Plant Spotlight - Chilean Guava
Chilean Guava (Ugni molinae) is a cute little shrub, with delicious berries and evergreen foliage and it has fast become one of my...
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About: About
Growing Food
Growing food is where my gardening began and my vegetable garden and 'forest garden' style orchard are still the parts of the garden I’m most happy working in. Over the last decade, I’ve developed a sizeable fascination with the life of the soil and how this is the key to growing healthy, vibrant organic food, filled with great nutrition at harvest time. Growing fruit and vegetables is a hugely rewarding pastime and I’m always delighted to help get my clients growing, to build their confidence and their understanding of what it takes to grow great veg.
If you’d like this kind of support, here on my website, I offer lots of articles about growing, which you can access below. If you’d like to get more tailored support in setting up or planning out a vegetable garden or edible 'forest garden', get in touch to book a one to one consultation - find out more below. I also have a range of free downloads – quick reference guides at planning, sowing and planting time - scroll right to the bottom to download these.
Vegetable Growing One to One:
Gardening Consultation
Maybe you've been growing vegetables for a while, but feel as though it isn't quite working for you, or maybe you'd love to be growing vegetables, but are wondering how to even get started; either way, I'd really love to help.
These one to one gardening consultations are a great way to get tailored support for the vegetables you want to grow, in the space you have available. I can help with planning the vegetable year and with organic and regenerative techniques for propagation, planting out, plant health, water and weed management and with making excellent compost. I am available for one off sessions and can also be booked for regular slots throughout the year.
Forest Gardening One to One:
Gardening Consultation
Forest gardening is a method for growing food that dates back thousands of years, but has recently seen a resurgence of interest, due partly to the huge ecological benefits of growing this way, but also to the ease of growing food in this naturalistic format.
If you would like help developing edible flower beds, filling your orchard with an understorey of edible, long-lived and easy-care plants, or with setting up planting areas filled with food from tree height, through the shrub layer and right down to the ground cover plants, get in touch to arrange a one to one session with me. I can offer lists of edible, long-lived (perennial) plants to suit you and your family and can help you work out planting and maintenance plans for growing food in this way.
Vegetable Gardening Downloads
A quick reference guide to sowing and harvesting times, for all the major types of vegetables. Use this guide to plan our your growing year and as an aid to successional cropping for a longer harvest.
An essential sheet to have at hand at sowing time - this printable guide helps ensure success with easily accessible key facts. It lists sowing depths for all the major vegetables, along with whether to sow into pots, modules or straight into the ground.
Another useful guide, this time specifically for vegetables being planted or sown directly into the ground. Use this sheet in the vegetable garden to be sure your spacing is neither wasting valuable space by placing vegetables too far apart, nor causing plants to become stunted through being spaced too closely together.
Eco Veg-Growing Downloads
Increase the sustainability of your vegetable growing space with these free resources.
Some simple inspiration for upcycling common waste items to make your own range of seed trays, pots and modules.
Further reduce the waste plastic involved in growing vegetables plus gain the benefits of starting vegetables in a living soil, with this guide to making up your own compost blends. Both seeds and potted plants grow best in blended compost, soil and sand mixtures, with the appropriate balance of nutrients - often referred to as John Innes compost. This quick guide tells you everything you need to know to get started in making your own.
Growing vegetables in a supportive, living soil means using low or no-dig practices and this works best in a garden made up of raised beds. Read about crucial details such as bed sizing, path construction and how to build low-cost beds, with or without sides.
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