My unexpected Zero Waste Week harvest

Proper gardeners & allotmenteers won't particularly be that impressed by the produce to the left, but I am absolutely surprised by the results, in a good way.

For this is yesterday's haul from my garden and for a non-committed and fair-weather gardener like me, the results have been encouraging...

... with the exception of that bowl of potatoes, the only harvest that came from three abandoned potato plants.  However,  I am surprised we had any at all and as I'd forgotten to buy extra spuds yesterday, these were a welcome and unexpected addition to today's lunch.

The blackberries are a real surprise this year, especially after I deliberately hacked back the bramble to clear some space.  I hadn't quite expected nature to love my brutality so much and as a result we've picked several bowlfuls of blackberries over late summer.   After such great results, I'm now planning to take the loppers to it again and see if we can create the same harvest next year.

And as for those tomatoes, having only planted 6 cherry tomato plants in late spring/early summer, since the first one ripened about 10 days ago, I'm delighted to have collected a small bowl of ripe tomatoes every other day.   We normally have to ripen any tomatoes that we grow using the banana in a bag trick, which can be dispiriting, so this has been a fantastic surprise ~ especially for a tomato fiend like me.

But the greatest unexpected treat of all has been that bucket of apples.  Having planted the tree seven years ago, each year it has disappointed with small offerings that are populated with unwelcome creatures that eat the apples from within.

For the very first year ever,  this summer has provided a bucketful of apples that are a decent size and the majority of which are bug free.  As it happens, the tree was pruned last year too and with great weather, finally it seems to have worked.

But of course, as Zero Waste Week comes to an end, the issue at the forefront of my mind is storage and preservation so that we can make the most of our apple harvest. I would hate for any of it to go to waste.  So, having followed Love Food Hate Waste's advice for years, it was a 'no brainer' to store as many as I could in the fridge for future inspiration. A Twitter conversation on the topic also brought tips from @melaniebbikes whose advice led to stewing some to add to the freezer.  I also liked this tip too, which I'm going to try another day.

@KarenCannard apple is also a great base for herb jellies, great way to preserve those too! (River Cottage Preserves handbook is my bible)
— Melanie B (@melaniebbikes) September 7, 2013

Collecting so much produce from our small garden this week has made me much more aware of the rewards in growing even just a few things that save food miles and packaging ~ and for very little effort too.  It would have been such a wasted opportunity not to have planted those tomatoes. Pot luck was definitely on our side.

Meanwhile, to prove that sweet things pictured above aren't just for dessert, I cooked up some of yesterday's blackberries, added some chopped apples, a few veteran spring onions, a handful of mint from the garden and pepper seasoning, creating a great sauce to accompany today's lamb. 

Now that was another unexpected Zero Waste Week result!

So with Zero Waste Week 2013 almost over,  I hope you've had a great week yourself.   If you've missed it and want to catch up with all the news, visit www.zerowasteweek.co.uk, where there are lots of tips.  Those of you who are particularly enthused may even want to sign up for The Rubbish Diet and see how much further you can reduce your waste over the next eight weeks.  If you haven't tried it yet,  do sign up at www.therubbishdiet.org.uk. 

But before I sign off, perhaps I should confess to our own food waste tally.  We didn't quite get to zero, but we didn't do badly.  I have no qualms in blaming most of it on the kids, with the abandoned Toasthenge, a few dregs of bottom-of-the-bowl-moist-cereal, a tiny bitesize piece of bagel, a small amount of pasta that competed with an unusual lack of appetite and some unappealing leftover fries from an emergency fast food pitstop this evening.  Sadly my own contribution was some very burnt stewed plums which I'd forgotten that I'd left on the hob during school pick-up on and my two slices of bread with mouldy measels.  All the above, of course, have been fed to the worms, so nothing has gone to landfill.

Huge thanks to Rachelle Strauss of MyZeroWaste for all of her hard work and inspiration in running another successful and well supported campaign.  Such a great start to September!

Cheering myself up with zero waste flower power

I've been feeling totally rubbish today, possibly overtired following the weekend's BritMums conference.  I've got a busy few days coming up, Mr C's at a long conference and to be honest, I'm feeling overwhelmingly disorganised and quite glum!

After a morning of sweeping and mopping the floors like a charlady - no, we don't live in a huge house, it just takes my procrastination that long to get into the swing - and working my way through the emails and four cups of tea, my mood still hadn't lifted.

There was nothing for it!

I took to the garden with a scissors. Not even my pruning shears.  Honestly, there was no time for such precision in getting the proper tools.

I was on an urgent mission to find something cheery amongst the flowerbeds!

I know I could have sat down on a bench and admired the Sweet Williams outdoors, but I was after mood-lifting prettiness, to give me a visual energy boost and supplement those mugs of tea, indoors!

As I dropped the cuttings into the vase, I acknowledged that this was something I now take for granted, but here I had a vase of flowers with:

no plastic packaging;
no rubber bands;
no plastic packet of flower food;
no paper wrap;
and zero flower miles. 

That's very different to the regular bunches of flowers I used to bung in my trolley at the supermarket.

I tell you, I was that excited thinking about how much crud I've saved on my floral habit, I also got snip-happy with the Alliums

There are lots of resources and discussions about growing food, encouraging us to keep it local and to avoid packaging, but its floral cousins get much less attention, even though almost 90% of cut flowers are imported into the country. So if you're looking for proper inspiration regarding what to grow in your garden or further information on buying British seasonal flowers, I recommend the following links.

Cut Flowers-Growing & Selection, The RHS
Choosing British cut flowers, Sarah Raven.
Growing cut flowers, BBC
Why buy British grown cut flowers, The Flower Co-Operative
British flower bouquets, Wiggly Wigglers

Now as for that glum mood, which inspired this blogpost in the first place.  I am very happy to say that it's lifted!

Here's to happy planting!

Monday Meeting: The Rubbish Diet Challenge Wk 5

Welcome to Week 5 of The Rubbish Diet Challenge.   

This week, the focus is on the garden and with Spring almost in the air, it's perfect timing to start thinking about how your garden can help reduce rubbish, as well as how you can reduce waste whilst gardening.

Even if like me, you're not a particular useful gardener and are more likely to fall into the category of willing but hapless, there are still things that you can do, to inspire you to keep slimming that bin.

So for those who are ready to embark on Week 5,  have a think about this week's mini-challenges.

1. Stop buying those bagged salads and grow your own instead.  You don't need much space.  A couple of pots will do for planting a few seeds of mixed mediterranean leaves.  So when you're out shopping this week, look out for a packet at the supermarket or garden centre and get planting.  Then plant some more in a few weeks time and keep going throughout the summer.  You'll probably never have to buy expensive salads again.

2. Think about other easy things that you can grow in the garden, such as herbs that you use for cooking.  There are lots of sites that advise on how to grow, harvest and store them for use out of season. I love the online guide at Growing Spaces, which provides very simple advice.  So, if you haven't started a herb garden yet, make this the year to do it, even if you've only got a window-sill. Not only will it save you money, you won't have to worry about recycling all that plastic film or even pots. If you've got a garden and love cooking, I'd also recommend planting a bay tree. The leaves are brilliant for adding flavour to sauces and soup and the branches are great for floral decorations too.  Of course if you love cut flowers, and have the space, consider growing some of your favourites, for you to bring indoors.

3. If you are a fairly keen gardener, think about ways in which you can reduce waste in the garden. It's possible to reduce the number of plants you buy from the garden centre, simply by splitting a plant in two, or learning to harvest seeds as well as propogate.  Of course, plant pots can always be reused, or passed on via sites such as Freegle or Freecycle, but if you find yourself with too many, it's also worth checking if your garden centre will recycle them.  Some recycling centres, such as the ones throughout Suffolk, will also now accept them as part of their hard plastics collections. Other waste that can be recycled as a result of garden purchases includes compost bags etc. Often these are made from the same material as other plastic bags, so check the labels and recycle with your carrier bags if your local facilities provide such services.

4. Get composting. Many people are afraid of composting, but my own experience has shown that even with a cheap plastic bin, it's possible to create something that has nutritional value, even it it doesn't look much like compost or if the only place you can use it is under some shrubs at the back of the garden. And I am in constant awe of how difficult it is to actually fill a compost bin, thanks to the speed in which its contents break down. When it comes to composting, there are many options to consider, whether it's the traditional compost heap, a plastic bin or a wormery. Wiggly Wigglers is a great site for comparing the costs of various options.  Also Get Composting works in partnership with local councils and often has offers available on many solutions.

5. Bury your food waste in your garden.  I know that sounds gross, and I don't really mean that you should just go and dig a hole and bury the remains of your Sunday dinner, just like so.  Of course, having waded through the challenges in Week 3, you should now be on the path to minimising food waste. However, for whatever remains, there are now plenty of solutions that can help you turn any leftovers into compost. Perhaps the simplest is a wormery, which will accept all sorts of mush except for fish or meat leftovers. BBC gardener and Guardian columnist Alys Fowler has also recently published a review of the Bokashi bin, which enables you to collect scraps, including meat, and uses a fermenting process to allow it to be added to your compost bin. Alternatively, the Green Johanna and the Hotbin use hot composting to enable you to add all sorts of food waste directly to other compostable materials.  These are more expensive than your average compost bin, but if you have the space and the determination, they are worth considering.

For more information about the ideas listed above, take a look at the accompanying online guide for The Rubbish Diet Challenge.

Some of our participating households have already got stuck into composting, with others planning to try it soon. I know that Tim is already seeing a real reduction in his waste as a result of getting a compost bin for his garden.  It was tricky trying to catch up with everyone during half term, but now the holidays are over, the weigh-in data is starting to come in and it's already making positive reading.  The results below will be updated as and when the information is available.

1.  Terry-Anna.
Household: 2 adults, in Ipswich Borough, Suffolk. 
WK1 Weigh-in: 1.5 large bags, filling one third of a wheelie bin (fortnightly):  WK 5: 3 quarters of a bag.

2.  Ness.  @NessyThompson
Household: 2 adults & 5 children, a rural village in Mid Suffolk
WK1 Weigh-in:  2 full wheelie bins (fortnightly).  WK 5: 4 bin bags (one bin)

3.  Donna.  @Donna_De
Household: 2 adults, in Tower Hamlets in London. www.beatinglimitations.com/blog
WK1 Weigh-in: 1 30L rubbish sack. (weekly).  WK 5:

4. Amy. @AmyMarpman
Household: 2 adults in New York City.   www.beyondthebluebin.com
WK1 Weigh-in: 2 bin bags - estimated 9kg / 20lbs. (Weekly) WK 5: Not enough rubbish to put out during week 4 but estimating that combined with WK5, this is like to amount to 2 bags for the fortnight, weighing 4.08kg/9lbs.

5: Kate. @BusinessPlumber
Household: 2 adults, in a rural village in Mid Suffolk : www.businessplumber.co.uk
WK1 Weigh-in: 1 unusually full wheelie bin - incl Christmas waste. (fortnightly): WK 5: 2 bags.

6: Jax. @LiveOtherwise
Household: 2 adults, 3 children & a baby on its way, in Suffolk Coast. http://liveotherwise.co.uk/makingitup/
WK1 Weigh-in: 7 small bin bags - filling one third or half of a wheelie bin (fortnightly). WK5:

7.Melanie
Household: 2 adults, 2 children, Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire
WK 1 Weigh-in:  3 large bin bags, almost filling a whole wheelie bin. (weekly).  WK 5 1 bag

8.Tim @Dotterel
Household: 2 adults, 3 children, Lincolnshire.  www.bringingupcharlie.co.uk
WK 1 Weigh-in: 1 full wheelie bin (fortnightly). WK5: 5 small bags, with a few days to go until collection. Currently looking like half-a wheelie bin.

Don't forget, just because the Rubbish Diet challenge is already in WK 5, it doesn't mean that you can't join in.  Just visit the online guide to catch up with everything you need to do.  There's also lots happening on Twitter too, so to join in the conversation just use the hashtag #therubbishdiet, or tweet @karencannard.