I begin this blog with tomatoes and why I would like to write about our gardening experiences at Aquila..
With great excitement I have harvested well over 5 kilo of tomatoes already and have 5 large containers of cooked tomatoes frozen and squirrelled away in the freezer. The aim is for 20 frozen containers and another 20 bottled tomatoes. Despite the thrill I get each time I harvest and then consume food from our garden, this harvest is significant. It was an experiment that went wonderfully right! In late August we planted our tomato seedlings into the garden and set up temporary hothouses. The system we used is base on one I read about in Elliot Coleman’s book “The New Organic grower” Elliot travelled to France and studied the techniques used by French market gardeners. So much of Elliot’s work and that of a Canadian market gardener Jean –Martin Fortier have shaped, inspired and changed how we have grown food these last 18months.
This system of hot housing is very simple. Before the tomatoes were planted the hoops of high tensile wire were stuck into the garden. Builders plastic was placed over the wire hoops. The plastic is held down with long pieces of bailing twine, criss crossed over the plastic. Warm soil and then warm air temperatures created by the hot house saw the tomatoes grow quickly and strongly.
It is this learning that I get excited about and part of the reason why I am keen to share it with other gardeners. This simple low tech solution to getting tomatoes well before Christmas has lots of applications for other crops and extending seasons. This system was new for me and maybe it might create a solution for you as well. I hope so.
This blog also marks the beginning of a new aspect to gardening as the “A Year in Aquila garden” Seasonal guide to activities in your garden arrived from the printers and travelled to some gardeners for Christmas. Self publishing and working on this project with friends Amy & Will has been incredible. I learnt so much and look forward to seeing where the project goes in the future.
So I sign off this first entry with many wishes to all gardeners and growers of great food and hope the summer is kind and rewarding. Cheerio Lou