It’s not often you find a garden that was founded in 1673.
The Apothecaries’ Garden.
Ann was on a trip to Europe recently and dropped in on the beautiful Chelsea Physic Garden on the side of the River Thames in London.
The gardens purpose was to train apprentices in identifying plants. Located close to the river Thames created a warmer microclimate, significantly increasing the many non-native plants that could be grown.
In 1700 the garden had started an international botanic garden seed exchange system, which continues to this day.
The gardens cover some four acres. They are leased on what is known as a peppercorn rent in perpetuity.
They are with out doubt one of London’s secret ‘gems’ and thoroughly worth a visit.
The gardens mission ” Linking people with plants and nature”
The interview starts with Ann talking for around 8 minutes to a group of school children on a field trip, the gardens have over 100 such visits a year.
Ann then talks to Michael a very knowledgeable and extremely helpful member of staff. We kept all the typical inner city sounds on the recording – the enthusiasm of the children is very heartening.
Integrated pest management is the preferred method of bug control…
They have a project called “Shelf Life’ it is just an incredible way to show children where their food comes from
It’s that time of year again, as we move from Spring into Summer all sorts of tasty treats abound in our gardens, our interview today is with a lady who has taken this to a new dimension. Ann & I … Continue reading →
Ann & I caught up with Denise Shreiber recently. We interviewed Denise about her fascinating book, all about edible flowers.
Being a transplanted ‘Brit’ it was interesting to hear that her book was born after a trip to England where she sampled ‘Rose Petal Ice Cream’, Here I was, under the illusion that everyone visited our wonderful gardens and stately homes for the good old English cuppa with perhaps a scone, butter, jam and clotted cream !
Hello again everyone, this is Ann & Chris from Growing Trends – you can listen to our podcasts at Growing Trends
Yesterday we started a new series of Growing Herbs & Veggies in a variety of easy ways at home, rather than the more traditional row crop method.
One of our Hort Cuisine Kits
Just to recap they are :
1. Introducing Herbs & Veggies to an existing flower or shrub bed.
Can you spot the herbs & veggies?
The Herbs & Veggies blend in and are almost invisible to the untrained eye.
2. Growing Herbs & Veggies in a container.
Stacked herb pot.
Growing in pots is great for those with restricted or small spaces. There are a few extra considerations you need to take for success, which we will explain.
3. Square Foot Garden
created by Mel Bartholomew, square foot gardens are one of the most efficient ways to grow your herbs & vegetables
4. Traditional ‘Allotment’ or ‘Community Gardens’
Allotment
Allotments are particularly European ,
in Denmark they date back to 1778, in 2001 there were around 62,000 !
Finland started around 1916,
France, Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Russia, Portugal, England, all have long traditions of ‘Allotments’
Community Gardens are more an American version, which often started as a ‘Victory Garden’ in the second world war, and has developed into a Community Garden.
So lets start today with.
1. Introducing Herbs & Veggies to an existing flower or shrub bed.
There are usually lots of different places where you could insert herbs and veggies in an established garden, the secret is to work with the design.
A good time to find those elusive spaces is now as you start your spring cleaning of beds.
Remember to think about the plants final height, most will require at least 6 hours of sunlight
How often you will need to get close to the plant to gather the crop.
Check regularly for pests and diseases and to feed & water.
Use low growing herbs, colourful cabbages instead of annuals for instance
Remember to add compost to the soil as they will still need nutrients
Place taller growing herbs and vegetables with taller shrubs towards the back of a border
With the lower growing herbs and vegetables towards the front of a border.
Remember flowers like Nasturtiums, Pansies,Orange blossom,Squash flowers and Marigolds are edible ( but not if they have pesticides sprayed on them) – take a look at Eat your Roses for more ideas
Now you can visually enjoy as well as enjoy eating.
You can listen to more great ideas on our Podcast at Growing Trends
Tomorrow we will talk about growing herbs & veggies in containers.
Chris & Ann are landscape designers, gardeners, inventors , radio show hosts, we live in the MidWest , are passionate about food, cooking, wine and love to interview people who share our passion for the environment.
Returning to growing your own Herbs & Veggies is taking on a new importance these days with the changes to our weather patterns, the realisation that many pesticides, insecticides and mass growing techniques are not necessarily the most efficient, cost effective or even healthy way for us to provide for our food needs.
Ann & I thought we would explore the various ways we knew how you can grow at home – we may have missed an idea or two, for which we apologise in advance ( please do send us your ideas and we will add them to our blog post).
Most people start by growing basic Herbs , then move on to the Tomatoes, Potatoes, Garlic, Lettuce, Spinach, Corn, Onions, Carrots, Beets, Garlic, Leeks, Chicory, Asparagus, Beans, Cucumbers, Zucchini ( Courgette), Squash, Sweet Potatoes, etc, etc.
Generally the ideal prerequisites for growing are, although these can be ‘created’ artificially these days.
A sunny site
Space to grow
Time to tend to plants.
1. Adding plants to an existing landscaped garden.
The easiest and simplest method is to introduce plants into your existing shrub planting beds. You would be amazed at what herbs and veggies can grow symbiotically with your favorite flowers and shrubs, some are even edible ( Take a look at a book we recently reviewed called Eat your Roses – by Denise Schrieber ) . .
When we interviewed the creators of this beautiful garden last year and found lots and lots of herbs, vegetables and fruits growing next to the flowers and shrubs.
2.Grow herbs & some veggies in pots.
You can use virtually any pot for this or you can purchase additional features to make the arrangement much more interesting.
Here a simple pot of herbs near to the kitchen door.
A simple herb pot
By adding a special rod system inside the pots, you can make the arrangement much more interesting and space efficient.
3. Square Foot Gardens – invented by Mel Bartholomew some years ago this is a fantastic solution for those with either a small space or for those who want an effective herb & growing method in a confined space.
If you want to you can add all manner of amazing refinements as seen here in this Chelsea Flower Show exhibit.
An example from a Chelsea Flower Show exhibit
4. A traditional ‘allotment or community garden.
Allotment
5. From a bygone era when labour wasn’t an issue and doing things on a grand scale no matter what it was, was considered the way..
Simply stunning !
We will spend a little time with each style, in the coming days, in the meantime you can listen to our podcast at www.growingtrends.org as we talk to a variety of guests from a passionate young mother, to a group of school teachers and to Mel Bartholomew,
Ann and Chris interview Rich Sapienza and Bill Sosinsky we talk about sustainable solutions for the world today. It's fascinating, interesting and very enlightening. Sustainability must work on its own, grow on its own, support itself with the built-in ability … Continue reading →
We started the year with the aim of adding some improvements to our website, blog and internet radio show..
One of the things we did was to add a podcast which you can now find on iTunes and our podcast site www.growingtrends.org
Our main website is still at www.grotrends.com the new format is taking shape and we would love to hear from you with ideas & suggestions.
Growing Trends internet radio is all about fascinating people. People who are passionate about our natural environment, sustainability, their gardens, their landscapes along with the experts that help them. Our talks with these amazing people are, informative, educational, fun often anecdotal. You can listen to them at anytime here “Listen Here” or on our podcast at “www.growingtrends.org”
Our new show format starting in January will have five segments:
Time to Eat : – All about growing Herbs & Vegetables
An example from a Chelsea Flower Show exhibit
Gardenesque : – Everything to do with Gardens & Landscapes
The rose arbor was connected to the house by the pathway.
World Wide WEsponsibility : – A more serious look at sustainability and how we might help our planet.
Face Time : – Interviews with experts on topics of interest.
Let’s dance !
Book Reviews : – We are delighted to announce that we have started to interview authors of books linked to :-
Nature,
The Environment,
Vegetable Gardens & Landscape Design
Current and past book reviews are displayed in our Book Review sector, along with details of the Authors, Publishers and most importantly, how to obtain these gems..
Ann & Chris invite you to write to them with ideas, suggestions and comments to info@grotrends.com
Interesting, Serious, Informative, Entertaining & often Fun.
World Wide WEsponsibility Bill Sosinsky, Founder, Co-Owner, and CEO of The Energime Family of Companies including Energime Sustainable Technologies, Energime Power, Energime Energy Efficiency and is the Chairman of the Board for The Energime Foundation. Bill is also the Founder … Continue reading →
Patti is one of those rare ladies, an expert bee keeper and a fascinating speaker. Listen to her explain the intricate lifestyle of the honey bee, it's truly fascinating and very educational. We visited Patti at her lovely country home … Continue reading →
An opportunity from Ann and Chris, but first we wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.
We would like to hear from you with ideas, comments and suggestions for our shows drop us a line at info@grotrends.com
We have been making changes to Growing Trends our internet based radio show.
Listen at www.grotrends.com
Our new daily show starts in January 2015, we will have five segments:
Time to Eat – All about growing Herbs & Vegetables
Gardenesque – Everything to do with Gardens & Landscapes
World Wide Wesponsibility – A more serious look at sustainability and how we might all help our planet.
Face Time – Interviews with experts on topics of interest
Book Reviews – Interviews with authors of books relating to the environment, nature and garden landscaping.
Perhaps we could interview you for our Face Time segment? …. just drop us a line and we will contact you.
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