Profile
Originally trained as a bioscientist, I spent a summer in 1990 working for Friends Book Centre, where as part of 'knowing my stock' I read a whole load of interesting books for free, notably 'Permaculture' by Mollison and Viktor Schauberger's book about water. I started growing tomatoes about 5 years ago and gradually started applying my scientific training to growing some vegetables as an amateur. I planted 20 comfrey plants in the summer of 2013, set up a wormery early in 2014, now have sustainable levels of yarrow, chamomile and stinging nettle growing around the garden, failed with valerian and dandelion last summer and have sourced horse manure from a local stable and hoovered up the street's leaves in green waste bags last autumn to create a nice start to making my own leaf mould. Last year I tried using the Maria Thun calendar for growing tomatoes and potatoes and have seen my tomato seeds and plants get more vigorous each year as I harvest my own seeds and look after my plants well. My next goal will be to try and create a tomato which is hardy enough to grow successfully in the garden every year (I"m wondering about Alicante, Black Krim, Sub Arctic Plenty and Glacier as candidates there). 2015 has seen me expand successfully into winter cabbage, onions from seed, beetroot in clumps, carrots, chard and PACA lettuce.
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