Home Farmer Magazine September 2016 Back Issue

This month Home Farmer welcomes organic gardener, author and broadcaster, Charles Dowding, to our team of knowledgeable contributors, and he begins with a timely feature on preparing for early cropping next year. As all good gardeners know, it’s in autumn that much of the real work for next year’s early harvests is done, with soil preparation, and sowing and planting of veg that will often lie dormant, once established, over the winter period to get off to a flying start as the days lengthen and the temperatures warm up in spring. We also have sound advice from Helen Babbs on growing grapes in a corner of the polytunnel and up along the roof space, Sue Stickland juggling summer harvests and autumn planting under cover, John Harrison on seed-saving and 5-star compost, Sally Morgan on growing edible hedges and perennials, and Gaby Bartai on making the most of tomato and pepper gluts, with good advice on controlling any future excesses. We have three different views of smallholding too – one from a person who managed to grab a slice of the good life, one from an experienced smallholder who runs courses, and one from regular contributor, Dot Tyne, who simply describes each day as it is in her popular smallholder diary slot. We also feature bees, chickens, Danish pastries, laver bread (and other seaweed delights), green tomato cake and rose-hips. And on a more general level we have a feature on no-till agriculture, a growing movement which regards regular ploughing techniques as highly damaging to our soil structure, and Archers agricultural editor, Graham Harvey, who makes a very strong case for a return to mixed farms and pasture-fed livestock as a way of replacing the chemicals and immense machinery which agri-business has decided we need – or rather they need us to need; it’s crucial reading for anyone concerned about the state of our countryside and the food we eat today.