Self-Reliance - Part One

 

There is nothing better than going outside into the garden to collect what food is there to eat, not only natural food but also seasonal food. Since mid-April my vegetables, especially salads at first, have come from the garden, topped up by what is not ready from the local supermarket - I am nowhere near self-sufficient as yet. I have just been out to pick my dinner from the stuff that is ready, and bar for one potato I have used which came from a large bag which I get from a local supplier, everything that I have collected to make a stew came from the garden. This has been the same now for about six weeks; sometimes I use no meat at all, and what I do has come from the local butcher, locally sourced.

This year has not been great, due to the wet weather we have had over May and into July, though there have been sunny days which break this up. Due to the wet I lost a lot of lettuce, but after eating this through April and May this really did not matter too much. The mistake I made here was due to modern ways of growing, as opposed to the 'old ways'. After a few years of planting these close together I came unstuck because the whole lot rotted due to the rain. I remember reading one of William Cobbett's books where he is critical of the 'modern' farming (of his time, of course) methods of growing closer together. Maybe I should have listened to this English Radical. Anyway, using the method of growing closer together did not affect a raised bed in the back garden, maybe because different crops were grown together in one small bed. They seem to be thriving anyway, so 'old' and 'modern' could be used together.

Much of the vegetable crops of the cabbage family have done well in regard to the leaves, and these are used freely in stews and casseroles. Cauliflowers have done badly, as usual, but I have used one of the tops which was ready to bolt to seed. The small, young leaves are fine anyway, even if later they are the food of caterpillars. I'll here share with you my success and failure -

Peas - brilliant, and I have never had such great crops of peas; these are about to come to an end but I planted some more seeds in trays (these did the best) and they will go into pots this week (the pots did the best). The best seeds were unfortunately not the 'heritage' type, which were pretty poor in cropping. 

Broad Beans - crap! Only got a couple of plants worth of pods; these went rotten, maybe due to the wet weather.

Lettuce - I planted an over-winter crop of around six lettuce which seeded themselves around last September; these were ready in April and used first. The Lollo Rosso lettuce did well as well as a mixed salad variety, but these then succumbed to the wet weather and rotted. I merely took them up, put them in the compost bin, and replaced with Summer Squash.

Summer Squash - not ready as yet, and rather later than I have had before, maybe due to the wet again. Forecast is better for a while so things may well pick up.

Sweet Corn (Corn-on-the-Cob) - Have not planted these for years now but they seem to be doing well at the moment. They are just beginning to show the tops now.

Tomatoes - Those I have planted were all from seeds collected from some given by a Folk-Comrade, and also some supermarket seeds, which some say are not fertile, but which gave me 100% germination and are now flowering. We shall see what they do now. Some are in the poly-tunnel, and some outside; the ones outside are flowering first.

Swiss Chard/Spinach - Fair crop, but unlike last year when I had nice green leaves some this year have gone yellow, a problem I have had in the past. Obviously a lack of nutrients in the soil. But still usable and still growing for use. 

Cabbage - The leaves have been used for a while and I have another crop under a small poly-tunnel which has been netted. This crop have a couple going to seed already - I just let them go because the seeds will do for next year.

Onions - Last January a very early crop of onions was planted as sets in the poly-tunnel, but they have done nothing much at all. Decided to lift and store the bulbs to try for next year. Those planted outside are a little better, but still not as good as the year before last, which was a bumper crop. Spring onions did very well, unusual for me.

Carrots - Nothing last year but a few very tiny ones, this year they were planted in a raised planter and have done well. They have been picked for about 4 weeks or more now and are small but very sweet and tender. Grown with onions which seems to go well together.

Kale - Grown for the first time in a small raised bed, and seem to be doing well so far.

Beetroot - These were put in late, like the Parsnips, and they seem to be going alright so far.

Leeks - Going alright, though I shall pick them early because some may well go to seed this year.

Runner Beans - Late coming up but they are now flowering and near the top of the canes. 

Cucumber - These are in the poly-tunnel and are now flowering; last year was a very bad one for these but maybe these will be alright.

Potatoes - So far I have lifted none of these because I have a large bag from a local supplier. Plenty of green top growth but due to the wet weather there may be problems underneath - we shall see. 

Apples - Cut the trees well back last year so expect a smaller crop, but they are growing well. This will depend upon getting some warm sunny weather to sweeten them up a bit.

Strawberries - crap! Lifted them from the bed where they did nothing last year and put them in a barrel made for strawberry-growing. No luck again this year, so I'll try using new ones and a different variety. 

Cress - first crops failed, but renewed them and these are growing well. Not done these before.

Celery - did not come up, so gave up in the end. Had a good crop last year.

Radishes did well this year, or at least one crop did well and the other not. 

The aim this year is to try to overwinter some stuff, but I have had problems with germination on such things as lettuce, which have been problem-free in the past. Hoping to get seeds from the crops to grow on, which seems the best way to become 'sustainable' (*) into the future. Raven and I were talking about the idea of seed-sharing and we both remember our fathers with allotments always sharing their seeds with other growers. This needs to be revived if we are to go into the future with at least some hope. 

(*) I don't like the term 'sustainable' since it conjures up images of certain very dark figures, but it will do for now.

One last point. I let some wild plants grow around the garden, such as nettles, dandelions and daisies, and these are sometimes used for food, especially put into a good stew. Nettles make a good tea, and I have garden mint, peppermint and spear-mint which are used to make a tea, good for the digestion and stomach. Also lemon balm and comfrey, as well as thyme, rosemary, fennel, parsley, bay, and coriander. Looking to create a herb-garden next year to grow a greater variety still. 

The Rowan Tree has a large crop of berries again this year, more than last year in fact, and according to an old Scotsman I know this is a sign of a coming bad winter. The last two years have been colder and this seems to be quite true. 

As part of the Edel-Project those involved are trying to create a seed-bank where we can share seeds from our own growing. This is another stage in the process towards self-reliance. This is all part of our work to become more self-sufficient and to be able to buy less and grow more, and thus to cut out the State-System which is forever throwing blocks in the way of any form of freedom. This may not be achieved at all, but having it as a goal is enough to keep us motivated, which is the main thing to think of.