Good Enough to Eat

How to be an Urban Farmer

I’ve been captivated by the BBC’s latest gardening series entitled ‘Edible Gardens’.  It’s presented by Alys Fowler, who lives in a terraced house in London, with her husband and their dog.  Alys’ dream is to tend a garden that not only keeps them in fruit and vegetables but that also looks good.  She’s influenced by permaculture, a sustainable method of agriculture which mimics the relationships found in natural ecologies.  Plants are not grown in straight lines in well defined beds but in compact interspersed clusters.  Problems are overcome with natural solutions rather than commercial products.  So Alys has a compost heap, a chicken run and homemade plant supports and bird scarers.  She plants salad in empty wooden wine crates, uses old stained glass windows to construct a greenhouse and turns empty plastic containers into windowsill microgardens.  There are successes (brimming bowls of salad, juicy cucumbers and freshly laid eggs) but also failures (seedlings flattened by unseasonal hailstones, tomato blight and a disappointing potato harvest).  Smiles alternate with tears, but there is an overriding sense of fulfilment and joy.

If you have missed the series so far you can catch up on iPlayer and read more about it on the BBC Gardening website.

Suggested Task: Make your very own Microgarden

Pierce holes in the bottom of an empty plastic takeaway container.  Fill with compost.  Sow with dried peas or beetroot, broccoli or mustard seeds.  Water.  Replace lid and place on a sunny windowsill.  Remove lid as soon as the first shoots appear.  Harvest after 21-28 days.  Feel good.

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I’ve been loving it too…