Many existing varieties of crop may struggle in the future with climate change so see what others are growing well in your area. Reach out to local gardening groups, share ideas and swap seeds. Our farm’s bees, insects and wildlife are also benefitting from the biodiversity boost the new comfrey fields and their nectar-rich flowers bring to the local environment.” Bag pots - no need to buy extra pots! Simply shake the compost to the two ends of the bag and cut the bag across the middle. Create two freestanding open bags of compost - ‘bag pots’ into which you can plant your seedlings. The air holes towards the now bottom of the bag pot will enable excess water to drain whilst retaining a reservoir to prevent the tomatoes drying out.

I mulch my veg beds annually with 1-2 cm compost, usually in the wintertime (because it’s a nice job to do on a cold day) but any time of year is fine. This is spread on the surface and left for the soil life to gradually incorporate into the ground, feeding the plants and soil life for a year. Comfrey now being grown sustainably at Dalefoot farm as company scales up peat-free compost production to supply many more garden centres and nurseries across the UK, plus online for home delivery Find out more about why you should buy peat-free compost. Is it true that I can catch Legionnaires' disease from compost? You may see composts formulated for veg growing. These are very similar to multipurpose composts, but may have a slightly different balance of nutrients. Some are excellent, some are less good. Look at our grow bags results.November is a key time for focusing on wildlife in the garden. As temperatures plummet and day light decreases, it’s good to spend some time outside ensuring the creatures who share our gardens with us have food, water and shelter to survive the long winter months ahead. Getting some “vitamin G” as well as much needed vitamin D during the daytime helps with mental and physical health and well being.

We are thrilled to announce our new partnership with Eden Project to promote super-sustainable gardening. Eden Project, a world-renowned environmental charity and social enterprise, connects us with each other and the living world, exploring how we can work towards a better future. Working together with the Eden Project to help fight climate change, we want to inspire Britain’s gardeners to embrace sustainable gardening and switch to using “climate positive” peat-free compost in outdoor spaces, window boxes and allotments. Clean water is crucial for creatures during the winter months, for drinking and washing. Here I have a selection of homemade pools for insects - dishes filled with small stones - which are refilled daily and cleaned out often. A simple way to make a bird bath/drinking pool is to use a “dalek” composter. Once the compost bin is full, invert the lid and add some large stones as perches and to ensure creatures can safely get out of the water. This provides a source of water out of reach of most predators. If you’re planning new hedging this winter, add wildlife food plants to the mix: holly, hawthorn, dog rose and crab apples are all excellent sources of food and shelter. But the only way to know if a compost is good or bad is to grow plants in it and compare them - something we've been doing for more than 30 years.

I am Frances from Clodhopper Blooms; a flower grower and florist based in Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria. I’ve been growing flowers to sell for around 5 years, and trained with the Tallulah Rose Flower School because they advocate the use of British grown flowers and foam free floristry.

Annual summer planting will now be bursting with valuable seedheads, so why not take those seeds for next year’s floral displays. Simply place seeds into a brown paper bag or envelope, label and place somewhere cool and dark. There, they will happily sit until you’re ready to sow. Or, try giving nature a helping hand and leave those seedheads, and spent flowers, for the garden wildlife. Not only a great food source and shelter, but they can add structure to what can otherwise be a bare garden during the darker months. Keep ponds defrosted during very cold weather by carefully holding a pan of hot water on the surface, to melt a hole. Never smash ice, or pour boiling water on top, as this can harm the aquatic creatures.PANNIER PLANTING - looking to maximise growing space? Tomatoes can take up less space when grown through 15cm slits cut into each outward facing side of the bag of Wool Compost™ for Tomatoes – folded in half, straddled over a fence or rail ie. “pannier”. The strategically positioned air holes at either end of the bag enable excess water to drain whilst retaining a saturated reservoir for the tap root to access water. This will help reduce the risk of ‘blossom end rot’.

This is why mulch is often said to help with both wet and dry soils, it improves the drainage whilst simultaneously creating a better ability to hold onto water. So, know that over winter there’s actually rather a lot of produce you can grow under cover, or on a windowsill inside a home. For money saving, for winter wellbeing, for the sheer joy of having an excuse to watch as more seed springs dutifully, magically into life, this is feel-good climate change savvy gardening for person, plate and planet. Dry, clean bags that aren't torn or faded - in the garden centre choose bags that look new as the contents contain fresh compost. Bags that are faded or are heavy have been hanging around, getting too hot in the sun or soaking up rain, which will damage the compost in the bag. If possible, buy from a garden centre that keeps its compost in a covered area. Too wet? Mulch! Too dry? Mulch! Not enough nutrients? Mulch! Is Mulching really the answer to so many gardening problems? In many ways it is… lets take a look at how mulching improves our soil, and feeds our plants and reduces weeds. We are living through such stressful times but nature-friendly, peat-free growing offers so many solutions. For greater resilience against extremes of weather, for natural pest control, for money saving, for the sheer joy and feel good factor that comes from working in a rich, biodiverse, productive, wildlife haven of a plot.Some composts, such as some municipal waste composts, can be very low in nutrients and require extra feeds. Aside from beekeeping being a fascinating and rewarding hobby, bee keeping plays an important role at Dalefoot. Human and environmental survival is reliant on the bees as pollinators, however bee numbers have been falling across the world with climate change, in-organic farming practices and habitat destruction the key causes. At Dalefoot we have continued our efforts to increase our wildlife habitats and biodiversity. We have been adding to our grass leys, tree planting, improving wild flower meadows and increasing our river corridors. Connection and collaboration with the natural world and others around us is absolutely key for the future. We are living through such stressful times and many people are struggling, so the more we can reach out locally, the better we will feel and the stronger we will be.