I’ve always aspired to be as self sufficient as possible (while still running my own unrelated business!), but up until about 3 years ago, I always had the excuse of not having enough space and not being sure how long I was going to be living where I was. My excuses have now disappeared, so while trying to grow as much of our own food, I’ve prioritised doing this is as environmentally friendly a way as possible. I know my methods are definitely not perfect, but I’m pushing the boundaries and trying a few new things each year. Here are a few of the guidelines I try to operate by, steps we’ve taken and methods we’ve used to garden as sustainably as we can:
Creating Our Own Compost
Home composting of all our organic home, kitchen and garden waste, produces some of the best quality matter for growing and feeding veg. An added advantage comes from adding this much needed organic matter to our sandy free draining soil, allowing the soil to hold on to moisture during spells of dry weather.
Growing Chemical Free
From our own little veg garden we don’t apply any fertilizers or pesticides. The biggest issues we have to overcome are slugs, which with a bit more vigilance, we should be able to keep their populations down to a manageable number and carrot root fly. For this I have no answer. We’ve tried netting, indoor growing, raised beds – nothing seems to work entirely. As time is limited, we might give carrots a miss this year (even though home grown carrots are the nicest thing EVER!) and concentrate our efforts on the rest of the garden
No Dig Gardening
We’ve done the easy part of this – we’ve watched the Youtube videos and bought the books. Now for the next phase – the work! The main advantage of No Dig, is the less time spent digging (sorry to state the obvious) and also the less weeds that grow, using this method.
The cornerstone of No Dig Gardening is covering the garden with a heavy layer of compost, preferrably in October. Unfortunately we didn’t have enough built up for last October, so our main focus for the coming year is to build up our stocks of our own compost, or if necessary, brought in organic matter, such as horse manure etc. For this year though, we will be trialling a number of veg beds with compost, seaweed and just regular dug beds. Hopefully by the end of the Summer we will have a few more answers.
Peat Free Compost
Even though we create our own compost, we still need potting compost from time to time, for starting seeds etc. When treated correctly natural bogland is an natural carbon sink, acts as a natural buffer for heavy rainfall and is an amazing habitat for hundreds of unique species of Flora and Fauna. Peat production, by its nature destroys all of this.
There are a number of companies now selling Peat Free Compost. Even though the few bags a year that we buy, isn’t going to save the world, hopefully it will show retailers and manufacturers that there is a market for there product and that if they continue to create quality products sustainably, then people will contiunue to buy them.
Other things we do, that I will expand on when I get a chance, include:
- reducing plastic where ever I can
- using open pollinated seeds and trying to save our own
- buying seeds and other raw materials as locally as possible – supporting local jobs, reducing carbon footprint and supporting people we know are doing things right
- wildflower borders
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