AKG132 - Project: Nosh

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast, produced and presented by Emma Cooper, is all about growing edible and useful plants in an environmentally-friendly way. It is completely free to download and listen to.

Good King Henry flowers

This episode is all about eating the plants that I’ve been growing in the garden. Check out the Project:Nosh homepage on the blog for links to the individual blog entries and recipes, and while you’re there look out for Alison Tindale’s guest post on Good King Henry.

This show’s shout outs go to Lynne Robinson, Hedvig Murray and James Howard, who all said hello on Twitter :)

Leave me a comment, send me an email or join our Facebook page. You can get real time updates from the AKG on Twitter. If you’re interested in becoming an Alternative Kitchen Garden Correspondent then read the FAQ. You can also download the script for this episode as a PDF file.


The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast is released in good faith with Creative Commons BY-NC-ND terms. You are free (and encouraged) to share, copy, distribute and transmit the podcast episodes providing you attribute them to Emma Cooper, don't use the episodes for commercial purposes and don't modify the episodes.For a full explanation of the licence, please see the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence details.

Posted in Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast on Jul 17, 2012 ·

Tag: food

AKG131 - Chocolate

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast, produced and presented by Emma Cooper, is all about growing edible and useful plants in an environmentally-friendly way. It is completely free to download and listen to.

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao)

In the run up to Easter, this show is all about chocolate, which comes from the cocoa plant Theobroma cacao. I talk about its past, present and possible future. And then I take a look at some of the possible chocolate substitutes you could grow in your garden.

For scent there are chocolate cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguinea) and the chocolate-scented daisy (Berlandiera lyrata), both of which will attract beneficial insects into the garden along with the local chocaholics.

For chocolate flavour there’s chocolate peppermint and the chocolate-peppermint scented-leaf pelargonium, with usage tips from Sally Nex (@SallyNex, who wrote about using scented-leaved pelargoniums as herbs for the BBC Gardening blog last year).

Or you could try Wood Avens (Geum rivale), White Avens (Geum canadense), Carob (Ceratonia siliqua), American sweet chesnut (Castanea dentata) or lime (Tilia spp.) if you have the right climate. And be on the look out for a new chocolate-flavoured treat from Down Under.

This show’s shout outs go to Lynne Robinson, Ric Whitbrooke and Keith Walker, who all said hello on Twitter :)

Leave me a comment, send me an email or join our Facebook page. You can get real time updates from the AKG on Twitter. If you’re interested in becoming an Alternative Kitchen Garden Correspondent then read the FAQ. You can also download the script for this episode as a PDF file.


The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast is released in good faith with Creative Commons BY-NC-ND terms. You are free (and encouraged) to share, copy, distribute and transmit the podcast episodes providing you attribute them to Emma Cooper, don't use the episodes for commercial purposes and don't modify the episodes.For a full explanation of the licence, please see the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence details.

Posted in Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast on Apr 1, 2012 ·

Tag: unusual

AKG130 - Coffee

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast, produced and presented by Emma Cooper, is all about growing edible and useful plants in an environmentally-friendly way. It is completely free to download and listen to.

Coffee berries

Although it’s Lent and some of you may have given up coffee until Easter, we’re talking about growing your own coffee plants in this show, and the various harvests you could get from them. There’s also plenty about how coffee (Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora ‘robusta’) is grown in its native habitat, and ideas of what to do with your used coffee grounds once you’ve drunk your brew. (My coffee plants came from the Eden Project shop on a recent trip to Cornwall. The Eden Project was the topic for episode 76 of the show.)

If you’re itching to get seed sowing, then take a look at The Peat-Free Diet, which contains a lot of useful information about raising plants without peat.

During the show I mention Stephen Barstow and his concept of ‘edimentals’ (ornamental edible plants); Stephen is one of the ‘plant hunters’ featured in my forthcoming book Jade Pearls & Alien Eyeballs.

And this show’s shout outs go to James, S Kramer, Johnny Carpenter and Stephen Sheppard, who all said hello on Twitter.

Leave me a comment, send me an email or join our Facebook page. You can get real time updates from the AKG on Twitter. If you’re interested in becoming an Alternative Kitchen Garden Correspondent then read the FAQ. You can also download the script for this episode as a PDF file.


The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast is released in good faith with Creative Commons BY-NC-ND terms. You are free (and encouraged) to share, copy, distribute and transmit the podcast episodes providing you attribute them to Emma Cooper, don't use the episodes for commercial purposes and don't modify the episodes.For a full explanation of the licence, please see the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence details.

Posted in Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast on Feb 23, 2012 ·

Last modified on Aug 7, 2012

Tag: unusual

AKG Index

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Contrast

AKG001: Jerusalem Artichokes
AKG002: Garlic
AKG003: Compost
AKG004: Indoor Salads
AKG005: Sowing Seeds
AKG006: Chard and Leaf Beet
AKG007: Comfrey
AKG008: Parsley
AKG009: Raised Beds
AKG10: Nasturtiums
AKG011: Seedlings
AKG012: French Beans
AKG013: The RISC Roof Garden
AKG014: Water-Wise Gardening
AKG015: Courgettes
AKG016: Window boxes
AKG017: June
AKG018: Oriental Vegetables
AKG019: Sunflowers
AKG020: Welsh Onions
AKG021: Peas and peashoots
AKG022: Lemon Balm
AKG023: Seeds for Late Sowing
AKG024: Ryton Organic Gardens
AKG025: Armchair Gardening
AKG026: Worm Composting
AKG027: Green Manures for Fall
AKG028: Seed Saving
AKG029: Pee
AKG030: Overwintering Onions
AKG031: Sweetcorn
AKG032: Leaf Mould
AKG033: Slugs
AKG034: A Review of the Season
AKG035: Broad (fava) beans
AKG036: Apple Day
AKG037: 20 Garden Uses for a Plastic Bottle
AKG038: Pumpkins
AKG039: Mushrooms
AKG040: Cats in the Garden
AKG041: Planting Pips
AKG042: Chickpeas/ Garbanzo beans
AKG043: Tiger Nuts (Chufa)
AKG044: Soil Composition
AKG045: Herbs for Tea
AKG046: 2007 Quiz
AKG047: A Look Back at 2007
AKG048: Onions and Shallots
AKG049: Grow Dome Tour
AKG050: Seed Swaps
AKG051: Cress
AKG052: Buying Plants
AKG053: Garden Planning
AKG054: Tomatoes
AKG055: Peppers
AKG056: Aubergines (Eggplants)
AKG057: Sprouting Broccoli
AKG058: Cold Frames
AKG059: Weeds
AKG060: CAT Cold Composting
AKG061: Potatoes
AKG062: Chickens
AKG063: Achocha
AKG064: Blueberries
AKG065: Grow Your Own Fresh Air
AKG066: Pest Repellent Plants
AKG067: Master Composters
AKG068: Bokashi
AKG069: June catch up
AKG070: Winter Crops
AKG071: Ladybirds
AKG072: September
AKG073: Out & About
AKG074: Permaculture Basics
AKG075: Composting in Winter
AKG076: The Eden Project
AKG077: Gifts for Gardeners
AKG078: New for 2009
AKG079: Oca
AKG080: Christmas for the Birds
Christmas Even in the Garden
AKG081: Winter Experiments
AKG082: Days Out
AKG083: Life Under Glass
AKG084: On Guerrilla Gardening
AKG085: Square Foot Gardening
AKG086: Greenhouses and Seed Sowing
AKG087: Holidays (Vacations)
AKG088: Organic Fertilizers
AKG089: Garden Birds
AKG090: Aloe Vera
AKG091: October
AKG092: Prickly Nut Woods
AKG093: Chicken Forage
AKG094: Tea
AKG095: Garden Organization
AKG096: Holiday Plants
AKG097: Winter Sowing
AKG098: Bees
AKG099: Sweet Violets
AKG100: 2010 Garden Plan
AKG101: Shamrocks and Clover
AKG102: My Birthday Plants
AKG103: Chicken Introductions
AKG104: Running a Seed Swap
AKG105: Wisewoman’s Cookery
AKG106: Biodynamics 101
AKG107: Choosing a Composting System
AKG108: Strawberries
AKG109: July 2010
AKG110: Plant Names
AKG111: Plant Nutrition
AKG112: Photosynthesis
AKG113: Biofuels
AKG114: Invasive Plants
AKG115: Gardening Trends for 2011
AKG116: Peat
AKG117: Poles and Canes
AKG118: Hedgehogs
AKG119: Perennial Alliums
AKG120: New website
AKG121: Saffron
AKG122: Easy, Unusual Crops for Allotments
AKG123: The Future of England’s Forests
AKG124: Edible Insects
AKG125: Unsown Treasures 1
AKG126: Dave Hamilton
AKG127: Unsown Treasures 2
AKG128: Frost
AKG129: Unsown Treasures 3
AKG130: Coffee
AKG131: Chocolate


The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast is released in good faith with Creative Commons BY-NC-ND terms. You are free (and encouraged) to share, copy, distribute and transmit the podcast episodes providing you attribute them to Emma Cooper, don't use the episodes for commercial purposes and don't modify the episodes.For a full explanation of the licence, please see the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence details.

Posted in Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast on Feb 22, 2012 ·

Last modified on Apr 2, 2012

Tag: general

AKG129 - Unsown Treasures 3

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast, produced and presented by Emma Cooper, is all about growing edible and useful plants in an environmentally-friendly way. It is completely free to download and listen to.

Chrysanthemum greens

For the first Alternative Kitchen Garden Show episode for 2012 I am once again opening my seed box to examine some of the forgotten treasures that lie within. And to mark the beginning of the Year of the Dragon, I have chosen plants with an oriental theme.

Find out about soy(a) beans, podding radishes, kintsai (Chinese celery), Stem lettuce, Chop suey greens, two distinctive aubergines and kiwis.

And as part of the 52 Week Salad Challenge I offer up some of Joy Larkcom’s tips for creating your own ‘saladini’ seed mixes and some ideas from Carl Legge on what to do when your brassicas bolt.

There’s also news about my Jade Pearls & Alien Eyeballs book and The Peat-Free Diet ebook.

If, after listening to the show, you’re wondering about the recipe I mention then it’s Stem Lettuce Caesar from Ideas In Food. And I talked about chrysanthemum tea on the blog back in 2010.

Leave me a comment, send me an email or join our Facebook group. You can get real time updates from the AKG on Twitter. If you’re interested in becoming an Alternative Kitchen Garden Correspondent then read the FAQ. You can also download the script for this episode as a PDF file.


The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast is released in good faith with Creative Commons BY-NC-ND terms. You are free (and encouraged) to share, copy, distribute and transmit the podcast episodes providing you attribute them to Emma Cooper, don't use the episodes for commercial purposes and don't modify the episodes.For a full explanation of the licence, please see the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence details.

Posted in Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast on Jan 28, 2012 ·

Last modified on Aug 7, 2012

Tags: seeds & veg.

AKG128 - Frost

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast, produced and presented by Emma Cooper, is all about growing edible and useful plants in an environmentally-friendly way. It is completely free to download and listen to.

Frosty nasturtiums

For the final episode of the Alternative Kitchen Garden Show for 2011, I’m looking at frost and the effects it has on plants and gardens in temperate climates. I also look back at the successes and failures of 2011, and look forward at some of the changes coming to the garden in 2012.

If you’d like to see the photos of Pete’s Butt City improvements to our rain water collection and storage system, click through to the blog link.

Happy holidays everyone, see you in 2012!

Leave me a comment, send me an email or join our Facebook group. You can get real time updates from the AKG on Twitter. If you’re interested in becoming an Alternative Kitchen Garden Correspondent then read the FAQ. You can also download the script for this episode as a PDF file.


The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast is released in good faith with Creative Commons BY-NC-ND terms. You are free (and encouraged) to share, copy, distribute and transmit the podcast episodes providing you attribute them to Emma Cooper, don't use the episodes for commercial purposes and don't modify the episodes.For a full explanation of the licence, please see the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence details.

Posted in Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast on Dec 23, 2011 ·

Tag: general

AKG127 - Unsown Treasures 2

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast, produced and presented by Emma Cooper, is all about growing edible and useful plants in an environmentally-friendly way. It is completely free to download and listen to.

Perilla

We’re delving into the herbs and spices section of my seed box this time, to see what Unsown Treasures I have found that might find a home in the garden this year. But what is the difference between a herb and a spice?

The plants covered in this show are Dill (Anethum graveolens), Cumin (Cuminum cyminum), Mistuba (Cryptotaenia japonica), Perilla (Perilla frutescens) and Cinnamon basil (Ocimum basilicum var. ‘Cinnamon’).

My trusty cumin potatoes recipe is available on the blog, and if you’re looking for those dill varieties then they’re on offer from Suffolk Herbs.

If you’re a fan of the Plants for a Future website, then please consider supporting their current fundraising campaign to help them continue with their work.

Leave me a comment, send me an email or join our Facebook group. You can get real time updates from the AKG on Twitter. If you’re interested in becoming an Alternative Kitchen Garden Correspondent then read the FAQ. You can also download the script for this episode as a PDF file.


The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast is released in good faith with Creative Commons BY-NC-ND terms. You are free (and encouraged) to share, copy, distribute and transmit the podcast episodes providing you attribute them to Emma Cooper, don't use the episodes for commercial purposes and don't modify the episodes.For a full explanation of the licence, please see the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence details.

Posted in Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast on Nov 25, 2011 ·

Tags: spices & herbs.

AKG126 - Dave Hamilton

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast, produced and presented by Emma Cooper, is all about growing edible and useful plants in an environmentally-friendly way. It is completely free to download and listen to.

Dave Hamilton has stopped by to talk about his new book, Grow Your Food For Free (well, almost), and his autumn foraging walks, as well as to answer some questions posed to him by Zeb Bakes, Bugs and Hadenmaiden via Twitter.

If you’d like more details about the book then I reviewed it in back in May on the blog, and Dave’s website is Selfsufficientish.com, and you can find out more about his wild food walks and other events there.

During the show Dave also gives us his top tips for peat-free gardening, and if you want to know more about making your own leaf mould (or leaf mould in the US :) then listen to episode 32 of the show or check out my latest post on the BBC Gardening blog.

If you have a few spare pennies or cents then you can help support Kew’s work at the Millennium Seed Bank – The Alternative Kitchen Garden Seed Appeal is raising enough money to save an entire wild (edible!) plant species.

Leave me a comment, send me an email or join our Facebook group. You can get real time updates from the AKG on Twitter. If you’re interested in becoming an Alternative Kitchen Garden Correspondent then read the FAQ.


The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast is released in good faith with Creative Commons BY-NC-ND terms. You are free (and encouraged) to share, copy, distribute and transmit the podcast episodes providing you attribute them to Emma Cooper, don't use the episodes for commercial purposes and don't modify the episodes.For a full explanation of the licence, please see the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence details.

Posted in Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast on Oct 10, 2011 ·

Last modified on Nov 27, 2012

Tags: books & thrifty.

AKG125 - Unsown Treasures 1

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast, produced and presented by Emma Cooper, is all about growing edible and useful plants in an environmentally-friendly way. It is completely free to download and listen to.

French beans

In today’s installment of The Alternative Kitchen Garden Show our thoughts turn to seeds. You can see what goes on behind-the-scenes at the Millennium Seed Bank on the blog, where seeds arrive, seeds are processed for storage and seeds are germination tested. If you have a few spare pennies or cents then you can help support Kew’s work at the Millennium Seed Bank – The Alternative Kitchen Garden Seed Appeal is raising enough money to save an entire wild (edible!) plant species.

I have been clearing out my seed box and updating my seed database, so today I’m sharing some of my Unsown Treasures – seeds I had forgotten I have: Okahijiki (Salsola komarovii), Ice Plant (Mesembryanthemum crystallinum), Lemon bergamot (Monarda citriodora), Lab Lab beans (Dolichos lablab or Lablab purpureus) and Jicama (Pachyrrhizus erosus or Pachyrhizus tuberosus).

And our AKG Correspondent Thomas is back to show us around a community garden project in Melbourne, Australia. This is the composting area he describes in the show:

There’s still time to enter my Write Club 2011 guest post competition, which is running until the end of September, and of course you can take a look at all of the Write Club 2011 entries so far and vote for your favourites.

Leave me a comment, send me an email or join our Facebook group. You can get real time updates from the AKG on Twitter. If you’re interested in becoming an Alternative Kitchen Garden Correspondent then read the FAQ. You can also download the script for this episode as a PDF file.


The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast is released in good faith with Creative Commons BY-NC-ND terms. You are free (and encouraged) to share, copy, distribute and transmit the podcast episodes providing you attribute them to Emma Cooper, don't use the episodes for commercial purposes and don't modify the episodes.For a full explanation of the licence, please see the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence details.

Posted in Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast on Sep 20, 2011 ·

Last modified on Nov 25, 2011

Tags: seeds & compost.

AKG124 - Edible Insects

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The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast, produced and presented by Emma Cooper, is all about growing edible and useful plants in an environmentally-friendly way. It is completely free to download and listen to.

Want one?

I have been working hard, finishing The Peat-Free Diet and My Garden is not a Cat Toilet!, both of which will be available as ebooks in the near future.

Pete and I have been to London to find out whether Edible Insects can save the planet, and whether or not they’re actually tasty. You can see photos of what we were served on the blog.

And I am running a guest post competition on the blog throughout September, so click through to have a look at the rules if you would like to take part.

Leave me a comment, send me an email or join our Facebook group. You can get real time updates from the AKG on Twitter. If you’re interested in becoming an Alternative Kitchen Garden Correspondent then read the FAQ. You can also download the script for this episode as a PDF file.


The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast is released in good faith with Creative Commons BY-NC-ND terms. You are free (and encouraged) to share, copy, distribute and transmit the podcast episodes providing you attribute them to Emma Cooper, don't use the episodes for commercial purposes and don't modify the episodes.For a full explanation of the licence, please see the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence details.

Posted in Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast on Aug 30, 2011 ·

Last modified on Nov 25, 2011

Tags: food & environment.

Unless stated, © copyright Emma Cooper, 2005-2013.