0:00:05 > 0:00:08I'm Alys Fowler, I'm a gardener and a writer.
0:00:11 > 0:00:15I grew up in the countryside but now my husband and I live in the city.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21I get pleasure from simple things.
0:00:21 > 0:00:23Home-baked bread,
0:00:25 > 0:00:27home-grown vegetables,
0:00:27 > 0:00:30and looking after my chickens.
0:00:30 > 0:00:33I'm completely in love with my chickens. They are perfect.
0:00:36 > 0:00:42This is my garden, a small Victorian terrace back yard, 20ft by 60ft.
0:00:42 > 0:00:44This year, I'm experimenting,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47I'm trying to avoid shop bought fruit and veg
0:00:47 > 0:00:49and live off my own, home-grown produce.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52But this won't be easy because I want my garden
0:00:52 > 0:00:54to be both beautiful and productive.
0:00:57 > 0:01:00Heaven.
0:01:00 > 0:01:02Heaven is a home-grown cucumber.
0:01:04 > 0:01:07Each week, I'll focus on different foods.
0:01:07 > 0:01:13from salads to peas, courgettes to tomatoes, even edible flowers
0:01:13 > 0:01:17and show how anyone can grow, cook and eat from their own garden,
0:01:17 > 0:01:18even if you live in a city.
0:01:31 > 0:01:32The difference in taste between
0:01:32 > 0:01:35home-grown food and shop bought is so huge.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42The minutes you put love into growing something you taste it.
0:01:42 > 0:01:43Gorgeous.
0:01:43 > 0:01:48And nothing tastes better than a just picked salad, lettuce, tomatoes
0:01:48 > 0:01:52and cucumbers which have gone from garden to plate in minutes.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01I'm realistic enough to know that I can't be totally self-sufficient.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05I'm still going to have to buy things like meat, cheese and pasta.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08But if I can grow enough fruit and veg to feed us both
0:02:08 > 0:02:10for most of the year, I'll be happy.
0:02:10 > 0:02:14So back in April I started planning what to grow.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17Coming up through here is potato, garlic.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22Then there is going to be a salad bit here, I think.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25Lettuce, lettuce, lettuce.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29Peas around here growing up through the rows.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33More lettuce. Lots of lettuce, you can't have too much lettuce.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37I'm going to keep some lettuce in these boxes up here.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40Because it is really nice just when you are feeling super tired
0:02:40 > 0:02:44to be able to come out in your bare feet and just pick your lettuce.
0:02:44 > 0:02:48All of the potatoes will remain in the pots up here.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51If there is any space left, I will put some flowers in it.
0:02:51 > 0:02:56So lettuces are crucial in my beautiful edible garden.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59I'm starting to sow them in wine boxes, salvaged from an off licence,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02and filled with compost from the garden centre.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06For my patio I've chosen to sow 'cut and come again' salad leaves.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09You don't pull them up, roots and all, like big lettuces.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12You simply trim off the leaves which then re grow for
0:03:12 > 0:03:16another couple of servings. You never want to sow out of the
0:03:16 > 0:03:20packet because you have very little control if you do it that way.
0:03:20 > 0:03:23You will sow the best part of the packet in one go.
0:03:23 > 0:03:25Take out a small amount.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30I am just scattering it across the top of the wine box.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35You just need to slightly tease the seed into the soil.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40Then firm it down just so the seed is in contact with the soil.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49And the trick to watering tiny seeds is to give them a long but gentle
0:03:49 > 0:03:53soaking because anything heavier than a sprinkle will wash them away.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04I've also been growing lettuce seedlings in trays of compost
0:04:04 > 0:04:06on my window ledges since February.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09With the arrival of milder weather those seedlings moved
0:04:09 > 0:04:13to the patio for a week or so to adjust to an outdoor life.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17And mid-April means they're now big enough to handle
0:04:17 > 0:04:19and so fine for planting into the borders.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23This soil is just so soft from all the spring rain and as it heats up,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27come summer, this will be as hard as a piece of china.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32Bur right now it is so soft and crumbly and ready to give life.
0:04:32 > 0:04:34I have got two very beautiful lettuce
0:04:34 > 0:04:37they are both the oak leaf type of lettuce.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39This one is called emerald green.
0:04:39 > 0:04:44It is a very big, beautiful, really vivid green.
0:04:44 > 0:04:46The centre is kind of acid green.
0:04:46 > 0:04:49The other one is flashy butter oak,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52which is a very pretty, marbled, burgundy lettuce.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56They are good enough in their own right just to be there.
0:04:56 > 0:05:00You then get to put them on your plate, it is genius really.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07I'll keep sowing and planting out continually over the next six months
0:05:07 > 0:05:11to guarantee I have home-grown salad right into the winter.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17Three weeks after sowing there are baby leaves sprouting.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20However, they're growing too close together
0:05:20 > 0:05:22threatening to strangle each other.
0:05:22 > 0:05:26You have to start thinning. You are aiming to have
0:05:26 > 0:05:32in this "cut and come again" system, lettuce roughly a centimetre apart.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35You do not want to waste any of these.
0:05:35 > 0:05:39You could chop off the roots and have them for tea.
0:05:39 > 0:05:43Or allow these to become bigger, maturer lettuce
0:05:43 > 0:05:45to grow somewhere else.
0:05:45 > 0:05:49There is no need to ever waste your thinnings.
0:05:49 > 0:05:54I am just putting my finger underneath the plant
0:05:54 > 0:05:56and then easing it up.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04Now and again they don't want to come.
0:06:07 > 0:06:09Another must for my salads are tomatoes.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12For me they completely capture the taste of summer.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17But because they're so cheap to buy I'm not bothering to sow any.
0:06:19 > 0:06:23Instead, my friend Dave and I are heading to a car-boot sale
0:06:23 > 0:06:25where they sell young plants.
0:06:37 > 0:06:41Although it's mainly tomatoes I'm after, I've also spotted
0:06:41 > 0:06:44sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts and chillies.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48I don't have any chillies and the roots are coming out the bottom,
0:06:48 > 0:06:51a really good sign that the plant is taking up the whole pot
0:06:51 > 0:06:53and it is ready to pot on so although it looks small,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56with a bit of love it will probably grow quite quickly.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58And 50p is a bit of a bargain.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03Whatever you're buying, check that the leaves are healthy
0:07:03 > 0:07:06and take the plant out of the pot to make sure the roots are
0:07:06 > 0:07:08well developed but not pot-bound.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14Do you know what tomatoes these are?
0:07:14 > 0:07:18The mother-in-law grew them, she gave them to us yesterday.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21- Does she grow good tomatoes? - She does, actually, yes.
0:07:21 > 0:07:24Do you know if she grows them in a greenhouse or outside?
0:07:24 > 0:07:26In a greenhouse.
0:07:26 > 0:07:30OK. I am going to take a gamble. How much are they?
0:07:30 > 0:07:3220p.
0:07:32 > 0:07:36If you don't want to gamble it's best to buy plants which have been
0:07:36 > 0:07:40labelled so you know exactly which variety of tomato you are getting.
0:07:44 > 0:07:49This 20p plant and this 50p plant have quite a lot of differences
0:07:49 > 0:07:53and I am beginning to slightly regret buying this one because
0:07:53 > 0:07:56this is a named variety, so I know where I am going,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59and it's clearly a much healthier plant. I am going to put this
0:07:59 > 0:08:02down as a bit of a loss and buy one of these as well.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08But tomatoes have one big enemy - blight,
0:08:08 > 0:08:13an airborne fungus that can destroy plants - leaves, fruit and all.
0:08:13 > 0:08:17And those growing outdoors are most at risk because the fungal spores
0:08:17 > 0:08:22spread through air and thrive in our warm wet summer weather.
0:08:22 > 0:08:27So I want to hedge my bets and keep one plant growing indoors as security.
0:08:27 > 0:08:29I don't have room for a full-size greenhouse
0:08:29 > 0:08:33so I'm going to custom build my own with my handy friend, Sid.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45Greenhouses serve two main purposes. They protect your plants from
0:08:45 > 0:08:49the cold, and help to keep out pests and diseases.
0:08:58 > 0:09:01I want my greenhouse to be beautiful as well as effective, so
0:09:01 > 0:09:06I'm making it out of some salvaged 1930's windows, joined together by
0:09:06 > 0:09:08timber supports and angle brackets.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11All up, it's cost me £160.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16OK, so it is a little eccentric, but I love it.
0:09:20 > 0:09:23Out the way!
0:09:23 > 0:09:26- Perfect.- Mind your fingers, go underneath.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28We will see if they fit.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30- Yes.- They do, don't they?
0:09:32 > 0:09:34There is a really eery light inside.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Yes. Open it out...
0:09:37 > 0:09:40Yeah. It's going to be perfect.
0:09:57 > 0:09:59I broke my heart last year over tomatoes.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03I grew so many different varieties and I watched them all go down to blight.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07This year, I said no tomatoes, I am not going to grow a single tomato -
0:10:07 > 0:10:12it was my big protest to the summer, and yet here I am in May, with a tomato.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15It was thanks to the car boot sale because,
0:10:15 > 0:10:18at 50p, if it doesn't work, if we have an appalling summer,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21if the blight comes back, well, I lost 50p.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25If it does work, I have got lots of lovely, tiny tomatoes.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Gardener's Delight is one of the best, easiest tomatoes to start off with.
0:10:30 > 0:10:32Tomato plants are hungry plants,
0:10:32 > 0:10:35so you need to feed them with a kind of vitamin tonic.
0:10:35 > 0:10:40There are bottles of seaweed feed that you can buy, but I prefer to
0:10:40 > 0:10:42make my own for free. With nettles.
0:10:42 > 0:10:45I literally throw nettles into a bucket,
0:10:45 > 0:10:47add water and leave them to rot.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51They make an amazingly nutrient-rich soup.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55Be warned though - it smells revolting.
0:10:57 > 0:10:59The point is, it's good for the tomato.
0:10:59 > 0:11:04If you want lovely tomatoes, you have to suffer a bit!
0:11:08 > 0:11:13I've got one well-established tomato that a friend generously gave me a few weeks ago.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16That's the one I've chosen to cosset in my new mini greenhouse.
0:11:16 > 0:11:21It's been out on the patio until now, so I'm moving it indoors and hoping for the best.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36One salad crop you can grow outside is cool, crisp cucumbers.
0:11:36 > 0:11:40I bought some a few weeks ago from my local flower show.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43You'll need to look for outdoor varieties.
0:11:43 > 0:11:47Cucumbers are really quite fickle and they do not like cold nights.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51Make sure it is truly warm before you plant them out into the ground.
0:11:52 > 0:11:57Many people think cucumbers don't do very well outdoors in our climate.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59It is far from the truth, really.
0:11:59 > 0:12:04As long as you choose the right types, there's quite a lot of modern cultivars
0:12:04 > 0:12:07which are bred for cooler climates.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10When it is a wet summer, you get hundreds.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14When it is a hot summer, you get very sweet ones.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17You need to give them something they can climb up.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22Which is why I made this rather odd structure.
0:12:22 > 0:12:25You don't want the cucumbers to sit on the soil.
0:12:25 > 0:12:28You can imagine - a cucumber is just 100% water,
0:12:28 > 0:12:30so if it sits on the soil it just rots away.
0:12:30 > 0:12:33You have to get them up and off the ground.
0:12:34 > 0:12:38Cucumbers need very moisture-retentive soil.
0:12:38 > 0:12:42Lots of good compost or something else dug in.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45There is a tendency for the stem to rot off.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51So I like to plant my cucumber on a slight mound.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56So this is lots of lovely rich soil.
0:12:58 > 0:13:04Then the water just sort of draws off rather than sitting in a slump.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10And those cucumbers will be ready to harvest by late July,
0:13:10 > 0:13:14but early in the growing season, and there's not an awful lot to eat
0:13:14 > 0:13:17in the garden, so it's time to visit the wild larder.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19I'm talking foraging.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27My friend Ingrid lives around the corner from me.
0:13:27 > 0:13:31She's just got into gardening in a big way with her own veg patch.
0:13:31 > 0:13:32But she's never foraged before.
0:13:32 > 0:13:37Time to show her how to identify some edible wild foods.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48I was kind of hoping we might find some mint.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52It is the sort of place it would grow.
0:13:53 > 0:13:57'It's May and so, as well as mint, I should be able to find wild garlic,
0:13:57 > 0:14:03'garlic mustard and some common garden weeds that are surprisingly good to eat.'
0:14:04 > 0:14:07This is garlic mustard, try that.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11That is fantastic. That could be brilliant in a salad.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15You can feel it!
0:14:15 > 0:14:18- Not a first date salad.- No!
0:14:20 > 0:14:23However, there are other things... like cleavers,
0:14:23 > 0:14:27or goosegrass or sticky willy, which you can wilt like spinach.
0:14:29 > 0:14:31Oh! It's very wet.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47'We're also picking lime leaves, which are a great substitute
0:14:47 > 0:14:51'for lettuce as long as you go for the young, tender leaves.'
0:14:51 > 0:14:53- It is actually quite nutty.- Yeah.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56- A nutty taste. - Nutty and a bit oily I think.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01- It's amazing to think we're going to get a whole salad from foraging around.- Here you go.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06Lots of lovely wild garlic.
0:15:06 > 0:15:11It kind of becomes a complete garlic substitute for spring.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15'There are plenty of nettles here too, which we're collecting
0:15:15 > 0:15:21'for my home made tomato tonic and for Ingrid's husband, Jeremy, who wants to make nettle beer.'
0:15:23 > 0:15:28Did Jeremy give any indication how many nettles we need to pick?
0:15:28 > 0:15:31- About a bin bag full.- How much beer is he intending to make?
0:15:31 > 0:15:33A vat.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37I have never made nettle beer.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40It sounds, quite frankly, revolting.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47'Last but not least, we're looking for dandelions to make fritters.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52'It's the flower heads we're after, which, when they're cooked,
0:15:52 > 0:15:54'have a delicious flavour like honey.'
0:16:00 > 0:16:01Gloved up.
0:16:01 > 0:16:04Back at Ingrid's, it's time to make a brew.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13It smells very potent already.
0:16:14 > 0:16:18'We need to strain the potion into a brewing bucket.'
0:16:18 > 0:16:20In it goes.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25'Then goes in some sugar and cream of tartar.'
0:16:25 > 0:16:30- Just a teaspoon of that. - 'Oh, and the juice and rind from a load of lemons.'
0:16:31 > 0:16:34Have you ever actually had nettle beer before?
0:16:37 > 0:16:39..No!
0:16:40 > 0:16:44- Sprinkle... - 'Now it's time to ferment our ale.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49'In goes the brewer's yeast, and then we have to be patient for a couple of months.'
0:16:49 > 0:16:53But while we wait, we can concentrate on a simple supper from our foraged ingredients.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58While I prepare the dandelion fritters,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01Ingrid is dressing our lime leaf salad with garlic flowers.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10I'm wilting our leafy bounty into some butter, treating it just like spinach really.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19And the dandelion flowers are dipped into a traditional pancake batter, and fried in butter.
0:17:25 > 0:17:32Our wilted greens, lime leaf salad with garlic flowers and dandelions make a perfect supper.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Jeremy and his son Toby are keen to taste the results.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38That is amazing.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42If you're thinking of going foraging, you may be able to join a local walk.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47A good guide with pictures is the next best thing to help identify what you can and can't eat.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50If you don't recognise it, don't eat it.
0:17:50 > 0:17:55- Do you like it?- Yes, it's really nice. It's like a fresh pancake.
0:17:55 > 0:17:59- It's nice.- They are sweet.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02They were pretty making them as well.
0:18:03 > 0:18:05I would definitely use this.
0:18:05 > 0:18:06- Do you want more?- Yeah!
0:18:14 > 0:18:16It's June and the garden's looking really healthy.
0:18:16 > 0:18:22This new way of growing my flowers and vegetables mixed in together seems to be working.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26When you're taught how to grow vegetables in the traditional sense,
0:18:26 > 0:18:31you give them everything in a straight line and you give equi-distance between spacing
0:18:31 > 0:18:33and that gives enough light and moisture...
0:18:33 > 0:18:37And you mustn't crowd out your neighbours! And that's all true.
0:18:37 > 0:18:42But then you go and get things like this. This lettuce has been
0:18:42 > 0:18:46essentially living under a poppy,
0:18:46 > 0:18:50but it's considerably bigger than its neighbour.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54That's probably because the poppy has been offering it, by shading it
0:18:54 > 0:18:58out, there's a little bit more moisture and it is actually growing.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02Another thing that's obviously happy are my cucumbers, which are
0:19:02 > 0:19:06scrambling up the supports I gave them and making fruits already.
0:19:11 > 0:19:14It's just over a month since I planted my first crop of lettuces.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17I particularly love the one called flashy butter oak,
0:19:17 > 0:19:20because it has these beautiful marbled leaves.
0:19:20 > 0:19:22It really tastes good.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39I'm picking a good-sized salad for two pretty much every day now.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45A good part of my salad supply is from "cut and come again"
0:19:45 > 0:19:47leaves which are romping away.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50I'll get at least another two harvests from them.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54The trick at this point is to keep it going.
0:19:54 > 0:19:56But right now,
0:19:56 > 0:19:59I am in a very happy salad place.
0:20:06 > 0:20:12As a salad junkie, I could get through up to five supermarket salad bags a week.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15'In five months, that would cost me around £150.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20'Instead, £3 worth of seed will give me a salad a day over the same period.
0:20:20 > 0:20:23'And I get that wonderful just-picked taste.'
0:20:32 > 0:20:35It's July and the young plants need lots of water,
0:20:35 > 0:20:37but my garden is in full swing.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41My beans are in flower, the honeysuckle is out,
0:20:41 > 0:20:46and my chickens are producing two eggs every day.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Because every bit of soil in my garden has to be productive,
0:20:53 > 0:20:57wherever there's a gap I've sowed a quick-growing crop like radishes.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01They're up and ready to harvest within four to six weeks.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05And at this time of year, the new potatoes are wonderfully tasty,
0:21:05 > 0:21:09and they go perfectly with my fresh salad leaves.
0:21:09 > 0:21:11And that's not all.
0:21:11 > 0:21:16Here is my first cucumber...
0:21:16 > 0:21:19of the season. Now, it's not particularly big,
0:21:19 > 0:21:21but I don't think there is any point growing your
0:21:21 > 0:21:27cucumbers to supermarket length - you really just can't eat them all.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31So although this one is big down here,
0:21:31 > 0:21:34you'll see there's two, three, four, five...
0:21:34 > 0:21:38Once cucumbers get going, they just don't stop producing cucumbers.
0:21:38 > 0:21:45So it's much better to harvest them as little cucumbers,
0:21:45 > 0:21:48chubby things, perfect for one meal.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58Heaven! Heaven is a home-grown cucumber.
0:22:02 > 0:22:06My "cut and come again" leaves won't give me all the summer salad I need,
0:22:06 > 0:22:09so I'm also sowing more seeds straight into the soil,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12which is now warm enough to guarantee a good germination rate.
0:22:12 > 0:22:17I'll do this every few weeks to ensure I've always got little clumps
0:22:17 > 0:22:20of fast-growing leaves in between other crops.
0:22:20 > 0:22:25You'll get perfect little dots of baby salad leaves
0:22:25 > 0:22:30that you can just come and harvest once or twice when they're about 10 centimetres high.
0:22:31 > 0:22:36Salad leaves are the single easiest thing you can grow in your edible garden.
0:22:36 > 0:22:41An almost failsafe crop which keeps on coming and lasts for months.
0:22:41 > 0:22:43But it's not all good news.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47As the days get warmer, the inevitable happens.
0:22:47 > 0:22:50Tomato blight arrives in the neighbourhood,
0:22:50 > 0:22:52killing all my outdoor tomatoes.
0:22:52 > 0:22:56As I garden organically, I don't want to use chemicals to fight it off.
0:22:56 > 0:23:02This structure is the only thing that's keeping me and the tomato
0:23:02 > 0:23:06in hope that we'll still get ripening fruit.
0:23:06 > 0:23:11If even a single spore gets in there, the whole thing is over.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15So far, things are looking good,
0:23:15 > 0:23:19so if I only go in to water when necessary,
0:23:19 > 0:23:21I should get ripe fruit by the end of the month.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39It seems I spoke too soon.
0:23:39 > 0:23:43A couple of weeks later and blight has reached into my greenhouse,
0:23:43 > 0:23:47shrivelling my plants and making the fruits totally inedible.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49That's another year lost.
0:23:51 > 0:23:57I am resigned these days to the fact I cannot really grow tomatoes, even
0:23:57 > 0:24:01when I try and build funny greenhouses for them.
0:24:01 > 0:24:09We've had lots of wet, humid, hot days and this dear beautiful, large, lovely plant
0:24:09 > 0:24:13is now riddled with blight.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15Black stems,
0:24:15 > 0:24:20black leaves and eventually black fruit.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23This is truly heartbreaking.
0:24:23 > 0:24:28So that's it, I don't think I'm ever going to bother with tomatoes until somebody
0:24:28 > 0:24:31brings me an honest-to-God blight-resistant tomato and says,
0:24:31 > 0:24:34"you can grow it outside and it won't get it."
0:24:36 > 0:24:38But blight doesn't strike everywhere.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40So I don't want to put anyone off from trying.
0:24:40 > 0:24:45Because there's nothing quite like the taste of a home-grown tomato.
0:24:56 > 0:25:00My friend George, for instance, has had better luck.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03His tomatoes were sown straight into his allotment polytunnel,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06so they haven't been exposed to any blight.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14There's hundreds of them, and you did get a bit of blight, right?
0:25:14 > 0:25:16Yes, but not a lot really.
0:25:16 > 0:25:21- Beautiful, aren't they? - Really beautiful, that's massive.
0:25:22 > 0:25:25Look at how lovely they are.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30I love the smell of tomatoes, don't you think?
0:25:30 > 0:25:33It's one of my favourite smells.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36They are proper organic stuff, aren't they?
0:25:37 > 0:25:41Thank you, George. I thought I was not going to get to eat...
0:25:41 > 0:25:43- What about that big one? - Can I have the big one?
0:25:43 > 0:25:47- Have the big one.- That's very generous.- Wring its neck.
0:25:50 > 0:25:52Thanks to George and his bountiful crop,
0:25:52 > 0:25:56I no longer have to face a summer without home-grown tomatoes.
0:26:00 > 0:26:02- Bye, George!- Bye.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17Although I'm harvesting most vegetables to eat,
0:26:17 > 0:26:20the garden is now so productive
0:26:20 > 0:26:22that I can afford to leave some in the ground.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24I want these to continue the cycle of flowering and
0:26:24 > 0:26:28producing seed because sometimes that brings unexpected bounties.
0:26:28 > 0:26:34That's a very woody radish, which is completely inedible now.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37It's all stem inside, basically.
0:26:37 > 0:26:45But, if you let them go completely to seed, you get these, which are radish seed pods.
0:26:45 > 0:26:49And they are edible. They're good, spicy and they are perfect with beer.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52So I left these guys,
0:26:52 > 0:26:56because I knew I was going to have a party where they would make the best snack.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03And the bees and the hover flies
0:27:03 > 0:27:09love the flowers, so you bring all sorts of other goodies
0:27:09 > 0:27:12into the garden. Tons of them.
0:27:18 > 0:27:23Now I've got lots of beer snacks, all I need is some beer.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33'And after two months of fermenting, Jeremy's nettle beer is ready to uncork.'
0:27:37 > 0:27:39Here we go, the moment of truth.
0:27:39 > 0:27:43- It looks good. - Looks fantastic.- It looks like beer.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47It smells of... What does it smell of? Country smell.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50Yes, home-brew.
0:27:50 > 0:27:53Has everybody got one?
0:27:53 > 0:27:56It is the perfect summer drink.
0:27:58 > 0:28:00Compost beer.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04'Well, I can't say much for that beer, but then, not everything always goes to plan.
0:28:04 > 0:28:09'That's what I've learnt over the years about growing your own - it's swings and roundabouts.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11'On a positive note, I haven't bought a single
0:28:11 > 0:28:16'lettuce or cucumber since May, but sadly my tomatoes have died a death.
0:28:16 > 0:28:20'However, just like George, we don't all share the same failures,
0:28:20 > 0:28:23'and so you'll always find someone happy to swap
0:28:23 > 0:28:25'the produce you do have for those that you don't.'
0:28:27 > 0:28:31Next time in my pursuit of a beautiful but edible garden,
0:28:31 > 0:28:35I turn my attention to leafy greens and root crops
0:28:35 > 0:28:37like kale and beetroot.
0:28:37 > 0:28:42They add structure and colour but as they're slow growers, there can be a bit of a hungry gap.
0:28:42 > 0:28:46It's George to the rescue again with his rhubarb.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49- My plants are tiny. - Look at that, beautiful.
0:28:49 > 0:28:52But even George can't save me from the weather, as a spring storm
0:28:52 > 0:28:55threatens my tender infant crops.
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