In winter our gardens seem still and lifeless. But when the weather heats up and the growing gets going, we’re likely to find ourselves struggling to stay on top of all the tasks. So what practical tips and mindset shifts can we deploy to make sure we actually enjoy the forthcoming growing season? Plus, Pippa talks Zoe through what to do with her bounty from her trip to a seed swap.

Check out the Can I Dig It Podcast's Patreon page!

Can I Dig It? is made by:

• Pippa Chapman, @pippachapman_thoseplantpeople on Instagram, and Pippa Chapman Permaculture on YouTube.
• Zoe Edwards, @sozoblog and @checkyourthread on Instagram, and visit the Check Your Thread website and find the podcast in your favourite app.

Check out Pippa’s recent video that includes her digging up the unwanted raspberries by wielding her mattock.

Register to attend Pippa’s virtual book launch that’s taking place on 18th February at 7pm via Zoom.

Bare soil = no food! We discuss what succession planning is and how to start incorporating it into your garden so you can get more from your space. Plus, Pippa blows Zoe’s mind with her controversial take on crop rotation.

Check out the Can I Dig It Podcast's Patreon page!

Can I Dig It? is made by:

• Pippa Chapman, @pippachapman_thoseplantpeople on Instagram, and Pippa Chapman Permaculture on YouTube.
• Zoe Edwards, @sozoblog and @checkyourthread on Instagram, and visit the Check Your Thread website and find the podcast in your favourite app.

Find out about the Winter of Care and Repair challenge via Zoe’s other podcast, Check Your Thread:

• Ep. #115: Winter of Care and Repair with Jeanna Wigger

The two types of succession sowing:

1 - Sow the same crop but just one row or a small amount every 2-4 weeks. This will help you get a crop over a long period rather than them all being ready at once.

Crops that work well with this approach include: Lettuce, spring onion, radish, baby carrots

2 - Following one crop with another. For example, a spring sowing of spinach could give crop from April to May, and it always seems to flower in May/June, whatever time you sowed it. Then take out spinach and put in dwarf french beans for a second crop from the same bed.

Some early cropping options:

Early potatoes, peas, broad beans, early carrots, beetroot

Follow those with:

Winter cabbage, leeks, kale, swiss chard, late carrots, courgette

A late summer harvested crop like courgette or french beans can be followed with autumn sown broad beans, turnips, winter salads esp oriental salads, pakchoi or autumn planted garlic.

Huw Richards has created an excellent video on succession planning:

How to Create a Planting Plan for Year-Round Food Abundance | Complete Guide

https://youtu.be/nkjeSJQWhZc?si=9YPqBwV2-PKXOMEO

More food for less work? Yes please! We explore the pros and cons of both exciting annuals and one-and-done perennials. Plus, what are the options for life after astro turf?

Check out the Can I Dig It Podcast's Patreon page!

Text:

Can I Dig It? is made by:

• Pippa Chapman, @pippachapman_thoseplantpeople on Instagram, and Pippa Chapman Permaculture on YouTube.
• Zoe Edwards, @sozoblog and @checkyourthread on Instagram, and visit the Check Your Thread website and find the podcast in your favourite app.

Watch the documentary Pippa found about the history of oca and potatoes.

Pippa’s Top 5 Perennials:

• Taunton Deane perennial kale
• Everlasting onion
• Caucasian spinach (climbing)
• Oca
• Allium moly for salads - sweet but hot garlic flavour

Planning for the next growing isn’t all about shopping for seeds, apparently! Pippa talks us through the things to start considering to help you get the most from next year’s efforts. Plus, Zoe wants to know about compost optimisation and the suitability of seaweed as mulch.

Check out the Can I Dig It Podcast's Patreon page!

Can I Dig It? is made by:

• Pippa Chapman, @pippachapman_thoseplantpeople on Instagram, and Pippa Chapman Permaculture on YouTube.
• Zoe Edwards, @sozoblog and @checkyourthread on Instagram, and visit the Check Your Thread website and find the podcast in your favourite app.

Fruit Works Co-operative is a social enterprise helping people to plant and maintain fruit trees in the Bradford and Leeds area of the UK.

Follow Grace Hills @sparkingcommunity on Instagram

Zoe will be restocking on broad beans from Real Seeds.

If you missed it, we did a deep dive in mulch:

• Ep. #3: Mulching: How, Why & When

Most food growing is done for the year. However, there’s tons we can be doing throughout winter to get our growing spaces in great shape. Plus, a listener goes from NYC guerilla gardening to 1.5 acres dream plot - Pippa advises on how to avoid the overwhelm.

Check out the Can I Dig It Podcast's Patreon page!

Can I Dig It? is made by:

• Pippa Chapman, @pippachapman_thoseplantpeople on Instagram, and Pippa Chapman Permaculture on YouTube.
• Zoe Edwards, @sozoblog and @checkyourthread on Instagram, and visit the Check Your Thread website and find the podcast in your favourite app.

Pippa has been lifting her Oca and Mashua tubers. Find out more about growing Oca and Mashua.

News flash: not all pumpkins are bland and useful only for carving! We discuss what we might be missing, and how to get the most from the bland ones too. Plus, Zoe sneaks in questions about tired rhubarb crowns, and seeks validation for her lazy approach to weeding.
Check out the Can I Dig It Podcast's Patreon page!
Can I Dig It? is made by:

• Pippa Chapman, @pippachapman_thoseplantpeople on Instagram, and Pippa Chapman Permaculture on YouTube.
• Zoe Edwards, @sozoblog and @checkyourthread on Instagram, and visit the Check Your Thread website and find the podcast in your favourite app.

Pippa’s new book, ‘Permaculture Planting Designs’ is available for PRE-ORDER!!!!
Varieties of seeds/plants mentioned:

• ‘Jack O Lantern’ for actual carving
• Lady Godiva for naked/hulless seeds from Garden Organic
• Kakai for naked/hulless seeds from Vital Seeds
• Hablitzia / caucasian spinach seeds from Incredible Vegetables, a tastier alternative to Good King Henry

Check out the garden consultation episode (#112) of Zoe’s other podcast, Check Your Thread, with Pippa when they first got to know each other.

Check out the Can I Dig It Podcast's Patreon page!

Can I Dig It? is made by:

• Pippa Chapman, @pippachapman_thoseplantpeople on Instagram, and Pippa Chapman Permaculture on YouTube.
• Zoe Edwards, @sozoblog and @checkyourthread on Instagram, and visit the Check Your Thread website and find the podcast in your favourite app.

Zoe found her secondhand greenhouse via the sharing app, Olio.

Zoe mixed some picante cocktails using homegrown chilis, flex!

Author and guerilla gardening advocate, Ellen Miles, wrote this excellent article on the topic for RHS.

Ellen also wrote the book ‘Get Guerilla Gardening: A Handbook for Planting in Public Places’.

Follow the Phantom Planter on Instagram (@the_phantom_planter) or check out their website for more info.

The Wildlife Trusts have a helpful article about how to make your own seed bombs.

Check out the Can I Dig It Podcast's Patreon page!

Can I Dig It? is made by:

• Pippa Chapman, @pippachapman_thoseplantpeople on Instagram, and Pippa Chapman Permaculture on YouTube.
• Zoe Edwards, @sozoblog and @checkyourthread on Instagram, and visit the Check Your Thread website and find the podcast in your favourite app.

BBC Good Food have a great recipe for pickled pink onions, similar to the ones Pippa made and ate immediately!

The RHS explain F1 hybrid seeds so we don’t have to (again).

Great sources for heritage and open pollinated seeds:

• The Organic Seeds Catalogue
• Real Seeds
• Vital Seeds