Simon’s Gardening News and Views from the Viking Way
Tomatoes the gardeners favourite.
Welcome. I have not put pen to paper for a while. Things have been rather hectic on the Viking Way. I have just ordered some straw bales for my Strawbale Garden. It will be six bales made into one big square. I am only planting tomatoes and marrows in bales this year. I have chosen a mix of small bush varieties and the only marrow I ever use, the marrow Bush Baby. If you have not tried it, I suggest you give it a grow. I will fill the bales with tomato plants and place four marrows on each corner. I used this system last year to great success. Speaking of strawbale gardening, I call it the anywhere method, meaning that you do not need to have soil. So, it follows that you can have a strawbale garden on almost any surface. Concrete, grass, on your patio or drive. This brings to mind something that happened a few years ago. An elderly couple who had a lovely house in Brighton were having to move to a warden-controlled site due to health and mobility issues. Now the husband loved his garden. He had always had one and was devastated to leave his pride and joy. Their new home had no soil, or even grass. They just had a concrete patio at the front of their ground floor flat. A family member showed him my e-book. And presently he had four strawbales delivered and has a strawbale garden just outside his window. A very successful strawbale garden I might add and his pride and joy.
Strawbale Success.
I have had a few emails from people who have tried strawbale gardening and had less than promising results. Upon enquiring how they prepared the strawbales, it was obvious to me they had not prepped the bales correctly. The bales need to be fed water and a nitrogen-based feed, in various quantities over a period of time. This is done to get the bales composting, it is essential! I use a mixture of organic lawn feed and chicken manure pellets. I have devised a seventeen-day maturing process where I add water and feed in varying quantities throughout the seventeen days. By the end of that time the bales should be ready to plant, and or sow into. One other thing, when the bales are “tired” they make excellent compost. Keep them separate from your main compost heap. If you would like to give Strawbale Gardening a try this year I suggest you read my e-book. The Strawbale Gardeners Handbook Vol 1. It will tell you everything you need to know. Get it here.
The Strawbale Gardeners Handbook Vol 1.
Elsewhere in my garden things are coming on slowly. I could not grow much last year due to work commitments, so the garden has been somewhat neglected. I have a big, raised bed made from railway sleepers. This is for leeks, which I just love.
We started stocking a giant spring onion Tipika last year in the shop as a trial. It was excellent, tasty stems and big bulbs. We now stock this as a regular item. It grows well in containers. I am growing tomatoes in the regular garden as well. My chosen two are, the giant Knockout which can grow to a whopping 1.4kg. It is also tasty without the thick skin of some big toms. The other is tomato San Maranzo, extremely popular in Italy due to having very few seeds. Making it ideal for pasta sauce. It has a super savory taste and is a super cropper. In my view these two are definitely worth your while growing. We have an offer on in our seed shop for the San Marano and a pea variety called Corina. A fine sweet, tasty pea. We have introduced many new vegetable varieties to the shop this year. View this and other offers here.
Simons Special Offer.
I intend to build another polytunnel this year. Rather than pay a lot of money for a tunnel from the big UK companies, (which are excellent), I am putting up a budget tunnel. These are great but MUST be put up correctly. By this I mean super secure. If they are not, I promise you, you will lose them. My son and I have put up a few of these, and they do not budge. We have a short but in-depth video on this subject, where we show you how we do it. It is well worth a view. That may be viewed here. I have had great success using budget tunnels. My go to veg to grow in them are Sweetcorn. The very best and most reliable cropper I have found is Golden Hind. Many years ago, I was advised to include this in our seeds shop, I have not regretted it. I also grow tomatoes, peppers, sweet peppers, cucumbers, and salad crops in tunnels.
Putting up a Budget Polytunnel.
After much thought and testing, we have brought online a new range called “shake and sow”. We have three varieties. The first is our Beetroot Rainbow Mix. This consists of a mixture of various types of beetroot mixed together in our signature presentation box, with our quality organic compost. All you do is make a drill, and simply “Shake and Sow”, for a delightful mix of tasty beetroot. All boxes come with a seed marker, marker pencil and sow and grow instructions. Also, in the range are Carrot Rainbow Mix, and Lettuce Rainbow Mix. Great gifts for gardeners and would be gardeners. Please view them here.
Beetroot Rainbow Mix.
It will soon be Sunflower Growing Time. I do love sunflowers. They make a garden happy. The wildlife love them and so do children. If I have told this story before, then please forgive me! Some years ago, my grandchildren asked if they could grow sunflowers. Of course. So, I sent off for a Sunflower Growing Kit. I was less than impressed I must say. I thought, I could do better. So, I did. We now have three variations on the Sunflower Growing Kit. The first is our regular kit. In this we supply three varieties of sunflower, including the Giant Yellow which can grow to an impressive three meters tall. We also include the Ring of Fire and the beautiful Soraya. You will also find all the kit you need to get growing plus our detailed sow and grow instructions. NOW, here is what sets our growing kits apart from the others on the market. Because we firmly believe in companion planting in our gardens, (where vegetables, herbs and flowers are planted together to deter pests etc, and improve each plants health), we also supply runner beans which can be trained to grow up the sunflowers. How cool is that? We are very proud of our latest kit The Sunflower Party Kits. There are three mini kits to a box. Each contain Giant Sunflowers, runner beans, colored pencils, colored card, plus all the kit to get growing. A wonderful gift to hand out at parties or indeed any gathering. We can supply multiples of three. Take a look here. Our final offering is a kit for schools and groups. The kit advertised is based on a group of thirty, but obviously we can cater for larger or smaller groups. Please share this with any groups that you think would find this useful. The kits are on the Sunflower page here. Thanks.
Sunflower Growing Party Kits.
I am a firm believer in really trying to get people to grow some of their own food. Not just because I sell seeds etc. People really are struggling, no matter what rubbish our so called “leaders” may say. I have also seen the difference it makes to people who have decided to turn an unused patch of grass into a vibrant, ever changing vegetable plot. There are super Facebook groups where locals swap their produce, which is a practice as old as the hills, but needs encouraging. It is a great feeling knowing you have grown your own tasty vegetables for your loved ones. Why do schools not combine growing things in with cookery (home economics) as a standard part of the school's curriculum? I started a Facebook gardening group a few years ago for the Lincolnshire area, now we cover all the UK. We have super friendly, non-judgmental members who are pleased to help. Join us here. I do hope that you have found something of interest in this blog. Please do share.
Good gardening Simon.
Sow, grow, eat, repeat!
