Reading - Colin Tudge: So Shall We Reap

I'm nearing the end of this book. I am tempted to go back and read it again and make more notes, although I've got other books of his to go through as well.

To paraphrase a bit: Biologists say that organisms do not run themselves in a hierarchical fashion. DNA is in every cell. There is no 'homunculus' in the brain, but rather a 'neural net.'

"Each bit of the nervous system communicates primarily with the bit next to it, and somehow the whole coheres. The neural net, in general form, is remarkably like the markets that Adam Smith envisaged." (1)

Many are fascinated by the Internet, envisioning it as a way of bringing the minds of the world together. It seems obvious that the beauty and useful of networks is the discovery of our age.

It seems strange, on the other hand, that our economies are still organised in the same way as in the 19th century robber baron era. Large organisations are demonstrably inefficient (instinctively for those having the misfortune to work in them). Now we realise that they are dangerous as well.

The enormous, "too big to fail" banks are dragging our economies down with them. The "too big to fail" US auto industry is sucking up resources and attention that could go into a more efficient network-type economy.

"...the hierarchical structure of the MICG [monetarized, industrialized, corporatized, globalized] model - everything run by a few corporations, as Egypt was run by the pharoahs is grotesquely out of date. Corporations may or may not be useful but society as a whole certainly does not need them, any more than bodies need homunculi." (2)

1. Colin Tudge, So Shall We Reap, p. 406.
2. Tudge, p. 407.

Impulse Purchase

Our local garden centre had a sign out for seed potatoes. I couldn't resist going in for a look, gave into temptation, and got 2.5 kg of Desiree seed potatoes (a red-skinned maincrop, according to the British Potato Council). Far more than I need, but perhaps I'll be able to give some away, or share out my pots with the neighbours.

Since I'm still an absolute beginner when it comes to potatoes, I have no idea if this is a good variety to choose or not, but it looks like it's versatile in its uses.

Cold frame outside again

Anticipating an overflow of plants from the house, I set up the plastic coldframe that I got from Wilkinsons last year. You can see there's not much to it.


I've used milk jugs filled with water as thermal mass, attempting to moderate temperature changes a bit. I know clear jugs aren't very effective, but they are readily available and seem to help.

The water jugs also serve to weigh the cold frame down, since it's very prone to blow away in the strong winds we have here in the Peak District.


I learned last year that the frame is best secured in place by wrapping a grid of strapping tape across the bottom, doubling back to stick on itself. (I should have photographed that before I put everything in it! You can see a bit of the tape on the lower left, to the right of the jugs.) Once the tape is on, then place cardboard over the tape to distribute the weight and secure against the wind.

There are three tall pots of carrots, which have been growing for about six weeks. The blue LED light really wasn't suitable for them, and it didn't seem to work splitting the light across six pots. Below the carrots are a pot of parsley and one of chives that have been sitting in rather low light on the back porch.

Blue Light Special

This winter, I've experimented with using a LED light to grow greens indoors. The pots are next to the (south-facing) kitchen window, so they have got some natural light, although not that much, considering how far north we are.

The lettuce is Winter Marvel from Real Seeds (scroll down to the winter lettuce section). This variety did quite well in the garden under cover until we got greedy and ate it all!


I've read that plants need blue light for vegetative growth and red light for flowering. Since I'm growing lettuce, I tried blue light only. Some say it may be better to use a mix of red and blue or full spectrum LED. More technical information is available here.

I've noticed some leaves twisting upside down and turning their undersides to the light. It may be that the bulb is too close to the light. However, I've been harvesting leaves off these plants for weeks now and they keep growing exuberantly, regardless of which way the leaves face.

Normally I avoid eBay, but I made an exception this time and got my blue LED light from Hidden Hydro. While the bulb is quite expensive, the running costs are pretty low for this one bulb. Our energy monitor says it uses 0.09 kwh/day or 31.39/kwh a year. That means it costs £5.17/year to run the bulb 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

I'm thinking of ordering some more bulbs to make a bigger setup that I could put on top of our kitchen cabinets (space limitations!).

Start Right Here, Right Now

I took photos of our empty front and back garden to see what it all looks like mid-winter. Most of the garden space is paved, and we rent this house, so everything will have to go into planters, pots and troughs.

The front garden is completely paved, and is to the north of the house. On this side of the house, the sun casts less and less of a shadow as it moves toward mid-summer day (a long way away right now!)


Fortunately, the stone wall on the left doesn't have gaps for slugs and snails (unlike the walls in the back garden).


We live on a private road, so there's not many vehicles moving back and forth.


The back garden with a couple of leftover compost bags from last season.


The side bed is mostly planted with herbs. I'm going to move some into planters in the spring and try vegetables on the strip farthest from the (slug and snail infested) wall.


Looking away from the house, toward the south.


Outside the back gate.


And a space I've been saving for perennial plants.