0:00:03 > 0:00:08I'm Alys Fowler. I'm a gardener and a writer.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14I grew up in the countryside
0:00:14 > 0:00:18but now my husband and I live in the city.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25I get pleasure from simple things, home-baked bread,
0:00:25 > 0:00:29home-grown vegetables and looking after my chickens.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32I'm completely in love with my chickens.
0:00:32 > 0:00:33They are perfect.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40This is my garden, a small Victorian terrace back yard,
0:00:40 > 0:00:4220ft wide by just about 60ft long.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50This year I'm experimenting, trying to live off my own produce
0:00:50 > 0:00:53without buying any fruit or vegetables and it won't be easy
0:00:53 > 0:00:58because I want my little patch to be as beautiful as it is productive.
0:00:58 > 0:01:02Right now, I'm in a very happy salad place.
0:01:05 > 0:01:10Each week, I'll focus on different foods from salads to peas,
0:01:10 > 0:01:13courgettes to leafy greens, even edible flowers
0:01:13 > 0:01:18and show how anyone can grow, cook and eat from their own garden,
0:01:18 > 0:01:20even if you live in the city.
0:01:26 > 0:01:32My garden, in fact most people's gardens, aren't perfect, but I don't think that matters.
0:01:32 > 0:01:37The point is my garden is a very average back garden.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46It's about 20ft wide, it's roughly 50 ft long, it's nothing special.
0:01:46 > 0:01:49It's just your average terrace.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53And if you can grow at least a meal a day in your average terrace,
0:01:53 > 0:01:56then that's quite an achievement, and that's what I aim to do.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03In order to do that, I've had to remove some of my larger, more established plants.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10And that's certainly given me cause for reflection.
0:02:13 > 0:02:17I am more than a little overwhelmed at this point,
0:02:17 > 0:02:20on how I'm going to pull it off, really.
0:02:20 > 0:02:24Because I know I can make the vegetable bit look easy and good, and I know I can make...
0:02:24 > 0:02:30You know, that bit's the easy bit, it's how it looks beautiful,
0:02:30 > 0:02:35and it's how it looks beautiful through the year, you know,
0:02:35 > 0:02:39not just when there's lots of fruit and produce.
0:02:40 > 0:02:43That bit's a bit more difficult.
0:02:43 > 0:02:48I have to put my thinking hat on and start filling it up in a kind of...
0:02:49 > 0:02:51I don't know,
0:02:51 > 0:02:53in a way that works.
0:02:53 > 0:02:56I think I might have to have a cup of tea before I do anything.
0:02:59 > 0:03:02One of the mainstays of my beautiful edible garden
0:03:02 > 0:03:07is going to be the leafy greens and root crops that will come into their own by mid summer
0:03:07 > 0:03:11and then carry on delivering delicious dishes right into winter.
0:03:12 > 0:03:18Things like earthy Swiss chard, hearty kales,
0:03:18 > 0:03:23potatoes, sprouting broccoli, and sweetly flavoured beetroot.
0:03:23 > 0:03:28I want an edible landscape, a space that looks beautiful that
0:03:28 > 0:03:32I can also eat, but in a garden this size, that's going to mean cramming.
0:03:33 > 0:03:37How you get away with doing that is by having really rich, good soil.
0:03:37 > 0:03:42And, unfortunately, this garden has nice soil but it's not very well fed soil.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46So at the moment, I'm in this constant juggling of trying to get everything
0:03:46 > 0:03:52into their space but keep feeding the soil with more compost and feed.
0:04:00 > 0:04:03My first crop is everyone's favourite, potatoes.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06And they're very straightforward to grow.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11You can buy them from January onwards as small tubers called seed potatoes at the garden centre.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15It's a good idea to leave them on a windowsill, somewhere light and airy,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19until about late March when the eyes in the tubers start sprouting.
0:04:19 > 0:04:22Then, as the soil warms up, you can plant them out.
0:04:22 > 0:04:27I'm growing salad potatoes in pots on the patio and in odd spots in my garden.
0:04:31 > 0:04:36It's April and, as well as my potatoes, I've been sowing a range of vegetable seeds in trays.
0:04:36 > 0:04:40These are beetroot and the great thing about beetroot is there's no part you can't eat.
0:04:40 > 0:04:44It's a tough, corky little seed though, so when you've placed it
0:04:44 > 0:04:49on the surface of the soil, you need to press it in gently to stop it floating away when you water.
0:04:49 > 0:04:52Do that and you'll have tiny shoots within a fortnight.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59It germinates at fairly low temperatures. It'll germinate around about eight degrees Celsius.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02So at this time of year, it should be super-fast.
0:05:04 > 0:05:09It's been a busy time sowing seeds and planting out my first real crops
0:05:09 > 0:05:13and things were looking good, until the hailstones arrived.
0:05:17 > 0:05:20Well, the hail has pretty much just destroyed all my work.
0:05:24 > 0:05:26And it looks like, thanks to the hail,
0:05:26 > 0:05:30I'm not going to be eating anything until well into June.
0:05:30 > 0:05:36No, it's not. It's not typical weather and it's not fair.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43Right, I say we all go in and have a cup of tea.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57But the trick to successful vegetable growing is to always have a back up.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00I've been growing extra seedlings on my windowsill
0:06:00 > 0:06:03and so three weeks after the hail, I have a new batch to plant out.
0:06:07 > 0:06:10A way of making my edible garden look as good as it tastes
0:06:10 > 0:06:13is to plant my borders in drifts of colour and texture
0:06:13 > 0:06:17and that's exactly what I'm going to do with my beetroot.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20It's very easy to grow beetroot in modules.
0:06:22 > 0:06:27You quite often get clusters of them because the seed is actually a cluster of seeds.
0:06:27 > 0:06:31So I'll have to thin those out later on, but for now,
0:06:31 > 0:06:35I can just...pop them in.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39Yes, the time will come when I will have to be brutal
0:06:39 > 0:06:42because a cluster of seedlings huddled together in the soil
0:06:42 > 0:06:44will eventually strangle each other.
0:06:44 > 0:06:48So I will have to take control, thinning them out by pulling out
0:06:48 > 0:06:50and discarding the weaker shoots
0:06:50 > 0:06:53to allow the strongest room to survive and thrive.
0:06:55 > 0:06:58I'm planting all my young vegetables in generous quantities of compost
0:06:58 > 0:07:03because most soils, including mine, lack some nutrients.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06It's bit like packing your kids off to school with a lunch box,
0:07:06 > 0:07:08a ready made meal giving them energy to grow.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15Late May and my potatoes need earthing up,
0:07:15 > 0:07:20and that simply means smothering the leafy shoots with a sloping mound
0:07:20 > 0:07:24of earth or compost to encourage more potato tubers to develop.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31And for the ones in the garden borders,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34I'm using a free alternative to bought-in compost,
0:07:34 > 0:07:35courtesy of my neighbours.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40I actually don't really have an excess of soil
0:07:40 > 0:07:45and my soil is so thin and so stony that I'm going to earth them up
0:07:45 > 0:07:50with some grass clippings that I stole from one of my neighbours.
0:07:50 > 0:07:55Basically, you could earth up with anything, as long as
0:07:55 > 0:07:58it's kind of going to exclude light and just protect them.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03And these are free. It's a good mulch, it suppresses weed,
0:08:03 > 0:08:05it will hold a bit more moisture in...
0:08:08 > 0:08:10..and will slowly feed the potato.
0:08:11 > 0:08:18Sort of following the no-dig method of gardening, just keep building up the soil layer.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20And the rest of it will go in my compost.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28Another leaf vegetable I'll be able to rely on from mid summer
0:08:28 > 0:08:32right the way through to the colder months is Swiss chard,
0:08:32 > 0:08:34which comes in a rainbow of colours.
0:08:37 > 0:08:42This is ruby chard, and it's a fantastic vegetable.
0:08:42 > 0:08:48It's incredibly pretty, these red stems. Grows to about so height.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51And you eat it like you'd eat spinach, I suppose.
0:08:51 > 0:08:58You can get pink, orange, white, yellow, so it's a very easy one to start with.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04Swiss chard thrives in really rich, moisture retentive soil
0:09:04 > 0:09:06and if you get your soil conditions right,
0:09:06 > 0:09:10it will reward you right the way up until the first frosts.
0:09:10 > 0:09:11It even tolerates some shade.
0:09:15 > 0:09:17As the hailstorm proved,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20the British weather is nothing if not unpredictable
0:09:20 > 0:09:23and so it's always good to choose tough vegetables
0:09:23 > 0:09:25that can cope with any conditions.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28And that means brassicas, or the cabbage family.
0:09:32 > 0:09:35And one type of brassica that's a must for me is sprouting broccoli.
0:09:35 > 0:09:38It's not the broccoli you get in supermarkets,
0:09:38 > 0:09:41it's much more fragrant, with delicate purple florets
0:09:41 > 0:09:45and you can harvest the leaves, stalk and all.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48These plants are from my local car boot sale and offer
0:09:48 > 0:09:51the promise of meals to come, as long as I'm willing to wait.
0:09:54 > 0:09:58Sprouting broccoli has to sit in the ground now, right the way through,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01all the way through the autumn, all the way through the winter
0:10:01 > 0:10:05and then suddenly, in January, when nothing else seems to be doing anything,
0:10:05 > 0:10:09you suddenly get this incredible crop of sprouting broccoli.
0:10:11 > 0:10:18I'm planting them close to the runner beans and between the sage, the white valerian and some chives.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21And as long as I keep harvesting the sage,
0:10:21 > 0:10:24I think it will all be fine.
0:10:24 > 0:10:27The sage's actually not that fast growing.
0:10:31 > 0:10:34I'm also planting kale, all over my edible garden,
0:10:34 > 0:10:38but unlike the sprouting broccoli, I can pick these brassica leaves
0:10:38 > 0:10:40from July through to the following spring.
0:10:44 > 0:10:46The cabbage family has an Achilles heel, however.
0:10:46 > 0:10:52They attract an army of pests, which use the leaves as nesting ground as well as a tasty lunch.
0:10:53 > 0:10:59My battle plan is to mix them in with herbs and flowers, to provide camouflage for my edible crops.
0:10:59 > 0:11:02That way, pests like the cabbage white butterfly will only see
0:11:02 > 0:11:06a wave of green plants, and hopefully get confused.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15It's June, and my lunches are exclusively garden-grown -
0:11:15 > 0:11:20tender little salad leaves mixed with broad beans and radishes.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26A fresh egg would be the perfect accompaniment,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29but the chickens are twitchy and have stopped laying.
0:11:29 > 0:11:31I suspect a culprit.
0:11:31 > 0:11:33Hi, Gertie!
0:11:34 > 0:11:35What are you doing?
0:11:35 > 0:11:37Where's your egg? I can't see it.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41Where's your egg, Gertie?
0:11:45 > 0:11:49Oh... Are you just making a lot of noise and not laying eggs?
0:11:52 > 0:11:56You can't make all that noise and then not actually lay an egg.
0:12:03 > 0:12:05You're crackers, the pair of you.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10Well, recently, Gertrude was the model hen and laid an egg a day.
0:12:10 > 0:12:12But today, she's decided to pretend to lay an egg
0:12:12 > 0:12:14and there isn't actually anything.
0:12:14 > 0:12:17Alice, however, is the greediest
0:12:17 > 0:12:22chicken on the face of this earth, but she's done nothing
0:12:22 > 0:12:24in terms of laying an egg.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28I mean, she's a nice hen and everything, she just
0:12:28 > 0:12:31has not earned her keep in any way yet.
0:12:31 > 0:12:34So you'll go to the pot, Alice.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Maybe Gertrude will as well if she's not going to lay eggs.
0:12:46 > 0:12:51I resolve to monitor the movements of their suspected tormentor.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56Say rhubarb, and most people think fruit.
0:12:56 > 0:12:59In fact, it's a misunderstood vegetable,
0:12:59 > 0:13:03with the look of a leafy green even though you only eat the stalks.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06And just like my sprouting broccoli, patience is the key.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13When I decided to turn the best part of this garden over to vegetables,
0:13:13 > 0:13:17at the beginning of the year the first thing I did was order this rhubarb.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Four prized crowns of rhubarb,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22that I've planted, and all I can do is wait,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24because if I was to pick it this year,
0:13:24 > 0:13:28I would exhaust the plant before it could put its energy down into the roots.
0:13:28 > 0:13:33So this year, I wait, and next year is the year of the rhubarb.
0:13:37 > 0:13:38Isabelle...!
0:13:47 > 0:13:51But I love rhubarb, as does my husband, and rhubarb in pie is simply divine.
0:13:52 > 0:13:54So this year, whilst mine takes root,
0:13:54 > 0:13:57I'm off to visit my friend George,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00who grows a lot of it on his allotment.
0:14:07 > 0:14:12So I hear that you have rhubarb that you don't much like?
0:14:12 > 0:14:15- Not really.- What do you do with all your rhubarb, then?
0:14:15 > 0:14:18Well, I just like to grow things and I like...
0:14:18 > 0:14:21- I grow them and I give them away. - That's what I want to hear.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25- Such a healthy plant, fantastic. - Would you like some of these?
0:14:25 > 0:14:27Yes, I would love some.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30Gosh, they're so healthy. My plants are tiny.
0:14:30 > 0:14:32- Look at that.- Beautiful.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35You just cut it off like that.
0:14:35 > 0:14:38And you just trim it like that.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41- They're so expensive in the shop. - I know, I know.
0:14:41 > 0:14:43You hold that, and I can get you a few.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45Thank you.
0:14:45 > 0:14:47It's easy to grow, this. Very easy.
0:14:47 > 0:14:52Very easy. And very essential when there's not much else growing.
0:14:52 > 0:14:53So lovely it is, look.
0:14:53 > 0:14:58'It's just the stalks I want, because the leaves contain toxins that make them inedible.'
0:15:00 > 0:15:05- My husband's American...- Oh, my God! - ..and I'm going to make him rhubarb pie.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Oh, yeah, man - that's good, you know.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12'George's neighbour, Mr Singh, has his own way
0:15:12 > 0:15:14'of encouraging his veg to grow -
0:15:14 > 0:15:17'and it never fails to raise a smile.'
0:15:17 > 0:15:21Mr Singh, do you think this makes your vegetables grow better(?)
0:15:22 > 0:15:26'There's a playful rivalry in the world of vegetable growing,
0:15:26 > 0:15:28'especially when it comes to onions.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30'As always, it comes down to size.'
0:15:30 > 0:15:34That's nothing, that is. I'll show you big onions.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38I've got bigger ones than this, but I didn't pick them all.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42I just pulled them up, you see. And these are lovely, these are.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47- I'm surprised you get any work done with a neighbour like that! - Thank you, simple as that.
0:15:47 > 0:15:49Watch his legs.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52Come on, Iz...
0:15:57 > 0:16:01- I like that dog.- It's a nice dog. - Lovely, he is.
0:16:01 > 0:16:02Thanks very much. Very nice.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06Thank you for such a generous amount. ..In you go.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08Squish in. Squish! Squish.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23- Bye-bye, George.- Bye-bye.
0:16:35 > 0:16:39I adore strawberry and rhubarb pie. It's an American tradition.
0:16:39 > 0:16:46But with a fresh crop of early raspberries fruiting in my garden, I'm creating a British alternative.
0:17:01 > 0:17:03Well, it's not rhubarb and strawberry -
0:17:03 > 0:17:05it's rhubarb and raspberry.
0:17:08 > 0:17:09But it's good pie.
0:17:13 > 0:17:16Really good pie.
0:17:24 > 0:17:27July sees the chickens back on track.
0:17:27 > 0:17:33They've recovered from their earlier bout of nerves, and the egg-laying hiatus is over.
0:17:33 > 0:17:35Hello, girls!
0:17:35 > 0:17:36How are you?
0:17:37 > 0:17:39Hello...
0:17:39 > 0:17:41How are you doing this morning?
0:17:42 > 0:17:44Yes?
0:17:46 > 0:17:51I have to say, I'm completely in love with the chickens,
0:17:51 > 0:17:55cos above and beyond the fact that they're really funny, and have
0:17:55 > 0:17:59great personalities, they've been really useful in the garden.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04I can feed them all the weeds. My neighbour gives me
0:18:04 > 0:18:08the grass clippings, and then I just take all this,
0:18:08 > 0:18:10they poop on it, put it on the compost,
0:18:10 > 0:18:15and it activates the compost SO much, SO fast.
0:18:15 > 0:18:20The whole process is all sped up just by these two small animals.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24I can't get over how many times a day I come to visit them,
0:18:24 > 0:18:25just because...
0:18:26 > 0:18:29..just because they're fun to watch, really.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35Sadly, I can't stay around for too much chicken chatter,
0:18:35 > 0:18:40because early July means it's time to harvest my patio potato crops.
0:18:40 > 0:18:43And for me, this is always a moment of excitement.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46Almost like unwrapping a mystery Christmas present.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50Well, I'm a bit nervous that there aren't going to be any...
0:18:52 > 0:18:54So here's the moment of truth.
0:18:56 > 0:18:58What's the crop going to be like?
0:19:01 > 0:19:03There they go!
0:19:11 > 0:19:13These are a bit small.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18There's always a moment - could I have left them in longer?
0:19:18 > 0:19:19Could they be bigger?
0:19:23 > 0:19:26It is a bit like hunting for gold, though.
0:19:30 > 0:19:32It's not a bad crop.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36You always think, would they have been more bigger,
0:19:36 > 0:19:39should I have left it another week?
0:19:39 > 0:19:43I'm a bit disappointed, really. If I'm honest!
0:19:45 > 0:19:48There's always this first one which you open, and you think,
0:19:48 > 0:19:49I was impatient.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54Nice-looking potatoes, though.
0:19:55 > 0:20:01Luckily, my patch of garden-sewn potatoes beat my patio ones hands down.
0:20:04 > 0:20:08My soil is in better condition than I thought, because
0:20:08 > 0:20:12I really didn't think I would get a good crop of potatoes.
0:20:12 > 0:20:15I thought there wasn't enough food in the soil.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20But actually, the potatoes in the ground have been very successful.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22I have got...
0:20:23 > 0:20:25..at least 60 or 70 potatoes.
0:20:28 > 0:20:32From eight plants, say. Which is more than enough for us.
0:20:34 > 0:20:37And much worth the effort.
0:20:38 > 0:20:42Actually, that's a complete lie. There was no effort on my part whatsoever.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46I just put them in the ground, and bunged some grass clippings on top.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52The little Swiss chard I planted back in May
0:20:52 > 0:20:55is shooting up in the summer sun.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57All I need to do now is keep picking the larger leaves
0:20:57 > 0:21:00to encourage the new ones to grow.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05This Swiss chard is called ruby chard,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07and it's a lovely, very old variety.
0:21:07 > 0:21:10It has this habit of doing exactly this,
0:21:10 > 0:21:13which is bolting. It's going to flower.
0:21:13 > 0:21:16The minute it bolts, it starts getting up to about this height.
0:21:16 > 0:21:18If you cut out the flower spike,
0:21:18 > 0:21:21then you can basically make the plant productive again.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25And of course everything you cut, you can eat.
0:21:28 > 0:21:31Next to the chard, I've planted three cavolo nero,
0:21:31 > 0:21:33a Tuscan black kale.
0:21:33 > 0:21:35It's a particularly handsome plant.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40Leave the outside leaves and pick the tender inner ones, and this will
0:21:40 > 0:21:44keep it producing right the way through into the following spring.
0:21:44 > 0:21:48So you just pick a few off every single plant,
0:21:48 > 0:21:50and you quickly mass loads.
0:21:50 > 0:21:54So it's really good for last-minute suppers.
0:22:05 > 0:22:09And my favourite last-minute supper right now is sauteed cavolo nero,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12with Alice B and Gertrude's freshly laid eggs.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29Late summer is knocking on the door,
0:22:29 > 0:22:34and that means a wonderful time of plenty in the garden.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39My lunchtime salads are now full of cucumbers and edible flowers, like nasturtiums.
0:22:39 > 0:22:43But there's a new vegetable about to take centre stage.
0:22:45 > 0:22:49I'm starting to harvest my beetroot in earnest now.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52Which means I can make one of my favourite summer dishes,
0:22:52 > 0:22:55which is a cold Polish soup called chlodnik.
0:22:55 > 0:22:59Now, you need to use baby beets, and all their leaf.
0:23:00 > 0:23:07And these are perfect. My little drift has worked out superbly.
0:23:07 > 0:23:11All the other ingredients I need are also growing in the garden.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14I'm using two herbs - dill, and French tarragon.
0:23:21 > 0:23:24You don't like it! Give it back!
0:23:27 > 0:23:31Every bit of the beetroot is cooked, including the leaves.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35And once it's all softened, it's liquidised to a thick, soupy texture.
0:23:36 > 0:23:40The rest of my home-grown ingredients include radishes,
0:23:40 > 0:23:45cucumbers, Japanese bunching onions, and some sorrel leaves.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50And once it's cool, stir in a carton of yoghurt.
0:23:52 > 0:23:54Well, I can't claim to the yoghurt,
0:23:54 > 0:23:57but apart from that, this is MY soup.
0:23:57 > 0:24:00I grew it, from my garden,
0:24:01 > 0:24:02and now I'm going to eat it.
0:24:12 > 0:24:15Even the garnish was freshly laid this morning.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21Whilst the bread is still warm.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33- SHE LAUGHS - You're rubbish at that trick.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43September's arrived, and my eclectic style of gardening
0:24:43 > 0:24:45is working as well as I'd hoped.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50It's my own take on polyculture, a way of mixing up your vegetables,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52rather than growing them in separate rows.
0:24:52 > 0:24:56I think the best way to describe this garden at this point
0:24:56 > 0:24:58is a bit of a wild mess.
0:24:58 > 0:25:03But, despite its slightly dishevelled look,
0:25:03 > 0:25:06it is giving me plenty of food.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08Every day there's a lot to pick,
0:25:08 > 0:25:13and for that reason I really like polyculture as a method.
0:25:13 > 0:25:18Because everything is muddled in together, I haven't had a bad problem with pest damage.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20OK, so everything got nibbled a bit,
0:25:20 > 0:25:24but so far, this system has managed to confuse even the cabbage whites.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28My purple sprouting broccoli is virtually untouched, and thankfully
0:25:28 > 0:25:31the pigeons have still not discovered it or the kale.
0:25:34 > 0:25:37But, that's because right now
0:25:37 > 0:25:40it's all sort of lush and thick and overflowing and wild.
0:25:40 > 0:25:44But in the next month, that's going to very much die away.
0:25:44 > 0:25:49The brassicas are really going to stand out, and at that point
0:25:49 > 0:25:53the pigeon might figure out where the food is.
0:25:53 > 0:25:57So, I could go down the traditional route and make a good old-fashioned bird-scarer.
0:25:57 > 0:25:59Just because...
0:26:01 > 0:26:04Because I want to make something, actually.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12I've enlisted the help of my friends Clare, Emily and Debs.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14And the idea is simple.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17If we make a series of abstract, robotic birds
0:26:17 > 0:26:18to hover above the vegetables,
0:26:18 > 0:26:22they should confuse the local pigeon community into thinking
0:26:22 > 0:26:24there's a bird of prey guarding my crop.
0:26:24 > 0:26:26Oh God, it is so pagan.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29It's great, it's what I've always wanted.
0:26:31 > 0:26:36I admit I don't have any pre-conceived design for my bird-scarers -
0:26:36 > 0:26:39they're going to be organic and develop a life of their own.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42The only thing they must do is make a noise.
0:26:46 > 0:26:47He does need a beak.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01- That one on either side?- Yeah. - That's kind of groovy.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05I could harvest some courgettes while I'm here.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15They're really not making any noise.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18- You hear it? - You know, we'll see how it goes.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29The cold November days have set in.
0:27:29 > 0:27:34My garden may not be quite as pretty as it was, but it's still productive.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39I've still got lots of different kales,
0:27:39 > 0:27:43and this big, majestic Tuscan kale is doing well.
0:27:43 > 0:27:47I have leeks, and beetroots which are still good for picking.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51And then there's celery, and Swiss chard, and rocket.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55The lovely purple sprouting broccoli will keep me well into next year.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01And I've got even more kales here - in fact, I'm very brassica-happy.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05And the bird-scarers? Well, they seem to be working really well.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09So, despite the cold, and despite its slightly subdued look,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12my garden's still a very happy place.
0:28:12 > 0:28:14Come on!
0:28:19 > 0:28:22Next time, in my beautiful and productive garden,
0:28:22 > 0:28:24I'm concentrating on fruit.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26They're nature's edible jewels.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29The simplest of food to grow, and yet some of the most delicious.
0:28:32 > 0:28:33Even my chickens approve.
0:28:33 > 0:28:37Oi! Nicely - that's my finger.
0:28:37 > 0:28:41And I'm returning to my mother's tried and tested recipes,
0:28:41 > 0:28:44to show just how versatile fruit can be.
0:28:45 > 0:28:46It's not as sweet as you think it'll be.
0:28:46 > 0:28:48It's perfect, actually.
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