New Garden Organic Seed Project
The latest initiative from Garden organic, "Sowing New Seeds", funded by the Big Lottery Local Food Fund, will directly enable many more gardeners in the East and West Midlands to grow non-traditional crops, while also documenting how to grow them based on the experiences of the region’s diverse communities. [caption id="attachment_430" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Growing diverse varieties can be very rewarding"][/caption] Garden Organic, which also runs the UK’s famous Heritage Seed Library dedicated to conserving the genetic diversity of vegetables, hopes that the project will unearth lots of interesting edible plants. Sally Cunningham of the Sowing New Seeds project, said, “The UK's population has changed ...
Old Varieties v New
Over the last three years we have been growing heritage vegetables as well as more modern varieties and whilst we have not been conducting a scientific experiment, the outcome is interesting. [caption id="attachment_406" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="2009 Harvest"][/caption] We trialled heritage varieties of Tomato (San Marzano Di Lampadina) and French Bean (Blauhilde). Both varieties were grown under the same conditions as the modern varieties; Tomato (Gardener's delight) & French bean (Pantheon) Firstly the French beans - The heritage variety (Blauhilde) really did struggle, with generally weaker plants succumbing very easily to slug damage and mildew. Out of the total crop sown, around 70% succeeded to seedling ...
Snakes Head Fritillaria
Fritillaria meleagris or Snake's Head Fritillary as it is more commonly known, is a native of Europe, found growing in damp grassland and near rivers. [caption id="attachment_348" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Purple & white bells of the Snake's Head Fritillary"][/caption] Apart from it's original English name of Snake's Head fritillary, It has many local name variations such as Simple Fritillary, Checkered Daffodil, Frog-cup, Chess Flower, Guinea-hen Flower and Leper Lily, The flowers are nodding, dainty, six petaled bells, hang from slender stems about 15 to 30cm in height. They range from white to various shades of purple and bear a unique, chequered patterning which is ...
Fruit & Veg
Heritage Seed Makes Comeback
An article in Horticulture Week points to changes that may lead to relaxation of...
Old Varieties v New
Over the last three years we have been growing heritage vegetables as well as more...
Berkshire Apples Sought
We have had a request from a gentleman looking for pictures of and maybe ultimately...
Read More Posts From This CategoryFlowers
Heritage Flowers Gift Box Set
Whilst on our search for old varieties of flower seed we came across this great gift...
Snakes Head Fritillaria
Fritillaria meleagris or Snake's Head Fritillary as it is more commonly known, is...
Are Your Bluebells Native?
A few woodland areas in the UK will soon be carpeted in blue from the end of April...
Read More Posts From This CategoryAnimals
The British Araucana Club
The British Araucana club first started out life as the English Araucana poultry society back in around 1915. By 1960 it had faded away and there was no more interest by many people in having blue egg laying chickens. Black male Araucana The few remaining people who held onto their Araucana stock were still very much interested in the breed, and by... [Read more of this review]
Herdwick Sheep
The Herdwick sheep is the native breed of the central and western Cumbrian Lake District. Thought to be introduced by Norse-Irish settlers in the 10th and 11th Centuries, there are tales of the breed also being brought here on a shipwrecked Spanish Armada. However the ancient norse for sheep farm was "Herd-Vic", making the first option the more plausible... [Read more of this review]
The Gloucester Old Spots
The Gloucester Old Spots are the oldest spotted pedigree breed in the world. A large animal, white in colour with a minimum of one distinct black spot. The ears grow to be quite floppy, almost covering the face of an adult pig. Gloucester Old Spots (Wikipedia) Tough and hardy, they are well suited to the outdoor life. Some of the best tasting... [Read more of this review]
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