A few early Spring entries from my 2025 gardening journal, Hands In The Dirt — Notes From a Vegetable Garden. Now available on Amazon.
Monday, 10th March 2025
My Garden Food Bank
I’ve had this self-sufficiency garden dream since watching the BBC comedy, The Good Life back in the 1970s. The idea of growing my own food, being self-sufficient, and saving money appealed. Now, I have a chance to do it.
Once summer arrives, the garden will be my own personal food bank. Here in England, with the cost of living rising, food inflation high, everything more expensive every year, there’s a simple pleasure in being able to grow some of my own food.
Seeing the price of fruit and vegetables in the supermarket makes me appreciate it even more. For the cost of a few pence in seeds, the garden will supply most of what I need for several months. And while it’s mostly vegetables that I grow, that’s still a big help.
Fruit, on the other hand, I find not so easy to grow. It often requires higher temperatures, and British summers aren’t always reliable. I’ve had some luck with strawberries, and I’m fortunate to live close to where wild blackberries grow. Very close, actually. At the bottom of my garden, a neighbour’s large blackberry bush spills over the fence, so all I need to do is pick.
Then there is a country park near where I live. Everywhere you look, there are blackberry bushes. For a couple of months in late summer, there are more than enough berries to go around. The best part is, they’re free.
It’s as simple as going for a walk and picking blackberries!
Tip of the Day: Use the garden (or part of it) to grow your own food and save money!
Tuesday, 11th March 2025
The Raised Beds
This year, I’ve been working on building three new raised beds in the garden. They’re fairly big (twelve by four feet, approximately), and I’ve been sketching out plans to split them, one half into a large section, and the other half into four smaller plots.
This plan might change, though, since some crops, like potatoes, will need more room. They do tend to need more space.
When it comes to the garden, I try to recycle where I can. The wood for the sides of the beds came from an old fence that was falling apart. It has seen better days, but the planks are perfect for giving the beds shape and structure.
Tip of the day: Don’t forget to rotate crops in the garden. Recycle wherever possible.
Thursday, 13th March 2025
No-Dig Gardening
I first came across the idea of no-dig gardening a few years ago. I’ll admit, the thought of doing less digging appealed straight away.
For years, I’d followed the traditional approach, digging deep, turning over the soil, then planting. That was what everyone seemed to do if you wanted a healthy garden. I was once told, If you are going to be a gardener, be prepared to do a lot of digging.
Then I came across a no-dig gardening video on YouTube, and it got me thinking. The principle is simple: disturb the soil as little as possible. Of course, you still dig small holes for planting, and potatoes are hard to harvest without breaking the surface, but the aim is to avoid deep digging as much as possible.
The benefit, they say, is that it preserves the natural structure and health of the soil. Digging breaks it up, while leaving it alone lets it do its work.
I add compost to the surface with a light rake, and I’ll use a fork gently to mix it in or remove weeds. I’m not fully no-dig yet, but what I’ve tried has made a difference. The crops seem stronger, the plants grow bigger, and the weeds aren’t nearly as troublesome as before.
The key, I think, is not to dig too deep. It saves the soil — and it might just save your back too.
And no-dig, or digging as little as possible, is also nature’s way of doing things.
Tip of the day: As an alternative to traditional gardening methods, no-dig gardening is worth a go. Try Charles Dowding’s videos on YouTube for a start.
Available from Amazon — Author page link here.
Photo by Zoe Richardson on Unsplash
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