Dig for Victory - Mark II

betterlife

i agree a great article have just set the programme to record on sky thanks.

nodwah

Lotus-eater wrote: »

This is what I've been blinking saying for ages! All I get in response is "Oh we've got enough land to grow our own".

Yeah, who's going to grow it, who's got the skills needed, where's the infrastructure?
How are we going to grow pears when we haven't got enough trees? When we have got enough trees are we ready to wait for years till we get enough fruit?
How are we going to deal with the situation when we have trouble storing food because of power cuts?

It might be a revolution, but its not going to be a very nice one. No power to the people I'm afraid.

and who's going to pollinate all the fruit coz all the bees are dead!

Davesnave

nodwah wrote: »

You not running a nursery any more Davesnave?

I like to buy stuff from local small nurseries if I can but I'm frequently seduced by the cheap offers in the supermarkets etc

No, DW and I need to move on from that after 11 years, mainly because the physical aspects, like loading/unloading heavy trays and sitting in the cold for hours on end, are activities for younger folk. We were in the very first Farmer's Market though, and it's still going strong.

As for supermarkets; we were selling 200 yards from Homebase, and made sure we undercut them. Our stuff was large too, hence the heavy trays. We had the philosophy that while we'd never get DiY sheds' & garden centres' economies of scale, their wastefulness and incompetence would enable us to do better.

The problem in our town, and in many other places, is that the market tends to be undervalued and lacks prominence. That's how things stand, but if food prices rise and transport costs add to this, it should help the locals compete with the supermarkets. We have cooperatives here with enough members to share out the selling work and also provide a decent range of products, which is very important, but prices tend to be on the high side. DW and I gradually proved to ourselves that prices are key.

rhiwfield

Interesting article from across the pond on switch to home grown veg LINK

This mirrors the 30-60% growth in veg seed sales reported in Britain last year LINK

Chatted with OH last night and we agreed that I could convert more of the lawn to veg beds, so designed a 20' x 10' plot to make 2 x 10' x 4' beds and 5 x 4' x 4' beds with a 2' wide U shaped path for access internally and access via lawn around plot sides

In terms of raised bed growing space that will make about 55 sq m dedicated to fruit and veg and if I get the growing right (!!!) should be enough to keep us largely self sufficient (hence my query about comparison of raised bed area to allotments)

I'm still so-so at growing some veg (learning more each year). Peas are a case in point. For the last two years germination has been poor though the peas that grew cropped well. I think I got it wrong in 2 ways, first by using wrinklies for first earlies and second by having lots of mice in the garden!

This year I've grown smooth skinned ones in 2 lengths of guttering in the utility room and germination has been 100%. Moved them last night to the greenhouse and so far untouched by the mice. Looking fwd to planting them out when about 4" tall and hardened off.

Other thing I've had problerms with are brassicas. No club root yet (thank goodness) but cabbage root fly decimated swedes and radish while mealy aphids disfigured and then cabbage whites saw off the maturing crop. Once I've got the new beds done (may take some time tho) I'll be trying again only using protective netting/fleece to see if i can get a decent cabbage!

One thing that struck me when talking over the veg beds with OH was does converting lawn to veg beds add or detract from house value, especially if it reduces play area for children. I think it does detract at present, though we are doing it anyway

RAS

Primrose wrote: »

Mardatha - if you don't like veggies, do you like fruit? Perhaps you would get more pleasure growing soft fruit - raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants, or even have a grape vine if you have a sunny fence against which to grow it?

This would make a huge amountof sense. The Uk is about 60-70 percent sufficent in veggiese but only grows 5% of the fruit we eat (I did not mss off a zero).

So the reall pinch is going to be in the fruit lines.

RAS

Lotus-eater wrote: »

This is what I've been blinking saying for ages! All I get in response is "Oh we've got enough land to grow our own".

Yeah, who's going to grow it, who's got the skills needed, where's the infrastructure?
How are we going to grow pears when we haven't got enough trees? When we have got enough trees are we ready to wait for years till we get enough fruit?
How are we going to deal with the situation when we have trouble storing food because of power cuts?

It might be a revolution, but its not going to be a very nice one. No power to the people I'm afraid.

Well if you at all interested, there are folks in the Transition Towns "movement" trying to address these issues.

Look at https://www.transitionculture.org

ceridwen

eRRR...yep..the Transition Town Movement is summat I very much agree with/play some part in - just one point: was a bit puzzled by that link above.

Try this one:

http://www.transitiontowns.org/

RAS

Ceridwen

transitiontowns is the organisation web-site, culture is Rob Hopkins blog. They are both linked to each other.

ceridwen

I knows what thee means - perhaps this would be a better link for Rob's blog - as t' first one puzzled I - as it weren't owt to do with it:

http://transitionculture.org/

'twas t' "uk" bit at the end of the link that meant the link went onto a rather different website.....

rhiwfield

I see on the news today that the National Trust are to release 1,000 allotments via Landshare. A step in the right direction, but I wish that local councils could grasp the opportunity as well.