AKG 20090702 - Rusty Garlic

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Sad, rusty garlic

It’s hot here in the UK this week, and I’m gardening in the early hours so I don’t overheat. This morning I was digging up the garlic that is suffering from leek rust, replanting the beds with wonderberries and a cassaabanana, and giving everything a good water.

* I’ve got my garlic varieties mixed up in this episode. Thermidrome is a hard-necked variety which stores well, and Porcelain is a soft-necked variety that will grow scapes.*

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden is a free and ad-free podcast, but if you’d like to support the show and save money then check out the Petmeds coupon available in association with my other podcast – the Emma and Pete Show.

AKG 20090505 - Replanting the onion bed

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Oca seedlings

I’m replanting one of the beds of overwintering onions with oca.

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden is a free and ad-free podcast, but if you’d like to support the show and save money then check out the ice.com and diamond.com coupons available in association with my other podcast – the Emma and Pete Show.

AKG 20090506 - Pulling up ivy

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Removing ivy from the raised bed

Most people don’t use a crowbar when they’re gardening, but some plants are hard to shift once they’ve been growing in a confined space for a while.

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden is a free and ad-free podcast, but if you’d like to support the show and save money then check out the Kashflow coupon available in association with my other podcast – the Emma and Pete Show.

Observer Ethical Awards 2009

I am proud to announce that The Alternative Kitchen Garden has been shortlisted in the ‘Ethical Garden’ category of the Observer Ethical Awards 2009.

This is new category that rewards gardens great and small which reflect the ethical roots of their custodians. The judges were looking for entries from individual gardens, allotments or community gardens, but not from commercial or business spaces.

In the Alternative Kitchen Garden I grow edible and useful plants in an environmentally friendly way, concentrating on using organic gardening techniques, making as much compost as possible and collecting rainwater. I also encourage wildlife into the garden, keep a pair of chickens and save my own seeds.

Through the Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast and my blog, I share my experiments, successes and failures with gardeners all over the world.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on Wednesday 3rd June. The other two shortlisted candidates in the Ethical Garden category are well worth checking out as well – the RISC roof garden in Reading, and Lower Shaw Farm in Swindon.

AKG favourite episode survey results

Thank you to everyone who filled in my little survey about your favourite Alternative Kitchen Garden episodes.

There were 3 episodes in first place:

20 garden uses for a plastic bottle, Permaculture basics and Square Foot Gardening.

In second place were Composting in winter, Peppers, Ryton Organic Gardens and Compost.

No episodes received zero votes :)

The second question, on which topics you would like to see covered, was optional – but I received the following comments:

• 
  
• more eco gardening please
• 
  
• Cauliflower, head broccoli, Brussels sprouts, celery, companion planting, insects (beneficial and pests), beets, fruit trees, strawberries, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, peppers, vegan gardening (non-animal/fish fertilizer). I love your show! Thanks!
• permaculture, urban farming, greenhouses, raised beds
• 
  
• organic fertilizers, more on birds in the garden like what to plant to attract them or how to grow seeds to feed them and the sort of pests they eat. I also like the single plant episodes particularly when they are about something unusual and book or garden reviews. The series on heritage vegetables was really interesting but I’m not sure which episodes that was so may not have ticked them, but other issues like that are interesting (If there are any, I was interested in the heritage vegetables because I hadn’t heard or thought about the issues before, so it is difficult to know if there are other similar issues I don’t know about, I hope that makes sense!) Sorry for the very long answer, hope some of it is useful.
• 
  
• I’ve been very much enjoying the short episodes – more of your ‘garden updates’, please!
• 
  
• More about thrifty gardening tips and growing in a small space. However, just carry on! I like every podcast (that was a lot of clicks!)
• 
  
• More on starting vegetables from seed. More on growing fruit in the garden. Making the most of small spaces.
• 
  
• Continued month-by-month task lists and discussion, plus more experiments. And more permaculture!
• 
  

So many thanks to those of you who left comments, and I’ll be looking into covering these topics in future shows.

AKG 20090511 - Japanese Wineberry

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Japanese wineberry

I’ve been planting my Japanese Wineberry out in the garden.

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden is a free and ad-free podcast, but if you’d like to support the show and save money then check out the GoDaddy coupons available in association with my other podcast – the Emma and Pete Show.

AKG 20090514 - Beans, peppers and awards

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An army of pepper seedlings

Out in the Grow Dome I’ve been supporting French beans and potting up pepper seedlings. And I’ve been shortlisted for an Observer Ethical Award and had an article about the garden published in Home Farmer magazine.

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden is a free and ad-free podcast, but if you’d like to support the show and save money then check out the Budget Rent-A-Car coupon available in association with my other podcast – the Emma and Pete Show.

AKG 20090517 - Earthing Up

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Potato barrels

I’m trying out a new way of earthing up the potatoes in my potato barrels.

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden is a free and ad-free podcast, but if you’d like to support the show and save money then check out the Brookstone coupon available in association with my other podcast – the Emma and Pete Show.

AKG 20090520 - Edible Honeysuckles

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Edible Honeysuckles

I’ve been repotting my two edible honeysuckles.

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden is a free and ad-free podcast, but if you’d like to support the show and save money then check out the Eastbay coupons available in association with my other podcast – the Emma and Pete Show.

AKG 20090523 - Big Drippas

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A Big Drippa

Installing a watering system in the Grow Dome.

Leave me a comment, send me an email or join our Facebook group. You can get real time updates from the AKG on Twitter.

The Alternative Kitchen Garden is a free and ad-free podcast, but if you’d like to support the show and save money then check out the Footlocker coupon available in association with my other podcast – the Emma and Pete Show.