A jam packed episode this week as the sowing seasons ramps up! Tune in to hear about all that's been sowed, pricked out and transplanted this week on the plots, in the greenhouse and along endless windowsills!

You'll be delighted to hear Vicky's mollusc update and our listener tips for snail and slug management!

Karin is excited to start the Clothing Loop, a St Albans Clothes Swap Initiative to reduce clothes waste and pass on old favourites...Vicky's still waiting for her invite...

It flags up the question of Sustainability - whether in using the word in our title, we are diminishing its value? Check out the new tag line and listen in to hear why.

This week we unravel the enigma of springing forward, but end up lost in time! Please do not refer to this episode for any sense-making on the clocks going forward. We clearly hadn't had enough coffee when we were recording.

This week, with Vicky's mishap, we're all about slowing life down, The chilly, soggy weather gives us the perfect excuse to embrace a leisurely pace on the plot. Tune in as we delve into eco-friendly gardening practices, from reusing coffee grounds to encouraging the frogs to gobble the slugs.

Our seeds might be flourishing but our understanding of time? That's still up in the air.

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Thanks as ever to Alex for the Intro music.

The spring equinox has arrived and with it lots of seed sowing, using newly found 'potting benches' from the St Albans Reuse site.

Vicky gets excited about being able to see Karin's shed across the allotment, albeit at a safe distance, and devises a plan for a colour coded flag system. Vicky also puts Karin through a humiliating test of her own seeds; revealing Karin's lack of knowledge of anything seed related.

With thanks to Alex Kizenkov for intro music.

Oh dear. Production values are lacking on this episode people - sorry about the wind and reverb.

If you can bear to bear with us, we’ve got an uninterrupted episode as we dive into a good long chat about all we’ve sowed this week, plans for the plots.

If you love endless seed-sowing talk, you're in for a treat! Karin shares an idea about using a seed tray as a mini replica of a bed to ensure frugal seed sowing and Vicky talks about the satisfaction of prepping seed compost in module trays ahead of time and a whole bunch of other seed-related nuggets of information

As always thanks so much to Alex Kizenkov for the intro tunes and to the Birds on the plot for the outro tunes.

What have we planted this week? 

Marigolds

Borage

Sugar snap peas

peas

dill

fennel

sweetpeas

sugar snap peas

tomato

red onion

spring onions

cosmos 

peppers (nothing happening here) 

Jerusalem artichokes

After a quick debrief about their first ever interview follows lots of chatting about Vicky’s new ’home’; a pretty little shed that was put up in an hour and a half by a couple of very efficient shed builders. All she needs now is a nail gun to make her life on the plot complete.

With thanks to Alex Kizenkov for intro music.

We’re bathed in a spot of sunshine this week.

Karin finds an interesting opportunity to share a small holding for free in Ware, Hertfordshire via the AllotMe website. The lure of beekeeping and a poly-tunnel for free gets Karin all excited but she decides its suited to someone on an allotment waiting list locally.

AllotMe app is a great place to go if you can’t wait to grow in a green space but the local allotment waiting list is too long. AllotMe matches the growers with owners of gardens that can be rented out as an alternative to an allotment.

Vicky talks about the Green Belt Villages built with biodiversity, permaculture and replenishment in mind. She’s also been inspired to turn off the lights in her bathroom at night to save wildlife’s circadian rhythms by Paul Bogard, author of  “The End of Night” 

Vicky reveals a secret in her pocket too….

The usual flurry of love for a day at Waltham Place's Biodynamic Gardening course!

We honestly couldn't wait to talk through our amazing day so this episode was recorded in the car! It makes for an excellent studio so this week's sound is a treat for your ears!

We found out so much more about :

It's Vicky's birthday today - join for the unwrapping of Karin's kind gift!

Thank you for listening and thanks to Alex Kizenkov for the intro tunes.