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Volunteer Food – Suburban Food Farm Video

January 18, 2015 @ 21:18 By Gavin Webber 7 Comments

Clever gardening has its benefits, especially when you let vegetables go to seed.  They reward you with abundance and free volunteer food.  Check out this weeks Sustainable Food Farm video installment with volunteer potatoes, sunflowers, and kale. There is also an update for the Painted Mountain corn.  http://youtu.be/082P1iRju70

I am enjoying producing these videos for you.  So simple to put together and they are kind of like a weekly video podcast, albeit a very short one.

Any feedback from you would be most welcome, and all suggestions for future videos will be kept in a list and I will try to work them into the weekly shoot.  Fire away!

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Filed Under: Gardening, Gardening Videos, Organic, vegetables

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About Gavin Webber

Gavin Webber's daily goal is to live a more sustainable lifestyle, in an effort to reduce his family's environmental footprint so we can all make a difference for our children & future generations to come.

Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Comments

  1. Sarhn says

    January 19, 2015 at 09:18

    Gav I haven’t heard the term ‘volunteer’ before. Is that a Gavinism? The video is great – short and to the point. Your garden is looking great Gav.

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      January 19, 2015 at 09:39

      Hi Sarhn. I guess it is. I figure that nature has volunteered to feed us with these special plants, so I gave it the name Volunteer food. I have been using it since I first experienced the phenomenon during my second growing season! x

      Reply
  2. Allotment adventures with Jean says

    January 24, 2015 at 03:45

    Hi Gavin. I really enjoyed your video. Loved this personal tour of your garden and the opportunity to see the advantage of letting our veggies go to seed. These volunteers look so healthy.

    May I say, a very professional opening to the video, like being at the pictures !!

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      January 27, 2015 at 09:19

      Thanks Jean! Love the feedback.

      Reply
  3. Chris Pittock says

    January 24, 2015 at 23:13

    Gavin,

    As a grain cropping scientist, I can assure you that seed germinating from last seasons crop are referred to in the trade as: “volunteers”! Mostly they’re a problem as they can maintain pest and diseases over the summer and autumn – “a green bridge” for these unwanted accompaniments to have a rack at next years crops.
    My wife calls them “surprises”… Which is cute and probably accurate when you basil/lettuce/coriander self seeds!
    I personally am a little serious about crop rotations which make me nervy about the self sown additions to the patch!
    I enjoy your efforts and must take time to pickup on your ample backlog of videos!

    Reply
    • Gavin Webber says

      January 27, 2015 at 09:18

      Thanks for the assurance Chris. First time I have come across the term green bridge. I will have to keep that in mind.

      Reply
  4. rabidlittlehippy says

    February 1, 2015 at 23:38

    The painted mountain corn is ultra pretty to grow. The colour in the stems passes over into some of the leaves. We’re harvesting ours now and although I’m still learning about pollination (sporadic), the corn that has set fruit and matured is delicious! 75% is pretty good germination for sweetcorn. I think that’s about the standard that was written on the pack?

    Nice work on your sunflowers. I never got around to sowing muine and with what appears to be the very early onset of autumn (leaves dropping and 2C the other morning, thankfully frost free) I wonder whether I should bother this year or not. :/

    I think with permaculture principles, if you’re planting all sorts of things next to all sorts of things, diseases and pests ahve a harder time. In saying that, planting the same crop over and over also depletes all the same nutrients each time, leaving your soil deficient in specific nutrients. Then again, when nature self sows, you have to think she knows what she is doing right? Love your volunteers. I leave my titchy spuds in place to grow for next year. I also composted my green ones which resulted in a bumper early crop this year. 🙂

    Reply

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An Ordinary Australian Man Who Has A Green Epiphany Whilst Watching A Documentary, Gets a Hybrid Car, Plants A Large Organic Vegetable Garden, Goes Totally Solar, Lowers Consumption, Feeds Composts Bins and Worms, Harvests Rainwater, Raises Chickens, Makes Cheese and Soap, and Eats Locally. All In The Effort To Reduce Our Family's Carbon Footprint So We Can Start Making A Difference For Our Children & Future Generations To Come.

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