AERIALROOTS001

Aerial Roots

A warm welcome to the Aerial Roots Podcast from show co-hosts Antonia & Balraj featuring a summer solstice weekend tour of the plot. Original music from Aerial Roots crew.
Produced, recorded and edited by Balraj Samrai & Antonia Canal

Show Transcript:

Antonia: Hi everyone. My name's Antonia.

Balraj: My name's Balraj

Antonia: Welcome to the aerial roots podcast series one, episode one

big big, thanks for tuning in. If you want to get interactive with aerial roots now or in the future, we're at @aerialrootsMCR on Insta. do message us, comments, questions, give us some signal we'd love to hear from you

Balraj: so we wanted to start this podcast, share our green fingered schemes and happenings and adventures. And, you know, just give you a sense of what it's like to be able to, you know, grow fruit and veg because we've been fortunate enough to really, to get an allotment plot near where we live in South Manchester for the last nine months.

We're learning as we go, and, we thought it'd be good to share these experiences with you.

Antonia: So a little bit of fact, checking for the record an allotment is a plot of land made available for individual, non-commercial gardening, or growing of food plants. So sadly we can't use our plot to get filthy rich, but we can use it to feed ourselves and share some fun stories. In other parts of the world an allotment is sometimes called a community garden or personal veg patch. We rent our allotment plot from our local council for a small amount of money per year. It's actually really surprisingly affordable. If you are based in the UK, you can sign up and join a waiting list to try and get a plot near to where you live.

Balraj: We know you're eager to get down to the plot. So today we're going to give you a little bit of a whistle stop tour. Tell you about what we've been up to, what jobs we've got, you know, what we're growing over there currently. So yeah, let's get over to the plot. Aerial Roots episode one.

Antonia: So here we are at the plot, 20th of June, summer solstice, longest day.

Balraj: Bethnal Drive.

Antonia: Bethnal Drive.

I think we're the only people on Bethnal drive today. Um, I'm sure we'll see some more heads later and we're just trying to figure out what to focus on today aren't we?

Balraj: Yeah. Just looking around we've got. Some garlic that needs weeding a little bit starting to get a little bit yellow on the edges. I don't know what that means. I think it may mean that its starting to kind of approach. Yeah.

Antonia: Cause you were saying when it goes Brown.

Balraj: Yeah. When the, when the stems go fully Brown, uh, I think it's towards the end of summer and then it's maybe time to get it picked and then we need to dry out.

Antonia: The Garlic's a real success story. Isn't it of our plot? It's the first thing we planted, isn't it? Yeah.

Balraj: Yeah, it was actually, uh, just put it in quickly, just in winter, just before the end of the year.

Antonia: And didn't think too much about it.

I can be a bit of the over planner and I was like, it's not in the plan. No, actually it's been such a motivator. Hasn't it. To see it thriving. Have something growing each time you come feels good, doesn't it?

Balraj: Yeah. Yeah, sure.

Antonia: Cause how long we had this plot for now

Balraj: Had it since September. So that is maybe nine months now. Nine, ten months.

Antonia: So coming up to a, not far off our year anniversary of the plot. So we got the garlic, What else we got?

Balraj: Got some strawberries that, are, in probably the wrong place to where they should be there they're in a shady place.

Antonia: They get a bit of sun but they also get quite a bit shade

which yeah,

Balraj: So we've got quite a few green strawberries that we hope will turn red.

Antonia: If not we will be pioneering some green strawberry recipes. I'm sure you can make Chutney out of Green strawberries.

Balraj: The first time transplant plant. Somebody gave us some kind fellow plot member gave us. Um, so I think it's a good look. There's something coming and there's been some flowers on there. Um, so if you cut the flowers and the fruit comes from the flowers.

Antonia: Yeh they've not been unproductive there are there have been flowers.

There are fruit coming, so, that's cool.

Balraj: And we've also got beetroots

Antonia: I feel very invested in the beetroot. They, we, we started to beetroot off from seed at home on the recommendation of someone I work with an old hand in this allotment game, he was like, don't listen to the seed packets start it off at home.

And they really thrived. Didn't they, those beetroot seedlings, they were very like elegant and beautiful and big and, um, put our poor little kale seedlings to shame quite quickly, I think. our Kale have some, you know, self-esteem issues, but now we've transplanted the beetroot and, and they're happy. I mean, a few of them haven't really survived the transplant.

Balraj: There's always collateral in this game

Antonia: But we've got one, two. I'd say we've got one, two, three, four, five, very strong beetroots. And then one, two, three middling beetroots that might still come through and we planted some seeds directly into the ground.

Balraj: Seeds are coming up as well. Yeah, I think it's good seed packet.

Antonia: And then here, we've got our..

Balraj: Beans, I sometimes call them peas,

Antonia: Which will produce peas, you know, like green beans, French beans.

Balraj: So in a few of those coming up, which is cool.

Antonia: Yeah. Two of them popping up and we've actually got, uh, four rows of them. So we should, Oh, he's another one look

Balraj: Trying to unfold. Yeah. So there's one as well.

And there's another one over there and over there because the twine kind of marks it.

Antonia: The weather's actually been really kind to the plot this week. Hasn't it? Oh, that's a plane going overhead. You can tell we're in South Manchester.

Balraj: Yeah. Manchester airport. Not too far away. Yeah.

Antonia: But this week has been. Loads of rain, loads of sun, it's been warm. I think that it's made everything very happy. Hasn't it?

Balraj: Yeah. Almost a bit too much rain, but I think it's just on the right side of it now.

Antonia: Th...