Shaun watering the swiss chard
For the love of growing is a blog devoted to growing things!
We are definitely not expert growers, but we bring a profound love for the experience and wonder of nurturing life, and an understanding that food growing will likely be a crucial part of many more people’s lives as we move into the future.
We started fortheloveofgrowing.org to document our experiences as we began working our new allotment site, our windowsills and anywhere else we could lay our wannabe green fingers on!
We’re having a lot of fun and we hope to share some of that, as well as no doubt giving more experienced growers a chuckle at some of our naive mistakes!
Do comment below and let us know what else you’d like to see on the site
x Maria and Shaun
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April 15, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Jonny
Whoo looks good, you definitely need an introduction to the allotment and a “before” photo, its easy to forget when everything is growing and looking plant like just what you had to start with.
Potatoes are great for loosening up the soil so they might be a good first year veg to get in the ground as soon as possible.
Good luck guys!
April 17, 2009 at 12:34 am
Maria
Thank you !!!
Ya I took a photo of shaun slaving away with his hands digging up old potatoes that transplanted themselves o.o.. I will definately post those up sometime tomorrow ! thank you for the advice !!
We need all the help we can get ^~*!
April 17, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Shaun
Hehe, yes, potatoes turned up all of their own accord! Joan tells us the technical term is ‘volunteers’!!
And between that and Maria’s efforts with a very strange (and wicked looking) clawed tool we found in the shed I think the soil is well and truly loosened now!
Let’s hope so, ‘cos we planted our first rows (AKA drills) of seeds out on the plot on Wednesday…
May 12, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Jonny
Volunteers! I never knew they had a name. This is the first time I’ve felt the need to re-plant potatoes in the garden, they’re very good at just popping up of their own accord.
I heard your radishes are going well too! which is pretty cool. Mine are just on the way, still tiny little dots compared to the potatoes which are massive and right next to them.
I have been considering (since I heard it on the radio today) growing butternut squashes however the plants are so big that the seedlings need to be planted out 2m apart! I’ll let you know if its going ahead as I’ll need to have a “how much of this garden can I commandeer” chat with my ma’
Also lib said we should start a food blog thingermy as well so I think we will, I’ll have to chat to her about this later. Keep up the good work! x
May 19, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Maria
Ya i watched it too and agree it’s really happy-making !!
our radishes are actually really yummy but we have to be careful not to let them grow for too long otherwise they become woody inside @.@!
Also you and Libby should join us on here ^^’! You’re more than welcome to use this blog as your own!
May 12, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Shaun
You know if you ever fancy a bit of potato experimentation our guru (and my aunt) Joan is a real potato expert, and has an amazingly wide selection of varieties!
And yes, the radishes up there in our banner at the top of the page are our first produce, and were consumed shortly after modelling duties were discharged. Joan said we needed to thin out our lines of radishes, and it seemed a shame to waste them! We only planted them a few short weeks ago, so rapid progress!
I can relate to your butternut squash issues – Joan chuckled when she saw how close I had planted a courgette to other things, and I had to apologise to it for the disruption and move it further away today!
If you have any trouble with your ma, and don’t mind the ‘commute’, maybe next year you and Libby would like to take on one of the other raised beds on our plot??
May 14, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Jonny
Just watched the video a farm for the future and I’m now blissfully happy and positive
I think this is the first time I’ve watched a climate-change/environment/peak-oil themed video and not come out of it with the firm belief that everone is going to die.
Fantastic!
May 14, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Shaun Chamberlin
Ain’t it awesome! Best thing I’ve seen in ages. We did a TTK screening of it a few weeks back, and out of that a whole Kingston food growing group seems to be emerging (see the forum at: http://tinyurl.com/TTKforum )
As you’ll see there, the followup gathering we organised is this Sunday lunchtime at the Kingston Environment Centre, where we’ll be building some raised beds and then deciding what to do with the grant money that looks like it’s forthcoming. Wanna come?
Incidentally, The Power of Community is the other positive but sensible film I recommend. It looks at how Cuban agriculture and society dealt with the sudden crash in its oil supplies caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union. I have a copy on DVD at home.
Hopefully the new Transition Movie (premiere next weekend at the Transition Conference in Battersea) will be the next addition to the genre! Xx