June 2016 - SpadeRunner

June herbs from the garden

June 27, 2016July 14, 2016 Stephen Carlin

Midwinter here can be a little cool and gloomy when the clouds make an even cover all day, but it’s never long before we get some beautiful sun again. Our garden is productive right through Winter, and that includes aromatic leaves to pick for the kitchen; the June herbs. I thought I’d do an inventory of what I can pick, and maybe follow it with Spring and Summer versions. This is what I found on a walk round. Clockwise from the left, in an inward spiral, they are: lemongrass, curry…

Making a biochar fire

June 16, 2016June 27, 2016 Stephen Carlin

Biochar seems to be something worth trying here, and that involves either making a biochar kiln or building a biochar fire in the field. There are several aspects that make it seem an ideal soil conditioning process, from availability of raw material to the need to bolster our soils. It has taken a while to cut the wood, season it, and finally have good weather for burning, but we have at last made our first biochar fire, with good results.

Loofah: vegetable and scrubber in one

June 6, 2016 Stephen Carlin

This Summer I tried growing loofahs for the first time. I sowed a few seeds in with the green beans and cucumbers thinking that they could share the fence and trellis, and it turned out to be a good strategy. The loofah is a rampant vine, but it is slow to get going in early Summer, so my beans and cucumbers were finished before the loofahs took over. By Autumn my few plants had spread way beyond their bed, and right along the two fences of the vegetable patch available to…