Rustical

Category: Growing

  • The pumpkin season begins

    Usually we start the season with a giant pumpkin which needs a pallet under it to move it but this year we start with a tiny little pumpkin that barely fills a hand. These small squashes are just the job for harvest festival arrangements and rustic autumnal displays. These pumpkins are available now from www.BigPumpkins.co.uk

  • Sunflower Down

    Disaster! Came home to find the 2015 giant sunflower on its side. It makes it a bit easier to measure though… so at 12’6″ it means there was a little bit of growth since the last measurement but I suspect that was mainly in the head opening up fully. The seed head of the sunflower measures…

  • Growing SRC willow for firewood

    For some years now we have been growing a variety of traditional basket making willow for use as wreath bases, twig wreaths and wreath decorations with any leftovers and offcuts being used as fuel for use in wood boilers. Nothing at all goes to waste. We spotted a number of websites proclaiming hybrid willow and poplar…

  • Leafing Tomato Plants

    We usually only remove tomato leaves as they eventually turn yellow as the tomato plant slowly moves its efforts to supporting fruit higher up the plant (i.e. de-leafing the plant up to the truss that is producing ripe tomatoes). But, due to the very low light levels we have experienced this year we have got a bit ahead…

  • Gathering Onions and Garlic

    Our 2015 onion and garlic harvest began in earnest. The onions and garlic had been pulled and left to dry on the soil but now it is time to dress them up a little and then store them in racks at the shed.

  • Mowing draws the crowds

    Yesterday proved to be quite an attraction for the residents of our coppice with both hens and geese needing to see if anything tasty was being uncovered. This field was partially planted with ash trees (all grown from seed ourselves) but after news of the breakout of ‘ash die back’ we planted the remainder of the field with…

  • The giant sunflower has flowered

    I don’t know if they stop growing once they have flowered so we thought it best to take a measurement…. 12′ 3″ (3.73 meters). Definitely a personal best but I suspect it won’t be enough to win the local competition. All the plants in the local competition were from the same source  so it was…

  • Hydroponic Lemongrass Update

    A quick view on the progress of our fresh lemongrass being trialled in two simple hydroponic systems; both in a polytunnel that has no electrical supply. Pot Culture One is a very simple ‘pot culture’ system where the plants are in a soil medium with a capillary wick which dangles down into a reservoir containing…

  • Pumpkin Crowd Control

    I don’t think I can hold it back for much longer…

  • Surplus Veg

    Even though we are nearing the end of July, the sun has not done much shining, whilst it is relatively early in the growing season yet we have more than enough home grown vegetables to warrant a real treat of mediterranean style rustic roast vegetables (with a sneaky little sweetcorn starter while we are waiting). Roughly…