Green Thumb Guide: Homesteading and Gardening Tips

Ever wondered how to transform your garden waste into nutrient-rich compost? Join us as we unravel the secrets of composting with our expert guest, who will guide you through various techniques from traditional compost heaps to innovative methods like hot bins, and wormeries. You'll also gain practical advice on tackling common gardening problems such as over-watering and under-watering, and learn the art of seed saving, including which seeds are safe to save and which ones to avoid. This episode is brimming with actionable insights that will help you nurture a healthy and thriving garden.

But that’s not all—our journey continues proving that cultivating a green thumb is achievable at any age or experience level. Discover how gardening and home preservation can fit into any lifestyle, whether you have a sprawling farm or just a small window box. We share tips on starting your gardening adventure, utilizing and preserving your home-grown produce. With encouragement and expert advice, this episode will inspire you to make the most of your resources and embark on your own homesteading journey.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What about any coffee grains or seeds or eggshells or
anything else you know that canpossibly help nourish the
plants?

Speaker 2 (00:12):
All of those go in the compost heap.
I put coffee in the compost butI wouldn't put it on the ground
.
It's not so good for the groundreally.
There's one or two plants thatquite like it, but mostly in the
compost and I have differentcomposting systems.
So I have some which are allgarden waste, kitchen waste,
that kind of thing, particularpeelings, cardboard, whatever,

(00:36):
so kind of normal compostingsystems.
And then I have two ones calledhot bins which you can put food
waste in as well, and they area very thick, insulated,
plasticky stuff which the ratsdon't smell it.
So rats, I'm in the countryside, we get rats.

(00:57):
They don't smell the rottingfood and it composts at a really
high temperature.
So you can get quite a lot ofcompost in about three months
and put anything you like inthere cheese, fish heads, cooked
pasta, whatever can getcomposted.
So in a normal time there'sanything.

(01:20):
All food-based things in myhouse can go in one or the other
of the composting systems so wecan compost everything, which
is great.
I also have bakashi whichferments food waste and then
that goes in the normalcomposters.
And I have a wormery andcertain things go in the wormery

(01:41):
for worm compost.
I mean, I'm a garden writer,which is why I've got all of
these different things.
Normal people wouldn't quitewant all of them, I think, but I
need to try everything out so Ican advise and recommend.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Oh, absolutely.
I think this is great stuff, sothe listeners can certainly at
least follow one or the other,and obviously they can go to
your book and that's almost likethe bible of the gardening
world.
And what about common gardenproblems like over watering,
under watering and things likethat?

Speaker 2 (02:16):
yes, it's not good to do either.
I mean, usually you can tell ifa plant's underwater because it
starts drooping and lookingreally sorrowful.
And over watering can be justas bad, particularly if it's in
a tray and the roots getwaterlogged.
So it's just trying to work outfor the plant, depending on
where it's growing, how muchwater it actually needs.

(02:39):
Usually the compost mulch helpsconserve moisture, so most of
the time, once things have beenplanted in the garden and
watered in, then quite oftenthey don't need watering much at
all, unless we have a period ofvery dry weather.
So nature just takes care of itfor you.

(03:02):
My polytunnel, obviously, is anartificial environment, so in
the winter probably only waterevery three or four weeks.
In the summer it can be two orthree times a week, depending on
how hot it is and how muchsunshine we're having.
So it's really just a questionof observing the plants and

(03:23):
seeing how they're coping.
One thing that's a bit of amyth is we're often told don't
water plants on a sunny daybecause it will frazzle them.
And it doesn't, it's absolutelyfine.
So it's better to water in themorning if you can, just because
it's you're going to lose lessto the atmosphere and it's

(03:45):
better not to water in theevening because it makes a damp
environment and the slugs cancome along.
But it's better, if yourplant's looking droopy water it.
You know there's no hard, nofixed rules.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Okay, it's almost like how we need hydration
during a hot summer day.

Speaker 2 (04:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
That's interesting and that makes total sense.
So what about seed saving?
What can be saved and whatshouldn't be saved?

Speaker 2 (04:14):
I save what I can.
With seed saving it's verybased on how much space you've
got.
Some plants, like tomatoes, ifyou are very easy to save seed
from, and other ones are morecomplicated, like beetroot,
where you have to have a certainnumber of plants to cross
pollinate with each other tohave healthy genetic strain.

(04:36):
So and that takes quite a bitof space.
So it very much depends howmuch space you've got.
So, for example, I would Isaved all the seeds of the
tomato, of the tomatoes that arenot f1 hybrids, so you only
would save seeds from heritagevarieties, nothing that is an F1

(04:58):
hybrid, because F1 hybridsdon't come true.
So it makes sense to save seedsfrom things that aren't.
I would not save seeds fromcarrots here, because we have
quite a lot of native wildcarrot varieties and some of
them are very poisonous andthere's a small risk that with

(05:21):
wind pollination theycross-pollinate and you'd get
some horrible mutant thing withyour seeds.
I don't save the seeds fromsquash or courgettes, zucchini,
because they cross-pollinatelike mad and all of the these,

(05:42):
this type of plant, this familyof plants.
They have a latent gene whichis bitter and toxic and so most
of the time if you save the seedfrom a squash, you might get
something that looks like theparent.
You might get something thatlooks weird and tastes awful,
but it'll just be bleh.
But you have a very small butreal risk of getting something

(06:06):
that's poisonous, and you'llknow it's poisonous because it
will be bitter and sadly, peoplecan get very ill and
occasionally die of this.
So, so too much I'd rather know, and squash takes so much space
, so I want to know that whatI'm growing is exactly the
flavour and the size and thetype of squash that I want.

(06:29):
So I always buy those new everyyear.
I buy them from heritage seedcompanies.
But other things like peas andbeans are easy to save seed from
and if the beans arecross-pollinated you'll just get
something curious.
It won't be harmful.
I save a lot of my edibleflower seeds, my marigolds,
calendula borage, that kind ofthing.

(06:51):
They're very easy to save seedfrom.
There's some really good seedsaving books as well.
So if it's something you wantto do a lot of, it's worthwhile
getting some of those to justsee which ones are good to save
in your area.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
Okay, and so again, probably you know getting the
seeds from and following aproper cleansing and drying
process.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
all of that can be learned from some good books,
okay so I mean, there's how tosave tomato seeds is on my blog
and some things.
It's just literally waiting forthem to dry on the plant and
then, once they're completelydry and rustly, pop them in an
envelope and there you are.
That's it and other things.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yes, for sure they're a little bit more complicated
and also make sure where yousource your seeds from, and that
way you know that you're alwaysbuying the good quality.

Speaker 2 (07:46):
Yes, it's nice to support small companies if you
can.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
I mean, it's not always possible and how do you
store your produce after harvest.
You know how can you preservethem and also how can you
prepare your garden for futureseasons.
If you can just touch uponthese, please.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
Okay.
So preserving some things likesquash you put them on the
windowsill after harvest for acouple of weeks to cure.
They just make sure it'sthoroughly dry and I store those
on a shelf in the kitchen andthey're there all through till
May.
Just take them when I eat them.
Other things like potatoes Iput in sacks.
I store carrots and beetroot inthe ground through the winter

(08:34):
because the climate here is okayfor that.
I cover them with protectivecovering just to keep the worst
of the climate here is okay forthat.
I cover them with protectivecovering just to keep the worst
of the weather off.
Onions, garlic, they just hangin bunches.
They're quite easy.
I also things.
I've got a dehydrator so Idehydrate a lot of vegetables
and herbs and fruit.

(08:54):
So you know we've got jars ofdehydrated pears and apples and
things.
I've got a water bath canner soI do a lot of preserving and
different jars.
Mine's a German one and itwecks.
So I've got these nice jarswhere I store different kinds of
preserves in those, anythingfrom tomato sauces to pickles to

(09:17):
chutneys.
And I dream of having apressure canner.
I really want one, but they'rereally not so easy to get hold
of in the UK and they're moreexpensive.
And I see American homesteadersand they've got pressure
canners and I'm bring one to me.
That's my dream.

Speaker 1 (09:38):
Oh, I'll get you one if.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
I get to come see you if that is what I want, so yeah
, so that I do that.
And things like beans.
I grow beans for drying andthey dry on the plant, or
sometimes I have to dry them onracks and then, when they're
totally dry, they just go injars on the shelf.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
Very soon, and what kind of beans are you referring
to?

Speaker 2 (10:01):
Steph Right, my favorites are zar bean, which is
a kind of white runner bean andthat can be used like a butter
bean, and gigantis, which is aGreek version of bit bigger than
that and that.
So that's quite a big whitebean, not as productive, but the
flavor is so good.
And bolotti beans, which areitalian.

(10:23):
They're really good.
So that's a nice speckledybrown bean, some different
flavor, and I like to grow somecannellini beans as well.
So you get the little whitebeans which are good for
different things.
I have loads, loads of differentsorts.
I've got one which is like areally mad blue colour which I'm
quite excited about.
I grow, you know, speckledyblack and white ones just

(10:46):
because they look good as well,because it's fun, yeah.
So there's lots to choose from,and it's nice that it's
becoming more well known aboutgrowing beans for drying, so
that the seed companies havemore choice, and they do have
some which are bush beans.
So you don't need lots of space.
You can grow a few in pots,yeah.

(11:07):
So there's lots of differentvarieties and it's choosing one
that kind of gives you pleasurereally.

Speaker 1 (11:13):
Oh, absolutely, and I won't keep you long.
So how is it that one can be ahomesteader with a green thumb?
Is it natural, or is itsomething that can be cultivated
?

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Oh, definitely, definitely you can learn to do
it, definitely.
You come across people thateither have not grown a thing
until they're sort of 63 andthen suddenly start growing a
garden until they're sort of 63and then suddenly start growing
a garden, and also, so it'sdefinitely something you can
learn and also, I think it's,you can definitely do it in any
space there's.

(11:47):
You don't have to have chickensand geese and ducks, you can
just have a window box and thatis still your own little
homestead, I think it's.
You can also do that kind ofhome preserving thing by going
to your farmer's market or yoursupermarket and buy things from
there and preserve them yourself, because it's not.

(12:09):
That's fine too.
You know we all do what we canwhere we are.
So when I move, for example,I'm not going to have any
homegrown vegetables.
I'm going to have to go to thefarmer's market to get those to
make my food.
So I think, yeah, whatever size, and you definitely can learn
it.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Absolutely.
Thank you so much and it's beensuch a pleasure having you on
the show and I think thelisteners would thoroughly
appreciate your insights, andI'm sure everyone would be super
excited to start their owngarden.