FoGroBloMe 08

Ben
Ben from Real Seeds with his timeline of agricultural history

Yesterday a group of Food Growing Bloggers met up at the Oxford Botanical Garden for a bit of a natter and a seed swap. It was a great day (and the sun was shining!) and I met a lot of lovely people (listed roughly in order of appearance):

Bifurcated Carrots
The Plot Thickens
Real Seeds
Veg Plotting
Soilman
Hills & Plains
Spadework
Manor Stables Veg Plot
Daughter of the Soil
Mustard Plaster

One of the highlights was Ben from Real Seeds‘ talk on the history of seed saving, why we’ve lost most of our vegetable diversity and why it’s very important that we start to regain it. Real Seeds sell open-pollinated vegetable seeds, but what they’d really like you to do is buy them once and then save seed yourself. There are very good seed saving instructions on their website, which have a Creative Commons license – which means you are free to distribute them as long as you distribute them for free!

Patrick had some very interesting hints and tips on growing garlic. The ones which stuck with me are that a 1:10 solution of milk in water (skimmed smells better!) helps against garlic rust, a thick mulch deters weeds but not the garlic, and if you plant extra cloves close together you can pull them early in the year as ‘spring garlic’.

And then Simon regaled us with tales of his allotment and one of his poems. (You can download a PDF of his first collection of poems.)

After that it was time for a picnic lunch in the gardens and a seed swap (I got some exploding cucumber seeds! Patrick had brought bulbs of some of his special garlic varieties, which were soon snapped up, and there were interesting beans and gourds and all kinds of things on offer.

Then we stepped back out into the sunshine to wander round the botanical garden – which even had several beds of vegetables on display! Check out the rest of the photos.

All in all it was a great day, and should you get the opportunity next year you should come along :)

Posted Sep 21, 05:48 AM.   Posted in .

4 Comments for FoGroBloMe 08

  1. YEAH!

    I had a great time and it was lovely to meet you.

    Rebsie Fairholm · Sep 21, 10:39 AM

  2. Hi Emma, it was great to meet you and all the other FoGroBlos. For me the highlights of the talks were the genetic diversity that’s already been lost, and the interrelationship between garlic and its viruses. I liked the greenhouses too – I’d love one like that on the allotment. Actually I was surprised to find it quite exhausting materializing out of cyberspace, but it was good to put a face to names, both old and new. I’m pleased to have found your blog now, and I guess cosmic rays aren’t entirely your fault.

    Simon

    Simon Kirby · Sep 21, 07:12 PM

  3. Hi Emma,

    It was a great day and lovely to meet you at last!

    Excellent write-up :D

    VP · Sep 21, 08:35 PM

  4. Hi Emma,

    Great post.

    Thanks for helping out with the set up, coffee/tea and everything else. It was also great you could come and nice to meet you.

    Good luck with the slugs, and let me know how you get on with the copper barriers.

    Patrick · Sep 23, 07:08 AM

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