1064425
President:
Bob Flowerdew
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Registered Charity No: 1064425 President: Bob Flowerdew |
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Contents:
- Peas - The Laurence Hills Way
- Favourite Tools - The Scythe
- Organic Seed Suppliers
Taken from Laurence Hills book “Grow Your Own Fruit and Vegetables”
Tried and compared by one of our members.
Peas that are to stand persistent picking for eating raw before the pods pack tight, and for cooking afterwards, need trenches six to eight inches wide and deep, two feet apart, and half filled with trodden lawn mowings and even sink basket refuse, with the unrotted top of the compost heap coming in useful for the earliest rows before the first mowing. Whiten this layer with lime and add two inches of soil before sowing seed two inches apart in two rows with three inches between them down the middle of each trench. Then cover them with another two inches of soil and leave them safely growing under their pea guards.
Using this method but being less particular about the number of peas and the spacing between them in each trench, the successional sowings in 2007 were very successful as were the two overwintering rows that were sown on 27th October last year and provided four good pickings between the 27th May and 19th June this year.
However, it is the two rows sown on 22nd April that have really surprised us. One was sown over grass mowings etc. but the second was just in a standard drill. When they started to show through, the row over grass cuttings was a day or so earlier and the germination seemed a little better although neither row had been covered (over the peas and below the soil) with short lengths of dead bramble stem which is our usual practice to discourage mice so there may have been more eaten.
Since they first came through the difference between the two rows has become progressively more obvious. That over grass cuttings is strong, green, growing well and covered with filling pods and many more flowers. The other is distinctly yellow, very much shorter and although there are filling pods there does not seem to be so many and new flowers are much less numerous. To us the evidence speaks for itself and obviously the extra effort is well worthwhile and yes, Laurence Hills did know a thing or two!
All the peas we have grown like this have been Kelvedon Wonder, an old variety that has also stood the test of time. I don't quite know why I am surprised that this way of growing peas has been so successful, as for years we have been digging out a trench for runner beans and filling it with almost everything from well rotted compost to old mattresses (not the modern interior sprung ones) to get a good crop. Yet a second successive crop of peas on the same place is not happy and never seems to thrive (and neither do broad beans) whereas runner beans can apparently be grown in the same place for several years without ill effect - something else to ponder on! There is always more to learn, often from other gardeners but also from books old and new.
MH
The scythe is a tool which seems to have gone out of fashion as a useful tool. In actual fact the scythe is enjoying a revival amongst those who are aware of it and it has always been one of my favourite tools.
My first scythe was inherited with our first house along with a Spear and Jackson fork and spade. It was, is, a small garden scythe with a metal handle and I took to it at once. With it, I could deal so easily with nettle patches and other overgrown places. We moved house, and the tools came too, and twelve years later, moved again, but by this time I could no longer buy replacement blades. They were just not obtainable. Everyone was using strimmers. I hung up the scythe and bought a strimmer.
In 2004 I saw an advertisement for Austrian scythes in Permaculture Magazine. Lightweight, sharp, I bought one and joyfully returned to the silent, contemplative mowing of nettles for the compost heaps. There's no cord to tangle round tall stems. It's good for cutting small patches of green manure. Furthermore there is something about the physical movement, the easy swing and the satisfying feel and sound of the cut that allows you to go on for a considerable time without getting tired. And I have managed to acquire some skill in sharpening.
There is now quite a cult of the scythe with meets and competitions both in Britain and abroad. There is literature too. I have “The Scythe Book” with some history of the development of the scythe, the processes involved in the forging of the blade, (20 odd stages in hand forging one of these blades) and much practical information on it's use and care.
If you decide to get a scythe, you will need to set it up with the correct angle of the blade and correct length of snath (handle) for you. The Austrian blades take a very keen edge but need to be cherished, not used indiscriminately as a slashing tool which could spoil the blade with nicks and splits. Beware of lending it. The old scythemen used to say “You can no more lend a man your scythe, than you can your false teeth.”
JC
A few websites that could be useful:
www.thescytheshop.co.uk
www.scytheconnection.com
www.scythesupply.com
Association Kokopelli, Ripple Farm, Crundale, Canterbury, Kent CT4 7EB
Website: www.terredesemences.com
The catalogue costs £5 incl. Postage (a good investment - beautifully illustrated and much information)
Kings Seeds and Suffolk Herbs (separate catalogues)
Monks Farm, Coggeshall Road, Kelvedon, Essex, CO5 9PG
www.suffolkherbs.com
Organic Gardening Catalogue, Riverdene Businesss Park, Molesey Rd, Hersham, Surrey, KT12 4RG
OrganicCatalog.com
Tamar Organics, Tavistock Woodlands Estate, Gulsworthy, Tavistock, Devon, PL19 8JE
Website: tamarorganics.co.uk
Edwin Tucker and Sons Ltd., Brewery Meadow, Stonepark, Ashburton, Devon TQ13 7DG
E-mail: seeds@edwintucker.com Website: www.edwintucker.com
Demeter Seeds., Stormy Hall, Botton Village, Danby, Whitby, North Yorkshire,YO21 2NJ
E-mail: stormy.hall.botton@camphill.org.uk
Biodynamic seed - also available from
Lunar organics: Tidegraph Ltd., 50 The Street, Thirle, E. Sussex, BN8 6LQ
01273 858161 Website: www.lunarorganics.com.
Future Foods, Luckleigh Cottage, Hockworthy, Wellington, Somerset TA21 0NN
Tel: 02398-361347, E-mail: enquireies@futurefoods.com
Herb seeds: Poyntzfield Herb Nursery, Black Isle, By Dingwall, Ross & Cromarty, IV7 8LX
Tel/Fax 01381-610352 (12-1 or 6-7p.m.)
See also:
www.organicfarmers.org.uk
