Happiful September 2020

More documents

Recommendations

Info

A beginner’s guide to growing your own! Ever wanted to tend to your own little vegetable patch? Well, there’s never been a better time to start. Here, soil scientist and nutritional gardening expert Dr Nigel Bending shares six top tips to help you dig in Writing | Dr Nigel Bending Illustrating | Rosan Magar Creating personal access to green space has been proven to boost self-esteem, reduce anxiety, and even decrease your cortisol levels (the stress hormone) in the body. Whether you’re growing lettuce for your salads, or herbs for your G&Ts, there’s never been a better time to get outside, and get growing. You don’t need a huge allotment, or a big garden to grow your own. Even the most compact space can be turned into a flourishing herb and veg patch with a raised planter – or even a few pots on a windowsill or balcony. ‘Grow your own’ can seem an intimidating phrase, but the journey from plot to plate doesn’t have to be complicated. GO FOR VARIETIES YOU CAN’T BUY IN SUPERMARKETS Supermarkets usually pick varieties that survive the rigours of picking, transport, and display – so flavour and nutrients are not the top priority! Why not try veg and herbs that you can’t get in shops? Your crops will be of a much higher quality in both nutrients and taste. Try French and red veined sorrel, which have a zingy, fizzy lemon taste (think sherbet lemon), and are among the most reliable and longlasting crops you can grow. SORT YOUR SEEDS When choosing seeds, avoid those that take too long to reach maturity, such as parsnips which can take up to 180 days. Ideally, your crops will take no more than 90 days to reach maturity. For beginners, trying to grow your own ‘lettuce bag’ is a great place to start. The seeds are cheap, readily available, and germinate and grow reliably. Good varieties to try include mustard ‘red giant’, mizuna, mizuna ‘red knight’, mustard ‘golden frills’, mustard ‘red frills’, plus spinach ‘red kitten’, and rocket ‘serrata’. The leaves have a peppery taste which runs from mild in ‘mizuna’ to hot (occasionally fiery) in red giant. If these lettuces turn out to be a bit too hot to handle, you may want to opt for something sweeter tasting, in which case black seeded simpson, cocarde, and oakleaf smile are likely to fit the bill. 82 • happiful.com • <strong>September</strong> <strong>2020</strong>
LIMITED SPACE? NO PROBLEM Try for varieties that have a compact form. Tom Thumb ‘pea’ produces full-size pods, but only grows to 25cm (less than a third of most podding peas). Others include stripy ‘piccolo’ courgettes, yellow ‘summer ball’ courgettes, and ‘pot black’ mini aubergines. You can also harvest crops as ‘baby leaf’ before they reach full size. THINK ABOUT WHERE YOU GROW Growing veg in a shady (cooler) corner can provide great conditions for crops like lettuce, spinach, rocket, radish, and chard – so the situation is far from helpless! Herbs can be quite demanding in their requirements, which makes a raised planter or container an ideal choice. You can also move your container into full or partial shade, and water little or more often, based on the herb you wish to grow. PICK YOUR LEAVES Supermarkets tend to grow lettuce, and cut them as very young leaves. This is quite a wasteful method, and means that plants become rapidly exhausted. A much better way is to allow leaves to reach mid-size before they are picked, in order to let their flavour fully develop. Try to pick leaves individually at the base of the plant, which causes less stress and stimulates new growth. When growing herbs, the key is to pinch out their tips, and pick them regularly – this will prevent the plants becoming ‘leggy’ and flowering. This isn’t disastrous as it will often produce a fantastic seed head (a winner for bees), but will end the production of a new leaf! ENJOY YOUR GUILT-FREE VEG Even in a small space, you can easily grow the equivalent of two salad bags of lettuce per week, enough for a round of sandwiches for the whole family every day – and it’s an easy win on all the vitamin C you need. There is something fulfilling in taking ‘time-out’, picking a colander of lettuce at the beginning of each day, and appreciating the simplicity of the exchange of effort for reward. What’s more, at the end of the year you’ll have saved at least 104 currently ‘not recyclable’ cellophane packets from going to landfill – to which more than 810,000 tonnes of plastic containing ‘fresh produce’ goes every year. Even in a small space, you can easily grow the equivalent of two salad bags of lettuce per week Dr Nigel Bending is a soil scientist, nutritional gardening expert, and the creator of Ergrownomics selfwatering raised planters. Visit ergrownomics.co.uk
Page 1 and 2:
THE MAGAZINE DEVOTED TO MENTAL HEAL
Page 3 and 4:
A leap of faith Whether you’ve be
Page 5 and 6:
Our team EDITORIAL Rebecca Thair |
Page 7 and 8:
HAPPIFUL.COM | £4 09 Find help Our
Page 9:
WELLNESS Virtual choirs tune-in to
Page 12 and 13:
Take 5 Codebreaker It’s time to c
Page 14:
Self-love conquers all Cupid’s st
Page 17 and 18:
JACKIE’S STORY The only child to
Page 19 and 20:
@GRACEFVICTORY are made up of old p
Page 21 and 22:
What is imposter syndrome? Do you f
Page 23 and 24:
TOP TIPS Ultimately, you want to be
Page 25 and 26:
Everyone has unique strengths and t
Page 27 and 28:
It’s about time we started talkin
Page 29 and 30:
For more from Stevie, follow him on
Page 31 and 32: I wouldn’t describe myself as a v
Page 33 and 34: each area, this can be unrealistic,
Page 35 and 36: can help you move forward and embra
Page 37 and 38: TRUE LIFE It’s never too late to
Page 39 and 40: You can email Vanessa via contact@b
Page 41 and 42: Top tips for those struggling to ma
Page 43 and 44: Therefore, our buzzing friends can
Page 45 and 46: Being together every day, going thr
Page 47 and 48: 3 amazing online dance classes to l
Page 49 and 50: EIGHT MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SIGHT LO
Page 51 and 52: SIGHT LOSS SUPPORT • The Royal Na
Page 53 and 54: We’re rarely afraid of what we ca
Page 55 and 56: TRUE LIFE A message of impact Feeli
Page 57 and 58: Andy Salkeld is the author of ‘Li
Page 59 and 60: 10 steps to cope with redundancy Fa
Page 61 and 62: Protect your energy Approaching you
Page 63: leads to you feeling diminished, an
Page 66 and 67: £57 £40 ENTER CODE: HAPPISEP AT T
Page 68 and 69: What, when, and how we eat is a key
Page 70 and 71: Forget perfection keep your promise
Page 72 and 73: “ To fall in love with yourself i
Page 74 and 75: This extreme content grabs our atte
Page 76 and 77: COLD SESAME SALMON Serves 2 Power-H
Page 78 and 79: Photography | Daniel Odame “ Owni
Page 80 and 81: Take a deep breath Four ways the re
Page 84 and 85: HAPPIFUL TOP 10 September Taking ca
Page 86 and 87: Photography | Ba Ba “ Remember, n
Page 88 and 89: I truly believe that if, at the tim
Page 90: Embracing your natural looks - and
show all

Happiful September 2020

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?