EVERYONE IS HOME

The City Smallholder household has spent most of the summer travelling and, consequently, the garden (and blog) has, for the most part, been left to its own devices. We are therefore happy to be back, safe and sound, with the next phase ahead of us. Fortunately, in between our various trips we were able to……

MY GRANDAD’S SPADE

Amongst the things I inherited from my grandad were several gardening tools that he’d used on his allotment for many years.  It’s possible that some of the tools go back as far as the Dig for Victory campaign, and within the collection is a very odd-looking spade that has such a worn-down appearance that it……

THE BEST THING TO DO WITH BLOCK PAVING

The best thing to do with block paving is remove it brick by brick until you expose enough earth to use your front garden as it’s meant to be.  This is what we’ve been doing now that the days are getting longer – grabbing an hour after work to start creating flower beds in preparation……

THE ALLOTMENT GARDENER’S COOKBOOK

Our neighbour came round with a surprise gift yesterday. It was a copy of a book called “The Allotment Gardener’s Cookbook” which he’d been recommending for some time but had been unable to find details about the publisher or author. There’s a book with the same title published by Reader’s Digest, but the one our……

OUR SEED ORDER

One of the main things we learnt last year was that a little bit of planning in the colder months can save hours (as well as increase yield) when the growing season arrives.  Last year we planted in a highly disorganised and impromptu way, giving little thought to the position or association of our crops……

Introduction

WE STARTED HERE    Welcome to the City Smallholder.  We hope you enjoy these pages and invite you to follow our journey as we endeavour to chart the difficulties met when seeking a self-sufficient and supermarket-free lifestyle in an urban environment.  Our own journey began in the summer of 2009 with the smallest of plots – approximately 30……