Water is a precious commodity - this year we're facing hosepipe ban earlier than ever before and we can no longer take it for granted that there'll always be plenty of water.
Each of us uses about 145 litres each day, but the average household roof could harvest 85,000 litres of rainwater a year - pure, chemical-free, soft water - perfect for crops and plants in the garden and ideal to wash the car of clean the terrace.  Here are lots of good ideas to help so we'll need to water less:

• mulch the plants
• remove any weeds 
• improving the soil so it retains water better
• space plants densely 
• put in plants with low water requirements (see below).
• harvest rainwater and reuse household water 
• limit lawn space
• use drought-tolerant grasses and allow them to grow longer
• leave cut grass on the lawn as a mulch
• use permeable surfacing like gravel for hard landscaping;
• fill containers with peat-free compost (green waste, loam or coir-based composts retain water better) 
• water efficiently by thoroughly soaking the base of each plant in need of water (at a rate of at least 10 litres per square metre) - in the early morning or evening - to avoid transpiration.

The best way for householders to harvest rainwater for garden purposes is to place a container under a downpipe with a diverter which directs any overflow to a ground drain.
House roofs are obvious candidates, but don't forget greenhouses, garages, conservators, even sheds.


If a water butt isn't enough, go for an above-the-ground tank in agricultural corrugated metal; a complete underground system with pumps and filters; or a self-build system to purify household and grey water.


A drip-watering system, delivering moisture direct to the root zones is especially useful in vegetable gardens. when they can be hidden along the raised beds.  

If you're really committed you can establish a garden wetland to purify grey water, mimicking a natural wetland where plants, microbes and animals convert pollutants to biomass, leaving clean water.


Most vegetables need water to establish but these must be kept watered throughout the season:

• salad leaves and lettuces
• spinach
• summer cabbage
• cauliflower
• celery
• celeriac
• fennel
• runner beans
• anything which grows in the greenhouse, especially cucumbers and tomatoes

Plants which need less water include:

• Ones with silver grey leaves: cistus, santolina and artemesia
• Plants with aromatic oils: lavender, rosemary and thyme.
• Plants which store water: succulents and agaves.
• Plants with long tap roots: verbascums, hoilyhocks and umbellifers.
• Plants with hairy leaves: salvias, verbascums and comfreys.
• Sword-like leaved plants: yucca, cordylines and phormiums.
• Native plants suited to local conditions.
• Perennials need less watering than annuals and bedding plants.

DIY GARDENING BOOKS

• A Guide to Waterwise Gardening by Michael Littlewood
• The Resilient Garden by Marilyn Abbot
• Gardening in a Changing Climate by Ambra Edwards
• Waterwise Gardening by Ian Cooke

How Never to Diet Again! - what an idea!

Having lost one and a half stone about 18 months ago - and gradually put it on again - although there were several mitigating circumstances, including illness and bad news - it's time to eat more sensibly and return to my youthful sylph-like figure - ha ha!!  
So when this intriguing article appeared in the paper recently I felt I must share the ideas - as well as try them - well, here goes:

• Monitor your habits: try to understand why you're overeating.  For a few weeks keep a food journal, then you can see when you're eating and why.  Stress - boredom - sadness - loneliness perhaps.  Work on relieving these emotions and really progress with your eating habits.
• Don't starve yourself: so many people think that by eating less they will lose weight.  But a lack of food will have a direct impact on your metabolic rate, and if you damage that you'll start gaining weight the second you start eating properly again.  If we're not eating the right foods - in particular protein - we diminish our muscle stores, which is what burns our excess fat during our sleep.  Diets don't actually work as they are not sustainable.
• A proper start: you must have breakfast in the morning.  Your body has fasted all night and skipping breakfast means that your body will start to lay down fat stores because it thinks it's not going to get fed.  It goes into survival mode.  Once you establish a good, regular eating routine you will naturally lose some excess weight, as your body starts to trust you again.  But if you're going from feast to famine your body won't know what on earth is going on.
• Don't deny yourself: Depriving yourself of certain foods makes you more likely to fixate on them and then binge.  By allowing yourself them the mysticism and excitement diminishes.  Obviously, chocolate or cake most days will make a difference, but once or twice a week is fine.
• Keep in varied: look at what most people eat and you'll see they have the same thing for breakfast and the same thing of lunch every day.  Aim for lots of variety, and for food that looks colourful and appealing.  Focus on what you're including in your diet, not what you shouldn't eat.
• The C word: don't be scared of carbohydrates.  Complex carbohydrates such as brown rice and wholegrain bread are very important, as they keep your blood sugar level stable, are great for mood and contain essential minerals.  Eliminating a whole food group means you run the risk of being deficient in minerals.  You don't need to eat huge quantities, just a bit.
• Take your time: you should have 'protected' mealtimes, which means not eating food whilst watching TV, reading or working.  If you don't concentrate on the food you won't feel as if you've been fed.  Take time to really enjoy food.

Like New Year's Resolutions, the above list does seem rather long, so I aim to try and incorporate one idea each week into my permanent eating plan . . . 

Potato Growing

Maris Peer:
http://varieties.potato.org.uk/display_description.php?variety_name=Maris%20Peer
http://www.lovepotatoes.co.uk/the-potato/potato-varieties/maris-peer/

How to grow potatoes:
http://www.vegetable-garden-guide.com/how-to-grow-potatoes.html

Best potatoes for flavour:
http://www.allotment.org.uk/vegetable/potato/potato-flavour-type.php

How to chit:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/basics/techniques/growfruitandveg_potatoes1.shtml

Extend Growing Season, Grow for Size or Battle with Blight

To extend the growing season, grow for size or to battle with blight - here are some ideas I've found recently:

For blight in potatoes, try Sarpo Gwyn (Thompson & Morgan)
Late blight on outside tomatoes, try Losetto (T&M)
Downy mildew try onion set Santero F1 (T&M, Marshalls, Dobies)
Leek rust - Sprintan F1 (D)
To extend the growing season, try Squash Harrier F1 (T&M)
To counteract bolting - Coriander Calypso (T&M, also Tuckers, D and M)
Melon Outdoor Wonder (M)

Idea to try: a pumpkin with a butternut squash flavour is Squashkin (M)


Unfortunately, commercial growers want short harvest intervals, high yields and uniformity.  These are at odds with us alotmenteers and vegetable gardeners who want to be able to pick little and often, over a long period of time.


Ideas to extend the picking period include:

1. Keep picking
2. Water regularly
3. Control insects and diseases
4. Feed lightly
5. Enough sunlight
6. Weed
7. Succession planting
8. Plant in the autumn
9. Floating row covers
10. Share the bounty!

From: http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetablepatch/a/LongProducing.htm

Also: http://www.coopext.colostate.edu/4dmg/VegFruit/extveg.htm

"Processed Foods"

The harmful effect of eating too much processed food has been in the news recently.  How much do these effects vary with different foods?

Processed foods often get bad press without any real justification.  While some processed foods contain relatively large amounts of ingredients we should be limited, such as salt, the range of processed foods available is diverse, and some can be convenient and healthy choices.

The term 'processed' is often misunderstood.  Anything done to raw food before it gets to our shelves is considered processing: drying lentils and milling flour would be qualify.

As well as making foods more convenient, processing (for example pasteurising, canning or freezing) enables them to be stored safely.  But some are better choices than others.  In particular, processed foods collectively provide around three quarters of the salt in our diet.  Canned carrots, for example, contain on average 14 times more salt than fresh ones, so if you can't get fresh carrots, frozen would be a better option (in theory still a processed food!).

Food labels can be very helpful when comparing the salt content of different products.  Although it would be impossible to give a comprehensive list of 'healthy' and 'less healthy' processed foods, food labels are a good place to start.

Information can be found by reading food labels and using them to make healthy choices at http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Goodfood/Pages/food-labelling.aspx and http://nutrition.org.uk/healthyliving/healthyeating/labels.  The British Heart Foundation also procudes a booklet called 'A Guide to Food Labelling', which can be downloaded from http://www.bhf.org.uk/.