"There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments"

Janet Kilburn Phillips

It's seed sowing time!

Hi Everyone.

This is the time of year I go through my many seed packets to decide what I plan to grow in the coming season. One of my favourites are beans. What never ceases to amaze me is how just one bean seed can potentially produce such an amazing amount of food. And if you dry your beans, you are basically growing your own protein.

So what have we got in store for you this month.

What to sow and grow in February.

Only three places left 😯

Growing potatoes?

Find your Ikigai through gardening

Gardening quote of the month.

And lastly, Lottie news.

🥦🍅🥒🌶🍠🌽🍓🫑🫐🍐🥕

What to sow and grow in in February.

Mid February is the usual time to start your seed sowing indoors on a windowsill or in a greenhouse or cold frame. We're looking at hardy veg at the moment that prefer the cooler weather. Turnips, Kale, Spinach, Spring Onions, Peas for shoots, Lettuce, Cauliflower, Radish and for herbs, Parsley, Coriander and Dill.

If you missed getting your Garlic in the ground, now is about your last chance. The Garlic cloves you plant will need a minimum of a couple of weeks where the temperature is below 10C as this is when the cloves start to separate and go from one clove to a bulb of many cloves. This is not your last chance for Broad Beans though as you can still sow them into late Spring, but if you have a problem with mice in your growing space outside, you might want to start these off in root trainers or toilet roll tubes until you see the roots poking through the bottom. Like the one shown below. Mice are very hungry at this time of year and they love nothing more than a nice Pea or Bean to dig up and eat.

There's still no rush to start sowing anything really at the moment, apart from the Garlic, especially if you don't have much indoor or outdoor undercover space. You'll be surprised how quickly later sowings will catch up when the warmer weather arrives.

Only three spaces left!

Are you new to growing your own food? Or have you ever said “Anything I grow always dies or gets eaten by pests!”? If the answer is YES! Then this is the course for you.

I’d like to show you how it is possible to grow a substantial amount of organic food from seed for little money.

We will cover basic subjects like sowing, potting up, growing on, how to deal with pests, and I’ll cover 25 different types of vegetables on where, how and when to grow them. All the tips and tricks I have learnt from my almost 20 years experience of growing my own food.

It’s just £5 a month to cover my costs. Click HERE to book your place, or EMAIL me for more info.

Hurrah! For the humble Spud

I have to say, Potatoes must be one of the easiest things to grow. If you've never tasted a new Potato that was dug up that day, washed, boiled and covered in your butter of choice, you've not lived. Mmmmm 😋

Also, to see young children's faces when they dig up a Potato from the soil with their eyes wide open, squealing with excitement having found some treasure, it just makes it all worthwhile. I'd like to think that I'm a little more restrained when I harvest mine, but inside I'm also squealing with delight.

You needn't have a lot of growing space to grow Potatoes. They grow very well in pots or Potato bags on balconies or patios.

Now is the time to think about where you will get your seed Potatoes from and what sort of Potatoes you want to grow. Ben's video is a great place to start.

Find your Ikigai through gardening.

For a long time now I've been interested in the Japanese philosophy of Ikigai. You may have seen the venn diagrams of overlapping circles that include, what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for with the centre being Ikigai. This however is a very Western view of the philosophy with Japanese people using the concept in a more simpler way. In a nut shell it's taking the time to find joy in small, simple acts and living in the now. Looking at a flower, quietly enjoying your morning coffee or stroking your favourite pet.

There is increasing evidence that gardening provides substantial human health benefits and may even help you to live longer. There's an interesting blog HERE about it if you want to read more.

Not only does gardening allow you to get your Vitamin D and give you a good workout; it can give you nutrient dense organic food and probably most importantly, get you more connected with nature which will in turn lift your mood and relieve anxiety and depression.

I know from my own experience that if don't at least walk around my garden or attend to my houseplants on a regular basis I feel something is missing.

"By integrating elements of Ikigai into your gardening routine, each moment spent outdoors can blossom into deeper joy and fulfilment—a peaceful reflection of who you are within nature's embrace."

Gardening quote of the month.

You don't stop gardening because you get old, you get old when you stop gardening.

🥦🍅🥒🌶🍠🌽🍓🫑🫐🍐🥕

Lottie News!

As you were probably well aware, the beginning of January had our first proper frost of the winter. The Brassicas took it all in their stride, but I felt the need to tuck up my hardy Peas in some fleece just to be on the safe side. The poly tunnel went down to -4C at one point overnight, but that's nothing compared to a fellow food gardener friend I have in America who said she was dealing with -13.3C, now that is cold! 🥶

The propagator was looking very full after I had potted up the Aubergine, Pepper and Chilli seedlings I had sown a couple of weeks earlier. Under the new LED lights they had started growing their first set of true leaves, which I was very pleased about. I am also very pleased with my Onion seedlings that are now on my cooler kitchen windowsill.

One of my disappointments this last season was yet again my Brussel Sprouts. I think I've moaned about these before, but I think I might have discovered the reason for their lack of size. I suspect after many discussions with fellow food gardeners on Instagram that it might have been not enough watering during the summer months. With this bit of encouraging piece of information I will be growing them again this year. I have not given up yet!

I had a good clear out of a lot of my seed packets, ones I'd been given, got free in gardening magazines or simply didn't want to grow again. I donated them to the Kew The Transition seed library like I have done over the past couple of years. They are a new grassroots community group that do amazing things like repair cafés, community gardens and markets and many other things.

And lastly, yesterday my seed Potatoes arrived in the post, which means I'll have to find a cool bright spot to chit them before they get planted in the next several weeks. Spring is not far away people! 👏

If you have a food gardening question you'd like to ask just pop me an email and I'll see how I can help. I don't proclaim to be an expert, but I will do my best to answer any of your questions.

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.

Christine x

Visit the Website

Send An Email

33 South Worple Way

London, SW14 8PB United Kingdom