. Although I will admit that at times the digging was hard. Sometimes it was more like archeology than gardening. The amount of 'stuff' in the ground is unbelievable, unfortunately none of it is Gold Torcs or Roman statues, its basically half brick random bits of metal, stones, broken slates/tiles and a TV aerial! Oh and lots of roots and bits of bindweed root I think and yes I have been flinging it out.

I am going to turn the bit you can see in the pic into a raised bed, probably for salad crops. it gets the most sun, most of the day. You can see by the darker earth where I am digging a trench to put the extra earth on the left hand side of this bit as the ground slopes to the left as we look at it here. So Im trying to bank it up. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to get a couple of bags of horse manure to dig into it.

Whats been on my freebie garden agenda today? These are the goodies accumulated.

• Two big bags of polystyrene chips to use as 'crocks' in my potato sacks
• Some salad leaf seeds off a colleague at work
• A big red box left on the side of the street (a Hilti Box) This will be used for salad growing
• Some wooded planks/shelving from a skip - this is for my raised beds
• Various tubs/cans etc re cycled to use as seeding pots

According to the Guardian today: The soil should now be warm enough to sow all sorts of crops direct. Broad beans, carrots, beetroot, salad leaves, radish and pasnip. French beans under a cloche.

I don't know, last night when I took the dog for a walk the cars were covered in ice. Will that have an impact - do you know? What do you think dear reader - I'd love to hear your advice.

This afternoon I spent a little bit of time collecting together the pots Ive been saving and getting together the free seeds I had. I've some Chilli and Tomato as you can see and a 'hanging' tomato that'll go in a container.



I potted them up, along with some beans and peas, and some basil - these seeds came from Lidl and were 0.28p a packet. and the beans and peas were 0.47p. So this is still gardening for nearly free.
I received some salad leaf seeds today from a colleague and some more tomato seeds, moneymaker this time I think. Ive probably got seeds to swap now, that might make it easier.

Yogurt pots, Pepsi cans (see how Ive turned them into flowers!), egg box and microwave steamed vegetable dish all make good seed trays. The multipurpose compost has been outside the back door for about 3 years so I wonder if it will still work?

Im using an old bathroom spray cleaner thingy to water them with. It gives a nice fine spray.

I can't wait for my first sproutings!

Im on here too!

• Total Blog Directory
• Garden Blog Directory

A very good start...

Good start today. Attacked the garden and cleared a lot of the bramble and the dross of two or three years neglect. But it was a good day to do it, sunny but mild, the occassional shower. It didnt take too long to get through the bramble with the trusty secaturs bought from Lidl (0.99p) and the leather gloves (£2 somthing from Lidl again.





These were essential as I would really have had a problem, some of the bramble stalks were a good inch thick with wicked barbs.






But as you can see it soon gets cleared even with the help of my trusty dog Snooky.

Polystyrene and freebie tips

Freecycle is a great site to recycle stuff. You can post for stuff you want or browse to see whats offered all in your local location.

This is what I guess one would call their mission statement:

'The worldwide Freecycle Network is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns.

Freecycle groups match people who have things they want to get rid of with people who can use them. Our goal is to keep usable items out of landfills. By using what we already have on this earth, we reduce consumerism, manufacture fewer goods, and lessen the impact on the earth. Another benefit of using Freecycle is that it encourages us to get rid of junk that we no longer need and promote community involvement in the process.'

See http://www.uk.freecycle.org/

So I've joined the Plymouth Freecycle group and have just bagged a couple of bags of polystyrene chips. 'What are you going to do with those?' You ask. Well Im going to use them as 'crocks' at the bottom of my potato bags and any sacks I might get to help with the drainage.

I'm also asking for wood, railway sleepers or old floorboards so I can raise the beds once I have cleared the plot. We'll see if I get any offers.

Here's some more good freebie tips.

Save old jars, yoghurt pots and other plastic containers - and their lids (If they're saucer style) you will find dozens of uses for them potting up plants, storing seeds, rooting samples in.
Free mini cloche - cut the bottom off the bottom of a 2L drinks container and use this without the top on to cover plants you're starting off. Push them slightly into the soil to make sure they don't blow away.
Save old egg boxes to sow seeds in.
Ask neighbours for cuttings from the plants you fancy. By asking you'll make friends - do not ever just steal bits of people's plants! You will make friends who are also interested in gardening too!
Swap cuttings with neighbours.
Use an old knife to dig out weeds from the lawn.
Local sales (jumble, guides, scouts, church, car boot etc) are a great source for cheap plants.

(Tips from http://www.gardenfreebies.co.uk/)

(Yoghurt pot pic from here: http://www.recyclethis.co.uk/20071221/how-can-i-reuse-or-recycle-yoghurt-pots ) Go on recycle it!

Free seeds from the BBC:-

Grow Your Own Grub

Welcome to Dig In, a campaign all about raising your own tasty veg from sowing to scoffing.
The Dig In website will be launcing on April 2nd, and will offer everything you need to get growing, even if you've never touched a trowel before.

You'll be able to send off for free seeds, then get guidance, hints and tips on how to nurture them from experts.

Then you can share your highs and lows on the Blog, where our celebrity blogger will be recording their experiences growing veg for the very first time, and our gardening experts will be on hand to offer advice.

And finally, we'll give you tasty recipes to help you enjoy your veg to the full. There's never been a better time to grow your own grub.

Check back soon, and get ready to Dig In!'

Woo Hoo! Thanks Aunty!

Hessian Sack grow bag

I've been away on a few days holiday but that doesn't mean my search for freebie ideas ends there. There are ideas everywhere if we can only look for them and see them. So heres a great idea, initially utilised by african gardeners i believe. Its the humble hessian sack.

What you do is first find your sack. Then fill the centre of it with bricks, then you surround the bricks with earth. The you simply plant the think with whatever you want - genius hey?

I've seen similar ideas using plastic bags, so if I cant find any hessian bags I'll try with plastic.

This particular bag, shown off in last Saturdays Guardian is part of a 'kit' which would cost you about £20!

I bet the african gardeners don't buy kits!

End of the Week Roundup

Well its only two days isn't it. But things are coming on apace. I have some tomato seeds in the post apparently. The promise of some chilli seeds - so at least a Salsa is in the offing. Some one else is sending me a mixture of salad leaf seeds (I hope) and I've put a number of begging letters on the various websites that I have listed. I've been promised some sprouting potatoes from someones cupboard. This is a great start. I have also sourced some free coffee grounds for my compost via Starbucks and I have also got a source for horse manure for free. I should get free seeds for my plate and for the bees from the websites I have listed below.

Also the Daily Mirror is giving away free seeds from tomorrow 21st march 2009 and for the rest of the week.

As for propagating them how about this cool little box. I have just registered with this site http://www.graze.com/ who send me this little box by post to my desk for just £2.99 full of tasty grazing food. Today I had red grapes, rouge dry fruit mix and black pepper cashews. If you want to try is register with them, use this code CXQPK18B and you'll get your first box free.



I'm going to use the boxes to propagate my seeds rather than just chucking them away.



My main worry at the moment is I think its going to be difficult to borrow a rotorvator and a brush cutter and I might have to do it all by hand. I've put a request of freecycle for old tools but as yet I have nothing to cut the bramble. I'm away this weekend which means I'll miss the car boot sales to try and buy some tools. I'm not buying new. If I have to buy I'll recycle. Maybe when I'm down the tip (or recycling centre as its now known) as well I might have some more luck. So I'm not going to be breaking into a sweat until next week sometime.

I'm away next week on a little vacation and away for work - but I'll try to keep this up to date or you can follow my twitter where I'm known as freebiegardener.


and isn't this cool of google - I'm a fan of the Very Hungry Caterpillar - but not in my garden please!

First offer of free seeds.

Hello I have just been offered some tomato seeds off the good people at swapseeds the yahoo group I joined yesterday. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/swapseeds/

Also found another seed swap site at Seedy people http://seedypeople.co.uk/default.aspx where Ive posted a request and answered a few postings offering seeds, so I hope that will come to fruition.

This is another seedswap website http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/grapevine/seed-swap/
Ive registered and will see what happens once I can get swapping.

Registered here too http://www.allotments-uk.com/


Lets hope I get some seeds.

A few photos of my plot

These are the pictures of my back garden. Its not very big but it is majorly overgrown. The earth seems to be full of old masionary and other junk. There are a few flowers that poke their head up and a few years ago we did attempt to put in a few daffodils - but pretty soon after moving in the marriage went haywire and so nothing got done.

Any how my main problems at the moment are:

Clearing the plot of the brambles and what I think is bindweed. The large trees at the end obviously cast a shadow over a large part of the garden - they do it in two ways. The first is they block the sun a bit and secondly under the trees its a bit like scorched earth nothing is growing. If the do kill everything - maybe this is the spot for my compost etc.

Someone has suggested I cut them down. Im not sure that we should be cutting down trees. Obviously if they are dangerous or ill then yes - but these are healthy trees. The birds like them. I think we have some pigeons or magpies nesting in them and generally the canopy is a busy old place. And I like lying in my bed watching them wave genetly in the breeze. So i think the trees will have to stay and just be factored in to my plans.

While Im on the subject I do also want to try to be organic with my garden and try to be friendly to the animals and insects that might live there. I have sent off for Blue Peters Bee friendly flowers - so I'll need to find spaces for them cos the Bees need our help at the moment.

http://www.saveourbees.org.uk/

At the moment all I have is a spade and a fork - well I haven't checked that I still do have them and that they are iin a workable condition, but I know I had them a few years ago. So the clear the brambles is a major problem if I can't borrow a brush cutter, or even a pruning fork or what ever they are called. If I have to buy, I will try to buy secondhand so that I can recycle the tools. But I am away this weekend - so can't go car booting or rummaging around and I am away all of next week on business. I am not a full time gardener remember, Im just a guy at work who will ponly have the evenings and some weekends to do this.

I also need plants. I'm going to staret chatting up my work colleagues to see if I can beg any off them, although even though I have been here 8 years I don't know anyone who has spoken about gardening or has bought stuff into work. So it might be a problem.

But hey ho thats the fun of the game.

First Freebie - a wooden pallet

This is my first freebie. A pallet just lounging around on the side of the road as I drove past. I live in an urban area so its not the sort of thing you see that often. The good angel of freebie gardening must have been looking out for me.

So what am I going to use this for? The idea is, if and when I get some potatoes, I am going to grow them in containers/bags. But for good drainage I want them off the floor and this pallet will be just the thing. And as for the bags I think I have a couple that have blown into my backyard over the winter.

So now I'm looking for potatoes to plant and of course I need some soil.

I have also collected a couple of plastic food trays that I am going to use to get my seeds going when I get some. Some people at work have offered me some. I may get them in tomorrow but I am away for most of the week on business and I dont want to loose them by not being there.

Free Seeds

Free seeds here

https://www.hiddeneden.com/free-seeds.aspx

till the Tuesday 31st March

Free Seeds to look after the bees

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/bluepeter/central/getinvolved/seedgiveaway.shtml

Busy joining stuff

Hello

Just attempting to join the Swapseeds group on yahoo (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/swapseeds/) we'll see if they want me, my membership is pending.

Ive also joined Twitter as freebiegardener and will be posting stuff as it happens.

Ive placed some ads on Freecycle (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PlymouthFreecycleUK/) but I think Ive got to work out the protocol of placing ads. I wanted a rotovator but really only wanted to borrow one for a day so have asked for one but offered to barter some time/or service back for it - I'm not sure if they will let me post a 'borrow' post rather than a give away.

I've also registered with http://www.myskip.com/ but they don't seem that useful

Apparently Starbucks give their used coffee grounds away to use as compost - so next time I'm in town I will be checking that out. I'll twitter it.

Just joined this bartering site http://www.u-exchange.com/ and posted an Ad we'll see if I get any responses

My back garden - March 19th 2009

Hello,
So this is my blog about turning my back garden from a weedy, briar infested wasteland to a veggie plot that with give me fresh and healthy vegetables to eat, give away and generally enjoy. I am going to try to do this on a shoestring and as cheaply as possible. I don't want to spend money getting my veggies - I want them to be free just as God intended (obviously if you don't believe in God - and my own choice is Lord Krishna - then I hope to be growing cheap veggies just as if they had been growing on this fine earth since the dinosaurs ruled the planet - this is a non denominational blog after all - despite the early appearance of God - ok that's the theology over and done with lets get back to the rationale)

I am going to utilize all the benefits of web 2.0 to try and achieve this free food experiment utilising websites like freecycle, twitter, facebook, google, eBay and so on to beg borrow or steal seeds equipment, person power and so on. I haven't spent a penny yet but as I spend (if I really have too I will keep a running total. I also will be trying to find stuff in skips, dumps, the side of the road and of course re cycle anything at all to use as containers and other stuff I might need.

Now I'm not a gardener at all. I work in an office all day so the only time I have is my spare time. I've never gardened apart from some flowers and stuff. I've never really grown vegetables at all but every time I switch on the TV some TV celeb is telling me how easy it is to grow my own stuff. (Although I do have a sneaking suspicion that Jamie and Hugh etc have a huge staff of gardeners toiling day in and day out perfecting their veggie gardens and producing their award winning - if appearances are anything to go by - veggies - unless of course they have just bought them from Waitrose!)

At the moment my total resources are:

A spade
A fork (I think I'm not sure got to check)
TV celebrity chef induced guilt
A back garden (photos to follow)
Enthusiasm

A few more facts. I live in Plymouth which is in the South West of England. The garden is South facing and doesn't look like its been used for anything for quite a while. Im 55 years old so the back may take a bit of a pounding and as I mentioned I don't have green fingers. Lets see what happens!