Author Archives: Matt Jones

The Smallholder by John Seymour Book Review

The Smallholder by John Seymour

The Smallholder by John Seymour – Book Review. Background: This book is part of a three book series entitled ‘The Country Treasury’, published in 1983. The other two books are The Shepherd and The Woodlander. All three were written by John Seymour and illustrated by his wife Sally Seymour. In each of the books Seymour interviews people living traditional country ways of life and work. In this book Seymour tells the stories of four families who live on smallholdings. He covers how they got started, the challenges they have faced, their everyday routines and how they have managed to turn their…

Spiced plum jam recipe

This spiced plum jam recipe is one that we have been perfecting for the last few years. We settled on this mix of spices when we used to make a spiced jam from foraged damsons and crab apples. When we moved to our current house a couple of years ago, there were so many plum trees in the garden that we started making it all plum. This is how we have made our jam the last two years and both batches were absolute triumphs. Ideally you should include a good few plums that aren’t yet quite ripe, as they are…

Windfall quinces - thank you Storm Angus!

The end of October was a pleasantly autumnal affair, with some nice autumn sun and cool, but not cold, temperatures. That was true right up until the evening of the final day of the month. Then as of the morning of the 1st of November it became bitterly cold and we were hit with several days of morning frosts! This caught us unprepared, and so we were in a panic to harvest the last of our more temperature sensitive crops. The main crops that we were desperate to harvest before the frosts caused severe damage, were the last of our…

An October curcubit harvest - courgettes that grew to marrows, a patty pan and a ball courgette.

October is always a fun month for us. We are still harvesting crops, and we are now also planting new ones for next year. This month we’ve sown some peas and broad beans in pots, which we will move to their final positions at the allotment once we have harvested enough carrots to make space for them. These pea and bean plants will then give us a bit of a head start for next spring. Although they won’t grow much in the short cold days of winter, when the conditions improve, they will already be established plants and should start…

The first instalment of this year's patty pans from the allotment.

Back in the late spring when we were busy sowing seeds I asked my son what he would like to grow this year. He clearly had something in mind, but he couldn’t remember what it was called. A few image searches online later and he excitedly confirmed what he was trying to describe: a patty pan. So he sowed a patty pan seed and it germinated very quickly. He asked to water it, and frequently asked for updates on his patty pan. Unfortunately back in June high winds snapped the young patty pan plant. We decided not to tell our…

An early autumn treat - the biggest pumpkin we have ever grown.

September is already coming to an end. It’s been a great month for us in the garden and at the allotment. We’ve had some exciting harvests and we’ve been enjoying the changing of the seasons. The month started with weather cloudier than we had experienced in August. It was still warm, but there wasn’t as much sun, and the days were getting noticeably shorter. We had a fair bit of rain in the first week or so, which prompted another surge in courgette production. But it did give us cause for concern regarding our drying Martock field beans and Boddington’s…

It's that time of year again! That summer staple - the runner bean.

We’ve had quite a successful, if a little hectic, month. August carried on where July left off and it has been hot and sunny most days. This has been great for our squashes and courgettes, which have come on leaps and bounds. It has meant we’ve spent a lot of time watering, and so our basic evening routine is either Liz or I water the allotment, and the other waters the garden. These tasks take some time, so what with weeding and cultivating the last of the space at the allotment, it’s been a busy month just keeping things ticking…

Mature Martock field beans growing in our garden.

What a contrast July has been when compared to June! Almost every day this month has been warm and sunny with very little rain. It’s been a very busy month for us. We’ve transformed the allotment and the plants there are thriving in the warm weather. It has meant that we’ve had to spend a lot of time watering the plants this month, and even more time weeding. In the garden the legumes bed has been very productive. Our Martock field beans have produced such a crop that we’ve had a couple of plants bend in two under their own…

Visually pleasing and deliciously sweet - our Fragoo Deep Rose strawberry plants.

Well, what a strange month June turned out to be! The most exciting news is that we now have an allotment! After that the biggest news has been the weather. The month started with a mini-heatwave which decimated crops in our plastic greenhouse, forcing us to get a move on and finish planting everything out. Then the wind and rain wreaked havoc with the plants once they were out! It hasn’t felt like June. Early in the month (after the few hot days), it was quite cold. It may as well have been April. It’s warmed up somewhat now, but…

Our new growing space - a 3 rod allotment.

There has been an exciting development for us and our fruit and vegetable growing. We’ve got an allotment! It’s something we had considered for some time. We thought about it a lot before we moved into our current house. But once we moved here and had more growing space than ever before, we were in our element and the idea of an allotment became less important. Of course more space would have been nice. Just a few weeks ago I commented in a post that due to our crop rotation plan and the size differences between our beds we wouldn’t be…

Slightly Self-Sufficient

Tasting The Good Life

Author Archives: Matt Jones

The Smallholder by John Seymour Book Review

Spiced Plum Jam Recipe

November 2016 Growing Update

October 2016 Growing Update

A Boy And His Patty Pans

September 2016 Growing Update

August 2016 Growing Update

July 2016 Growing Update

Late June 2016 Growing Report

Exciting News – We Have An Allotment!