Music played
13 items-
James Blackshaw Arc
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Peter Bjorn and John At the Seaside
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Psapp Calm Down
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James Blackshaw Cross
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Psapp Curuncula
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Vetiver Double
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Sigur Rós inni mer syngur vitleysingur
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Peter Bjorn and John Needles and Pills
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Peter Bjorn and John Norrlands Riviera
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Andrew Bird Oh No
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Andrew Bird Opposite Day Reprise
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Psapp Rear Moth
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Andrew Bird Yawny at the Apocalypse
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Alys on Salads and Foraging
“I love salads. Big hearty ones, warm ones, complex ones with cheese, fruit and herbs or just plain simple green ones. So it’s no surprise that a big part of growing is for salads - all sorts of different leaves, lettuces and things to sprinkle on top for colour and flavour.
I actually don’t like tomatoes in salads much. These I prefer to dry or bottle if the harvest is favourable. If not then I just try and eat as many sun-warmed straight off the vine, as the summer will allow.
I aim to have leaves all year round for salads, but there is always a hungry gap in spring when the winter crops have come to an end and the others are slow to get growing. Here foraging keeps me in green. Lime leaves, wild sorrel, young dandelion leaves and chickweed make wonderful, wild tasting salads. Throw in a little bacon for saltiness or some good goats cheese and you have a fine meal to feast on whilst your seedlings get growing.” -
Notes on foraging
The inevitable DON'T bit:
Guide to urban foraging with photos
Don't eat anything unless you’re 100% sure what it is.
It’s so easy to over pick so only take what you need.
Never ever damage the plant’s chances of survival (i.e. removing all the leaves or taking all the flowers or seeds).
Don’t uproot any plant without permission.
Don't give foragers a bad name! Land may look unused but it could belong to someone so try to get permission first. However, if you accidentally stray and you're asked to move on, be polite, apologize and go, after all, you'll find plenty elsewhere.
Don't damage ecosystems - never collect from Sites of Special Scientific Interest or Nature Reserves.
Don’t disturb or harvest any protected species.
And this is the DO bit:
Do eat what you can 100% identify.
Do get landowner permission.
Do take a knife, secateurs or scissors, lots of bags and some gloves.
Do think about where you're picking and try to avoid pollution, pesticides, herbicides and dog wee.
Do wash everything before you eat it.
Do talk to people. It's amazing how many people eat wild foods without really thinking about it… blackberries anyone?
Do take a guide to help you identify plants. There are quite a few in bookshops but make sure you get one with great pictures that will make you confident in your identification, pretty pictures are one thing but good pictures will save you from a sore belly, or worse! -
Nettle plant feed
A great liquid feed for young plants. Loosely fill a bucket with roughly chopped nettles, top up with water and leave for around a week. When ready you should find a potent dark green-brown liquid. Dilute 50:50 with water before feeding to plants. If the solution seems darker and stronger dilute a bit more, if weaker, dilute less.
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Cut-and-come-again salad
Salvaged wine boxes make great containers for growing lettuce especially when sown with cut-and-come-again crops. Sow quite thickly and later thin seedlings to just 2.5cm apart, eat or transplant your thinnings and finally, cut just above the growing point (just above the base of the leaves) when they are 10-15cm high. Each plant should give you a few harvests. Try 'salad bowl' varieties or other mixes.
BBC Gardening - Growing salad
If you want to grow the lettuce to full size, for instance Emerald Green or Flashy Butter Oak, then just give them more space and time to grow.
NB keep sowing to keep growing! When you’re first seedlings are up continue to sow, little and often means you’ll have lettuce to eat and share into the first days of frost. -
Tomatoes
Heartbreaking when you’re hit by blight but in the words of Tennyson “… 'tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
RHS advice on blight
Give your plants space and ensure a good air flow around them to help stop blight, its progression and its effects. -
Cucumbers
Simple to grow outdoor varieties like Marketmoor have good mildew resistance and will grow well up a mesh or other support. Alys plants on a slight mound to prevent the stem rotting off. You can grow them to supermarket size and/or harvest earlier for small fruit with more flavour.
BBC Gardening - Growing cucumbers -
Radishes
Incredibly easy to grow and great for sowing between other crops. If grown on radishes will produce flowers which insects love and then seed pods for you enjoy too. Radish seed pods make delicious beer snacks or bursts of flavour in a salad.
Advice on growing radishes -
New Potatoes
The first harvest of the early potatoes are always a joy and so often pulled early… what gardener can wait? They have lower yields and take around 90 days between planting and harvest.
BBC Gardening - Growing potatoes
Credits
- Production Manager
- Jacque Brown
- Production Manager
- Stella Stylianos
- Presenter
- Alys Fowler
- Producer
- Juliet Glaves
