Diygarden Low

Grow This Flower as a Natural Dye! 🌼🩳 Coreopsis, also known as ‘calliopsis’ or ‘tickseed’ is a vibrant wildflower that is likely one of the most versatile and beneficial flowers I have growing in the garden. 🌼 It’s great as a companion for many vegetables🥬🍅 is loved by pollinators 🐝 and has culinary and medicinal uses, ☕️ but the main reason I grow them is for natural dyeing and print making, as they can be used to create some of the most vibrant natural pigments, from a deep orange to yellows, reds and browns. 🌱🌼 I simply deadhead some of the wilting flowers throughout the season, dry and store them, and when I want to use them I just add them to a pan of boiling water, along with my alum mordanted material, and let it simmer for a few hours, I then allow it to cool and soak overnight, and just hang the material out to dry. 💦🩳🌼 Coreopsis can also be used for printmaking on things like fabric or paper by simply hammering them and then peeling away the petals. 🌼🔨 So will you be adding coreopsis to your garden next year? And let me know if there are any flowers you think I should add to mine 😊🌸 #flowergarden #gardening #gardeningtips #naturaldyeing #flowers

Plant your own Garlic 🧄 and you’ll Never have to Buy it Again! 😊👍🏻 Garlic is such an easy plant to grow and save seed from, and now is the time to plant it. 🧄 It is also a good crop to keep garden beds full through winter and they do not take up much space to can be a companion for many other crops as they grow! 🧄🍅🌱🌼 There are two main types of garlic: Hard-neck is generally better for cooler climates or outdoor growing, They have a rigid stalk that stems from the center of the bulb and produce flowering stems known as scapes. Soft-neck varieties are better suited to warmer climates or growing under cover, they produce leaves rather than stem, generally produce more cloves per bulb, and they store for longer. You could plant store bought, but they can carry disease and are often sprayed with anti-sprouting agents. So I wouldn’t bother. 😕🧄 To plant I just break up the bulbs into separate cloves and plant them with the wider end downwards and the pointy end around 2.5cm below the soil surface and around 12cm apart. 📏 The cloves can easily be sown directly into a pot, container or raised bed. But I generally sow them directly into the ground and mulch with compost. 🪴 8-9 months later you’ll have an abundance of fresh garlic! 🧄😊👍🏻 Remove the scapes, when they form if growing hard neck varieties to ensure larger bulbs and these have a nice mild garlicky flavour. 😋 Then harvest bulbs from around July onwards, once the top growth has begun to die back. Leave the bulbs to dry in the sun for a few days and then store in a cool dry place until needed. 🧄☀️ Just be sure to save some of the best to replant next season. 😊🌱 So will you be planting garlic this season? #garlic #gardening #gardeningtips #growyourownfood #sustainableliving

Overwinter Chilli Pepper Plants 🌶️❄️ Here in the UK Chilli and Pepper plants are generally grown as annual summer plants and are removed from the garden in autumn and composted, however, they are actually perennial and can produce for several years if overwintered correctly. 😊👍🏻🌱🌶️ If you only have a couple of plants and you don’t mind moving them inside the house for the winter, simply dig them up if they are in a garden bed, leaving as much of the root ball intact as possible, add them to a pot, water them in, and then move them to a sunny windowsill indoors where they can be kept warm until the following season. 🪟🪴☀️ To overwinter your plants outdoors you’ll need a greenhouse, poly tunnel, shed or even a garage. Then start by removing all of the fruit from the plant, and it may seem quite drastic, but you’ll want to remove most of the branches and all of the leaves, leaving only a couple of Y shaped branches. 🌱✂️👀 Then dig up the plant, again keeping as much of the root ball intact as possible, pop it into a pot, add a little more compost, firm and water it in, then just move it in the shed or garage, ideally with some natural light if possible. 🪴🌶️ Or cover with an additional layer of fleece if keeping them inside a greenhouse or poly tunnel and they should go dormant and survive the winter, giving you a much earlier crop when we they are re-planted next year. 🌱🌶️😊👍🏻 Do you overwinter your pepper plants? #gardeningtips #gardening #vegetablegarden #plants #growyourownfood

My First Book is Now Available to Pre-Order! 😊📗 This season, I set out to turn a previously unkept piece of land into a thriving and biodiverse vegetable garden and whilst doing so, I documented the whole process in my very first book! 😊📗 Nettles and Petals - Grow food, Eat weeds, Save seeds, is my accessible and circular guide to ecological Gardening! 🌱🐞🐦‍⬛🪱🐛 I’ve included circular garden design, no-dig bed preparation, vegetable growing guides, composting, seed saving, preserving, foraging, lots of DIY projects such as how to set up wildlife ponds and houses, worm farms and so much more. 🍅🥒🌽 All to help you make the most of your garden or outdoor space, no matter how big or small. It’s now available to pre-order and it would mean so much to me if you were to do so! Then you’ll be one of the first to recieve a copy at the end of March 2025. 📗🌱 And for every copy that is preordered, I’ll grow a flower to support local pollinators in the new community garden I’ll be setting up in the coming year! 🌼🌸🐝🦋 You can also download a special gift voucher if you want to give one as a gift this Christmas. 🎟️🌸 There’s a link in my bio or comment the word book below and I’ll send you the link to both! 😊 Thank you so much, and I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it for you! 🌱🌸🐝 #gardening #flowergarden #vegetablegarden #growyourownfood #sustainableliving

Preparing the Garden for Winter 🌱❄️ Summer may be over, and the pace in the garden might be slowing, but a vegetable garden can still be productive over winter! and here’s how I prepare mine for the colder months…😊❄️ I start by clearing any annual crops from the outdoor beds that won’t be overwintered, and I either add them to the compost, if they are coming to the end of their life span, or I’ll move any healthy plants into the polytunnel or greenhouse to protect them from the worst of the weather and prolong their harvests. 🌱 It’s important not to leave the soil uncovered over winter to prevent erosion and preserve the soil life, and having roots in the ground is the bed option, so I either sow a cover crop, such as mustard, clover, field or broad beans, or a combination of them, or I’ll grow overwintering crops, such as, leeks and purple sprouting broccoli. 🥦 I’ll even under-sow those with low growing cover crops at times too. But if nothing else, I’ll add around an inch of fresh organic matter to the beds as a mulch, such as compost or leaves. 🍂 The poly tunnels and greenhouse are now planted up with crops too which will be overwintered such as: chard, kale, endive and winter purslane, and to give them an extra layer of protection I’ll cover them with fleece on the colder evenings, which really helps their growth. 🌱👍🏻 Not the most fun jobs, but now is a good time to clean the poly tunnel or greenhouse, as well as pots and seed trays to prevent mould and disease. 💦🪟 I also like take some time to summarise the growing season and plan for the next: what grew well this year? What didn’t? Favourite varieties? Pest issues? And how I can overcome them next year. 🐜 And lastly, I try to recognise and appreciate the little wins from this year, because gardening and growing your own food is not easy, there’s always a lot of challenges to overcome, but it’s such a privilege to steward the land and I’

3 Ways to Use Leaves in the Garden 🍂🪱 For me, leaves are such a valued garden resource that add so much fertility to the vegetable garden, and best of all they are free and readily available! 😊🙌🍂 The first way I use them is as a mulch on garden beds or pots, so we can mimic the natural mulching processes that occur to create a healthy forest floor. Leaves help to keep the soil covered, suppress weeds, retain soil moisture and boost fertility as they break down. 🍂 Leaves can also be shredded to allow more air and water to get through to soil and plants and to speed up decomposition. Or alternatively, instead of raking them off the lawn, mow them in, the lawn will thank you for it. 🌱👍 The second way I use them is by making leaf mould. It’s so easy to make, as they can just be left in a pile, bagged up, or put into an empty compost bin to break down. 🗑️🍂 I Keep them damp to speed up the process, and as well as improving the structure and water retention of soils, leaf mould attracts and feeds soil organisms and fungi that boost soil health. It’s also a great addition a potting mix. 🪱🪴 The third way I use them is as an addition to the compost pile, another really quick and easy way to utilise the abundance of fallen autumn leaves. Leaves are a great brown (or carbon rich) material to combine with fresher green (or nitrogen rich) materials, attracting lots of beneficial fungi to the compost pile. 🌱🍂 I store them nearby and add a layer in between green materials when I have them. This helps to create a rich and healthy compost that I add to my beds. It’s important to leave plenty of leaves under trees or in woodlands as they are enriching the soil and acting as natural habitat for insects. 🌳🍂🐞 So try collecting from paved areas, just beware of trash and pollutants, or pick up bagged leaves others are throwing away. 😊👍🏻🍂 So how are you using leaves in your garden? 🍁😊 #compost #autu

Bread is one of the highest food waste categories but there are many ways to reuse it and transform it into bread crumbs, croutons or this delicious quick and super easy dessert with no need to cook anything! INGREDIENTS BREAD BASE: 5 x slices of bread 1 1/2 x cup of coffee 1 x tbsp sugar INGREDIENTS CREAM: 300 x g silken tofu 150 x g coconut milk (just the solid part) 3 x tbsp sugar Sifted Cocoa powder STEP BY STEP: - Cut your bread into pieces and soak it with coffee and sugar - Mix it with your hands and transfer to a flat flat container to make the base of your dessert (flat it out with a spoon) - Add your tofu to a bowl along coconut milk and sugar - Whisk together until you have an even mix - Add your whisked cream on top of your bread - Sprinkle cocoa powder and refrigerate until firm NOTES: you can use agave instead of sugar and you could add cashews to make the cream thicker #fyp #foryoupage #contentcreator #zerowaste #bread #zerowastetiktok #homemadefood #reuse #zerowastetips #asmrfood #easyrecipe

My bro Kevin from Epicgardening harvested an epic cabbage. I used it to make a healthy and delicious Sauerkraut to enjoy over the next months. Preserving your own food its such an important step to be more self sufficient and extend the shelf life of fruit and vegetables. SAUERKRAUT INGREDIENTS: 2 x 1 L sealable jars 1 x cabbage head (red or green) 4 x cups of water 2 x tbsp coarse salt Bay leaves Caraway seeds Peppercorn grains #fyp #foryoupage #contentcreator #sauerkraut #cabbage #purplecabbage #homemadefood #easyrecipe #asmrfood #fermented #learnontiktok

I’ve had the immense pleasure to cook with one of my favourite plant based chefs and friend @DerekSarno who blew my mind with the insane texture and flavour using lions mane mushrooms kindly sent by @Marvellous Mushrooms. This is my longest Timelapse to date. It looks quick but it took me 8 days of filming to capture the whole growth of the mushrooms. Why mimicking the steak? Because going Plant based is not about giving up flavours but giving up the killing part. INGREDIENTS: 1 x cluster lions mane Olive oil Asparagus or any side MARINATE INGREDIENTS: 2 x garlic cloves 2 x tsp beets powder 1 x tbsp soy sauce Olive oil drizzle Water NOTE: - cook the cluster again after it has been marinating for at least one hour #fyp #foryoupage #contentcreator #mushroom #lionsmane #steak #homemadefood #easyrecipe #asmrfood #steaktiktok

It’s wild garlic or also called ramson season. You can find it in the wild in many areas across Uk, Europe and USA and it’s absolutely delicious and free to pick. We used it on @laja focaccia’s and the taste was just insane! WILD GARLIC PESTO: - 100 x g wild garlic - 100 x g plant based Parmesan - 100 x g Pine nuts - 100 x ml olive oil - Salt to taste The focaccia recipe is coming up soon! TIPS: freeze the pesto in an ice cube tray so you can use one cube when needed #fyp #foryoupage #contentcreator #wildgarlic #ramps #ramson #homemadefood #foraging #easyrecipe #asmrfood #learnontiktok #wildfood

Birch tree sap has been used for centuries in traditional medicine and is known for its many health benefits. It is a natural source of electrolytes, such as potassium and magnesium, which help to maintain proper fluid balance in the body but it also helps to flush out toxins and excess fluids, boosts immunity and reduce inflammations. You can drink it straight from the trees or process it into syrup, wine or beer. STEP BY STEP: - the best time to collect sap it’s around the second week of march - find a birch tree with a minimum diameter of 25 cm and poke a hole around 1 meter from the ground. - If no sap is coming out, stop drilling and look for another tree - If it starts pouring out sap, add a small tube or similar dripping directly in a bottle or container secured in place with a rope. - Leave it for 24/48 hours before coming back to collect the sap #fyp #foryoupage #contentcreator #birch #birchwater #birchsap #foraging #foragingtiktok #wildfood #foragingtips #homemadefood #easyrecipe #asmrfood

This is a great way to use your old apples and avoid waste. Kvass it’s a great source of minerals and vitamins (including vitamin B12) and the perfect boost for your immune system. Fruit leather it’s just a delicious alternative to candies and it can be stored in a jar for a long time. APPLE KVASS: •1/2 L apple juice •3 L warm water •3 x cups sugar •3 x tbsp apple cider vinegar •2 x tbsp instant coffee •2 x tbsp dry yeast -mix all ingredients in a pan and let ferment overnight in a war environment . -the day after transfer to smaller containers and store in the fridge for up to 10 days -serve cold FRUIT LEATHER: •apple pulp leftover in the juicer (2-3 cups) •1 x banana •2 x cups strawberry -in a pan cook all ingredients for 10 min until nice and soft -blend them until smooth -place on a baking sheet and lever to form a thin uniform layer -bake at 150 for 1 and half hour until sticky but not soft for it to break -let cool -cut in to stripes -roll the stripes and store in to an airtight container for up to 2 weeks #fyp #foryoupage #contentcreator #apple #kvass #fruitleather #zerowaste #zerowastefood #zerowastetiktok #homemadefood #easyrecipe #asmrfood