Gardening through the winter on a smallholding is easiest if you choose the right crops. Some plants need heat to do well—tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, beans—in fact any plant that produces a fruit doesn’t do well when days get short and temperatures drop. Yes, the green bean is a fruit, even though we eat it as a vegetable. The only fruiting vegetable that is an exception is the green pea. It likes to mature in the cooler temperatures of early spring. But it doesn’t do well when temperatures drop in the autumn. So even the green pea doesn’t work well for winter gardening.

Fortunately, most root vegetables and leafy green vegetables tolerate the cold very well. Some plants like purple sprouting broccoli actually require the cold weather of winter to flower. Starting seedlings of purple sprouting broccoli in autumn means you will have beautiful purple broccoli clusters to decorate your fresh salads with. Only someone with their own garden (does that sound like someone who owns their own smallholding?) is going to enjoy that delicious treat.

Almost every member of the brassica family loves cool temperatures. This is great because this is also one of the most nutritious families of vegetables. Broccoli, kale, cauliflower, cabbage, turnips and rutabagas are all excellent sources of both calcium and vitamin C when the soil is nurtured properly. Broccoli and kale are excellent sources of Vitamin A as well.

Which of the brassicas are the best choices for overwintering? The leafy ones. Broccoli leaves are very tasty and can be used like kale in soups and salads. Brussels sprouts actually taste better if they’ve been nipped by a bit o’ frost. Kale is also good to have in the winter garden because you can trim off the outer leaves and continue to harvest all through the winter and into the next spring. I have enjoyed the tenderest kale shoots in the spring, sprouting from kale stalks that died back because they weren’t protected from the harsh elements. The plant is amazingly tough.

Root vegetables overwinter in the garden very well. Consider overwintering carrots, parsnips, beets, celeriac, turnips and rutabagas in the garden instead of harvesting them. If the beds are mulched properly the roots won’t freeze. If you cover the beds with greenhouse plastic and pvc hoops, you can harvest fresh greens and vegetables all winter long. The flavour will be fresher and sweeter.

Spinach and lettuce grows slowly in a winter garden, but if you plant an abundant bed of greens in the autumn, you can use the cut and come-again technique to enjoy salads all winter long.

To start a salad garden in the middle of the winter, prepare seed flats with 72 cells (too few cells and the plants have to get too large before you can transplant them; too many and the plants aren’t vigorous enough to tolerate the move into the cold). Use a starter mix that is designed for starting seeds. Sprinkle lettuce seeds on top of the soil and cover the flat with plastic (lettuce needs light to sprout). Follow planting instructions for other greens. Now place the seed flats in a warm and bright location in your home. When the seedlings are about 2 inches tall and the roots well developed, start putting the flats outside during days that are above freezing. This will toughen or “harden” them off.

Now, you can plant the seedlings into your prepared garden bed. The best day is one that is overcast but not raining. That way you know temperatures are less likely to drop below freezing. Do avoid planting when temperatures are expected to fall below freezing. The shock may be too great.

Believe it or not, you can start radishes and beets in cell trays as well. It’s a trick that some Canadians use to get a head start on spring gardening.

Last of all, don’t ignore growing your own celery. You can use the green leafy outer stems all winter to season soups and stews. In the spring, the celery will flower, and you will be able to harvest your own celery seed and make celery salt.

For more about winter gardening on a smallholding see WINTER PLANTING ON A SMALLHOLDING: Ways to Keep Your Winter Garden Warm and WINTER PLANTING ON A SMALLHOLDING: Preparing your planting beds.
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Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

If you want to enjoy a productive winter garden, you will have to trap the sun and insulate plants from the cold. It isn’t as hard as you might think. And it doesn’t have to be expensive either. For years, I had a winter garden even in Canada’s fabled harsh winters. In the UK, keeping your winter garden warm is much easier.

I’ll share with you the easiest and cheapest way to keep your plants cosy. Go down to your local hardware store and purchase PVC pipes that are the lightest schedule available (schedule 40 is too stiff) and 3/4-inches thick. You will want each length to be three metres long. You will also need to purchase rebar that is small enough for the pipe to slide over.

Here’s how to calculate how much PVC pipe and rebar you will need. Measure the length of your planting bed/boxes. You will need one 9-metre pipe for every 3 metres of bed. Add one extra pipe for the second end of the bed. Now, multiply the number of pipes by 0.5. That will tell you how many metres of rebar you need.

Now, gather the rest of the tools you will need—a heavy maul and one u-strap to attach each rebar post to the box (if you have wood sides on your grow-beds). Mark where each pipe is going to go. This will be right beside the edge of the grow box or bed, making sure that the pipes will span the grow box or bed at a right angle. Use the heavy maul to pound the rebar stake into the ground. Leave at least 15 cm of rebar exposed above the box side. Bolt the rebar to the box using the u-straps.

Slide pipes over all the rebar stakes along one side of the bed. Now, gently bend the pipe down so it can slide over the rebar on the opposite side of the bed. This will be next to impossible if you try to do it in the middle of the winter. The pipes will break instead of bending unless you apply heat from a hand torch all along the length of the pipe, but especially to the middle third. It’s also a lot easier to do this job with the help of a friend.

Once you have that done, you can cover the beds with plastic. While greenhouse plastic is the best option because it will last for 5 or more years, if your budget is really tight you can use clear construction plastic. You will need enough plastic to enclose the entire grow bed. Plan on adding an extra 15 metres to the length of the bed. Drape the plastic over the hoops, making sure that it hangs evenly to each side and at the ends. I tuck the ends like an envelope, folding in the sides first and then pulling down the centre.

There is a great clip on the market that I used in Canada and the U.S. known as the Garden Clip® Fastener. It holds plastic to PVC pipes securely in all but the most windy conditions. This is the best way to secure your plastic. But I know that other methods work as well. For years, I couldn’t afford the clips, so I used materials I had on hand. For years I just gathered all the stones in my garden and put them on top of the plastic that reached the ground. To keep wind from blowing under the plastic, I mulched all the way around my grow bed with grass clippings saved over the summer. Then someone gave me some lumber so I stapled the plastic to sections of board. When I needed to get into the grow box, I just removed the stones, or propped up the boards. I decided that shorter beds were more convenient because I could often just reach in from the ends instead of having to move several rows of stones.

I have found that placing plastic jugs full of water in the grow bed helps keep the beds warmer. If you paint them black, they do an even better job, because they absorb heat from the sun. You can also use black plastic pails. If you place one 40 litre pail every 6 metres, on the north side of the bed, the plants will capture all the rays they need while the black pail will catch the heat, even when the sun isn’t shining brightly. Using a dark mulch helps as well. In the spring, I’ve used fresh grass clippings as a mulch (that saved my tomatoes from a late frost one year).

Of course there are more expensive ways to keep your winter garden warm. You can invest in a greenhouse. Acrylic or fibreglass panels offer the most efficient heat retention. Acrylic stays clear longer. Glass lets sun and warmth in very well, but unless you invest in double panes, all that warmth will flow out at night unless you cover the greenhouse with an insulating blanket. Even with insulated glass, installing insulating shades is highly recommended.

You can also install water pipes in the bottoms of your grow beds. By running hot water through the pipes, you provide warmth to the root zone which then transfers to the entire grow bed. This is a costly option best saved to a small greenhouse in which you want to nurture some tropical treasures or grow winter tomatoes.

So now you know how to keep your grow boxes from freezing. The next step for preparing a winter garden on a smallholding is to choose the right vegetables. We’ll share why fruiting vegetables don’t do well in a winter garden in WINTER PLANTING ON A SMALLHOLDING: Choosing the Right Winter Crops

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Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Preparing your planting beds

Winter farming is one of the best ways to enjoy fresh produce year round. If you plan carefully, you can enjoy fresh salad greens, peas, beets and carrots all through the cold winter months. And you can get a head start on your spring garden while you are at it.

One of the most important concerns for a winter garden is light. Days are shorter and the sun is also lower in the sky. No matter how beautiful a greenhouse or cold frame you build, if it isn’t placed in a location where it will get the maximum light available, the plants inside will not do well. So the first thing you must do is plan the location for your winter plantings so it can take advantage of any sunny days you have.

Once you have the right location selected, then you need to consider the needs of the plants. While you can plant straight into the ground, you can only do this if you prepare the ground carefully. The first step to proper ground preparation is to double dig the area.

Double digging is a technique that aerates the soil while bringing nutrients up from deep in the ground. The basic technique is the same no matter what size of bed you make. First, you remove the top layer of soil from an area that is one spade wide by one spade deep. Set this soil to the side. Fill the resulting hole about half full with compost. Add lime and a good quality organic fertilizer using the recommendations on the package. It can be a good idea to add some kelp meal at this stage as well, once again using the recommendations on the package.

Now, dig down so you loosen the soil beneath the mulch about one spade depth again. This will mix the mulch and fertilizer together with the subsoil. If you notice that this fluffs everything up so that the trench seems to be full, don’t worry. That’s what you want.

Now move over one spade’s width. Dig down one spade’s depth, tossing that soil onto the soil you just loosened up. Fill this new trench with compost, lime, fertilizer and kelp meal. Loosen the soil at the bottom of the trench, mixing the compost and everything else.

Repeat these steps until you have loosened the entire planting bed. When you reach the end, add the soil that you set aside. The main thing that you will notice is that when you are done, you will have the equivalent of a raised bed, with the soil being anywhere from 10 to 15 cm higher than the ground around it. The roots of your plants will love it!

You don’t want to walk on all your hard labour, so stick with beds that are around one metre wide. This is an easy width to work with because you can reach into the middle of the bed without losing your balance. Much wider than one meter and the bed becomes less functional.

Even if you plan on using grow boxes, double dig the soil beneath each grow box. There are several reasons to do this. 1) You can work manure into the very bottom layer (instead of compost). The manure will provide bottom heat all through the winter, but because it is in the bottom of the trench it won’t burn the roots of the plants. Next spring, the beds will be ready for a second double digging and produce a wonderful crop. 2) It will improve your yield considerably and support the health of your plants. 3) Aerated soil does not conduct cold as effectively. You don’t want the cold coming in from the side and damaging the roots of your plants.

Many smallholders find that putting a low border around each bed is helpful. While bricks are high enough, they conduct cold. Surrounding the bed with 100mm by 200mm sleepers will insulate the bed from the cold.

The next step for preparing a winter garden is to cover and insulate your planting beds. There are several ways to do this, which we will discuss in the next article, WINTER PLANTING ON A SMALLHOLDING: Ways to Keep Your Winter Garden Warm.

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Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

The Women’s Institutes’ National Cookery School is to play a key role at The Edible Garden Show after agreeing to stage a series of cookery demonstrations and other food-related events at the show.

The WI National Cookery School, based at Denman College in Oxfordshire, has become one of the UK’s most popular cookery institutions since its launch last year.

Allie Hogsbjerg, a spokesman for the WI, said: “We are delighted to have been invited to provide cookery demonstrations at The Edible Garden Show. It promises to be a super show and experts from the WI will be on hand throughout the event with great ideas and recipes for your home-grown produce.”

But it’s not only cookery advice that the WI will be concentrating on. Their team will also run seminars on preserving, baking and even bread-making.

There will also be a high-profile event on the opening day where the WI will be promoting its ‘SOS for honey bees’ campaign aimed at highlighting the plight of the honey bee and the vital role they play in pollinating plants for fruits and crops.

Allie Hogsbjerg said: “Home-grown food, sustainability and safe-guarding the honey bee are all massively important environmental issues. The Edible Garden Show is an excellent vehicle to promote our various campaigns and help to educate the public about the benefits of growing their own food.”

The Edible Garden Show is the UK’s first-ever national garden show dedicated exclusively to ‘Grow Your Own’ food. It has been launched amid the phenomenal explosion of interest in ‘Grow Your Own’ and is a “must-see” event whether you are a seasoned gardener who spends every spare minute on the allotment or a complete novice daunted by planting a few vegetables in the back garden.

The Edible Garden Show 2010 will be staged over three days from Friday, March 19 to Sunday, March 21 at Stoneleigh Park – Britain’s most famous agricultural venue.

The ultimate Grow Your Own event, the show is targeted towards anyone passionate about Grow Your Own, Brew Your Own… or anything to do with healthy eating or home produce. From fruit and veg to bread making, from poultry to organic herbs, and from bee keeping to home brewing, there will be something of interest for all the family.

Tickets for The Edible Garden Show are now on sale via the ticket hotline 0871 231 0847 or on-line at www.theediblegardenshow.co.uk

Admission is £12 for adults, £9.60 for over 65s and children aged 11-16 (20% concession on the full adult price), with under 11-year-olds free when accompanied by a full fare paying adult (maximum two children per adult). Students with a valid Student’s Union Card also qualify for the 20% price concession.

For information on how to become a sponsor or an exhibitor at the show, contact Show Director Anna Campagnoli on 07876338400.

You can find out everything you want to know about the show and all the very latest news from the Edible Garden Show website.

About the WI National Cookery School:

Founded on years of experience and culinary expertise, the WI Cookery School programme combines the teaching of traditional skills with innovative and creative ideas. The WI Cookery School offers a fantastic range of over 100 day schools, residential courses and family courses.

For information on the full programme of courses, call 01865 391991 or email info@denman.org.uk

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

]]> http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/smallholder-events-wi-cookery-school%e2%80%99s-a-tasty-dish-at-the-edible-garden-show/feed/ 0 http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/smallholding-properties/smallholder-events-the-edible-garden-show-2010/ http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/smallholding-properties/smallholder-events-the-edible-garden-show-2010/#comments Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:55:12 +0000 Rural Smallholdings http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/?p=1397

Amid the current huge growth in interest in self sufficiency and grow your own, a new national garden show dedicated to these topics is being launched this year.

The Edible Garden Show is being staged from Friday 19th March to Sunday 21st March at Britain’s most famous agricultural venue, Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire.

The Edible Garden Show 2010 will provide a unique opportunity for people from all walks of life, whether town or country dweller, realist or dreamer, novice or experienced gardener to unite with like minded individuals, learn from the professionals and purchase from the wide range of gardening essentials on show.

Whether your interest lies in growing your own fruit and vegetables, poultry keeping, organic herbs, sausage making, bee keeping, home baking, home brewing, or you just have a general interest in being self sufficient, the Edible Garden Show is the place to visit for all those with an interest in growing your own.

As well as exhibitors, the event will include a host of seminars and a packed programme of practical demonstrations. The Women’s Institute National Cookery School is also set to play a key role with their series of cookery demonstrations and food related events.

The new show has already won official endorsements from the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, and the Royal Agricultural Society of England, two of the most high profile organisations in the gardening and agricultural world.

Billed as ‘THE ultimate Grow Your Own event for visitors and exhibitors alike’, the Edible Garden Show will also provide a unique opportunity for exhibitors to present their products and services to the buying public and stands are available to book now.

To book tickets for The Edible Garden Show 2010 and learn more about the event, visit the show’s website here.

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Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

This time of the year when it’s all just a bit too cold, dark and brrrhhh, it’s very tempting for smallholders and allotment owners alike to get ‘stuck’ in front of that log burner on those cold dark days, enjoying hearty food made from our own produce and perhaps partaking of our own home brews.

But there may be some tasks around your smallholding that you have overlooked. November is a good time to catch up, gale force winds and torrential rain this year permitting of course ; )

If the following jobs still need to be done, don’t put them off.  Putting in some hard work now will pay dividends come next year.

Collect any seeds that you want to have for next year.

I like to collect seeds from the lettuce plants that bolted after holding out the longest. I’ve kept a lovely variety of deep red cos going for several years, just by allowing it to be the only lettuce I let go to seed.

I also make sure that I bring those dried bean pods in before the mould and mildew take hold. My favorite called the “Heirloom” has a wonderful flavour.

Harvest the autumn crops:

Pull those garlic bulbs and hang them up to dry in a sheltered place. Do the same with any onions.

Dig up the potatoes. Don’t leave them out on the ground. Spread them out in a sheltered place and cover with burlap so they can dry completely. The less light they are exposed to, the fewer green potatoes you will have later.

Also, gather those Winter squash. Rub them down with a cloth dipped in a dilute Clorox® solution, then put away in a dark, cool place. Over-sized marrows will also store for months if sterilized in this way.

Start preserving.

Start turning your apples and pears into your own naturally sweet pie fillings. Try using fruit juice concentrates to intensify the natural fruit flavor. The websites at the end of this article offer some great info on creating your own natural pie fillings.

Turn those apples and pears into other delights as well—apple sauce, pear butter, cider.

Harvest your Autumn herbs—thyme, oregano, rosemary, winter savory, etc. Be sure to hang them in a warm place or dry in a food dehydrator.

Prepare your garden for next year.

Add a layer of compost to all your garden beds. That way the compost won’t be hot in the spring when you go to plant. It will also minimize weed growth.

Prepare at least one cold frame. Make sure that you have at least 18-inches dug out below the ground. Then add a 6-inch layer of uncomposted manure, such as cow dung, chicken manure, sheep droppings or horse manure. Add a 12-inch layer of compost above this. You can plant lettuce, spinach, kale and other greens in the cold frame this month, and harvest greens all winter long. The manure at the very bottom will keep the bed warm for several months.

Wrap your fruit tree’s trunks with burlap or tree wrap to protect the trees from winter freeze and thaw cycles.

Give your fruit trees their first spray of dormant spray.

Clean up.

Clean the chicken coop. Chickens tend to molt around this time of year, so it’s a good time to make sure that their environment is clean.

Clean up any leaves and fallen fruit from underneath your fruit trees. This will prevent harmful pests from overwintering and damaging next year’s fruit crop.  

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Click on the links below for more info on creating your own pies and pie fillings:

Jamie Oliver on assembling fruit pies

Recipes for creating your own naturally sugar free pie fillings

A delicious pie recipe using Autumn fruits

Lots of tried and tested fruit pie recipes with ratings

Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

If Autumn fruiting raspberries aren’t already a feature in your plot or on your smallholding, how about planting them this year?

November can be the best time to plant Autumn fruiting raspberries and bare rooted raspberry canes are on sale now and usually posted to you from November until next April.

Many people are put off growing raspberries because of the large amount of space and often small yields provided by Summer fruiting types.  They also require tying in and can easily outgrow their allocated space if not kept under control.  Autumn fruiting raspberries tend to have higher yields and are often more compact than their Summer counterparts.  They don’t require tying in and can pretty much be left to do their own thing – except for the picking and eating of course!  We’ve planted them at the back of a small flowerbed and they thrive there. 

This is all very well but who wants raspberries only in the Autumn?!  Plus you need two different plots to grow both Summer and Autumn raspberries to ensure you have raspberries for as long as possible, which if you only have a smallish plot or smallholding means giving up twice as much space for one fruit type if you want to enjoy them for as much of the year as possible.   You can freeze some types of course, but there’s nothing like a fresh raspberry picked straight from the garden.

One very good solution to this that we have used for many years is to plant Autumn fruiting raspberries and after the first years crops, instead of cutting the canes right back down to the ground, we cut them to half the height they have grown to – usually they reach 5 or 6 feet so we cut them down to 3 feet from the ground.

 The 3 feet of remaining canes then fruit from around the following April/May onwards depending on the variety, whilst new canes grow up between them and start fruiting from around July.  Over the past few years we have enjoyed raspberries from as early as April right through to the end of November, depending on the weather.  We haven’t noticed any changes in the quantity or quality of fruit we get from the Autumn fruiting part of the plants and we get very high yields from both the previous years canes and this years.

We grow Autumn Bliss raspberries at present and like them so much we’ve never got around to trying any other varieties.  They taste great and they also freeze well. But there are many other varieties out there for you to try, including thornless ones such as Joan J that may be a preference depending on where your canes are going to be planted.  So if you havent already try this tip, we hope it works as well on your smallholding as it does in ours.

Have you tried this tip successfully or do you have other tips on growing raspberries that you’d like to share with our readers?  If so please share your experiences using the ‘Leave A Response’ box below.

Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine ]]> http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/make-those-raspberries-last/feed/ 0 http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/sowing-growing/4-year-crop-rotation/ http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/sowing-growing/4-year-crop-rotation/#comments Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:52:49 +0000 Rural Smallholdings http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/?p=95 4 YEAR CROP ROTATION – SUGGESTION

If you’re planning a vegetable plot, then it’s best to sit down and plan before your plant. You’ll need to know what plants to put in what bed, and work out your rotation to help you produce the best crops.

Below you’ll find a 4 year crop roatation suggestion – hope it helps.