Tuesday 29 August 2017

My homegrown harvest, August 2017.

There's not been so much to harvest this month.  Which is ok, I'm still getting my timings right for successional planting and stuff.  I'm just happy to be eating homw grown food!

My homegrown harvest, August 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #gardenharvest #permaculturegarden #organicgarden

I was super pleased with my first little bean harvest and I'll definitely grow more beans next year.  I made some rice and beans with my borlotto beans, I always think it's such a shame they don't stay stripey when they're cooked!

My homegrown harvest, August 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #gardenharvest #permaculturegarden #organicgarden

I accidentally grew some beetroot!  I thought it was Swiss chard but no, on closer inspection they were beetroot and Joe's eaten them with his roast dinner as I don't like beetroot.  I've had a request to grow him some more so I've planted some more little clumps of seed to see if they'll grow over autumn and winter.

My homegrown harvest, August 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #gardenharvest #permaculturegarden #organicgarden

We've had loads of raspberries towards the end of the month.  I'm picking a couple of handfuls of them every other day and there are loads and loads still to come, it's such a good year for raspberries.  Joe and I had to share this sweetcorn because it's the only one that's grown.  It was super yummy though!

My homegrown harvest, August 2017. By UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #gardening #gardenharvest #permaculturegarden #organicgarden

How are your gardens?  Are you harvesting anything exciting?





Sunday 27 August 2017

Photo an hour, August 2017.

Saturday the 26th was August's photo an hour day, here are my photos.
Photo an hour in organised by Jane and Louisa, anyone can join in and post their hourly photos on social media throughout the day tagging them #photoanhour.  Why don't you join in next time?
 
1pm - Yep, I had a totally long lie in like a teenager.  This is what happens when I don't set an alarm!  Here is my brunch. 
 
 
2pm - Out to get some fruit and veg for the week.
 

3pm - I bought and carried home this lovely tall and slightly awkward plant.


4pm - Ice lolly break.


 5pm -I'm re-watching The Gilmore Girls again!

 
6pm - Sorting out my strawberry runners and hoping at least some of them will take, and grow in the very clay-y side garden.

 
7pm - I spotted this sticker on my evening walkies.


8pm - Hello Moon.


9pm - I'm making something.  And I'm surprised I can still remember how to crochet it's been so long! 


10pm - Mmmm clean sheets.


11pm - This book is sooo good! 



Did you take part this time?  How was your day?


 
 

Friday 25 August 2017

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017.

This month I've had a little visitor to my shed!  Ain't he cute!

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

I finished planting up my new raised bed.  The first little plants to pop up were these borlotto beans, which I'm hoping to get a late harvest from. 

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

I've got mixed salad, sweetcorn (not sure these'll grow in time, but let's see!), some chinese greens that came from a reduced (9p) 'living salad' pack, botlotto beans, walking onions, rainbow chard, carrots and spring onion mix and society garlic in this new bed.  And lots of weeds too, you can tell this soil was dug out of the weedy patch of the garden, it's very nettle-y!

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

Speaking of the weedy patch, it's all covered with cardboard now, and I'm going to plant some trees and shrubs there when I have pennies.  I think maybe hazelnuts.

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

My other raised bed is still producing courgettes and I've had my first sweetcorn.  I'm waiting for the climbing beans to actually give me some beans!  There are a few flowers, but no beans yet!  I've thinned out the carrots and planted some walking onion sets I bought too.  I've been watering with my homemade stinky weed tea to keep this bed productive and healthy.

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

I planted a potato in a big pot, I was a bit late with it, and I only planted one, but I hope I'll have at least a few potatoes soon!

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

I'm quite pleased with this little part of the garden, because it's spreading and filling out all the gaps.  There are lots of foxgloves, teasles and waaay too many forget me nots in there waiting to flower next year.

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

Here's the whole garden this month.  I'm really hoping I'm able to get a lift next month to buy some bark chippings (not easy to take home on the bus!!) so I can cover over the lawn, I can't wait to get rid of it!

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

The side garden is looking lovely too.  The fennel is beautiful, my tiny apple tree is so cute, and every raspberry cane is laden with so much fruit.


Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

There are lots of lovely flowers in the garden now, and lots of garden visitors too, 

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

Diary of a suburban edible garden, August 2017. From UK garden blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #garden #suburbangarden #ediblegarden #permaculturegarden #suburbanpermaculture

 How's your garden this month? 




Friday 18 August 2017

My plastic free lunch box.

I love my plastic free lunch boxes!  They're long lasting, don't leech horrible plastic chemicals into my food and won't end up as plastic landfill waste when I've finished with them*.

My plastic free lunch box. Stainless steel lunch boxes and containers.  From UK eco blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #plasticfree #stainlesssteel #plasticfreelunchbox #plasticfreelunchkit #ecofriendly #ecolunchbox

* I will never have finished with them, they'll last forever! 

I have two Klean Kanteen stainless steel containers in my lunch kit.  The bottle is really handy and I use the insulated canister for rice, curries, pasta, salads and that kind of thing for work.  I picked them both up from Ebay for about £20 each, the bottle is the Reflect 18oz and the canister is the 16oz Insulated Food Canister.

For sandwiches and wraps I have a stainless streel Elephant box.  It's really sturdy and nice (and soo shiny!).  I bought it direct from the Elephant box website, it's the square salad tin and it cost £11.99.

I also have a couple of little tins that I take dried fruit and nuts in.  I think one was from paperchase and the other used to have mints in.  I have a couple more somewhere, they're really useful for little portions of dry things.

I take my lunch in a second hand Skipping Girl basket.  I ALWAYS wanted a Skipping Girl bag in the 90's, and I found one recently on Ebay for a few pounds so I pounced on it!  They're hand made using re-purposed fishing twine.  This one is big enough for everything to fit in, and a magazine and book for lunchtime, and a pack-a-mack for when it rains on the walk home!

As you can see, all these nice stainless steel lunch boxes and bottles aren't cheap.  But I've bought cheaper versions of everything before and they just haven't lasted.  I've budgeted and bought my plastic free lunch kit bit by bit over a few months.  I'm glad I did too, because these have stood up to loads of wear and I'm looking forward to many more years of happy plastic free lunches!


Don't forget to check out my other small changes to help you live a greener life!


 

Tuesday 15 August 2017

3 ways to water your garden without the hose pipe, ollas, wine bottle waterers and mulches.

Its been a long hot summer (mostly!) and I've barely had my the hose pipe out in the garden!  How, you may ask?  By using a combination of clay pot irrigation, wine bottle waterers and mulch I've saved loads of water and loads of time.

Ollas, or clay pot irrigation.

Unglazed clay pots buried under ground let water out when the ground is dry and plants need it.  You can use ollas, which are round clay jars with a narrow neck, but they're fairly expensive.  Clay pot irrigation does the same job using terracotta plant pots, which are loads cheaper. 

Here's how I made my own really simple clay pot waterers.  There are loads of instructions online that involve gluing two pots together, I didn't go down that route because I don't want glue or silicone sealant buried underground where I grow my plants. 

You will need

unglazed terracotta pots
champagne or wine corks
plates or something to cover the top of the pots

3 ways to water your garden without the hose pipe, ollas, wine bottle waterers and mulches.  Info and DIY instructions to make your own ollas, clay pot irrigation, wine bottle waterers, and mulch with twigs, pebbles and chop and drop techniques.  From UK suburban permaculture gardening blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #ollas #claypotirrigation #winebottlewaterer #mulch #chopanddrop #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture

Dig a hole where you want the clay pot irrigation system to be.  The clay pot should stick up an inch or so above the surface of the soil.

3 ways to water your garden without the hose pipe, ollas, wine bottle waterers and mulches.  Info and DIY instructions to make your own ollas, clay pot irrigation, wine bottle waterers, and mulch with twigs, pebbles and chop and drop techniques.  From UK suburban permaculture gardening blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #ollas #claypotirrigation #winebottlewaterer #mulch #chopanddrop #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture

Fit a cork into the hole in the bottom of the pot (to stop the water running out of it too fast!), then pop the clay pot into the hole and fill around it.  Make sure it's level using a spirit level (or guesstimate!). 

Fill up the pot with water and cover with a plate or saucer. 

3 ways to water your garden without the hose pipe, ollas, wine bottle waterers and mulches.  Info and DIY instructions to make your own ollas, clay pot irrigation, wine bottle waterers, and mulch with twigs, pebbles and chop and drop techniques.  From UK suburban permaculture gardening blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #ollas #claypotirrigation #winebottlewaterer #mulch #chopanddrop #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture

These cost under £5 each (£4 for the plant pots, chipped plates from the kitchen and champage corks from Ebay) but I've made smaller versions for free using smaller plant pots. 

My raised beds have produced so well this year, and I'm sure the clay pot irrigation system has something to do with it.  I've filled up the pots 1 to 3 times per week, depending on the weather, and my plants have been so big and healthy.  And added bonus, slugs love hanging out in the damp pots, so I can remove and dispose of them easily and save my plants from slugageddon.  

Wine bottle waterers.

This is another really simple DIY to make your own plant waterer.  Just drink your wine, wash the bottle, fill with water, make a hole where you want to put it with a dibber, then quickly turn the bottle over and put the neck in the hole.  

3 ways to water your garden without the hose pipe, ollas, wine bottle waterers and mulches.  Info and DIY instructions to make your own ollas, clay pot irrigation, wine bottle waterers, and mulch with twigs, pebbles and chop and drop techniques.  From UK suburban permaculture gardening blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #ollas #claypotirrigation #winebottlewaterer #mulch #chopanddrop #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture

I tend to use these as emergency care for wilty plants, or for anything I know is particularly thirsty (my courgettes have a wine bottle waterer each!).  Because they're not permanent they're really handy for moving around the garden to where they're most needed.   

I also use glass bottle waterers in the conservatory, to stop my tomato and pepper plants from drying out too quickly.

3 ways to water your garden without the hose pipe, ollas, wine bottle waterers and mulches.  Info and DIY instructions to make your own ollas, clay pot irrigation, wine bottle waterers, and mulch with twigs, pebbles and chop and drop techniques.  From UK suburban permaculture gardening blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #ollas #claypotirrigation #winebottlewaterer #mulch #chopanddrop #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture

Mulch. 

I use three main types of mulch to protect the soil's surface, smother weeds, prevent moisture evaporation and reduce the amount I have to water my plants. 

Snapped twigs are quite a pretty mulch if you have some twiggy bits you'd like to reuse in the garden rather than chuck in the green bin.  Waste not want not.

3 ways to water your garden without the hose pipe, ollas, wine bottle waterers and mulches.  Info and DIY instructions to make your own ollas, clay pot irrigation, wine bottle waterers, and mulch with twigs, pebbles and chop and drop techniques.  From UK suburban permaculture gardening blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #ollas #claypotirrigation #winebottlewaterer #mulch #chopanddrop #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture

I'm always scooping up a bit of gravel from the driveway to mulch the top of my pots too. 

3 ways to water your garden without the hose pipe, ollas, wine bottle waterers and mulches.  Info and DIY instructions to make your own ollas, clay pot irrigation, wine bottle waterers, and mulch with twigs, pebbles and chop and drop techniques.  From UK suburban permaculture gardening blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #ollas #claypotirrigation #winebottlewaterer #mulch #chopanddrop #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture
  
A very Permaculture method of mulching is called 'chop and drop'.  As the name suggests you chop (ie. prune or dead head or weed) then drop the clippings directly onto the garden.  This returns the nutrients the plants have taken from the soil directly back where they came from, and the organic matter on top of the soil encourages soil life, from fungus and bacteria to worms and other creepy crawlies.  

I only chop and drop at very specific times.  In autumn I chop and drop then cover the droppings with a layer of compost so it can all decompose together to make happy soil in the spring.  

The only other time I use the chop and drop technique is to cover bare soil in very very hot weather.  I have clay-y soil which will bake, set solid and crack in the sun.  This year slugs ate all my summer seedlings so there've been bare patches of soil where I've been waiting for new plantlets to grow.  To temporarily cover and protect these bare patches I've chopped and dropped weed leaves and leaves from shrubs I've pruned.  Because it's been so hot these prunings have gone dry and crispy really fast, and decomposed quickly.  

I can't chop and drop during any kind of damp weather, because my garden is slug HQ and it just gives them more hiding places!

3 ways to water your garden without the hose pipe, ollas, wine bottle waterers and mulches.  Info and DIY instructions to make your own ollas, clay pot irrigation, wine bottle waterers, and mulch with twigs, pebbles and chop and drop techniques.  From UK suburban permaculture gardening blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #ollas #claypotirrigation #winebottlewaterer #mulch #chopanddrop #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture

3 ways to water your garden without the hose pipe, ollas, wine bottle waterers and mulches.  Info and DIY instructions to make your own ollas, clay pot irrigation, wine bottle waterers, and mulch with twigs, pebbles and chop and drop techniques.  From UK suburban permaculture gardening blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #ollas #claypotirrigation #winebottlewaterer #mulch #chopanddrop #permaculture #suburbanpermaculture
  
The combination of these three methods means I've only had the hose pipe out twice this year.  Of course I've had the watering can out a few times a week, but I've used loads less water and saved lots of time buy using water saving watering techniques. 

Don't forget to check out the rest of my gardening posts!




 

Tuesday 1 August 2017

What I ate in a day, a day of yummy vegan meals.

This is what I ate on a lazy day at home,

Breakfast was a toasted sesame seed bagel, filled with a Linda McCartney sausage and ketchup - and it was really yummy!  Orange juice and strawberries on the side for fruity healthiness too.

What I ate in a day, a day of yummy vegan meals. By UK vegan blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #vegan #veganblog #whatIateinaday #ukveganblog

For lunch I had a Brazilian inspired meal.  Herby kidney beans with left over brown rice and a little salad.  I dry fried some sesame seeds to sprinkle over the rice and added a few crisps to my plate.   My friend is married to a Brazilian guy and they lived in Rio for years.  When I visited them I learned that Brazilians sprinkle special little crisps over their rice and beans (and pretty much everything else!).

What I ate in a day, a day of yummy vegan meals. By UK vegan blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #vegan #veganblog #whatIateinaday #ukveganblog

Tea was Thai noodle stir fry with loads of veg - including a home grown courgette!

What I ate in a day, a day of yummy vegan meals. By UK vegan blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #vegan #veganblog #whatIateinaday #ukveganblog

I love a crispy snack when I'm watching TV in the evening, so I made my own vegan cheese and onion crisps with a packet of Pom Bears, some nooch and onion powder.

What I ate in a day, a day of yummy vegan meals. By UK vegan blogger secondhandsusie.blogspot.com #vegan #veganblog #whatIateinaday #ukveganblog


Don't forget to check out my other vegan blog posts for more vegan meal inspiration!