Horticultural

VP's virtual open garden - I'm late, very, very, late

There's being fashionably late, and then there's being so late that everyone else has already been and gone.

So, ahem, here's a link to Veg Plotting's lovely Open Garden Day to raise money for WaterAid. I did manage to donate a copy of my book, The Allotment Keeper's Handbook, to the cause, along with a couple of other tomes culled from my desk at work, and VP even wrote a nice review of the former, which was most kind.

So no excuses - get over there and splash the cash if you haven't done so already!

All the news that's fit to compost

Just found this blog, dedicated to news from the world (and yes, it is a world) of composting toilets.

If you want to have your very own composting toilet, perhaps in the garden to save those "tramping in the house with muddy boots" moments, you can even build your own, as volunteers at Oxford Community Garden did.

There's also more links and resources at Scietch blog.

Let's just say this is - unfortunately - way, way down my to-do list, languishing with things I'd love to do in my dreams, like building my own log cabin in the wilderness, that kind of thing ...

Wiggly Wigglers' customers' catalogue

One of the things I love about the natural gardening company Wiggly Wigglers, aside from their superb podcast (ok, I have been interviewed on it, but it's great even without me ...), is that they're always trying something new and not afraid to harness the power of the web. I love their locally-grown Wiggly bouquets, too.

Now head honcho Heather Gorringe has come up with another cool idea - putting together its sales catalogue using social media - that means you and me, folks! Over to Heather's blog to explain more:

We want YOU to get involved, write articles, send in photos and drawings, design product if you are in the mood, and we will use these articles and items in our catalogue and on our website.

I love this idea - what a great way to build brand loyalty, get customers to feel really involved, and save on copywriters!

I think I am going to contribute something on Turtle bags, which I have been trying out of late. Speaking of which, things have gone a bit quiet on the Old Bag Project front of late, but fear not, I have another review in the pipeline, and this one is not entirely positive ... let's just say it's the first bag to give me a superficial skin wound!

Gardeners' World go blog

Thanks to Graham Holliday for pointing out that members of the Gardeners' World* team are now blogging, here. There's a post on National Allotments Week, which has come and gone and I never got around to mentioning. Can't say I saw or read a single bit in the media about it, which is a shame ... especially given how much "buzz" there is around allotments at the moment.

Also, check out the post on eccentric gardeners to find out which horticulturalist had a leaf-nosed bat neamed after him.

*For non-UK readers, GW is a long-running TV gardening show - some would say a national institution -currently presented by Monty Don.

Basket making video

James Hector saw my post about buying a willow trug from Somerset and sent me this fantastic YouTube clip of his colleague Chris making a willow basket. The speed with which he works is stunning - and the opening shot of the dog drowsing in the corner adds to the atmosphere!

James is from English Hurdle, a firm based in Somerset that makes lots of things out of willow - hurdles, but also beautiful baskets made by Chris and even play forts for children. I haven't bought anything from this firm but I like the range of products and the simple layout of the site.

Jamie Oliver has a blog

I didn't know that until today, when I came across it on the blogroll of the rather fine pastry chef's blog Phat Duck in the Pastry Department. He's podcasting too.

Slovenia's eccentric potato lovers

I just listened to a fantastic edition of BBC Radio 4's The Food Programme, all about potatoes.

Potato expert Alan Romans was  interviewed, and he always has something interesting to say, but I was most fascinated by a section of the show that visited something that sounded like a Monty Pythonesque joke - a visit to the Association for the Recognition of Sauté Potatoes with Onions as a Main Dish in Slovenia. This may sound deeply odd, but it does exist (it even has its own anthem) and it champions the national spud-based dish while supporting the slow food movement and fighting globalisation.

The ARSPOMD, as it probably isn't called, doesn't seem to have a website in English but I'd love to know more ...

You can listen for yourself for the next week here: after that you'll need to visit the Food Programme website and find the October 15 2006 edition which should be listed on the right-hand side.

Guardian Unlimited Environment

Guardian Unlimited (the website I work for) has launched an environment site.

Check it out here.

Hoe hoe hoe

You must check out this collection of hoes, owned by Carol of the blog May Dreams Gardens. It's astonishing just how many hoe types there are, although as Carol points out, it's not an exhaustive collection: "Yes, I've got a few hoes on my 'want' list, like any good collector who has a collection."

I rather liked the look of the winged weeder. It certainly puts my single hoe to shame ...

Knitted vegetables, oh yes ...

I've just discovered a whole new world I had no idea existed.

I am referring to the knitted food that can be bought on eBay for a few pounds and used as play items for children, which I came across by accident when I typed "allotment" into eBay out of curiosity and came across some knitted veg for sale. I was instantly hooked - I've already bought my niece (aged two) some knitted sushi (which she loves) and some knitted fruit.

The trouble is, the junk food - biscuits, cakes, and even burgers and fries - outnumbers the healthy stuff. Get knitting those courgettes and onions, folks!

(Oh, and if model railways are more your thing you can buy an allotment scene on eBay.)