vegetable growing

‘A Hidden Vegetable Garden’ with Liz Zorab

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Liz Zorab is a well known gardening guru, an award winning video maker and food grower.  She is an expert contributor to BBC Wales gardening programmes, a prolific You Tube creator and the author of several books. Her home is Byther Farm at the edge of the Brecon Beacons on a thriving 4.5 acre plot, 275 m above sea level some of which is North-facing, where she is passionate about sustaining biodiversity and is self sufficient in up to 60-70% of the food she eats. The vegetable patch is 250m2 including paths. She is very keen to demystify permaculture and to share her experiences far and wide. Her talk was accompanied by pictures, mostly of her garden, describing how a mixture of plant types can work.

The ‘hidden’ vegetable garden idea shows how anyone can, with whatever size plot, grow food alongside flowers and ornamentals successfully. For instance, Kale is an excellent choice, there are various different types available including the dark leaved Cavolo Nero (Liz starts hers early in the year), all of which will grow up to 10 ft, will look glorious and are evergreen up to December or further depending on the weather. Florence Fennel which is a species of the carrot family, is a beautiful plant, also standing tall if left and produces yellow flowers which are enjoyed by pollinators, particularly lacewings. Growing squash up a trellis will look good and doesn’t take up much lateral space and globe artichokes (green or purple) are wonderful for providing structure and produce beautiful purple flowers which pollinators will love. 

Oca (New Zealand Yam) is a root vegetable of Peruvian origin which enjoys the cool damp British climate and will overwinter with some protection from frost. It is smaller than a potato and as yet has no real pests, has a slightly lemony flavour and the growing cycle is very similar to a potato.

If possible a pergola is a good addition where climbers and beans can intermingle, and chard which can put up with some shade could be grown underneath. If left it will grow up to head height and will look spectacular in the many rainbow colours available now. Herbs like Rosemary are generally hardy and can be used in so many ways – there are different types available, horizontal, upright and cascading. With the pretty blue flowers, they smell and look wonderful and if left will produce a shrub. Salsify, a biennial, is easy to grow and produces seed heads not unlike a dandelion. The greenery is good to eat in the spring and the roots can be eaten in the winter months because they don’t suffer from cold weather. Comfrey is a good standby for use as a fertiliser for all manner of crops. Parsley if left will flower in the 2nd or 3rd year, producing umbels of fresh tasting flowers. Red Orach, which is a member of the spinach family, will grow 6 – 7 feet heigh and produce yellow/orange flowers which can be frozen for culinary use. Calendula always look cheerful and are good to use in salads or pilau rice.

Fruit production comes high on the agenda, Liz grows peaches which are ripened indoors, some of which are espaliered and last year produced over 200 peaches! Obviously cherry trees (ornamental and fruiting) always look wonderful. Raspberry canes can be planted as a productive hedge, keeping the wind out and helping with any drainage problems on a wet site. Autumn fruiting raspberries produce new canes in the spring and fruit on them in the autumn of the same year. The old stems should be pruned down to the ground in February. There is a Mulberry tree on her smallholding as well, which produces fruit.

Rosa rugosa can also be used for controlled hedging and the hips are excellent for making jelly, juice or wine. The hips should be strained though to avoid ingesting the seeds or the hairs on the fruit as they can cause irritation to the mouth and digestive system.

Liz is keen that a garden should produce sound as well as food and colour and loves the sound of Bamboo, Cannas, Banana trees and grasses. She really enjoyed making a sensory garden for the Royal Welsh show.

At the end of her talk, Liz answered any questions from the audience. Tracey then thanked Liz very much, and reminded everyone about the July meeting, when Jo Hobbs will demonstrate how best to arrange a bunch of flowers. Those wishing to take part should bring with them some flowers, some twine, a pair of scissors and a container (large if the stems are thick, smaller if the stems are finer).

The Climate Change Resilient Garden by Kim Stoddart; John and Helen’s Plant Sale for NGS Charities on 12 May

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Kim Stoddart is a gardener, journalist, author and gardening teacher. She writes for The Guardian, specifically regarding gardening in the current climate change environment, and is editor of “Amateur Gardening” magazine. She has co-written the book “The Climate Change Garden” which has recently been updated and has just published “The Climate Change Resilient Vegetable Garden”.

She also runs the very popular Green Rocket courses where she teaches techniques which she has taught for many years, and has a smallholding in the Synod Inn area of 2.3 acres, of which a third of an acre is used for growing produce. She keenly boosts biodiversity there and doesn’t use pesticides or chemicals. In general, apart from growing in containers, she does not use fertilisers but concentrates on improving soil health which brings its own challenges, since the property is 750 ft above sea level and is often subject to quite serious flooding.

At the begining of her talk Kim encouraged us to think about how things worked in the past, how people had to have productive gardening plots which were not costly and could be maintained as easily as possible. Some of the solutions found in the past have been forgotten or discarded in favour of a quick fix, off-the-shelf solution.

She encourages us all to make time to sit and be kind to ourselves, enjoy our surroundings, including the wildlife, and not to feel we have to make everything neat – weeds are not the enemy! Examples of extreme weather have been studied by Kim in order to understand weather unpredictability and how to discourage pests and diseases that come with it, and what we can do to effectively and cheaply negotiate problems.

Recycling and upcycling, inventing ways of making making a cost effective, productive and beautiful garden need to be seriously considered and will give lots of satisfaction. Think creatively when problem solving, it does not need to be stressful! Do not pamper plants, overprune, or spend hours weeding, sometimes it works to make plants work harder to survive and flourish. If you have a gap in the flower garden, stick a vegetable in there, they often look great and you can (hopefully) eat them. The “no dig” method is proven to be effective and works well, or the German Hugelkultur method which in addition pretty much eliminates the necessity for watering. It helps to use mycorrhizal fungi which will encourage root growth and improve health – only effective when growing organically, as the fungi and fertilisers/pesticides tend to fight and restrict plant growth.

Kim had brought copies of her book for sale, and answered questions from the audience. The link for Kim’s courses is www.greenrocketcourses.com. Dawn thanked Kim for her very enjoyable talk.

John and Helen’s Plant Sale for NGS Charities on 12 May

We were reminded about John & Helens’ plant sale at Ty’r Maes, Ffarmers, SA19 8JP on Sunday 12th May from 1 pm. Donations are encouraged as payment – the proceeds are for the National Garden Scheme charities. Plants can be ordered in advance – emails will be sent to club members at the end of April with a list of available plants to order.

Remember to browse the website for other upcoming events, the Surplus to Requirements section and updates to Members’ Gardens. If you have any ideas for new content or would like to contribute a piece about your own garden, please contact cothigardeners@gmail.com.