Own Grown Gardening

I'm thinking, why not carry on the same general theme from my last post and continue discussing wonderous mulch. I've got to be honest, when I'm gardening, the mantra that plays through my head on repeat is, "Protect the Soil! Protect the Soil!" This year, to achieve this, I'm experimenting with a new living mulch, bird's-foot trefoil ( Lotus corniculatus ). I already have little seedlings coming up between my broad beans. They are growing nicely under a glass garden cloche, which is also something I'm trying for the first time this year. I'm very impressed so far. Considering we are only just into March, look how well both the beans and trefoil are doing. It'll be interesting to see how they progress. Why did I choose bird's-foot trefoil? There are several reasons. Like clover, trefoils are nitrogen fixers . By the way, broad beans fix nitrogen too, so this little patch of ground will be lushiously fertile after this crop. Additionally, b...

I'm feeling conscious my last post was rather sterile with so much text and no photos. I'm determined to rectify that today.   This is my first time growing pak choi and boy am I pleased with the results. I'm growing them interplanted with carrots, the ferny looking foliage, along with chard which are more difficult to distinguish from the pak choi. They both have wide spreading leaves.     Some stinging nettles have opportunistically taken up residence between these plants. An unexpected welcome addition. Honestly.    Nettles provide so many benefits. First of all,  nettles refuse to grow in anything but nitrogen rich soil indicating my raised planter is fertile. Considering how well everything is growing in it that's a bit of a given, but added confirmation is nice too. By the way, nettles are brilliant additions for your compost bin to help activate decomposition.   Additionally, nettles are delicious. Nettle tea, nettle soup, nettle pesto, Cornish...