Our Urban Garden

Starting with just 12 inches of windowsill, we now have a small urban garden in South-London where we grow our own vegetables. Growing your own food from a speck to a full fruiting plant is a magical experience. Easy to grow items such as rocket and jerusalem artichokes can save you time going to the shops and save valuable fridge space. Below are some of the easiest veg to grow that we’ve come across. Feel free to share any tips or ideas you may have.

Our garden is under construction, but as spring returns, so will more documentation of what we are trying to grow this year. We particularly advise sourcing your seeds from The Real Seed Catalogue. They have a great selection of non GMO seeds and seed saving techniques.

We also have experience setting-up organic co-ops, bridging the gap between communities and local farmers. Do get in touch if you would like any advice.

Growing Amaranth

Amaranth is an incredible plant to cultivate in your urban garden. It’s a great one to start with for inexperienced gardeners as it just seems to flourish with abandon! We have fallen in love with it because it combines beauty, health and ease. It’s tall stature, fluffy purple and orange tail-like plumes, are a beautiful addition to any garden. We consider this a great all rounder, which takes minimum effort to maintain. We suggest soaking your seeds and then scattering them. Keep soil well watered and then once the flowers have flourished, shake out the grains. The grains should be toasted or sprouted in order to remove any saponins (a soap-like coating that protects plants from predators). We use the grains in porridge, smoothies, as a rice replacement and sometimes just sprinkle them onto a curry. The leaves can be eaten like spinach and are a great source of iron. Amaranth is also packed with calcium, which is best absorbed when accompanied by vitamin D. So get out in the sunshine and start growing this plant.

Growing Jerusalem Artichokes

We tried growing these last year and had quite a small, but delicious harvest. This year, we just added more old artichokes to our soil filled bin and left it over winter. This Spring we have been delighted to see it overflowing with fresh looking tubers. Once the sunflower-like plants have finished blooming, these will be ready to harvest. We can’t help but think that adding our own homemade sea moss fertilizer has helped give a kick to this 2nd harvest.

Growing Urban Veg

This little carrot was one of our first successful harvests, the start of many unique and tasty vegetables, hand reared by us. Grow something today! It is very rewarding.