Well it’s not quite ‘The Good Life‘ (I still love Tom & Barbara’s lifestyle and Margo’s fabulous fashion), in fact I’ve reduced the numbers and types of veggies this year.

2008’s veg patch includes potatoes, sweetcorn, spinach, cucumber, sweet peppers, lettuce, tomatoes (of course), jalapenos, rocket and radish. Radish are so easy to grow that you can give yourself an encouraging pat on the back every time you crunch one of your home-grown in a lovely salad.

The things I learned from last year and have tried to improve on this time are:

• Start sowing seeds earlier (well I did actually fail on this one because wedding arrangements sapped veg growing preparation time in April)
• Be realistic - There’s no point sowing hundreds of seeds if you don’t have the time or space to nurture them to your table. I was not realistic last year
• Be tougher on pests - I just can’t kill the creatures in my garden but I know I can’t ask them nicely not to eat the greens either, so I’ve tried to put them off with marigolds and gravel. The results? So far so good!
• More food - Yes, I know, this is obvious.
• Hope for the right amounts of sunshine and rain - Still working on this one!

Unfortunately I don’t have a lot of time to spend in my garden and so I’m starting small and building up. You never know next year we may get chickens for our very own eggs and the year after that who knows?! The Good Life here we come!!

For any of you who haven’t seen the old 70s TV show ‘The Good Life‘. Here’s a classic snippet from one of the episodes:

Of course, as a trying-to-be-green girl, I’m keen for us to do the renovations in as eco-friendly a way as possible… but the inevitable purse implications are hitting before we’ve even peeled off the first strip of wallpaper (which, incidentally, covers the entire house, all walls and ceilings too!).

So I’m posting here in the hope that fellow green girls will offer us some support and inspiration and perhaps their own eco home stories!

Our first job is to replace the big window in our kitchen (that doesn’t open!) with French doors onto the back garden, and replace the back door with a window. As we’ll be taking out the original PVC frames, now is the time to think about materials for the new frames.

At first, we were considering soft wood but due to the position of the doors (south facing, lashed by wind and rain and burnt by the sun) our builder advised against this option as they would need treating every year and would need replacing in about 5 years anyway.

We then headed over to www.greenspec.co.uk who advise the following:

First choice:• FSC durable temperate hardwood • FSC temperate softwood treated with plant based paint systems
Second choice: • FSC temperate softwood clad with recycled Aluminium
If you are compromised: • Use a certified softwood painted with low VOC paint
Avoid: • PVC • Aluminium without thermal breaks.

We had already ruled out the softwood options so headed over to local Sussex business, The Green Wood Company to check out hardwood frames. The staff were lovely and we were really hopeful until we opened the envelope and the quote tumbled out… £4000. A similar enquiry to another local company produced an even bigger quote.

uPVC, GreenSpec’s ‘one to avoid’ is suddenly looming large on our window frame horizon.

The issue is not just the money. We also have to bear in mind (as our parents have been quick to point out!) that this is not our lifelong home. We would hope to be here probably another 5 years. Imagine if we invested in hardwood only to have it ripped out by the next residents and replaced with uPVC to match the other windows in the house. Would it then have been better to have gone for uPVC in the first place? The mind boggles…

At the moment, we have our builder seeking out hardwood and uPVC quotes for us for comparison and in case he can get a better price - so the work is on hold. But if anyone has any suggestions or advice we would love to hear them - post your comments below!

Wood washed up on Worthing beach - isn’t there enough for our windows?!

Take care,

Katie

I’ve been reading in the Wall Street Journal how the big production builders are adding green elements such as Energy Star rated appliances and increased insulation so they can market their homes as “green” and sell them.

My question is why aren’t these few features standard in any home? And why are they only implementing them now - when forced by a housing crunch.  This leads me to believe that if our housing market wasn’t in such dire straits then the big builders would not be using any green features at all.  The WSJ agrees with me as they state “it is a strategy born out of neccessity.”

Basically it all comes down to money.  Homes built truly green cost a few more dollars yet they are better built.  Why? Because truly green built homes exceed building codes, we go above and beyond what is required of us.  When any contractor comes up to you and says “oh yeah I build to code” you should run the other way.  We green builders have a saying around that, “building to code is just the bare mininum anything less would be considered illegal!”

Although I despise the “greenwashing” in my industry, eco-terrorism is not the answer either, which is what is suspected in some housing developments in Washington State.

If you are in the market for a new green home please keep the ancient code of Hammurabi in mind: “BUYER BEWARE”

I must get this off my chest as it has been on my mind for some time now.  While watching TV one night a commercial came on for the building insulation product which features the Pink Panther cartoon character as its mascot.  I thought nothing of it until the very end of the commercial when the announcer said “Pink is Green”!

I nearly fell out of bed!  This was a very blatant example of  misleading the public and jumping onto the green bandwagon since it seems to be the fad du jour!  How you ask? The commercial advises its viewers to insulate their attic spaces to save on energy cost, this is good and well known across the board.  What I have a problem with is that I wouldn’t use this product to do it!!

Just because you tell your consumers to insulate their homes doesn’t all of the sudden make your product green!  That’s a freakin’ given in construction!  I went to Owens Corning website to investigate this further and despite their green efforts I became even more miffed.  I do applaud corporate giants that are at least trying to make a green difference but only when it’s done because it’s the right thing to do and not the latest trend.

Their website boasts of their use of recycled content fiberglass in their batts insulation.  So what!  So do the other brands.  Their site boasts of how their product is being used to help cut down energy costs in various applications, well guess what, so do the others!  What I couldn’t find on their site is one of the most important things that got me to switch to their competitor-Johns Manville (JM)- and is called out on construction specs for green buildings which is Formaldehyde Free! I even went as far as to call Owens Corning who told me that yes their product does contain formaldehyde, but the JM product is just a marketing ploy.  Oh really I asked, but why?  The response was their product is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified!  Excuse Me, but LEED only certifies buildings not products!! I was also told their product has the GreenGuard seal.  This one stopped me cold in my tracks until I went to the GreenGuard website.  Good grief it seemed like every insulation product ever made got their seal of approval.  I’m surprised toilet paper wasn’t on the list too!  Plus I also know that many third party certifications are industry funded.  Here’s a great article on that very topic which confirmed my suspicion.

What You Need To Know:

Truth be told there are even far better insulating products to use than fiberglass batts (I’ll save that for another discussion), but since this commercial showed the pink fluffy stuff lets stick with that - please be aware - regardless if it’s white, pink, or yellow, it doesn’t retain its R-value if it’s installed improperly.  Smashing it into the stud bays is the worse way to install batts, who cares if it’s the greenest, most sustainably made product in the world; it won’t do any good if it’s installed wrong.

I don’t hate the pink product and I am clapping with one hand for the efforts they have made thus far, and if I ever saw them at any of the many green building conferences I attend I would tell them (hmmm….I wonder why I never see the pink stuff displayed at the green building expos?).

I see my rant is long so I will stop now, but if I’m to believe that Pink is Green, then I guess I would also believe that burning coal is better for the planet because you’re not using wood from trees!

[No, I don't work for John Mansville :), and stay tuned for my next post when I talk about all the wonderful things General Motors (another coporate giant) is doing to make cars eco-friendly.  I'm serious!]

What can’t you do!  After harvesting a ridiculous amount of apples from my future in-laws allotment plot I have spent evenings baking and making various apple related goods, including cider vinegar, apple chutney, apple pies, apple tarts, apple and cinnamon buns.

As well as stocking up my freezer and pantry, I have distributed these goods between family, friends and work colleagues. All of whom have been most grateful, it does go to show you don’t need to give people expensive gifts to make them happy.

If you do have space in your garden I reccommend that you do plant some fruit trees and bushes so you can make your own delicious food too. Even in a small space you can have fruit trees because you can purchase restricted rooted trees which will grow in pots. So go on, get planting a fruit tree this autumn.

I’ve just quickly had to post this to show you following my last Veg Patch Diaries entry.

One more thing I need to add to the ‘to do’ list for next year - Keep the rabbit, Del, away from my corn!

Notice there is no sign of shame on his face.

OK, harvesting is definitely too grand a word for a handful of tiny tomatoes and a cucumber but they’re edible! Actually, I’m almost embarrassed to write this post after Anna-Lisa’s Garden to Plate article but here goes anyway.

As I was looking around at my plants and taking pictures for the blog I realised actually how much I’ve learned from this ‘practice run’ of growing. Previously I’d only ever grown tomatoes which is no huge achievement as they are pretty tough and provide lots of fruit but this year I tried a variety of veg with no prior knowledge or previous experience at all. I wish I would say that despite this lack of knowledge I’ve yielded a healthy crop that could feed us for the year but sadly that’s far from the truth.

However, from what I’ve learned I know that next year will be better. There are 3 simple things (within my control) that I need to improve:

1. More space
I’ve realised that I grew too many of each plant within a limited amount of garden and greenhouse and they didn’t have enough room to grow. For the things that I grew in pots, the pots were too small.

2. More food
OK, this is a pretty poor thing not to do and I don’t have any other excuse other than being ridiculously busy this summer. The poor plants simply needed to be fed more often, I can see that they’re lacking nutrition and I’m still expecting them to provide me with fruit and veg. BIG lesson learned there and very easy to fix.

3. Get tougher on pests
Although the slugs, snails and caterpillars have just about obliterated by cabbage, broccoli, onions and leeks I just couldn’t bring myself to use the necessary means to stop them. I thought I could keep them away using various barriers but the slugs and snails on my garden are determined and have no mercy on the poor plants - I have to step it up next year.

Beyond my control, less rain and more sunshine would be a huge help too!

Oh, and one more thing - I have to start reading about how to do this stuff instead of just guessing. It’s difficult for me though, I’m just not a ‘read the instructions’ person.

Anyway, some of the latest developments in the garden and greenhouse are the tomatoes and cucumbers as I mentioned already. There are many more tomatoes but they’re not ripe yet and the other cucumbers are still tiny.

The sweet peppers are only just flowering and the sweetcorn is just showing some tiny cobs (which I found very exciting indeed).

I thought that the potatoes I threw in a bucket had died but when I went to empty the bucket I saw they had produced a few baby potatoes, although they were green so I can’t eat them.

The poor veg patch itself which started it all is looking more and more like a giant piece of Nottingham lace with hundreds of holes from slug and caterpillar jaws. The broccoli keeps getting taller though so there might be some hope there.

When I was 21 I decided it was time to get on the property ladder however I didn’t have much of an income to get my dream house which would be a farm (will be dreaming for a long time) however I found a bargain of a house which had a farmhouse / cottage feel to it and a reasonable sized garden.

As soon as I moved in I wanted to get growing vegetables and flowers however I first needed to transform the garden which was just grass and patio. My only real experience of gardening at this point was helping my granddad on his allotment when I was a little girl. Thus inspired by my time with him when I was younger and his most prized possession ‘The Readers Digest - Food from your garden’ book (which I inherited when he sadly died) I began my hobby as an amateur gardener.

Over the last 4 years I have developed my gardening skills through trial and error and slowly created a garden that suits my needs. I have various vegetable plots scattered about, native hedging and wildflowers, a rock garden, a pond, mini orchard (comprising 4 fruit trees and lots of fruit bushes), lots of pots with herbs in and a pagoda that my fiancé and I built with our own hands using felled wood from a local nature reserve. I enjoy spending time in my garden, especially first thing in the morning when it is all tranquil as none of the neighbours are arguing.

I must admit though over the last few months I have neglected my garden and although I prefer it slightly wild as it is better for wildlife – it had gone very wild.

I thought that seeing as I was on annual leave today I would spend some quality time gardening. Wow. It was amazing, the sun was shining, the bees were busy collecting nectar and I got stuck in doing a bit of tidying up.

At the end of the afternoon I harvested a range of produce (pictured) and created a delicious healthy meal - it literally was from garden to plate. Whilst eating, I realised how fortunate I was to be able to nip into my garden for food and how environmentally friendly it is. No chemicals have been used, no transport was needed, no packaging. Growing your own veg is really good for the environment and you don’t need lots of space, if you live in a flat and have a balcony you can even grow them in pots, even on your windowsill. If you want some gardening advice then why not check out this fantastic site that I discovered today called ‘You grow girl’ – the site owner Gayla is extremely inspiring.

I’ve just realised that my last veg patch post was 29th June and since then a combination of endless rain and working long hours has meant that the garden had to take a back seat. I’ve kept looking at it out of the window and feeling less and less like tackling the jungle that it had become.

However, on Saturday we had some beautiful warm weather and I was in the mood to get the garden neat and tidy and show my veggies the TLC they’d been lacking. It was a good plan and I did quite well until I hurt my back and had to abandon the job part way through. Now the garden is just half messy.

Rain rain go away…

I thought I’d give you an update on the veggies anyway. I’d been feeling really bad because I had quite high hopes for this year, trying lots of new things and hoping to actually get food from the garden to the table but unfortunately it won’t be the success I’d wished for. I’m not going to beat myself up though, this is the first year and we’ve had exceptionally bad weather. So many other (more experienced) gardeners have told me about how they’ve been disappointed with their crops too so I guess I’ll just put it down to experience.

In the greenhouse

The tomatoes have become very tall and most of the flowers and fruit came out at the tops, touching the roof. I’m assuming that this is because of the lack of sunshine and the plants have reached up for the light. There are a few small fruit on each plant but the ones inside the greenhouse are not much better than the ones I tried outside. Here are the biggest tomatoes on one plant and they’re showing now sign of ripening yet.

I find the cucumbers to be really strange plants, they send out tendrils that grab hold of the tomatoes. I’m not entirely sure if I’m growing the cucumbers properly (in large pots, letting the leaves and stalks dangle down) but there are signs of tiny little cucumbers which have really sharp spikes on them.

The sweet peppers are growing tall and now flowering despite being munched on by aphids and the jalepenos’ stalks are becoming stronger and changing colour.

If anyone else is growing similar plants in their greenhouse I’d love to know whether they’re flowering or produced any fruit / veg yet. Last year at this time we were collecting tomatoes by the bowful!

Potato experiment

Just to see what would happen I put some old Wilja potatoes in a couple of buckets. They were already just sprouting but it didn’t take long for their tall, leafy stems to shoot right up. I think I can just see a small green potato under the surface of the compost but I’m not sure if and when I will actually get any potatoes from these. They seem pretty hardy though and haven’t been affected much by the rain.

Cannot live by radish alone

I nearly forgot to mention that we did actually get some radish although I know that is no great achievement as children learn to grow these at school. This was our second batch, the first in April were great, really big and peppery but this time I only managed to get 3 worth eating and they had hardly any flavour. The only thing that had been different this time was lack of warmth and sunshine, they’d been fed and watered in exactly the same way. Del, the rabbit, enjoyed eating the leaves anyway.

Outside

Embarrassingly my cabbage, spinach, broccoli and onions have all nearly been devoured by slugs, snails and caterpillars. I never did get round to buying biological controls for them and the barriers that I put up were obviously not enough. I’m going to leave what is left in the veg patch and see what happens, then maybe re-think the whole thing next year, plan a little better and prepare for the worst. I want to add carrots, courgettes and peas next year too.

However, one of my favourite things is the sweetcorn. That has been happily getting taller in the greenhouse with very little attention. So, I decided to re-pot them and put them outside to see if they would get even taller and eventually produce some cobs. Again I don’t really know what I’m doing and going for a ’suck it and see’ approach - can anyone tell me, is it too late for the sweetcorn to produce veg now? I was slightly cautious about moving them outdoors because I thought I might go to them the next day and find they’d disappeared into some creepy crawly’s stomach but they’re still there and I’m sure they’ve got even taller in the past few days.

So, how have your veggies been doing? Get in touch and tell us your veg patch stories.

I envy my friends over in the UK as I have learned natural pools are quite popular already. We here in the US still need to be convinced. I want to reach out to my American friends, that if you are going to landscape this summer or put in a pool won’t you please at least look into a natural pool. Besides being so much better for the environment and your health, they are quite beautiful!