1 00:00:05,850 --> 00:00:10,380 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Veg Grower Podcast. 2 00:00:10,410 --> 00:00:14,070 My name is Richard and I want to encourage and inspire more 3 00:00:14,070 --> 00:00:18,720 people to grow their own food. And I do this by sharing what I've 4 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:22,410 been doing in my own allotment and my own garden, which I call 5 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:27,150 my modern day victory garden. Now coming up this week, 6 00:00:27,150 --> 00:00:32,470 my tomatoes are not ripening, and by now I'd expect to have some 7 00:00:32,470 --> 00:00:36,250 tomatoes from the greenhouse. Added to that, I've also started 8 00:00:36,250 --> 00:00:39,880 a little project I want to share with you a side project. 9 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:44,890 It's more of an upcycling project, and I have been gifted something 10 00:00:44,890 --> 00:00:48,310 for the allotment. Added to that, Chef Scott has a 11 00:00:48,310 --> 00:00:52,900 delicious elderflower and lemon posset recipe for us, 12 00:00:52,930 --> 00:01:01,060 So let's get into it, shall we? While I'm here in my greenhouse, 13 00:01:01,060 --> 00:01:05,590 here at home and in this greenhouse, I do have some tomato plants along 14 00:01:05,590 --> 00:01:09,430 with my cucumber plants as well. Now our cucumbers are actually doing 15 00:01:09,430 --> 00:01:13,360 really, really well this year. We've harvested quite a few cucumbers 16 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:18,230 and really, really enjoying them. But the tomatoes they have been 17 00:01:18,230 --> 00:01:22,970 a totally different problem. The main reason being is that I'm 18 00:01:22,970 --> 00:01:27,050 noticing our tomatoes are not ripening by this time of year. 19 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:31,220 I would expect to be harvesting some tomatoes from the greenhouse. 20 00:01:31,340 --> 00:01:34,310 Not happening. They are still very green. 21 00:01:34,310 --> 00:01:38,900 I'm checking on them almost daily to see if they will ripen and turn 22 00:01:38,900 --> 00:01:42,570 to that red or yellow or orange, depending on what the variety of 23 00:01:42,570 --> 00:01:47,340 tomatoes is. Now, this is a bit concerning because 24 00:01:47,340 --> 00:01:50,700 I would have thought by now we would have plenty of tomatoes at 25 00:01:50,700 --> 00:01:54,480 outdoor tomatoes probably wouldn't be harvesting them just yet. 26 00:01:54,630 --> 00:01:58,050 I've also noticed that our tomatoes just are not as tall as 27 00:01:58,050 --> 00:02:00,870 they would normally be. There are only about 3 or 4 foot 28 00:02:00,870 --> 00:02:03,480 tall, and normally I would expect them to 29 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:07,990 be nearly up to the roof by now, Certainly in this greenhouse anyway. 30 00:02:08,890 --> 00:02:11,320 Now, I know I'm not the only person that's suffering from this. 31 00:02:11,350 --> 00:02:15,880 A lot of people I've read and have contacted me about the same problem, 32 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:18,340 so it's definitely seems like there's something going on this 33 00:02:18,340 --> 00:02:23,710 year that is causing these issues. So let's have a quick look at 34 00:02:23,710 --> 00:02:27,010 the science behind why these tomatoes aren't ripening. 35 00:02:27,550 --> 00:02:31,750 Now there's a variety of reasons why these tomatoes aren't ripening, 36 00:02:31,750 --> 00:02:36,130 but the main thing is it's all down to a plant hormone called ethylene. 37 00:02:36,610 --> 00:02:41,470 And ethylene is like a gas that a plant will emit or a fruit 38 00:02:41,470 --> 00:02:46,810 will emit in order to ripen. And that hormone is clearly not 39 00:02:46,810 --> 00:02:52,390 being produced by the plant. So what would cause it to not be 40 00:02:52,390 --> 00:02:55,820 produced? Lack of temperature is the first 41 00:02:55,820 --> 00:02:57,620 thing. Generally speaking, 42 00:02:57,620 --> 00:03:01,280 between 20 degrees C and 30 degrees C is the temperature. 43 00:03:01,310 --> 00:03:06,080 We want to encourage these plants to grow and to ripen. 44 00:03:06,380 --> 00:03:10,010 Now over 30 degrees C tomato plants won't grow or ripen. 45 00:03:10,010 --> 00:03:13,580 So it's that Goldilocks temperature. Now what I'm noticing in this 46 00:03:13,580 --> 00:03:16,910 greenhouse, I do have a little thermometer that I keep an eye on, 47 00:03:16,910 --> 00:03:21,210 and I'm not really seeing temperatures above 20 degrees C 48 00:03:21,210 --> 00:03:25,140 this year, so I kind of feel that's the problem we have here is 49 00:03:25,140 --> 00:03:30,090 that it's just not warm enough. We've had a very cold year so far. 50 00:03:30,090 --> 00:03:33,390 In reality, we've had a few days where we've got over 20 degrees C, 51 00:03:33,390 --> 00:03:37,230 but on a whole it's not really been above 20 degrees C. 52 00:03:37,830 --> 00:03:41,280 There's also a lack of light as well because it has been very overcast 53 00:03:41,280 --> 00:03:45,880 this year and And that is another thing that stimulates this ethylene. 54 00:03:45,880 --> 00:03:49,270 So the two factors are going on together. 55 00:03:49,270 --> 00:03:53,170 And I do think that is the main problem why we are not seeing 56 00:03:53,170 --> 00:03:56,620 these tomatoes ripen. Added to that, of course there are 57 00:03:56,620 --> 00:03:59,800 other things that could be going on, like if we're not feeding and 58 00:03:59,800 --> 00:04:03,100 watering our plants properly, that could cause the plants to be 59 00:04:03,100 --> 00:04:08,950 stressed or over nitrogen with the fertilizer that can cause more 60 00:04:08,950 --> 00:04:13,390 lush growth as opposed to fruit production. So not a problem for me. 61 00:04:13,390 --> 00:04:16,630 I use a tomato feed on a two weekly basis. 62 00:04:16,660 --> 00:04:20,230 Not a problem for me here, but it's another thing to think 63 00:04:20,230 --> 00:04:24,460 about if you are struggling. Now the next question is what 64 00:04:24,460 --> 00:04:29,140 can we do to try and aid it? Well, the first thing that I'm going 65 00:04:29,140 --> 00:04:33,920 to try and do is just remove some of the lower leaves of these plants. 66 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:39,590 I'm looking for any leaves that are below the first truss of tomatoes 67 00:04:40,190 --> 00:04:44,030 and I'm just removing them. What this will hopefully do is 68 00:04:44,030 --> 00:04:48,110 encourage the plant to activate that hormone and get the plants 69 00:04:48,110 --> 00:04:52,010 producing ethylene. It would also allow in a bit more 70 00:04:52,010 --> 00:04:55,610 light, and we might have to remove some of the leaves to allow sunlight 71 00:04:55,620 --> 00:05:00,060 to get to the tomatoes as well. That might just encourage these 72 00:05:00,180 --> 00:05:04,800 fruits to start arriving in. Another thing of course we can 73 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:08,430 remove is the suckers. They say we should be removing those 74 00:05:08,430 --> 00:05:11,640 anyway. They're not really needed. Now, if that doesn't work, 75 00:05:11,640 --> 00:05:14,850 the other thing that we could do is hang up bananas. 76 00:05:14,850 --> 00:05:18,450 Bananas actually emit the ethylene gas because that's what 77 00:05:18,450 --> 00:05:21,660 they naturally do. Bananas shouldn't be kept in the 78 00:05:21,660 --> 00:05:24,120 fruit bowl, as I'm sure you're aware. That's why you often have them 79 00:05:24,120 --> 00:05:27,150 in an opposite side of a room, because they can actually cause 80 00:05:27,150 --> 00:05:30,690 fruits to spoil because of this gas that they send out. 81 00:05:30,690 --> 00:05:34,020 So we could hang some bananas up in here near the tomatoes to 82 00:05:34,020 --> 00:05:36,360 encourage them to ripen. But that's going to be something 83 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:41,280 I might do a week or so if these tomatoes don't ripen. 84 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:44,890 So to summarize the reason that we're not getting tomatoes 85 00:05:44,890 --> 00:05:48,670 ripening at the moment is due to the weather once again cold, 86 00:05:48,670 --> 00:05:53,170 lack of sunlight, lack of ethylene. What we want to do is encourage these 87 00:05:53,170 --> 00:05:56,890 plants to increase the ethylene gas, the ethylene hormone, 88 00:05:57,130 --> 00:06:01,060 which can be done by allowing more sunlight and warmer weather. 89 00:06:01,060 --> 00:06:02,980 What we really want is warmer weather, isn't it? 90 00:06:02,980 --> 00:06:06,430 At the end of the day, right, I'm going to take these leaves that I 91 00:06:06,430 --> 00:06:08,960 have removed off to the compost bin. And then I'm going to talk to 92 00:06:08,960 --> 00:06:12,140 you about another project that I have started. 93 00:06:12,140 --> 00:06:13,880 In the meantime, let's find out what's been going 94 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:16,730 on in a supporters club this week. 95 00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:27,650 Well, I sincerely hope you were enjoying this podcast so far. 96 00:06:27,650 --> 00:06:32,700 If you are, then please do rate and review on your podcast provider. 97 00:06:32,820 --> 00:06:36,840 It really does go a long way in helping the algorithms show us 98 00:06:36,840 --> 00:06:40,920 off to more people and get us found by more people, 99 00:06:41,460 --> 00:06:44,670 and those people might also be interested in growing their own food, 100 00:06:44,670 --> 00:06:48,480 so it helps everybody out. Now added to that, 101 00:06:48,480 --> 00:06:51,840 we keep this podcast running by the Supporters Club. 102 00:06:52,110 --> 00:06:56,160 The Supporters Club is a club that I've set up in order to keep the 103 00:06:56,160 --> 00:07:00,990 wheels running on this podcast for just £5 a month to be a member, 104 00:07:00,990 --> 00:07:04,890 you get access to extra behind the scenes content, 105 00:07:04,890 --> 00:07:09,450 as well as a monthly seed pack sent to your door every month. 106 00:07:09,480 --> 00:07:14,580 Usually, this pack contains six packs of seeds, as well as our 107 00:07:14,580 --> 00:07:18,810 monthly newspaper or mini newspaper, as I like to call it. 108 00:07:18,930 --> 00:07:22,900 And all that is for just £5 a month. Head to the Veg podcast. 109 00:07:23,110 --> 00:07:28,030 Co.Uk to find out more. Now this week in the supporters club 110 00:07:28,030 --> 00:07:31,510 we have been sewing a few seeds. We have been sewing some Swiss chard 111 00:07:31,510 --> 00:07:36,730 and some dill, and I've also been talking about how well my plans for 112 00:07:36,730 --> 00:07:40,720 the weekend and what we've managed to accomplish over the weekend on our 113 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:44,590 allotment and our vegetable patch. And I've also discovered some results 114 00:07:44,590 --> 00:07:49,310 of using a product that I've been testing for slugs and snails. 115 00:07:49,490 --> 00:07:53,240 It really is working quite well. To find out more, head to the 116 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:59,810 Vegetable Garden podcast, echo.uk. I went in my garden today and I'm 117 00:07:59,810 --> 00:08:04,040 starting a kind of new project now. This is something I've wanted to 118 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,130 do for quite a while, and I guess you could say it's a 119 00:08:07,130 --> 00:08:11,790 upcycling project that is quite often quite popular in gardening. 120 00:08:12,480 --> 00:08:16,080 While I was at work during this week, I was working in the kitchen and I 121 00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:21,300 noticed the chef had used a couple of large tins of tomato sauce. 122 00:08:21,570 --> 00:08:27,360 And these are 4100g of tomato sauce, so they're quite a bit larger 123 00:08:27,360 --> 00:08:30,480 than what we would normally get. I asked a chef what he was going 124 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:32,160 to do with the tins. He said he was just going to 125 00:08:32,160 --> 00:08:35,730 throw them away, so I asked if I could have them and he said yeah, 126 00:08:35,760 --> 00:08:40,200 completely gave them a good wash out and I brought them home. 127 00:08:40,710 --> 00:08:44,580 What I want to do with these is make them into some nice plant pots. 128 00:08:44,610 --> 00:08:47,730 This has been a common thing I used to see all the time, and I 129 00:08:47,730 --> 00:08:52,410 really like the idea of it better. I'm going to do it for the first 130 00:08:52,410 --> 00:08:55,770 time. So what I've already done is I've 131 00:08:55,770 --> 00:09:00,280 drilled a drainage hole now Normally on plant pots, people will drill 132 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:05,140 the drainage hole on the bottom. But what I can see with that, when we 133 00:09:05,140 --> 00:09:08,890 place these tins down on the ground, if they drilled on the bottom, the 134 00:09:08,890 --> 00:09:11,710 water is going to struggle to escape. It's going to be a bit blocked 135 00:09:11,710 --> 00:09:14,200 by the ground. So what I've actually done is 136 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:17,350 I've drilled an eight millimetres hole about an inch 137 00:09:17,350 --> 00:09:21,970 up from the bottom on the side, and I've only drilled a single hole. 138 00:09:22,370 --> 00:09:26,120 Now, there's the reason I do this is because it's kind of creates 139 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:30,560 a well at the bottom that holds onto water and just keeps our soil 140 00:09:30,560 --> 00:09:34,280 hydrated for a little bit longer. I do this quite often now because 141 00:09:34,280 --> 00:09:38,150 I've experimented with it and found it works quite well. 142 00:09:38,240 --> 00:09:40,760 Now, I've already drilled the holes on these because I thought 143 00:09:40,910 --> 00:09:43,460 that's going to be a bit noisy to do on the microphone. 144 00:09:43,460 --> 00:09:48,950 So what I'm going to do now is fill up the base of these plants, 145 00:09:49,070 --> 00:09:53,120 or the base of these pots up to that drainage hole with some perlite. 146 00:09:54,410 --> 00:09:59,330 Napoli is a common thing that I use. A lot of it acts like a sponge. 147 00:09:59,330 --> 00:10:02,690 It absorbs water, it holds onto water and nutrients, 148 00:10:02,690 --> 00:10:06,020 and using it on the base, it just creates a nice sort of 149 00:10:06,020 --> 00:10:10,280 textured area for holding onto water. So I'm filling it up with 150 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:12,600 perlite and then we're going to fill it up with compost. 151 00:10:12,630 --> 00:10:17,400 Now I should say before we do this, we could of course paint this tin 152 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:21,840 bit of metal paint, spray paint, different colors or anything just 153 00:10:21,840 --> 00:10:24,930 to make it a bit more attractive. Personally, I like the look of 154 00:10:24,930 --> 00:10:28,110 it without any paint, so I'm leaving it as it is. 155 00:10:28,110 --> 00:10:31,020 It's got a picture of a pizza with some basil on it. 156 00:10:31,170 --> 00:10:35,380 It says Pizza Sauce Classica and the company that manufactures them 157 00:10:35,380 --> 00:10:40,780 and all the ingredients and stuff. Anyway, that's just other ideas that 158 00:10:40,780 --> 00:10:44,800 I could come up with to make it a bit more attractive. Perlite is in. 159 00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:46,990 Well, I'm now going to do is fill it up with compost. 160 00:10:46,990 --> 00:10:51,850 Both of these up with compost and I'm going to plant in my ginger plants. 161 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:54,550 Now I've got several ginger plants. Now I've been building up my 162 00:10:54,550 --> 00:10:57,850 collection, but two of them need to go into a bigger pot. 163 00:10:57,850 --> 00:11:02,450 And I think this these tins are ideal for it. 164 00:11:02,480 --> 00:11:05,300 Now, once these are planted into this pot, all I've got to then do 165 00:11:05,300 --> 00:11:07,910 I will keep my ginger indoors, to be honest with you. 166 00:11:07,940 --> 00:11:10,760 Keep them growing on the kitchen windowsill. 167 00:11:10,790 --> 00:11:15,110 I treat ginger like a houseplant. It loves its warmth. 168 00:11:15,110 --> 00:11:18,650 So we're going to continue growing it inside the house, 169 00:11:19,250 --> 00:11:23,300 and it will give just the plants a bit more room to grow and hopefully 170 00:11:23,300 --> 00:11:26,450 give us some bigger ginger. Now, what I like about this 171 00:11:26,450 --> 00:11:29,240 project is that using these tins, it's upcycling. 172 00:11:29,240 --> 00:11:32,240 I've seen it used to be very, very popular in a lot of 173 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:35,690 magazines to do this because it was just an attractive way of 174 00:11:35,690 --> 00:11:38,900 growing things like herbs. Basil would look great in this, 175 00:11:38,900 --> 00:11:43,880 but not just herbs, other plants, chilies, peppers and things like 176 00:11:43,880 --> 00:11:47,760 that would look great in this too. Obviously this year is probably a 177 00:11:47,760 --> 00:11:51,660 little bit too late to get those grown from seed, but they're still 178 00:11:51,660 --> 00:11:55,680 selling them in garden centers. But I would say it's also possibly 179 00:11:55,680 --> 00:11:59,670 a little bit too late unless we get a good year, of course. 180 00:11:59,670 --> 00:12:01,590 But if you've already got them grown and you need them into a 181 00:12:01,590 --> 00:12:05,280 bigger plant pot, that might be something we could do. 182 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:08,490 Now, one of the things we could use instead of these tin cans, 183 00:12:08,490 --> 00:12:11,800 I've got some old watering cans, metal watering cans that are leaking. 184 00:12:11,890 --> 00:12:15,850 I'm going to be using those for a similar projects as well. 185 00:12:16,030 --> 00:12:19,420 Just sticking with this whole upcycling theme in order to try 186 00:12:19,420 --> 00:12:23,620 and well make use of what we have here at home, 187 00:12:23,620 --> 00:12:28,780 and don't throw anything in waste. It really is a lot of options that 188 00:12:28,780 --> 00:12:32,500 we can come up with with this, and there's a lot of ideas that I 189 00:12:32,500 --> 00:12:35,590 have and I think it's worthwhile. Personally, 190 00:12:35,590 --> 00:12:38,210 I'm quite glad to get these things. I've wanted to do this for quite 191 00:12:38,210 --> 00:12:42,170 a while, and I keep seeing them in our customers bins when they 192 00:12:42,170 --> 00:12:44,300 throw them away, and I always think it's a waste. 193 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:47,600 If you pop down to your local pizza shop and ask them if 194 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:50,330 they've got any old tins, you can probably get them for free 195 00:12:50,330 --> 00:12:54,410 as well. So well worth doing. Well worth doing, I reckon. 196 00:12:55,310 --> 00:12:59,690 Now, I don't think Scott is going to have a pizza recipe for us this week, 197 00:12:59,690 --> 00:13:03,620 but he has got an absolutely delightful recipe for us this week. 198 00:13:03,770 --> 00:13:07,100 Let's go find out what it is while I head down to the allotment. 199 00:13:09,290 --> 00:13:11,690 Hey, it's Scott here with this week's recipe. 200 00:13:11,690 --> 00:13:15,710 And this week I want to share a quick and simple dessert that I 201 00:13:15,710 --> 00:13:18,740 like to make and pair with my homegrown berries. 202 00:13:18,740 --> 00:13:23,240 And it is lemon and elderflower posset with red gooseberry compote. 203 00:13:23,450 --> 00:13:27,660 Or you could use your favorite compote or even just fresh berries. 204 00:13:27,690 --> 00:13:31,590 Raspberries work really well, but I like a nice tart dessert, 205 00:13:31,590 --> 00:13:36,060 so I'm using gooseberries here. I love how it's just three simple 206 00:13:36,060 --> 00:13:39,900 ingredients to make a posset, and you end up with a creamy set 207 00:13:39,900 --> 00:13:44,130 dessert in a matter of minutes. So let's head to the kitchen and 208 00:13:44,130 --> 00:13:48,000 hear how it's made. As usual, you can find this recipe 209 00:13:48,000 --> 00:13:53,920 and others on the Veg Girl podcast. Co.Uk and on my Instagram page. 210 00:13:53,950 --> 00:13:58,930 See the table. Plot 13. This recipe will serve 4 to 6 211 00:13:58,930 --> 00:14:04,780 people and you will need for the posset 600ml of double cream, 212 00:14:04,930 --> 00:14:10,120 200g of caster sugar, two lemons, the zest and the juice. 213 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:16,180 You will need 75ml of juice and 30ml of elderflower cordial. 214 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:21,160 And for the compote, 500g of red gooseberries and 215 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:25,960 100g of caster sugar. Method. Start by making deposits. 216 00:14:25,990 --> 00:14:30,520 Do this by adding the cream, sugar and lemon zest to a pan and put 217 00:14:30,520 --> 00:14:34,300 on a medium heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, 218 00:14:34,300 --> 00:14:37,940 remove from the heat and whisk in the lemon juice and elderflower. 219 00:14:38,120 --> 00:14:42,290 Then allow to cool a little, then portion out into glasses or 220 00:14:42,290 --> 00:14:45,470 whatever you want to serve it in, and then chill in the fridge until 221 00:14:45,470 --> 00:14:50,450 completely set. Now to the compote. Add the gooseberries and sugar to 222 00:14:50,450 --> 00:14:53,930 a pan and cook on a medium heat until the berries just start to 223 00:14:53,930 --> 00:14:58,730 break down, but remain whole, then chill until completely cold. 224 00:14:59,270 --> 00:15:03,210 Now use the compote to top the pockets and serve. 225 00:15:03,210 --> 00:15:07,020 And that's the recipe done. And that's it from me this week. 226 00:15:08,940 --> 00:15:11,490 While I'm back down the allotment today. 227 00:15:11,490 --> 00:15:15,450 And I have been very, very lucky. I want to say a big thank you to 228 00:15:15,450 --> 00:15:18,450 Richard, who has listened to this podcast for quite a while. 229 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:21,870 He's also a member of our supporters club, but he got in touch with 230 00:15:21,870 --> 00:15:26,680 me this week about a compost tumbler that needed a new home. 231 00:15:26,680 --> 00:15:30,220 And would I like it? I, of course have grabbed it and I've 232 00:15:30,220 --> 00:15:34,870 moved it down here on the allotment. Now, this compost tumbler is 233 00:15:34,870 --> 00:15:38,590 basically a compost bin that is raised off the ground and can be 234 00:15:38,590 --> 00:15:42,340 rotated quite easily. And this is the unique thing 235 00:15:42,340 --> 00:15:45,910 about these compost tumblers. As you know, I'm trying to make 236 00:15:45,910 --> 00:15:49,750 as much compost as possible. It's something that we are always, 237 00:15:49,750 --> 00:15:53,830 always trying to produce and we use lots of compost anyway. 238 00:15:54,370 --> 00:15:58,150 And this compost tumbler, the idea being, is that we fill up the bin 239 00:15:58,150 --> 00:16:01,810 with all our compost material. We rotate the bin probably on a 240 00:16:01,810 --> 00:16:04,840 daily basis. And what that does is it mixes 241 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:08,560 all the material up. It supposedly produces compost 242 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:11,980 faster because it's getting mixed up regularly and it produces 243 00:16:11,980 --> 00:16:17,090 some decent quality compost. I'm kind of excited to see just 244 00:16:17,090 --> 00:16:21,110 how well it works. Obviously, I do have my compost 245 00:16:21,110 --> 00:16:24,440 bins that I've made out of either one out of corrugated iron, 246 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,350 which is quite a large one, and another one out of fridge doors. 247 00:16:27,350 --> 00:16:29,690 And then I've got the Dalek compost bins as well. 248 00:16:29,690 --> 00:16:34,250 So I do actually have quite a few compost bins on this allotment. 249 00:16:34,400 --> 00:16:38,280 I've also got Dalek compost bins to support the Bakassi compost 250 00:16:38,400 --> 00:16:42,030 at home as well. So basically we are really going 251 00:16:42,030 --> 00:16:46,110 all out on trying to produce lots of compost. 252 00:16:46,530 --> 00:16:50,190 Now, as I said, the advantage of this compost tumbler is that it's 253 00:16:50,190 --> 00:16:54,960 easy to rotate and therefore easy to mix all our compost materials, 254 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:59,790 and that's something that is needing a bit of attention, is the mixing of 255 00:16:59,790 --> 00:17:03,930 all our compost in our compost bins. Well, I say, oh, 256 00:17:03,960 --> 00:17:07,380 the ones that we are filling aren't being mixed up at the moment, 257 00:17:07,380 --> 00:17:11,310 but what I've been doing this week is down here on the allotment. 258 00:17:11,310 --> 00:17:15,630 I come down here, I get my pitchfork out my shed, and I go to my compost 259 00:17:15,630 --> 00:17:20,490 bins and I give them a good mix. This just mixes all the materials 260 00:17:20,490 --> 00:17:23,970 together. We can see at the bottom. Actually, we've got compost that 261 00:17:23,970 --> 00:17:27,790 is pretty much ready, but the top isn't, so it just 262 00:17:27,790 --> 00:17:31,840 gives it a chance to mix around. And this thing goes on to 263 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:36,430 include air into the system, which helps produce decent compost 264 00:17:36,430 --> 00:17:40,630 and heats it back up again. At home, I have a compost thermometer 265 00:17:40,630 --> 00:17:44,110 that I stick in my compost bins, and what I see is that when we 266 00:17:44,110 --> 00:17:48,220 first fill up our compost bins, it gets very hot pretty quickly. 267 00:17:49,180 --> 00:17:53,630 And then that heat then starts to drop once it is finished cooking. 268 00:17:53,660 --> 00:17:59,210 We give it a good mix and then that heat comes again. It builds up again. 269 00:17:59,210 --> 00:18:03,080 And that leads us to being able to produce more compost and 270 00:18:03,080 --> 00:18:06,290 pretty quickly as well. So the mixing of the compost is 271 00:18:06,290 --> 00:18:09,230 quite important. It does help produce compost. 272 00:18:09,230 --> 00:18:14,360 It does help produce it faster and it also helps mix the materials 273 00:18:14,370 --> 00:18:18,720 together. Now for tools for this. As I said, I use a pitchfork here in 274 00:18:18,720 --> 00:18:22,620 the allotment and if I'm honest, I use a pitchfork at home as well, 275 00:18:22,620 --> 00:18:26,580 just because it's what I've used for years. I've had these two pitchforks. 276 00:18:26,580 --> 00:18:29,490 I got them pretty cheap, and they've always served me well 277 00:18:29,490 --> 00:18:33,600 because they're quite long handled. It's easy to get to the bottom 278 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:38,550 of a compost bin, but what I've also got is a couple of 279 00:18:38,550 --> 00:18:44,610 tools that are designed purposely for the use of mixing compost. 280 00:18:44,730 --> 00:18:48,360 What is like a steak that you shove into the ground and then as you 281 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:53,100 pull it up, two arms open at the bottom and it pulls the compost 282 00:18:53,100 --> 00:18:56,430 up through it and mixes it. I've got to say, I don't find it 283 00:18:56,430 --> 00:19:01,440 works that well, but it is an option. Another one I have actually came 284 00:19:01,500 --> 00:19:04,900 up with my supper pod, which is my underground composting system, 285 00:19:04,900 --> 00:19:10,000 and it's basically a giant corkscrew. You corkscrew it into the compost 286 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,620 mix, and then you pull it up and it moves all the compost around. 287 00:19:14,620 --> 00:19:17,800 That actually does work very, very well. 288 00:19:18,250 --> 00:19:21,580 But to be honest, I still use the pitchfork because it's just, 289 00:19:21,580 --> 00:19:25,360 wow, I've got the pitchfork. It's just so much more 290 00:19:25,360 --> 00:19:28,700 convenient for me. And the long handle really does 291 00:19:28,700 --> 00:19:32,690 make a big difference, though, of course, making it a lot of 292 00:19:32,690 --> 00:19:36,860 compost this year is one of the challenges that I'm always facing. 293 00:19:36,890 --> 00:19:41,780 Anybody that's listened to this podcast will know that I do know 294 00:19:41,780 --> 00:19:45,110 deer gardening, which does use a lot of compost, and I really don't 295 00:19:45,110 --> 00:19:50,300 want to have to buy any compost in. So I'm really, really going all out. 296 00:19:50,300 --> 00:19:52,980 I'm trying to make as much compost as possible. 297 00:19:53,310 --> 00:19:56,430 I spoke about this a few weeks ago. We've got several compost bins, 298 00:19:56,430 --> 00:19:59,490 all of which are quickly filling up. It has to be said I'm starting 299 00:19:59,490 --> 00:20:02,190 to fill up my larger compost bin at the moment, 300 00:20:02,190 --> 00:20:06,870 and that's almost half full already. And I'm looking at one of my other 301 00:20:06,870 --> 00:20:10,470 compost bins, and I'm thinking it's not going to be long before we can 302 00:20:10,470 --> 00:20:14,550 start using that compost either, which is going to tally up quite 303 00:20:14,550 --> 00:20:18,240 nicely for when our first early potatoes are finished and the first 304 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:21,480 bed of potatoes are finished, and we can start getting some of 305 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:25,260 our more brassica plants in there. The point is that compost is 306 00:20:25,260 --> 00:20:28,110 such a vital ingredient to have in the garden. 307 00:20:28,140 --> 00:20:31,800 Not only can we use it for a mulch, it contains a lot of the minerals 308 00:20:31,800 --> 00:20:35,280 and nutrients that plants need to survive, and if we can produce 309 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,910 enough of it, we then won't need to buy in any of our plant feeds. 310 00:20:38,910 --> 00:20:44,020 We can just rely solely on using composts and green manures. 311 00:20:44,860 --> 00:20:47,800 Making compost, of course, is always one of those big challenges, 312 00:20:47,800 --> 00:20:51,010 but I think we're going to do it this year, I really do. 313 00:20:51,250 --> 00:20:54,190 Now, to give you an example of how many compost bins I have 314 00:20:54,190 --> 00:20:57,820 here on the allotment, I've got six darling compost bins, 315 00:20:57,820 --> 00:21:01,960 the compost tumbler, one compost bin made out of fridge doors, and the 316 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:06,710 corrugated iron compost bin which is about one metre by one metre. 317 00:21:07,430 --> 00:21:11,780 Then the bigger compost bin will produce a very good compost because 318 00:21:12,350 --> 00:21:16,010 it gets hot quite quickly when it is full and because it is quite 319 00:21:16,010 --> 00:21:21,410 a large one, it gets hotter, much hotter, and that helps kill 320 00:21:21,410 --> 00:21:25,340 off any weed seeds that might be living inside the compost. 321 00:21:25,490 --> 00:21:28,730 The smaller ones don't kick. Get quite as hot, 322 00:21:28,730 --> 00:21:31,910 if I'm honest with you. But, you know, that's one of the 323 00:21:31,910 --> 00:21:36,830 sacrifices we have to make when it comes to composting. So there we go. 324 00:21:36,830 --> 00:21:39,920 One new addition here on the allotment, which I'm hoping is going 325 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:45,110 to prove to be very, very fruitful. I just want to thank Richard once 326 00:21:45,110 --> 00:21:48,440 again for donating this compost bin. It's very, 327 00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:52,340 very much appreciated. Right. I'm going to head on home and 328 00:21:52,340 --> 00:21:54,690 I've got a bit of an announcement to share with you. 329 00:22:00,450 --> 00:22:03,240 Well, that brings us up to the end of this week's podcast. 330 00:22:03,240 --> 00:22:05,700 And as I said, I have a bit of an announcement to make. 331 00:22:05,730 --> 00:22:10,170 A couple of weeks ago, I was on the Bearded Growers radio show. 332 00:22:10,170 --> 00:22:15,120 And Bearded Growers are fantastic guys. JJ and Boosh. Really good love. 333 00:22:15,750 --> 00:22:21,910 Now they are running a charity fundraising event of which they 334 00:22:21,910 --> 00:22:24,970 are climbing up mount Snowdon in September. 335 00:22:25,390 --> 00:22:28,180 But you have a couple of weeks. If you want to donate to their 336 00:22:28,180 --> 00:22:31,180 JustGiving page, you have a couple of weeks in which 337 00:22:31,180 --> 00:22:36,580 you can win some fantastic prizes. I've of course added links in 338 00:22:36,580 --> 00:22:39,340 the show notes. Now how does this affect me? 339 00:22:39,340 --> 00:22:44,090 I have been roped in to climb up mount Snowdon with them as well, 340 00:22:44,090 --> 00:22:48,920 so I'm taking part in it and doing my part to raise money for charity. 341 00:22:48,980 --> 00:22:53,540 Now, what they are actually raising money for is to get kids 342 00:22:53,570 --> 00:22:57,350 gardening in school. They want to get as many school 343 00:22:57,350 --> 00:23:01,160 gardening success plans into as many schools as possible. 344 00:23:01,250 --> 00:23:06,620 They've got so far enough for one and a half schools. 345 00:23:06,620 --> 00:23:10,820 So please do go donate and see how many more schools we can get. 346 00:23:10,820 --> 00:23:13,520 And if you do it by the end of a month, there's a good chance you 347 00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:18,890 can win some more fantastic prizes as well. A huge list of prizes. 348 00:23:18,890 --> 00:23:23,480 It's a prize draw and all details are on that little links supplied. 349 00:23:23,660 --> 00:23:27,860 Well, with that, let's start wrapping up this week's podcast. Now. 350 00:23:27,860 --> 00:23:32,250 Please do rate and review on your podcast provider rating review and 351 00:23:32,250 --> 00:23:36,270 really doesn't take you long at all. A few seconds at all, 352 00:23:36,270 --> 00:23:39,930 but it does really help us out. I've actually got nothing to 353 00:23:39,930 --> 00:23:43,110 share with you this week. Spotify now had some changes they 354 00:23:43,110 --> 00:23:46,830 were doing, and I think that may have made it a bit more complicated, 355 00:23:46,830 --> 00:23:51,210 but I'm trying to keep my eye on it and see how it works. 356 00:23:51,780 --> 00:23:55,660 So please do rate and review. It really does help us out. 357 00:23:55,690 --> 00:23:58,750 Please also consider becoming a member of our supporters club. 358 00:23:58,750 --> 00:24:02,800 Just £5 a month and you get extra behind the scenes podcasts as well 359 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:06,940 as a good collection of seeds. Added to that, if you want to 360 00:24:06,940 --> 00:24:11,980 get in touch my email addresses Richard Adventure podcast. Co.Uk. 361 00:24:12,130 --> 00:24:16,330 You can also contact me via the website, the podcast, co.uk. 362 00:24:16,330 --> 00:24:19,310 Or you can leave a voicemail or you can leave a comment at the 363 00:24:19,310 --> 00:24:22,070 bottom of a blog post. And of course you can find me on 364 00:24:22,070 --> 00:24:24,860 social media. Just search for the Veg Grow Up 365 00:24:24,860 --> 00:24:27,230 podcast. Well, that is it for this week. 366 00:24:27,230 --> 00:24:31,220 We will be back again next time. So until then, please take care.