Joesgarden

Today we are back and I am sharing with you one of my favourite garden harvests from the garden. We are heading into the time of the year where every harvest is precious l, and I truly am grateful for each and every crop harvested. Gardening and growing crops at home can be hard work, and especially this year it’s had its fair few challenges, but it’s little moments like this that make it all worth it. Please sit back, relax and enjoy the natural and calming sounds of the garden. There is a lot of studies coming out at the moment which insist gardening, nature and just being outside, has massive benefits to our mental and physical health, so hopefully this harvest can help you enjoy a few of these benefits too. In this harvest we picked: 5 varieties of tomatoes, autumn raspberries, sweetcorn, runner beans, sweed, kohlrabi and 2 varieties of kale 😊 Thank you so much for watching, and I love you all, Joe 😊💚🌱 #harvest #gardening101 #gardeningtips #asmr #calming #Sustainability #zerowaste

Today we are back and I am showing you a fun way to save the seeds from your Halloween pumpkins, and use them to grow your very own pumpkin patch at home. This weekend and next week lots of us will be carving pumpkins, but instead of throwing away the seeds let’s keep them to grow our own at home. Pumpkins can be grown in the ground in your garden or in a large pot. Wherever you are growing them, just make sure they are well fed with good compost and liquid seaweed every two weeks. When it comes to saving seeds, you can end up with a slightly different variety from the plant you saved the seed from, but for me that is part of the fun! Last year we saved seed from giant pumpkins from the pumpkin patch and grew our own giants! However yours might be slightly different. Growing pumpkins is actually really simple, just make sure to water them regularly as they can be quite thirsty plants. I sow my seeds in mid April, and then they are ready to harvest from September onwards. The more sunlight and better soil they have the better your harvest will be. If you are trying to grow a large variety, keep no more than two pumpkins per vine, but I am only growing them for carving so I let four or five grow per vine. I hope you are all having a lovely week, and I love you all, Joe 😊🌱🎃💚 #pumpkin #growingpumpkins #gardening #zerowaste #gardeningtips #Sustainability

I still think about my magical trip to @Carbis Bay Hotel last summer! By far the best hotel, in the best setting I have ever visited. The beach lodge was magical, the staff were truly lovely and scenery is postcard worthy! It is hard to believe this is in the UK and not in the Caribbean 😍 The clips in this video are all filmed from one of the beach lodges in the Carbis Bay estate, which I truly cannot recommend enough!! #carbisbay #carbisbayestate #uktravel #sandybeach #bestplacestovisit

Today we are back and I am showing you my favourite way to turn one herb plant in hundreds more, completely for free, at home in your garden, on your balcony or even just on a sunny windowsill. Herbs are one of, if not the easiest plants to propagate. I am a massive fan of propagating plants for free, as it’s quite straight forward, saves you money, saves on packaging and can make a fantastic personal gift to friends and family. You can propagate a wide range of plants, which will be covering in upcoming videos, including trees, flowers and veggies! There are so many different ways to propagate herbs but this is my favourite. Simply take a cutting above a node, which will allow the side shoots to control grow. If you have ever wondered why your herbs are spindly and not growing into a nice sturdy bush, then this will help. Remove any foliage from the bottom two inches from your cuttings and place in water. Leave this water on a sunny windowsill, where it’s a good idea to swap it out with fresh water every few days, to stop it going slimy. After a few days little roots will appear and after usually two weeks or so, it will have a full little root system and can be planted out. If you are doing this now, please keep your herbs inside, and don’t be concerned if they die. Many such as mint are perennial and they will bounce back to life in the spring. For herbs such as rosemary and lavender you can poke your pruning straight into soil, give it a water and cover with a bag, and they will root like that. Thank you so much for watching, and I hope you are having a lovely week, Joe #herbs #propagation #gardentips #zerowaste #Sustainability #freeplants #freefood

Today we are back and I am showing you a quick way to help ripen your fruits at home. This tip is especially handy this time of the year, when you may have late season tomatoes, which need to ripen before the frosts. These days nearly all fruits in the supermarket are sold unripe, and need to ripen in the bowl. This is fine if you don’t need them for a week, but often they are needed earlier. For us gardeners we also sometimes have to pick fruits early for various reasons. I use this trick every year to ripen the last of my green tomatoes. When plants, especially ripe bananas continue to ripen they release ethylene, which is a gaseous plant hormone, which can also trigger the ripening response of any surrounding plants. If you enclose unripe fruit with a ripe banana you trap this ethylene, helping to create a ripening chamber. This can speed up the ripening from a week or two, to as fast as a few days in some cases. This is why it’s important to store ripe bananas away from other ripe fruits in your fruit bowl. Just make sure to check them each day as you don’t want to let them get overripe 😊🌱 Thank you for watching and I love you all, Joe #foodwaste #greentomatoes #ripening #zerowaste #harvesting #gardeningtips

Today we are back, and I am showing you one of my favourite ways to use up any overripe fruit, to not only turn it into a delicious and healthy snack for you and your family, but also a great way to store it for many more months. You can use slightly mushy or overripe fruit or even frozen fruit, but please do not use fruit that has mould. You can also use fruit that isn’t overripe, but I’ve found the results to be not quite as good. If you garden like me, you often end up with a glut of fruit, which simply doesn’t last very long. Making fruit leather like this is such a brilliant way to store it for many months, with no issues. Simply blend any mixture of fruit (my favourite is one apple, one banana and a small bowl of strawberries) and spread over a non stick surface. I use a silicone mat, but you can use baking paper too. You want this layer to be about 2-4mm thick. As we are using overripe fruit which is usually pretty sweet, there is no need to add sugar or honey. To dehydrate you can use your oven on its lowest setting, or even in some older ovens just the lamp will work to dry it out. If you have a log burner placing it on top will also work, or you can use a dehydrator. For me it usually takes about 2:30 hours on my ovens lowest setting and I make five batches at once. On my smart meter this cost about £1.85 for those wondering 😊 Store in a jar, or enjoy straight away! I hope you are all having a lovely week, and I love you all, Joe 😊💚 #fruitleather #zerowaste #preserving #ecotips #Sustainability

Today we are back and I am showing you how to plant and grow fresh garlic at home, and then use this garlic year after year to grow a lifetimes supply. Growing garlic has to be one of my favourite autumn garden activities, as it’s such a useful crop in the kitchen. Now is the best time to plant many garlic varieties, as they need a period of cold stratification, to help them form bulbs with individual cloves. If you wait until spring, what you will get is essentially one giant garlic bulb, similar to an onion. When it comes to planting garlic, there really isn’t much to do. While you can use garlic from the supermarket, I wouldn’t, as often these have been sprayed with anti sprouting hormones, can carry viruses and are often not suited to our growing conditions. Instead get purpose bought ones from the garden centre. You can get two main types of garlic, hard-neck and soft-neck. With the former being more hardy and growing scapes and the later being slightly milder, but is an amazing storer. I usually plant hard neck due to my cool climate. Just space your bulbs 6 inches apart and plant 2 inches deep, then mulch with a good free draining compost. Due to our wet winters this is so important, as the bulbs will rot in waterlogged ground. Garlic like most crops will always do best when grown in a sunny location. Your garlic should be ready to harvest in the early summer of the following year, which might seem like a long time, but it’s worth the wait. Just remember to keep your biggest bulbs, to repeat this process year after year! I hope you are all having a lovely week, and I love you all, Joe 🌱😊💚 #garlic #gardening #zerowaste #gardeningtips #Sustainability #growyourownfood

Today we are back and I am showing how to turn those fallen autumn leaves into pure garden gold, and the best part is, not only is it easy to do, it’s completely free! This time of the year fallen leaves are everywhere, and they have such an amazing use. Using leaves is the ultimate recycling as it’s natures way of rejuvenating the soil on the forest floor. As leaves start to break down, mainly due fungal decomposition they form a compost like structure called leaf mould/mulch. This is packed full off goodies your plants will love. To make leaf mulch simply collect up some fallen leaves, making sure there are no animals inside, and bag it all up. I like to chop my leaves down to speed up the process, and then poke some drainage holes in the bottom. Your leaf mould will be ready the following year, but I find it’s best after about 18 months. Once it’s ready mix it into your soil, or layer it on as a mulch to grow the biggest and best plants possible. It is also important to not upset the balance of your local environment too much, so please source your leaves from a concrete surface where possible and always only take what you need, leaving plenty behind for nature. A big pile of leaves is not only fun for us to jump into, but it’s the perfect winter home for many of our garden friends. 😊 Thank you for watching, and I love you all, Joe 😊💚🌱 #leaves #fallenleaves #leafmould #gardening #gardentips #zerowaste #Sustainability

I think it has reached that time of the year for my annual pumpkin carving upload 🎃🎉 Ps Dont worry, our neighbours love us really 🤣 #pumpkin #pumpkincarving #halloween #halloweenpumpkin #pumpkinseason

Today we are back and I am showing you one of many up and coming cooking tips to waste nothing this festive cooking period. I know it might seem a little early to talk Christmas, but I’ve got so many tips coming, I need to start now or I will run out of time 🤣 Traditionally many citrus fruits are at their best (or as I say in the video tastiest, which is definitely a word 😉) throughout the festive months. So why not keep some of the peels and use them to enhance our cooking? The reason why I love using zero waste cooking tips on citrus fruits is because I prefer not to compost them. In small amounts it is okay, but I’ve found large quantities of anything acidic such as citrus, really upsets the balance and is best avoided. When using peels always make sure to wash them thoroughly in warm water to remove any nasties that might be on them, and I always recommend organic or from local grocery or farmers markets. However, I know this can be expensive, so don’t feel bad using supermarket ones, they will work just as well! To dehydrate skins it’s always best to go low and slow! A dehydrator or air fryer with a dehydrator option will give the best results, but if that’s not an option the lowest setting on your oven or sat on a wood stove will work too. I’ve stored my powder before with no issues for a good few months, but usually it is all used throughout December. I hope you are all well, thank you for watching and I love you all, Joe 😊🌱💚 #citrus #citruspeels #zerowaste #Sustainability #ecotips

Today we are back and I am showing you how we can use some of our old food scraps, to grow even more fresh food completely for free. It is worth noting there are so many more ways you can grow scraps at home, but these four I think have to be my favourite. Food prices are getting higher and higher, so along side using every part possible in your cooking, I like to have some fun and regrow off cuts where possible. I would like to mention, not all scraps you might have seen be regrown will actually be edible. Two great examples are lettuce and carrots. Lettuce will usually bolt when regrown, which is great for saving seeds, but the leaves are bitter and carrot tops, will also only regrow the seeds to plant next year too. If you live in a warmer country a great one to try is pineapples. Simply plant the top spike part of your pineapple in the soil and it will regrow. However, while this is fun, it will take at least two years 😊 Growing food scraps at home might not solve world hunger, but it’s certainly a fun way to maximise the usage of your food, and it is actually quite fun too. It is also a great way to get the kids involved with gardening, in a pretty fast and visual way too. I hope you are all having a lovely week so far, and thank you for watching, I love you all, Joe 😊💚🌱 #foodscraps #zerowaste #Sustainability #gardentips #growyourown

Today we are back and I am showing you how to make the most amazing pasta sauce, using tomatoes we harvested straight from the garden, before the last frost destroyed them. Growing up half Italian meant I was spoilt with amazing Italian recipes and this is one of my favourites. It is super easy to make at home, and you can add or remove any ingredients of your choosing. For example of this was just for me I would add dried chillies, and a dash of sugar. When it comes to pasta sauce I think it’s important to only follow a recipe as a guide and let your pallet decide what it needs. That’s why I haven’t given any measurements 😊, instead simply keep tasting until you get a flavour you like. I find the longer I let it simmer the better, and you can also run it through a food mill if you have one. It is very important to thoroughly was your produce first, especially when picked from the garden. To sterilise my jars I wash with warm soapy water then dry and place in my oven for 15 minutes on gas mark 4. Once they are full I seal them in a hot water bath for about 15 minutes so the sauce keeps well. I hope you enjoy this harvest to plate, garden pasta sauce recipe! Thank you for watching, and I love you all, Joe 😊🌱 #tomatoes #harvest #pastasauce #gardening #autumnrecipes #zerowaste

Today we are back and I am sharing with you another of my favourite zero waste ways to use up your in season citrus peels. This time of the year, I can’t get enough of citrus fruits and you can use the peels to make the most delicious traditional, seasonal snack. This quick zero waste recipe couldn’t be easier, all you need are a few in season citrus peels, which you then slice into batons. Now it’s worth noting I’m using home grown fruits, if you are using store bought wash the peels in warm water first. Boil the peels for about 15 minutes, then for the best results it’s a good idea to drain away the water and boil in new water for another 15 minutes. This helps to remove the really strong citrus flavour. If you want a very mild sweet, you can even drain the water and boil in fresh water for a third 15 minutes. Then just make a simple syrup by adding equal parts sugar and water to a pan, and once the sugar has melted add in the peels. The longer you let these simmer the better, but they will be ready after about 15 minutes (I leave them to slow simmer for an hour for the best results). Leave your peels to dry, and you will have the most delicious zero waste Christmas candies. You can even add them to a nice jar with a bow as a little diy gift! They are delicious as they are, but for the best results I like to dip them in melted chocolate and then pop them in the fridge until they set 😊🌱 I hope you are all having a lovely week, and I love you all, Joe #citrusfruit #zerowaste #candiedfruit #seasonalcooking

Today we are back and I thought I would show you the entire growing journey of the potatoes we planted back in August, in the hopes we could grow our own fresh potatoes to use for Christmas lunch. This week it was time to harvest our Christmas containers which I was hopeful would be full of potatoes. It’s always so exciting to harvest crops that grow under the soil like potatoes as you have no idea what you are going to get. If you are wondering why I cover the potato foliage back over with soil once it appears, that is to stop the sunlight reaching the tubers. If sun gets to your potatoes then they will turn green, and it’s not a myth, green potatoes are actually poisonous. I love to grow potatoes in containers and pots, as it’s super easy to harvest them and they take up very little room. Just make sure your containers have drainage holes in the bottom, otherwise your tubers may rot. Simply give your potatoes a big water once or twice a week and when they are in full bloom they will benefit from a by weekly feed with a fertiliser such as liquid seaweed. And after about 60- 120 days after planting you will have your very own fresh potatoes. If you want smaller potatoes but lots of them plant more per container, whereas plant less if you want bigger but fewer potatoes 😊🌱 Thank you so much for watching, and I love you all, Joe 😊🙏💚🥔 #growingpotatoes #containergardening #gardentoplate #potatoharvest #christmaspotatoes