Memories of a lovely late summer!
The Blue Patch garden has come on in leaps and bounds from a neglected tangle of weeds to nature-friendly oasis.
Theo
The garden is now in the capable hands of Theo from The Almanac Garden. Theo is creating the ultimate eco-garden. Within a week butterflies, not seen for years, were fluttering about gathering nectar.
The plastic biodynamic soil sacks became a grow-bags for tomatoes which produced merrily in our Plughole Planter (recycled plastic bath tubs clad in wooden pallets.)
Growing tomatoes in soil sacks
By early summer the bumps and lumps had been smoothed out ready for an eco-turf from England. The quality is fantastic, a delicate flowering grass and the texture soft as a cloud.
Suddenly we have grass!
This year we had our first crop of delicious pears and tender kale grown in biodynamic soil – no nasty chemicals here.
Delectable pears!
It’s almost therapeutic to pick food as you need to eat. Perhaps it takes us back to hunter-gather roots, deep in our DNA! It certainly saves food miles and cuts out any question of waste.
Kale growing in an up-cycled plastic bath
Our kale is still producing in October, amazingly easy to grow, it shows how leathery plastic wrapped supermarket kale can be.
Herbs and insect attracting flowers
The herbs grew in abundance, again in biodynamic soil and with companion planting of cornflowers which attracted bees like crazy!
Home to the Blue Patch stag beetle colony!
We took care to included wildlife-friendly habitat, with logs and nettles to accommodate our resident stag beetles, toads and frogs.
Queen of the herbaceous border, Mole watching for butterflies.
2019 has been about clearing the decks, styling the space and the first steps in learning to grow food.
The next Mud to Spud blog will be about water – water features, saving water and all that lives in water as we move the pond to a new location at the right time so as not to disrupt breeding cycles.
To conclude, here are some very fine Blue Patch members. The Posh Shed Company use sustainable wood and create charming, high quality garden sheds – and more great things for the garden, in Herefordshire.
Alex from EcoAlex Ltd is an expert on retrofitting homes and he can also make a garden on your roof! Click on the photos to explore their websites.
The Posh Shed Company, Herefordshire.
A green roof to attract wildlife by Eco Alex Ltd. London.
Would you like to learn all about Biodynamic gardening?
Easy, join The Biodynamic Association and dig deep into enhancing the flavours and nutritional value, optimising the value of your home-grown larder! They have a gardening club too.
Gardens help fight climate breakdown too, so join the Biodynamic Gardening Club and get in on the action.
The Blue Patch Sustainable Home will be open to welcome visitors during the Dulwich Festival ‘Artists Open House’ in May 2020.
Sign up to our newsletter and pop round for tea in the garden and to see some wonderful local arts and crafts, do workshops and eat cake – all with a local, low carbon edge!
