Let's grow mushrooms!!

Thought would be fun to grow mushrooms. I've done a bit of research and to do this you buy the spores which have been impregnated into wooden dowells and then get some logs and drill holes and then put the dowells in, and the spores grow through into the log. Sounds like takes a while before you get any mushrooms, but then it takes years for the fungi to completely consume the log and so you harvest mushrooms for years!!

I've gotten some freshly cut logs from the guys cutting the trees (photo below) and have ordered some mushrooms.. so when they arrive I'll let people know and then we can a mushroom start-up session.

I've ordered these lions mare mushroom spores, which are meant to be very tasty and also really good for you. Link below..

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/vegetables/all-other-vegetables/mushrooms/mushroom-lions-mane/bww3156TM

 

Weeding and thinning

In the rain everything's growing like mad (including weeds!) so we weeded and thinned out the dill and coriander.

And also took out the Swiss Chard which were looking a bit tired (and had started bolting) and replaced with some lettuce seedings.

Young gardeners enjoying Swiss Chard

Growth!!

In the last couple of weeks the potatoes and jerusalem artichoke have shot up, the mangetout peas have produced their first pea pods, and the dill, coriander, carrot and swiss chard seedling have grown well. 

The dill and coriander can now be spaced out so they have more space to grow.

Also, despite a rocky start the surviving worms in the wormery are happily tucking into the tuck are fat and healthy! 

First mangetout peas..

Swiss chard and tomatoes..

Chamomile tea!!

The chamomile flowers are all coming out, so please help yourself. 2 or 3 flower heads in a cup with hot water and leave for few minutes for a soothing cup.

Also, abandoned toilet used as planter, with jerusalem artichoke, lemon balm and runner bean!

 

The Wonky Prong sign installed

Today, with modest fanfare, The Wonky Prong sign was fixed next to the gate. We took a step back, looked at it and felt happy.

On the plant front, the exciting news is that the potatoes are starting to poke their heads up through the soil, and all the seeds have now germinated. 

Also, after the lid had been left off the wormery, and a large number of worms had dried out and died, so the wormery has now been moved into the shade within the Sue Godfrey garden. Fingers crossed that the surviving worms will rally and tuck into the feast of egg shells and apples cores, rather than give up the ghost and wither away.

Wormery gone LIVE!!

With the help of a re-start pack from Wiggly Wiggler the 'Can-O-Worms' wormery this morning was kick started into life. The worms seemed happy in there new home and furiously burrowed into the new bedding material. The wormery will produce incredibly rich compost and liquid feed for the plants.

The following is a list of what the worms love, so please feel free to collect at home and then add to the top tray underneath the moisture mat. The key is to cut the food up before adding and add small amounts often:

- Cooked food scraps
- Tea leaves
- Coffee grounds
- Vegetable peelings
- Dried and crushed egg shells
- Shredded and scrunched paper or cardboard
- Vacum cleaner dust, hair, wool and cotton
- Horse and cow manure

New compost bin and transplanting herbs and artichoke

Simon and Leila have built a 3-compartment compost bin out of wooden pallets, and started filling with a mixture of dry leaves, weed plants and kitchen waste. 

The compost bin is the other side of the (falling down) timber fence separating the allotments adjacent to Cremer House and the wild overgrown area. Heat can ALREADY be felt from the rapidly decaying organic matter.

Please feel free to add gardening or kitchen waste to the compost. Below is a list of what you can and can't compost:

You can compost:

• fruit and vegetable peelings
• tea bags and coffee grounds
• crushed egg shells
• grass cuttings, prunings, old bedding plants and hedge trimmings
• scrunched or shredded paper and some kinds of cardboard
• animal hair
• vacuum dust (only from woollen carpets)
• garden and pond plants

You shouldn't compost:

• cat or dog excrement
• meat and fish
• dairy products
• diseased plants
• disposable nappies
• shiny card
• hard objects

A plastic wormery was bought quite a while ago which has never been used, and so I've bought a wormery re-start kit which includes everything to get it going (including the worms) and was thinking this could be kept by the raised beds at is smaller and the liquid feed from it could be used directly on the plants in the raised beds.

If you're interested here is link to the wormery we have.

Also, earlier I re-used an old sink and planted with mint and lemon balm transplanted from the allotments and planted strawberry in a terracotta pot.

  
And also planted planted some jerusalem artichokes within the large square bed. They are from last year, and I thought I'd eaten them all but must have missed digging up some as they've started growing back!!

Planting of raised beds

This is the first post of The Wonky Prong!! 
(otherwise more sensibly known as the Crossfields foot growing project)

Over the last couple of months the raised beds were built next to the Sue Godfrey community garden with the help of the Greenwich Co-operative Development Agency, and then filled with soil using funding from Capital Growth.

Last Saturday (12th May) the timber raised beds, pots along the boundary and narrow bed along the chain link fence were planted with a mixture of different plants and seeds including: potatoes, marrows, tomatoes, peppers, swiss chard, mangetout peas, walking stick cabbage, carrots, wild rocket, dill, coriander, chamomile, thyme, rosemary, runner beans and raspberry!

Anyone can join the group, and then we all get to enjoy the produce, so drop me a line if you'd like to get involved.


Things that it would be great to do next include:
- Buy a water butt to avoid endless trips back and forth with small watering cans, and possibly link to a drain of the adjacent shed roof
- Re-build the compost bin
- Build some benches and a table
- Weed the Sue Godfrey community garden
- Buy or make a new gate for the Sue Godfrey community garden

These are just my ideas, so let me know if there's anything else you think would be a good idea, or would like to grow.


In future I'll post any dates of when we're planning on doing stuff on this blog.


Tim