“Planting A Garden With Food Potential Is One Of The Most Valuable Things We Can Do.”

Happy New Year!

With all the festivities of 2021 now over, thoughts of what we plan to do next in our veg patch begin to germinate...germinate - get it? Sorry!

So what have we got in store for this month?

What to sow and grow in January.

Sprouts and micro greens and we're not talking Brussels!

The benefits of composting, Natures gold.

And lastly, Lottie news and members questions.

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What to sow and grow in January.

Have you got your garlics in yet? If not, it's not too late, but you'll have to get a move on.

Grab yourself a nice big bulb of garlic from your local supermarket, break it up into cloves and plant them two inches deep and four inches apart in nice rich soil. Make sure they are flat end down and pointy end up. Cover them up and give them a little watering in and you're done.

If you like you can give them a head start by putting them in a glass, flat end down with a centimetre of water at the bottom. After a few days you should see some roots forming. Keep the roots in the water until they're about a centimetre or two long and then plant them out.

Sprouts & Micro Greens

At this time of the year when there isn't much salad stuff growing on the Lottie, I always like to grow myself some sprouts. They are easy, quick and very good for you.

There are lots of different seeds and legumes you can sprout. My favourites are Green Lentils, Mung Beans and Broccoli seeds. You don't even need a sunny windowsill to grow sprouts! Just a glass jar or sprouting jar, water and seeds.

This month I'm also going to try doing some Micro Greens. I'll let you know how I get on next month.

Here's a little short video telling you the difference between sprouts and micro greens and a picture of the last lot of green lentils I sprouted for may salads, sandwiches and snacking.

The Benefits of Composting.

Did you know that one third of all food produced across the globe is lost or wasted. Or that 240,000 tons of food is wasted by UK supermarkets every year.

Composting is the most environmentally-friendly way to get rid of our garden and kitchen food waste. Plus it can produce compost which is an excellent soil improver.

Over the next few months I will be explaining all the different ways you can compost, from cold composts, Hotbins, Wormeries and Bokashi composts for small apartments or kitchens.

Lottie News!

I can't say I had much luck with the strawberry tower I bought last year, so I'm experimenting with guttering this time round. My aim was to clear all the strawberry plants from one of the beds so as to free it up for more veggies. While digging them up I was really surprised to see that the plants were still flowering...in December!

We dug up the last of the potatoes I had in one of the big tubs in my garden. I wasn't expecting much because of the lateness that I put in the seed potatoes, but it was enough for three to four meals, which is not bad and they tasted divine.

Another monster parsnip was pulled up weighing in at 1.26 kilos! The smaller one has already been made into curried parsnip soup. I'm not sure what I will do with the large one!

My extra garlics and loo roll broad beans have now been planted and they have romped away and have survived the frost we had recently.

And last but not least, the new seeds that I ordered have started to pop through the letterbox. This year I'm trying to not go mad and order too many. Let's see how that goes eh! haha!

Members Questions.

"When can I start to sow my tomato seeds?"

It's so tempting to start sowing our seeds thinking we can get off to a head start early in the year, but unless you have heat mats and quite substantial grow lights, its best to wait until at least the end of February. If you start too early all you will get is weak, "leggy" plants that will never really catch up with seeds sown later in the year.

If you want to grow something from seed this month and you have a sunny windowsill or a greenhouse I would suggest onions or leeks, peas, the hardy Meteor variety or broad beans. I've gone for the very reliable Aquadulce variety this year.

So hold fire with the tomatoes seeds for at least another six weeks when the conditions will be better and you won't have your poor seedlings straining for light like mine did a while ago.

In the meantime, if you know of anyone who might like to become a FG4A member do feel free to forward them this email and get them to visit the website and sign up, it's free!

Or you can always catch up with what I've been up to on Facebook or instagram.

Keep safe and warm

Christine x

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“Planting A Garden With Food Potential Is One Of The Most Valuable Thing﻿s We Can Do.”

What to sow and grow in January.

Sprouts & Micro Greens

The Benefits of Composting.

Lottie News!

Members Questions.

“Planting A Garden With Food Potential Is One Of The Most Valuable Things We Can Do.”