Gardening This Season

WHAT TO DO IN THE GARDEN THIS SEASON

By Emma Sousa

During the colder months it’s tempting to lock the back door and snuggle up on the sofa in front of the TV, but Winter is a time to play catch up in the garden or at the veggie patch. All those jobs you just didn’t get time to do during the busy growing months … well now is the time to spend a little while getting all those jobs done and ensuring everything is shipshape for Spring, before it all starts going crazy again.

If you haven’t yet made space for some compost bins, then this is the first and most important job to get done if you can. It’s so important that we all make an effort to reduce our waste and throwing your food waste into the regular rubbish bin creates greenhouse gases as well as being really wasteful. Nothing gets thrown into landfill in terms of food waste in my household. We make a super extra effort to eat up all leftovers and any that don’t get eaten for whatever reason are then fed to our rescue chickens who seem happy to finish up the leftovers. Any vegetable peelings that can’t be used by us or the chickens are kept in the fridge and made into soup stock or used up in sauces etc (we have a bowl full of broccoli stems, mushroom stalks etc). We chuck them into the soup pot, cook and blitz them all up and voilà - a perfect base for a pot of winter warming soup. Any scraps that can’t be used go into our compost bins of which we now have four at home - we have a section in the garden where they all sit directly onto the bare earth and are filled each day with our leftover veggies,

all the chicken waste from the coop, shredded papers, leaves, straw, toilet roll tubes, dog hair - you name it, if it breaks down it goes into the compost. It is important to get a good mix of green waste (veggies, spent flowers etc) and brown waste (paper, straw etc) and to give everything the occasional stir to aerate it.

As soon as one of my bins is full, I start the next and by the time I get to the top of the second bin the first is well on its way to being rotted down. Three bins are an ideal number but whatever you can afford space-wise is good enough. I also put all my spent flowers and weeds into old compost bags at my flower field and leave them in a corner of the field to rot down and this works equally as well if you don’t have bins. The following year I have bags and bags of great compost to mulch all the beds, so you definitely don’t need anything fancy to compost stuff at home or at the allotment. Do not put cooked meat etc into the compost and if you place eggshells into it, either wash or bake them first. I have three different sorts of bins all rescued from people who were throwing them out but the best ones I have are stackable - you can remove layers when it’s time to shovel out the compost which is used to top up my veggie raised beds each year - last year we had so much we also managed to mulch flower beds in the garden. It’s free compost, it will add nutrients to your soil, it’s great for biodiversity and soil health and it reduces your waste by a huge amount, and if you grow on heavy clay soil like mine it improves it no end. It is literally like a miracle when 10-12 months later you have this incredible crumbly fantastic compost instead of a pile of old veggie peelings! And although 12 months seems like a long time, once you are on a roll there is usually a compost bin that’s well on its way to being usable while the others are in the early stages, so it’s well worth setting up a system if space allows. If you have an allotment, then there is no excuse... get composting now! Even giant tubby/builders’ bags will do - just cover the top with an old piece of carpet or thick cardboard.

I’m also a big fan of water butts. Again, all our water butts have been rescued from people who no longer wanted them so ask around, keep an eye on local neighbourhood groups - there is always a bargain to be had and usually people just give them away for free! Anywhere you have the floor space and have a gutter put a water butt there - with increasingly dry summers you will be thankful you have harvested rainwater, saving money on your water bills and being kinder to the environment. For me it’s about not wasting a single thing - you may not think it makes a difference but if everyone made the effort the impact could potentially be huge.

If you are someone who likes to sweep up all the leaves in your garden don’t throw them into the green bin. Store them in mesh bags or make a mesh bin to produce leaf mould for mulching the beds next year. I even go around collecting the bags left at the roadside by the council and turn them into leaf mould - it is a great soil conditioner … and it’s free! If you have the patience, then wait two years to use as a compost otherwise after less than two years use it as a mulch or soil improver by mixing it in with your compost.

Winter is also a good time to check on broken fences, plants that need staking and general maintenance. Feed the birds now that food is scarce and top up water every day for the birds and other wildlife that may be around, such as squirrels, foxes and other species. Make sure ponds are clear of leaves and don’t freeze over.

Bring in all equipment including hoses, forks and spades and if you have outside taps ensure they are insulated to prevent freezing in the colder weather.

If you haven’t done so already, bring tender potted plants into the greenhouse or a shed. Now is a great time to put your feet up by the fire and plan next year’s crops, flowers and plantings, to order in seeds and dream of your little patch of heaven and what the next year will bring!

Team Links

Simon Carlo - @meatandtoneveg Despina Mina - @forkedldn Emma Walton-Moore - @supperinthesuburbs Jon Moore - @beerinthesuburbs Dhruv Baker -@dhruvbaker1 Sam Wilkin - @cellarmansam Charlotte Benbow - @charlotte.benbow Katie Goodchild - @heritagewinesuk Emma Sousa - @theurbanflowerfarmer Ying Bower - @yingenough Dani Gavriel - @dani_gavriel Roz Lishak - @yourpupparazzi Rebecca Stratton -@cakerebecca Gilly Balcombe - @gillianbalcombe Jo Farren - @jo.farren Samina Iqbal - @samina.i Sarah Frow - @thekidstableuk Suzanne Purton - @suzanne4fitness Eve Tudor - @iameditoroffood Theo Michaels - @theocooks Jack and Hayley Rowbottom - @jacksmeatshack Anthony Raffo - @anthonyraffo Jessica Mason - @drinksmaven Urvashi Roe - @urvashiroe David Rickett - @davidrickett Andy Christou - @broodroastery @andy.creative Ellie Cook - @ellie_croissant

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