Aaron's hobbies

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VU6V4d-qUA)

This year I have also been growing some giant vegetables with Tromboncino Courgettes and my Atlantic Giant Pumpkin.  They are easily the biggest things I have ever grown.  The longest Tromboncino measured 54.5 inches and the pumpkin is too heavy to lift on my own so goodness knows how large it will be by Halloween.

Moussaka is one of my favourite recipes from when we were on Honeymoon in Greece.  I am not sure what it is about eating it in a genuine taverna but everything tastes amazing.  What really struck me was that the owner had his ingredients growing around the patio and so everything was fresh.  Not sure where he kept the sheep but it really did strike home how fresh produce makes the dish.  I have tried this recipe and it has that authentic taste, so now it is just a case of getting the right ingredients.  I have come to the conclusion that growing them yourself is the best way so each summer we get to experience and share our honeymoon all over again.  I guess it is one of those things we look forward to every year with the harvest.  It might be corny but it is the taste that brings out the love.

Growing onion sets and seeds in the same year is a way of giving me two harvests of onions.  The sets are one year old bulbs that grow quickly and so they mature first.  They are a lot easier to grow than onion seeds that need a very long time.  This video shows me starting the sets off and also looks at how the onion seeds are progressing as well.  If all goes according to plan I will have the sets ready in Summer and the seeds will mature in Autumn, so I am looking forward to some lovely tasting o inions this year.

This year I am growing potatoes in pots.  The varieties are International Kidney, Kestrel, Nadine and Sarpo Mira.  There are a couple of new techniques.  Firstly I am using exclusively ancient horse manure that has rotted down to soil as my growing medium.  I am not using any compost or soil mixed in with that.  Then I am filling the pots to the top and giving them a layer of wood chips to keep the manure moist.  I am using some fertilizer but that is only because I have it and it may as well get used.  Hoof and horn, calcified seaweed, chicken manure pellets and mycorrhizal fungi have been added.  I have filled the pots to the top to try and avoid a late frost getting to the foliage, and I have also buried the pots into the earth to again try and keep them moist.  Mulch is on everything to help this.

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHCN6eRcabY) It is April and time to get sowing seeds.  I had some tomatoes that needed to be potted on but mostly my mind is on Summer and Autumn crops so I planted Defender F1 Courgette and its big cousin the Italian variety Trombocino courgette.  I am hoping that the large one will be my Show variety this year.  I have also put in soem Waltham Butternut Squash, Long Green Bush Marrows, Atlantic Giant, Cheyenne and Jack O’Lantern pumpkins, and some Burpless tasty green cucumbers.  The planting was completed with my sweetcorn.  Everything will be kept under cover for about a month.

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZYRgvzlyQU) Back to Eden gardening method. This is my first attempt at an Eden Method bed for my onions and garlic. This style of gardening uses a very thick layer of wood chips to mulch around the plants.  I used between 6 and 8 inches, and covered the whole of the bed with the wood chips around my onions and garlic.  They then act as an insulation layer that keeps moisture and heat in the soil. That means that the plants thrive.  It also acts as a very efficient weed suppressant and as the wood chips break down, any rain becomes compost tea to give them more nutrients.  I will be posting updates throughout the season to show how progress is made.

Wine making is a new hobby for us. We decided to start with an Easy Apple & Grape Juice Wine Recipe.  The video shows every part of the process that we followed from start to finish.  We used shop bought Apple and Grape juice and mineral water but looking back I am not sure that the mineral water was needed as the wine making process gets rid of most things that you don’t want and changes the chemistry of the liquid.  We started in late Spring and bottled it in early Autumn so it was about six months from start to finish.  What we ended up with was a wine with apple flavour but definitely wine and not cider.   The batch we made up gave us 5 bottles which lasted us through until Christmas.  It was certainly very potent.  As our first attempt it taught us a lot and we often look back at the video to get pointers about what to do differently next time.  Beginners will definitely benefit from it before you start and throughout the wine making process.  Best of luck and we hope it helps you.

Lavalier and head worn microphones produce better sound recordings particularly outdoors because they bring the microphone right up close to your speaker.  I use a Sennheiser ME2 and a YPA MM2 C4SE to show the differences and review their quality.  I connect them to a Tascam sound recorder using a Sennheiser CL1 cable and a prologic 3.5mm adapter.  This gives me an excellent system for not too much money. 

My new grow tent and grow lights My grow tent is the best new investment I made this year so far, along with my grow lights.  I tried to grow seeds early last year but they just became leggy and died on the window sill.  There just isn’t enough light for long enough during those dark months of December and January.  If what you want is to grow crops that need time then starting early is your only option.  That is what a grow tent is designed to do.

The Tascam DR-22WL sound recorder is my favourite way to record sound for Youtube videos.  I used to use a phone and iPad to film with and so initially the sound was a lot better using the Tascam.  It is one of the first portable recorders to integrate wi-fi into its operation.  This means I can set it up and then remotely operate it with my phone.  That feature alone is a good enough reason to purchase it over its many rivals.  The feature does eat up batteries but is very convenient.  This video reviews the basic operation and how I use it in a recording environment.

Growing onions with grow lights is my latest attempt to grow proper onions on my allotment.  You have to start onion seeds off early because they need a long time to grow.  In my previous attempts the sun was too weak, too low in the sky and didn’t shine long enough.  The seedlings sprouted but soon became leggy and died.  This year I have added grow lights to my setup and this is providing a much better environment.  Already I can see an improvement.  This video shows the start of the process but there are more to follow.