Alys on saving rocket seed

You may have salad rocket in full flower now or perhaps those funny inflated seed pods are appearing. In which case, now is the moment to save seeds.

Rocket [...]]]> No, Alys isn’t coming to the VegEvent but you will be saving some seeds for the seed swap won’t you?…….here’s how to save Rocket seed.

Alys on saving rocket seed

You may have salad rocket in full flower now or perhaps those funny inflated seed pods are appearing. In which case, now is the moment to save seeds.

Rocket is part of the cabbage family, brassicaceae. I’m not quite sure how rocket got its name, but one could quite believe that it’s due to its speedy nature. It matures very quickly and thus, for a continuous supply, you need to make successive sowings. It is a cool-climate plant and in hot weather it tends to go straight to flowering. The flowers are edible, but don’t eat too many if you want to save seed.

It’s never advisable to save seed of the first plant that bolted as this will perpetuate early flowering and thus fewer leaves to eat.

You could let nature do the hard work and allow it to self-seed, but you do tend to get it in all the wrong places this way. It’s often better to harvest the seed when the plant is a yellow colour and the seed heads have turned a lovely straw colour; allow the seeds to dry indoors in a well-ventilated space. Rocket has a natural post-harvest dormancy of around two months. This means you’ll have to wait before sowing, but once you get into the cycle you can happily keep yourself in seed for as long as you care to eat rocket.

via Alys Fowler: Caraway, plus harvesting rocket seed | Life and style | The Guardian.

Old jars can still be used

consumption later, when home grown fresh food gets scarce. Fruit bottling is having a revival and Kilner jars are getting pressed back [...]]]> Before freezers the Kilner Jar was the favoured method of preserving fruit and some vegetables. Bottling (canning in the US) remains a very efficient method of preserving produce for

Old jars can still be used

consumption later, when home grown fresh food gets scarce.
Fruit bottling is having a revival and Kilner jars are getting pressed back into service after years of gathering dust in attics. The beauty of bottling is that once the fruit is sealed into the jar no energy is used to maintain it’s condition, unlike freezing which depends on constant power supply.
Key components of the Kilner system are the lids and especially the rubber seals that keep the air out and ensure the food within doesn’t deteriorate. These seals and lids need replacing and you can be sure that old jars will have perished seals and rusty lids……….what to do?
Bring your old jars along to the Harvest VegEvent and Peter Dornay of Kilnerjarsuk will help you find the right spares to get your Kilners back into action no matter how old they are.

Peter will also be showing some of the older types of Kilner jars from his collection.
Did you know that Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear ‘fame’ has the original Kilner family on his maternal side……..
You can find our more than you really need to know about Kilner and other bottling jars on Peter’s web site :http://www.kilnerjarsuk.co.uk

Emma, is a freelance writer, photographer and podcaster. She is a keen gardener and lives in Oxfordshire with husband Pete and three pet chickens – Princess Layer, Chewbucka and Cluck Skywalker. (RIP Hen Solo)

Emma Cooper

Emma will be running the seed swap and selling/signing her book ‘The alternative Kitchen Garden an A-Z’

You can find [...]]]> Great news!

Emma, is a freelance writer, photographer and podcaster. She is a keen gardener and lives in Oxfordshire with husband Pete and three pet chickens – Princess Layer, Chewbucka and Cluck Skywalker. (RIP Hen Solo)

Emma Cooper

Emma will be running the seed swap and selling/signing her book ‘The alternative Kitchen Garden an A-Z’

You can find our more about Emma on her web site: http://coopette.com

Total self sufficiency is a tough one though, very few achieve it and that’s where local producers come in, [...]]]> The objective of our Harvest VegEvent is to help gardeners to make the most of growing their own – storing more, growing more at both ends of the season and getting better results.

Total self sufficiency is a tough one though, very few achieve it and that’s where local producers come in, they can fill the gaps in your production and provide the food that you can’t or don’t wish to home produce.

The Harvest VegEvent would like to help any local producers to get better known…….I know you are out there because I keep finding out about you by chance so please get in touch if you would like our help in spreading the word.

It’s not just food that we are interested in, anything that is local, sustainable and connected with gardening, food, health and well-being can be included.

Please use the contact form to get in touch/

Once again it will be at the Victoria rooms Fordingbridge – all the info to follow soon.

3pm All Saints Church Hall. Full details on the Milford on Sea Food Week web site you will need to be patient as the Wednesday [...]]]> If you missed Charles at the VegEvent you have another chance to be inspired at the Milford on Sea Food food week. He is doing his ‘New Ways with Veg’ talk on the Wednesday.

3pm All Saints Church Hall. Full details on the Milford on Sea Food Week web site you will need to be patient as the Wednesday page is a graphic and slow to appear – be warned!

Ah……don’t bother using Chrome to view the MOSFW web site, it looks to have be made for IE only.

Feed the addiction……..there’s another event happening in Exeter

Introducing…….Exeters second Seed Swap & Permaculture Day!

Featuring lots of local green groups and campaigns, stalls, a gardener’s Q&A, workshops, speakers, an organic cafe, vegan cakes, permaculture film showings, free plants and seeds, and more!!

When?! Saturday 20th March 2010, 10am-4:30pm

Where? St Sidwells Centre, [...]]]> Are you developing a seed swap habit?

Feed the addiction……..there’s another event happening in Exeter

Introducing…….Exeters second Seed Swap & Permaculture Day!

Featuring lots of local green groups and campaigns, stalls, a gardener’s Q&A, workshops, speakers, an organic cafe, vegan cakes, permaculture film showings, free plants and seeds, and more!!

When?! Saturday 20th March 2010, 10am-4:30pm

Where? St Sidwells Centre, Sidwell Street, Exeter

Why?! …see the web site to find out more: Exeter Seed Swap

Plans for the Harvest VegEvent have begun and the concept has crystallised into an Autumn version of the Spring one. The emphasis will be on what to do with the bounty from your gardens and hedgerows, [...]]]> The Spring VegEvent was a great success; well, we all enjoyed it and I think the 100 or so visitors did too.

Plans for the Harvest VegEvent have begun and the concept has crystallised into an Autumn version of the Spring one. The emphasis will be on what to do with the bounty from your gardens and hedgerows, how to store, preserve and enjoy it. We have decided to once again make no charge for entry but to rely on food, limited sales and a raffle/tombola to keep the thing financially sound, all we need to do is ensure that we have enough ££ at the end to do it all over again the following Spring.

The kind of topics covered will be:

An assortment of Brassicas

• Honey and bees
• Preserves and preserving
• Storage of veggies
• Chutneys and Pickles
• Bottling – Kilners jars and that kind of stuff
• Apple press and juice making
• Drying of produce
• Preserving equipment
• Country Market
• Extending the season – late sown veg and the use of protection

If you run a local business that is involved in any of the above please get in touch