Category Archives: organic

Events, News, organic, Our community allotment, Seedy Sunday

A round up of what’s happening @ Seedy Sunday, 3rd February

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Seedy Sunday is less than a month away! Here’s a summary of what’s happening on the 3rd of February.

Venue: BHASVIC, 205 Dyke Rd, Hove, BN3 6EG. £3 entry, kids free!

The Seed Swap

At the heart of Seedy Sunday is the giant seed swap table. Bring seeds to swap saved from last year’s crops. Seed saving experts and gardeners will be on hand to offer all the advice you need to choose and grow your seeds. You can collect Seedy Sunday envelopes from Infinity Foods in Brighton.

No seeds to swap? Simply make a 50p donation at the seed table. We have already prepared over 2500 packets of seeds to get us started on the day!

Learn something new with a diverse range of speakers and talks

This year we have herbalists, gardeners, authors, university lecturers, and an international NGO speaking about weeds as medicine, wildlife gardening, sustainable food production, and pesticides.

We are also hosting a Local Gardeners’ Question Time featuring:

Joshua the Gardener – after the popularity of his ‘no dig’ talk last year and the queue of people waiting to ask him questions, we are delighted to have Joshua join the panel.  He has lots of advice to share about no dig gardening, organic gardening and design.

Chris Smith from Pennard Plants – another Seedy Sunday favourite. Pennard plants specialise in heritage and heirloom seeds and Chris is a gold medal Chelsea flower show winner, accomplished speaker and potato expert.

Ros Loftin is our seed saving expert and is the heart and soul of the seed swap since 2012.  A trained horticulturist, she has been saving seeds for the past 10 years, and each year brings between 20-30 different varieties of open-pollinated heritage tomatoes to swap on the seed table.

The panel with be chaired by our very own Alan Phillips!  He has been involved with Seedy Sunday since the beginning (back in 2002!), including serving 5 years as the Chair.  He is an integral part of Brighton & Hove’s vibrant organic gardening community, providing expert advice to many novice organic gardeners on our Community allotment.

A world of discovery in the Market Place

Visit more than 50 stalls from specialist growers, seed merchants, charities and community groups and more.

Children’s activities galore!

As ever we have some fun and inspiring activities for children and their parents or caregivers. Making decorations, planting seeds and discovering how to make an ‘ecobrick’ from plastic waste, there’ll be plenty to keep young people interested on the day.

Infinity Foods and Cafe

A special thanks to Infinity Foods who generously sponsor us every year, display our posters and give away our seed envelopes in their shop on North Road, Brighton.  They run a fantastic stall on the day selling organic seed potatoes, and the award winning Infinity Cafe will be upstairs to serve teas, coffees, cakes and lunches.

Be inspired for the gardening year at Seedy Sunday!

Allotment, organic, Recipes

Warm Allotment Salad

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Here’s a simple, easy and tasty recipe with all of June’s wonderful produce in mind!   Thanks to Bhogg Chairperson Jenni for the recipe.  I can’t wait to try it out!

Ingredients

Potatoes
Broad Beans
Peas
Lettuce
Radishes
Any other seasonal veg
Smoked Peppered Mackerel OR Goat’s Cheese OR smoked tofu /tempeh

Quantities will depend on how many servings you want (and how much produce you have!)

Method

Chop lettuce and radishes into a large salad bowl.  Prepare strips of mackerel /cheese /tofu (you can heat these if you prefer).

Shuck peas and broad beans and place in a steamer. Boil the potatoes until they are just off being fully cooked, then place the steamer over the top to finish. Add the potatoes, beans and peas to the bed of lettuce, mix carefully and place your choice of mackerel, cheese or tofu on the salad.

Add olive oil and lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste.  Serve with crusty bread and a glass of something chilled!

 

Salad June

 

News, organic, Recipes

Winter Greens Trial update and fabulous traditional Japanese Fuyuna recipe

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The Winter Greens have provided the most amazing source of fresh veg over the dismal winter months. Visiting the poly tunnel has been like venturing into a tiny oasis even on the worst of the wintery days.

I have picked every week since the first harvest until at the peak I was almost unable to use all the crops as they reached maturity. As the weather has warmed and dried out the poly more, the plants have started to go to seed, but this has not prevented us from harvesting the tenderest parts of the huge plants and continuing to enjoy fresh, invigorating greens.

My Japanese friend Kyoko (who also provided me with some of the seeds for the plants) has given me a recipe from her mum for one of the Winter Greens – Fuyuna. Delicious!

Kyoko’s Mother’s Traditional Japanese Fuyuna Recipe

You will need:

Fuyuna
Oil
Abura-age (thin deep fried Tofu, you can buy those frozen in packs of 3-4 sheets in Japanese shop)
Carrots
Mentuyu (concentrated udon and soba noodle soup-made from fish broth and soya sauce and sugar)

Method:

  1. Wash fuyuna and cut them 3-4cm length.
  2. Rinse 2 sheets of Abura-age with boiling water in order to to rinse away the oil, cut them as little finger size.
  3. Cut carrots a little thinner than abura-age.
  4. You can add pork or chicken as your choice.
  5. Stir fry Carrots first then add Fuyuna. When those veggies are half cooked then add Abura-age.
  6. Add Mentuyu to half cover veggies. If the Mentsuyu is too salty then add some water.
  7. Put the lid on, cook it till carrots cooked – I quite like not too soft!
  8. Before serving it, cool it down a bit in order for the taste to go into the veggies.
Events, News, organic

Review: No Dig Gardening Talk by Joshua the Gardener

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We had an excellent illustrated talk by Joshua on 8th March at the Phoenix Community Centre.  Joshua was inspired to develop his raised bed veggie garden for his son with Down’s syndrome.  The soil was covered with cardboard, straw, manure, compost in a 2” deep layer, replenished every year, growing fab veg.  Worms and micro-organisms do hate to be disturbed; mulching with whatever is available is great for soil structure, preventing weeds, evaporation and keeping roots happy.

If anyone would like to take on the challenge of testing out their own ‘no-dig’ system, we’d be really interested in hearing about your experience.  We’d especially be keen to have a mini write up and pictures documenting your trial.  Let us know by email:  bhogg.org@gmail.com.

Review by Ruth.

News, organic, Resources, Tips

April: Top 5 tips

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April should be a time when we really start to feel the warmth of Spring; we hope the weather catches up to that idea soon.  Here’s our top tips for April:

1. Plant main-crop spuds – see the great “how to video” by Jenni

2. Plant onion sets (sets are baby onions rather than from seeds).  For more information check out the RHS guide

3. Pot up seedlings sown last month

4. Sow tomatoes for growing outdoors

5. Sow leeks and broccoli in module trays

News, organic, Resources, Tips

How to grow…. potatoes

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Traditionally, potatoes were planted on Good Friday.  This, of course, is not a set date, but moves around the calendar by up to a month.  I suspect it may have had more to do with Good Friday being a long standing common law holiday than it did with weather conditions, but links to the moon and gardening have always been exploited, so perhaps Good Friday signals an auspicious lunar time slot.

Whatever the reason, I find it a useful reminder of when to plant and I try to sow my potatoes around that date (and try to coincide with a mild spell followed by rain – potatoes are frost-sensitive).  I have sown both my early and main crop potatoes, but if you haven’t done so yet and if you’re new to growing, click on the video below.

 

Article and video by Jenni – BHOGG Chairperson

Events, News, organic

No dig gardening talk with Joshua the Gardener. March 8th

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No dig gardening, talk by Joshua the Gardener, March 8th, 730-9pm.  Phoenix Community Centre.  Free to Bhogg members, non-members £5

Joshua the gardener was very popular at Seedy Sunday, with a huge line of people waiting to ask him questions after his talk.  We are delighted to have him come talk to us at the Phoenix Community centre in a few weeks.

His talk is based around growing vegetables without the need to cultivate the soil so, no digging, forking or tilling. The no dig gardening method was made popular by Charles Dowding and having featured on gardeners world a few weeks back it is going through a rapid rise in popularity.  It’s a process of adding organic matter in layers and growing almost immediately. Healthier plants, healthier soil and bigger yields.

The talk covers all aspects of how to get started, sowing and harvesting as well as design points. The talk currently is around 60 minutes with plenty of time for Q&A at the end.

 

 

Events, friends, News, organic, Seedy Sunday

Seedy Sunday one week to go!

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There is a wonderful line-up of speakers, with a great range of talks including practical gardening advice from Joshua the Gardener and Pennard Plants, to a panel discussion about policy and legislation around selling seeds. The full speaker programme is available here.

There is also a fantastic range of exhibitors and stall holders this year: Along with familiar favourites, we are welcoming some newcomers, such as the Old Tree Brewery, Native Hands, FareShare Sussex and the Woodland Trust.

There’ll be some great children’s activities, including making vegetable print bunting, decorating seed envelopes, and the chance to have a go on a flour grinding bicyle!


Click here for the full Seedy Sunday 2018 Programme telling you what’s on and where. Paper copies will also be available at the event.

Seedy Sunday will also be hosting the BBC’s Gardeners’ Question Time again, with a panel of the best brains in horticulture: Eric Robson, James Wong, Bob Flowerdew and Anne Swithinbank. Tickets are available to Seedy Sunday visitors from 10.30am on the day – first come, first served.  The price will be £4 to cover the cost of hiring the main hall at BHASVIC; this is in addition to the £3 Seedy Sunday entrance fee.  Recording will start at 3.30pm.
Seedy Sunday is February 4th, and runs from 10.30 to 4pm. It’s at BHASVIC, 205 Dyke Road, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 6EG.  See the map here.  Please note there is NO parking for the public on site.   Visit www.seedysunday.org for information on public transport.

Events, News, organic

Phoenix Urban Gardening events

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Gardening Organically – Back To Basics – Wednesday 24th January, 7-9pm

Come along to hear BHOGG’s very own resident RHS qualified teacher talk about getting back to the basics.

Ruth Urbanowicz will explain the importance of the What? Why? and How? of gardening organically, and look at the history, context, and putting it into practice.

Free to paid up BHOGG members; £10/£5 donation non-members.

Meet at the Phoenix Community Centre, 2 Phoenix Place, Brighton BN2 9ND