Seedlings 🌱 #frithfarm #seedlings #permaculture #horticulture #csa #salad #birdseyeview

What a chore but what satisfaction! An afternoon well spent getting the rest of the beds lined out, now just to get some veggies in. #frithfarm #farmingthefuture #csa #permaculture #horticulture #cultivation ... See more

Strawberries are in flower 🍓. #frithfarm #farmingthefuture #strawberries #strawberry #inbloom #inflower #horticulture #permaculture #csa

Blooming nettle! #nettle #inbloom

A day well spent at Humber street vegan market today. The place was packed with like-minded people and it was great to hear such a positive response from people about local farming. Hopefully, you managed to catch us and some of our produce, if not watch this space for more markets in the future. ... See more

Plenty of wonky carrots here at the farm.

Billions of pounds of perfectly good produce are being wasted simply for being the wrong shape, color, and size. But Imperfect has a great solution!
www.imperfectproduce.com
Like Rob Greenfield for more videos like this! ... See more

Out of your pantry and into your garden - Millie Ross shows you how to grow black beans and chillies in your backyard.

Birdseye view of the farm

We spent the day up in the northeast, experiencing other CSA's and organic farming practices. We had a walk around Nafferton farm, showing us their research on organic methods vs conventional methods. We finished the day with a presentation documenting the evidence that organic foods were higher in antioxidants and omega fatty acids, while been much lower in carcinogens like cadmium. It was the positive affirmation we needed, a real buzz around small-scale organic farming is building. ... See more

We've made a film describing the work we do with our producer and distributor members. We launched the film on Saturday at the Land and Food Forum and are thrilled to be able to share it with you now..... Give it a watch, then share it across your social networks! Thanks to the lovely Black Bark films for their amazing work. ... See more

#August has been a delightful month for our gardens. Everything has been in #bloom and we've enjoyed #harvesting many of our #crops. Here is our roundup for the month...

Our #plant of the week is #Cobaea scandens - Cup and Saucer Vine. The Cobaea scandens is a half hardy annual climber #flowering from mid summer.

If you would like to make the #Cobaea scandens a new addition to your garden, it will require a sunny sheltered spot in fertile soil. #plantoftheweek #Cobaeascandens ... See more

#Dock is this week's #WeedyWednesday plant.

Dock grows large and is hard to eradicate, however like some of our other weeds it has some interesting benefits...

Dock leaves can be eaten in #salad or #soup when very young - before they get too bitter. They contain high levels of oxalic acid (like #spinach, #sorrel and #parsley).

This is extracted and used in baking powder; as a bleach for wood, removing black stains caused by water penetration; and - interestingly - as a polish and sealant for marble!

Despite the general advice, rubbing a nettle sting with a dock leaf does not alleviate the #histamine #sting.

#weedoftheweek #WeedyWednesday ... See more

Weedy Wednesday - Dock This week's weed is the farmer's scourge. Dock grows large and is hard to eradicate. And no, the leaves don't soothe nettle stings ..... In this weekly series, we take a quick look at common garden weeds. How they grow, what benefits they bring to the garden, and how to manage... ... See more

Learn everything you need to know about #seed saving with our half day introductory course.

Suitable for the absolute beginner, this course is led by our #Heritage Seed Library experts, you'll gain a detailed understanding of the benefits of saving seed and how to select plants for particular characteristics, as well as step by step instructions on saving seeds.

We have just a few places remaining so early booking is recommended to avoid disappointment. #seedsaving #heritageseeds #learn #courses ... See more

This half-day course introduces the basic principles of vegetable seed saving, including growing annual plants to seed, harvesting, drying, cleaning and storage.

You’ll gain a detailed understanding of the benefits of saving seed and how to select plants for particular characteristics, as well as step by step instructions on saving seeds. We focus on the more straightforward annual crops to allow you to immediately apply these skills to your next harvest - we’ll cover tomatoes, peas, french beans, lettuce, peppers and aubergines.

We will take a look at some of these crops growing on our site and guide you as you try seed cleaning for yourself. You can enjoy a tour of the HSL’s growing area and will have the opportunity to ask our experts any questions.

They have over 25 years of experience in seed saving between them so you’ll definitely be in good hands!

You’ll be able to take home a variety of factsheets to help get you started. This course is suitable for the beginner seed saver who has knowledge of growing vegetables. ... See more

This week's #fridaytip is to highlight powdery mildew season, when days are warm and dry followed by cold nights.

#Flowers and #shrubs, especially those growing under roof eaves, or close to a fence/wall will often succumb. To tackle this issue keep the soil watered well, even on rainy days.

#fridaytip #seasons #organicflowers ... See more

Your organic garden in August August is the time of bumper harvests in all parts of the garden. Lettuces, beans, potatoes and peas all waiting to be harvested and enjoyed. Flower colours tend toward hot yellows, oranges and purples. We are almost in autumn, so take a little time to savour the deligh... ... See more

Take a look for some inspiration...

We asked readers via GuardianWitness to share pictures of their allotments, to celebrate National allotments week. Here are some of our favourites

Good news! The free sock offer at our online clothing store on orders over £15 has been extended to midnight on Monday 28th August. Just enter SOCKY at the checkout to receive a free pair of bamboo socks.

All our clothes are made from ethically-sourced, 100% #organic cotton and proceeds help to support our charitable work.

Is it too early to say they'd made a great #Christmas present...?! ... See more

Our popular Cutting Edge Veg course took place yesterday. Participants were treated to a day of finding out how to grow vegetables herbs and spices associated with a more exotic range of cuisines.

They also learnt about crops from many cultures such as African #kale from Zimbabwe, #calalloo from Jamaica and spicy #mustard from Vietnam.

Everyone went home with their arms laden with unusual herb cuttings, tubers and roots to plant into pots.

If you're interested in enrolling on one of our half-day or full-day courses then take a look at what we have on offer... www.gardenorganic.org.uk/our-courses

#exoticveg #organicgrowing #organic #cuisine #vegetables ... See more

A little visitor to our garden today - the Green #Lacewing.
Snapped📷 by our Member Advisor, Sally.

We are really pleased to release our new seed packaging today! We decided a new corporate image was long overdue.

For the last day of #seedweek we'd like to talk about the Open Source Seed Initiative.

Patents & licenses on seed have spread to many parts of the world. Soon, farmers and gardeners may be unable to do anything more than rent seeds from the companies who control them. Already, the purchase of many seeds in the U.S. by a farmer is actually a one-time rental of the seed for a single cropping season. The license prevents farmers from saving, replanting, breeding, and sharing seed that has been rented, not purchased. Even plant breeders are prohibited from using these seeds to improve the crops. These legal restrictions benefit a few companies but threaten the food security of our societies.

Open source seed is seed of a plant variety the genetics of which cannot be restricted by patents or other intellectual property rights. Originally developed for computer software, the open source idea makes something like computer code, or seeds, freely available for use, and makes sure it stays freely available. The material is placed permanently in the public domain. It can still be modified, shared, bought, sold, and reproduced. Some people might may choose to improve the material to make something new. But the original material, and any derivatives must remain free for others to use forever, and cannot be restricted through patents and licenses.

You can read more about open source seed on the OSSI website below, or on our website at Real Seeds here: http://www.realseeds.co.uk/ossi.html ... See more

Free the Seed!

It's #seedweek! Read about the grassroots #seedsovereignty movement of across the UK and Ireland.

"Only 3 corporations sell 75% of the worlds seed; if we all start sowing open source, organic seed, we can grow a democratic food system." David Price, Seed Cooperative, Lincolnshire, UK

https://spark.adobe.com/page/TPzSXT2LOg0bB/?fbclid=IwAR0p2U0IevkBfVcswO-ba0r2PbF-AUZSeWqYAFPwuiXoHNE-I5JgMnhDFgs ... See more

New Seed envelopes in action! All running smoothly now after only a few adjustments: Our Ballard Brown Bag Seed Packing Machine from the 1880s. This is the first trial run of our new Art Nouveau paper envelopes, custom manufactured for us as part of our drive to reduce plastic packaging. ... See more

Exciting parcel from USA! First trial batch of custom-made paper seed envelopes for our 1880's "Ballard Brown Bag Seed Packing Machine"! Don't they look fine? Bottom picture shows the back when closed & opened - the green stripe is the latex stickum to hold the flap shut.
Next step is to test them in both our envelope printer and the packing machine.
(they did unfortunately use a draft copy of the artwork rather than the final version, but that's why you get trial runs done rather than just ordering 100,000 👍 ) ... See more

Great to see everyone at Newport Seedy Saturday today. thanks to everybody who came ; hopefully we'll see you all again next year with loads of home saved seed 🙂

Just getting ready for our own Seedy Saturday here in Newport. Anyone local, see you at the Tabernacle Chapel vestry (opposite Long Street carpark) 10am to 1pm 🙂

We got our latest shipment of seed from Italy yesterday, and Kate noticed the boxes on the pallet were now labelled in English. Read the small print 🙂

Are you part of a community seed bank project? The Community Seed Banks Academy may be able to support you with training, information and exchanges. They currently have a call out for applications.

Hopefully you're all enjoying the beautiful weather. This is just a reminder not to get *too* optimistic about sowing just yet.

Remember, in most of the country soil temperatures outdoors won't get above 7 or 8 degrees C until into March. Realistically beetroot, carrots, parsnips etc will just tend to sit and linger in cold soil - even allowing for the fact that we are very likely to get another cold snap.

We find that delaying sowing until late March or into April gives much better results, with later sown crops coming on quicker and more able to outgrow slugs & other pests.

Similarly, sowing indoors on a windowsill may be very tempting, but remember that your crops will need warmth *and* light once they're up, so make sure you'll have somewhere suitable for them to grow on. We've sown our peppers and aubergines in a heated propagator, they'll go out into an unheated greenhouse insulated with bubblewrap, but we'll bring them indoors overnight if the weather is particularly cold. Tomatoes will go into the propagator this week.

My main exceptions to the 'don't sow too early' rule are onions (need a little heat to germinate but then will stand any amount of UK- level cold) and peas which you can start in modules or trays and then put out as soon as they're an inch or so high. Again they'll happily sit through frosts. I'm going to sow my new favourite Jessy sugar snap peas today 🙂

http://www.realseeds.co.uk/germination.html ... See more

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