CoirProducts.co.uk Featured Grower this week is Sarah (@sambos_allotment). In this blog post, Sarah tells us how she started gardening and talks to us about her biggest inspiration, her grandad, while also sharing with us what she loves to grow and lessons she has learnt along the way. Sarah also spoke to us about her plot ethos, which is to reuse and recycle where they can. Read on to learn all about Sarah’s gardening journey.
Sarah recalls how, as a young child, she loved going into her grandad’s greenhouse to see what he was growing. “He would always grow money-maker tomatoes, which smelt fab. He had some fruit bushes which were always a favourite of mine,” she says, adding, “I started growing things myself at home in 2014. I got a second hand greenhouse from Facebook and named it after my grandad, Sambo. I’ve not looked back since. I love it!” Sarah’s grandad, Sambo, is also the one who has inspired Sarah the most when it comes to gardening.
While she only grows what they eat, Sarah says she loves to try new techniques to see what works best. “This year I’ve already started off onions and broad beans. I’ve not grown onions from seed before, I usually use sets,” she says. Tomatoes, chillies, cucumbers, corn, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, pumpkins, asparagus, swede, runner beans, and peas will be sowed in the coming weeks.
Sarah goes on to explain, “The most important thing is to give your plants food and water. If you have an allotment make sure you have plenty of water (you can never have enough).” She adds that social media is a great place to pick up hints and tips or ask for help, noting, “everyone has to start off somewhere”.
Talking about their plot ethos, Sarah says, “our whole plot ethos is reuse and recycle where we can. We harvest our own water and have built a huge extension to the shed roof to harvest more. The wood for the roof extension was all free and the only thing we bought new were the roofing sheets. We buy second hand items i.e IBC’s. My husband is a gardener and his customers allow him to use their leaves, which we make into leaf mould and we also make our own compost. We get manure from a local alpaca farm too. We are consciously moving away from plastics and shop bought compost /soil improvers.”
Having started to use coir products this year, Sarah says, “I have several of the coir bricks and some of the CoirCoins. I’ve only used the bricks so far and it’s too early to give my verdict. The bricks however are easy to store and don’t involve lifting heavy bags of compost which is always a bonus!”
Speaking of what she finds the most challenging, Sarah says, it’s brassicas, adding, “I just can’t get them right. Any tips are welcome!”
For Sarah, gardening is her escape. It’s relaxing and rewarding. Working full time and having a stressful job, Sarah says, “going outdoors into the greenhouse and pottering or watering makes you forget all of life’s stresses!” Looking at her gardening journey, Sarah also says she has learnt some important lessons and shares a few tips she picked up since she first got her plot, “do little and often – gardening is fun not a chore, grow only what you eat, and food and water are key”.
CoirProducts’ newly introduced all-purpose coir potting mix, Coir Plus, not only brings you thesustainable goodness of coir, but also comes enriched with NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus,
In a world grappling with food insecurity and environmental degradation, sustainable gardening practices continue to play an important role. With an array of eco-friendly gardening
