Little ones 🍅
(c) K Wicks
Tomatoes 2024
plants
Spring 2023
Spring in now underway, even though the weather is choppy and changeable, the plants are just getting on, as we all do.
Things starting to poke through, not all identifiable yet, but clearly things I thought had died off for good, didn’t. And some flowers I let the seeds fall for are doing their thing. Calendula coming back, blueberries starting to bud and the rosemary bush is getting ready to flower. So tasty salads to come in the near future.
It’s looking good so far. The elderberry plant now looks established after being a scrawny stow away found growing round the side, so we’ll how that goes this year. Some seeds went out yesterday for a few things, fingers crossed for those, and some seeding is planned. Time to get on 🌿
(c) K Wicks
Planting the seeds
It struck me this year, when I gave even more thought to food, growing and seed gathering, just how many plants have seeds. It sounds stupid to some people, of course they have seeds. But I mean seeds you can plant and grow a whole new plant from. Hundreds in some cases, thousands in others. Yet we casually discard them, or wantonly breed them out. I thought seedless grapes were great at first, then it dawned on me. If you can’t get the seeds from the plant, you have to buy them from somewhere. So it is in the interest of the food controllers to get rid of seeds. But you can’t just do that, so as far as I know, they came up with a cunning way to bypass that little detail. They tinkered with the genes and edited them, to be sterile. This is how I believe Indian farming has been tainted and ultimately controlled. Same with lots of African countries. They get offered ‘help’ with agriculture and farming practices, and get hooked into an ever more expensive buying cycle. It’s the opposite of self-sustainability under the guise of it.
But there are still really seeds and food all around us, growing back each year and finding it’s own way. Despite our uses of chemicals in pesticides, fertiliser and all the industrial waste we dump, nature finds its way. The birds lend a helping hand too, dropping all sorts of seeds as they go about their day. I have had at 6 cherry trees and 2 plum trees start in the garden from flyovers. And elderberry which has sprung up. Other things have found their way on the wind I suspect. This year though, I’ve been trying to be more proactive on saving seeds, to see what you can get from just your average garden and shopping. I’ll list them –
Raspberries, lemon, orange, tangerine, melon, peppers, tomatoes, carrot, sheep sorrel, wheat, rosemary / Calendula, pansy, nigella, poppies, sweetpea, snake’s head fritillary, erysium, yellow clover.
Getting started with growing things is so easy, and ends up creating a great routine which includes understanding nature and usually a bit of exercise and outdoor time. Being involved in the life of a plant is nice, and it’s a responsibility if you are it’s sole care-giver. Meaning, if you put it in a pot, make sure you look after it or you won’t get the best out of it. The same can be said of people I guess, but that will be another article, available here – Plants and people. But it is rewarding, in energy and with food, which is also energy, so it’s a swap. you look after the plants and they will look after you…
(c) K Wicks
Plants and People
It’s not hard to see in real time what the environment around them does to living things. Every person who has had a houseplant, and maybe struggled with keeping it in the best condition, will know what I mean. Or grown anything in a pot, where you are responsible for its wellbeing. It may seem obvious but I’ll spell it out, because people remind me of plants with the same need for nourishment and optimal conditions for the best chance of a healthy life.
If you put a plant in a dark corner, a pot that’s too small and don’t give it water regularly, it starts to look haggard. Drained and tired, struggling to hold on and make the best of itself. It’s awful once you realise it’s your fault, but can be fixed. A new bigger pot, fresh earth, water, sunlight. And within a couple of days, it picks up, starts to look fresher and more vibrant. Signifying the conditions are suitable.
The same can be said of people, and any living animal or organism. If the conditions are just right, they can flourish and grow, and if the conditions are not, it can turn them into a tired, stressed, strained, possibly angry version of their former selves. There are internal as well as the external conditions to take into account as well like nutrients, exercise, light and sleep, but they all play a part. This is why when the environment around us is engineered to be stressful, with fear and compliance as a driver, it will have an effect. When they talk of shutting things down again, dimming the sun and restricting your food, water and energy, it starts a mental process that leads into the physical one.
So, it really does boggle my mind that so many people, teachers, parents, education authorities all at the same time just threw children mentally under the bus when it came to lockdowns. Don’t get me wrong, I am no fan of the education system, and believe they are indoctrination centres for the early stages of development. But to have the whole system reorganised in an instant pretty much, with the timetables and goalposts changed constantly, and disappointment and grief thrown in to boot, it was a lot from the get go. Emotional, educational and developmental disruption was obvious, which is why it astounded me so much to hear people minimise it, or plain dismiss it. ‘They are resilient’ we heard. I won’t lie, I was shocked and knew what would follow when it finally became too obvious to hide, that they weren’t all just going to bounce back, and weren’t just able to breeze through unscathed in mind, body and emotional development.
That bring me back to plants, seedlings, and small budding plants. When they are in that crucial stage of development, if there are extra stressful circumstances, like lack of water, infections, not enough food, light, or space, it can severely affect the overall development and growth. Some can overcome these extra conditions and then thrive, if they are temporary and then corrected. Not all though. But left in the small, overcrowded, sub-standard conditions, life can survive and struggle on, but in a very limited condition and certainly not all make it, and not many thrive. So, I keep this in mind when I think of people and society, and of the daily environment that surrounds us, and of the expectations placed upon everyone to thrive and survive within that. Making sure to take responsibility for those areas when it is within your capability and not leaving it to someone else, because they may be trying to use a one size fits all approach or are working to something that benefits them and their environment or situation. Be the master of your own destiny, as the saying goes…
(c) K Wicks
Citrus plants
Citrus plants. All grown from seeds in orange, grapefruit, lemon & tangerine. The bigger one is last years, which survived the winter outside, and the 3 small ones are all new this year. It’s lovely watching them grow 💚
(c) K Wicks
April growing
Despite the cold and overcast days, the berries are coming along. Sprouting and budding a plenty now.
There is lots going on and I’m getting better at the whole process of it all. Hopefully there will be tasty things at the end of it 😁
(c) K Wicks
Hairy bittercress
This is a new find for me, although not new to my eyes or garden. It’s other name is Cardamine hirsuta, and is edible it turns out. It’s appeared as it does in spring but this year before clearing it all away as a weed, I thought I’d leave it as it has very pretty little white flowers and isn’t doing any harm. Then I thought maybe I should find out what it is.
The leaves are the tasty bit, a bit peppery but not too much like rocket. Just had a salad with some and it was nice. But the star of the show was the little rosemary flowers I picked to go with it. Having only looked them up the other day (as it’s flowering), and turns out they are edible too! Super sweet little bursts of rosemary, just super 👌
(c) K Wicks
Broccoli
I have started some seeds for carrots and broccoli, but so far the broc is winning by a mile (although it’s not a competition and I’m not judging them on it), but in just half a day, magic happened. From yesterday morning first thing it started…
And today they start their outdoor adventure, we shall see if they make it against the elements and the wildlife. I will do some learning along the way I am sure. Last time I did brocoli a number of year ago, caterpillars got them, so we’ll see how it goes.
(c) K Wicks
Growing update – 13.08.21
Things are moving along with growing new plants. The peppers are doing their thing and will now be given their own pots.
I have two ‘trees’ on the go as well that I mistakenly thought were cherries, but quickly realised they weren’t. They just appeared sprouting so not down to me. Still haven’t managed a definitive ID, but might be plum 🤔
I also decided to plant a tangerine seed. It took a few weeks and I thought it hadn’t taken, but patience is a good thing when growing things.
Its been a slow grower so far but has just started a few new leaves, so its looking better on the citrus front.
It all has to start somewhere.
(c) K Wicks
Last years garden
This year there have been changes, despite things working and not. This post will be the things that did to show in small garden you can have quite a diverse range of things growing. And still have some lawn for the dog to run around.
Yummy loganberry Bush, this one took straight away and branched out quickly. Although its was a good yield, I realised my mistake of planting it too close to the neighbouring fence and within another year it would be an issue. So its been moved into a big planter box. And a cutting taken which seems to be doing OK. Fingers crossed for this year.
I have a couple of types growing, one with pink flowers that didn’t do well, I think now maybe its just ornamental? But the other had lovely juicy strawberries I just had to get there before the wildlife. They photography well before they are ripe as well.
They have raged a bit out of control being honest, and are spreading. Even escaping under the back fence, but who doesn’t like strawberries growing!
I purchased two blueberry plants having tried before years ago and failed. But last year was different, working out where things should go pays off in the end, after years of trial and error. Only a handful of them made it, but they were delicious and thoroughly enjoyed.
I love redcurrants. I used to have a blackcurrant bush years ago and it was extremely plentiful. I just didn’t like blackcurrants!! So I have planted a red one and it looks to be doing very well this year so far and as you can see, last year was quite good on the harvest front.
I also grew some potatoes. A couple of supermarket leftovers that sprouted a bit too far, but they went into another meal, so not all wasted.
And cucumbers. They did rather well but I didn’t give them enough roof, of a solid enough structure to climb up (I ended making my own small trellis for them but it was too late, and it struggled with the weight once a number of them chunked out at the same time.
And some tomatoes. These were the first time growing them from seed on my kitchen windowsill and planting them out. I’m not that big a fan of tomatoes though, so rather than be wasteful, I’m skipping them this year. It’s different not going to garden centers anymore, I have to plan well in advance and have taken to saving more seeds and planting my own rather than just picking up ones that have been started. It’s good.
And it all helped to attract and hopefully feed some wildlife too. I had lots of lavender and nasturtiums too so the large and small white caterpillars/butterflies were happy and I got quite a smart little bounty out of it for a few days.
I also have some herbs growing, a rosemary plant slowly turning into a bush and flat leaf and curly leaf parsley. I did have chives but when we got a dog they had to go – if you didn’t know, onions, garlic, chives and leeks are all toxic to cats and dogs. I have only just found out it’s onions too, so that will be uprooted shortly (I had planted a supermarket leftover, but something else will have to go there instead).
I thought I might even try and be brave this year and eat some dandelion and nasturtium (if I get to them before the butterflies do that is). But we can share, I have planted lots of extra seeds this year for poppies and sweetpeas too and got a pack of bee friendly seeds as well, so we shall see what occurs over the next few months.
(c) K Wicks
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