Here is the field behind our house where we are already underway to produce a new ‘fruitful forest’, with a back-bone of natives and fruit trees.

We are starting to plant some bush layer fruit bushes and we are going to consider planting some perennial vegetables as another ‘layer’. To the far end of the field we love someone to plant up and look after a mini market garden on ‘no dig, no squirt’ principles - to grow healthy food from healthy soil.

I have already applied a biodynamic inoculant onto the field this spring with the hope of a dynamic soil biology as the result! Come and see, come and talk!

Talking of biodynamics……….I have been telling anyone about it who is interested or can’t get away in time!! What I have been saying is that I am not interested in getting more crop - after all you can go to Tesco and get relatively cheap vegetables in vast bulk (I know it is not cheap for all), but what I was interested in was the nutritional eloquence of the food. How to find a proxy for that that was the issue - taste is important, but I thought that if there was a real dynamic partnership between plant and soil biology (the whole idea - no?), then that should be reflected in root systems at the end of the season.

So what is the first thing I notice? - huge strawberries on a plot where the strawberries have been at best moderate in size, and a wonderful taste too! It shows what I know! I have noticed other things too - like the strawberries coincidence perhaps, we will see. Winter cabbages that did not much in the autumn put on a growth spurt. As usual my broad beans have black-fly but this year the ladybirds are coming into feast. We will see, yes.

Unions do well here but I have been a bit surprised by the harvest this year - again we will see what happens next yea

I have just read a quote from the biodynamic gardening association to the effect that their aim is simply to improve the health of everything in your garden including the gardener!