Weather, population seeds and what to do with an apple glut

How can a decrease in a plant pathogen cause more drought? Why are population seeds more resilient? How do you make apple cider vinegar from peelings? And more

Jan 08, 2025

2025 hasn’t had the most auspicious start, with the weather throwing quite a tantrum. In the UK, we’ve faced a mix of snow and rain, leading to considerable disruption. Snow blanketed much of the country earlier in the month, followed by extensive flooding in parts of the Midlands. Here, on the Somerset/Dorset borders, we’ve experienced heavy rainfall, with over 40mm recorded in the past week, leaving our lower fields submerged. Fortunately, the allotments came through unscathed, albeit a tad waterlogged.

The stream couldn’t cope and flooded our lower fields

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, parts of North America have been hit by a massive winter snowstorm, with the cold air mass extending as far south as Florida. This extreme weather is linked to the polar vortex, which I discussed back in November. If you missed it and want to read a simple explanation of what it is, you can find it here. And today, I have just seen the horrific footage of the wild fires in California. So weather continues to hit the headlines.

Plant pathogens, overgrazing and drought

I read Alpha Lo’s fascinating posts on water on his Substack, the Climate Water Project. They are technical and wide-ranging and I highly recommend them. One post that caught my attention explored the decline in the abundance of a well-known plant pathogen and its intriguing connection to the frequency of drought. Yes, you read that right - a link between bacteria and drought.

The post was part of a broader discussion on bioprecipitation, a concept examining the role of bacteria in seeding clouds and influencing weather patterns. This idea stems from groundbreaking research initiated by David Sands in 2005, which focused on the much-studied plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae.

One section in particular stood out to me, sparking thoughts about the unexpected ways ecosystems are interconnected. The idea that a pathogen could influence weather patterns and local water cycles adds a whole new dimension to our understanding of both plant health and climate dynamics. If you haven’t delved into this topic yet, it’s well worth exploring!

“David Sands surmises that one of the causes of the world’s increased drought frequency is certain human activities that decrease Pseudomonas syringae numbers, such as the overuse of pesticides and overgrazing of land. Increasing Pseudomonas syringae in agriculture is a delicate matter because the bacteria can also cause crop damage. Sands suggests that selecting the right strains of soybeans and wheat, combined with Pseudomonas syringae cultivation, could help increase rainfall.
Increasing rainfall depends on both increasing water vapor and having enough rain nucleators. Cindy Morris suggests planting strips of vegetation at the base of mountains so that they release more biological nucleators, which are then carried by air currents up the mountain. The biological nucleators can then help seed the clouds that often form at the tops of mountains and encourage them to rain.
Pseudomonas syringae’s preference for humid conditions also suggests that we should try to keep more water in the soil through the use of mulch and by not clearing forest floors. In addition, the bacteria need plant matter to self-replicate, so leaving fallen leaves on the ground can increase their habitat. The ways of understanding how to use bacteria to increase the small water cycle is still a nascent science.” From Alpha Lo’s Snow, hail, bacteria and nucleating ice: bioprecipitation part II

Seeds ……

The wet weather has kept me house bound apart from forays outside walking the dogs and tending to the livestock. Gardening is definitely off the agenda at the moment, but it has freed up time for me to order seeds. I shouldn’t. I save lots of seed, but the temptation is too great, especially when you peruse the lists offered by Real Seeds, and discover their population seeds.

I go on about genetic diversity because I think its important for climate-resilience. One of my favourite examples is the population wheat experiment, which I wrote about last January. For all the new subscribers, I’m revisiting it here because I believe it’s such an important concept.

Population wheat isn’t a single variety but the result of cross-breeding multiple varieties that are then allowed to interbreed freely over generations. This creates a field of wheat that’s highly diverse in appearance and, crucially, in traits like disease resistance. Unlike uniform monocultures, population wheat doesn’t promise the highest yields or immunity to disease, but it ensures resilience. If a disease strikes, some plants may be affected, but others will thrive, ensuring that you always get a crop. What is key to its success is repeated seed saving. You don’t want to keep breeding the same. As conditions change, your crop needs to be dynamic and adaptable. It’s a forward-thinking approach that’s gaining momentum as farmers seek ways to cope with to climate change.

Real Seeds offers population seed options that embrace this idea. Last year, I was excited to try Morton’s Secret Mix of lettuce, described as having a “huge diversity of forms and shapes.” True to their word, the mix produced a wide variety. My one negative is that there were too many lettuces with small, tough leaves, so I removed those plants before they set seed and allowed the rest to cross-pollinate. I plan to mix those seeds with other seeds and observe the results over the next year. I have lifted the paywall of this post so you can read it here

And this year I am giving another population mix a go - Homestead’s kale mix

This is the entry on Real Seeds:

“A really diverse mix of hardy kales with different shapes & colours. With this very diverse population, pick & eat the leaves as normal, but also select the ones you like most and let them flower and make seed for next year. You can either narrow down the population and in time - 5 generations roughly - you'll have your own unique kale variety. Or you can keep the diversity, and just take out those that are small/weedy or not to your taste - and even add in other kales to mix it up further if you want. Its a Brassica oleracea kale (as opposed to Russian type kales that are B. napus) so will also cross with flowering broccoli, cabbage etc. This population started life with the Experimental Farm network in the US as a perennial kale mix, Homesteader's Kaleidoscopic, bred by Chris Homanics. It’s been through various people before reaching us, and here we've found it's mostly biennial, with around 10% of the plants perenniating. It's such a great mix & we think many of the nicest plants aren't perennial, so we're happy to keep it like this, but of course you can select for perennial plants if you prefer”.

You can read more about the work of the Experimental Farm network on their website, where they list many exciting projects. I really wish I was able to take part.

I have also bought a range of seed varieties originating from beyond the UK to see how they perform alongside more traditional varieties and my own saved seeds So more experimental growing ahead.

Oxford Real Farming Conference

I love this conference – it’s a gathering of farmers, growers, researchers, policymakers and activists in Oxford every January. It was established 14 years ago as an alternative to the traditional Oxford Farming Conference. It was inspirational and progressive, asked questions, looked at real issues and it grew and grew in popularity. I have been attending for 12 years, at first in tiny rooms above a café, and now in the town hall and other venues.

It will be the first year that I haven’t been able to attend in person, but I will be watching virtually – it won’t have the same vibe and I’ll miss some of the niche sessions in the smaller rooms, but I know I will be listening to some inspirational farmers and growers, and there will be lots to take away for my own growing.

I’m mentioning this because the event kicks off tomorrow and runs for two days. The best part? You can join from anywhere in the world! It’s a fantastic opportunity to connect and gain insights and you can still buy a virtual ticket - you don’t have to watch live but catch up later. It will be well worth the £35 for the livestream ticket. There is also an archive which is accessible to all, so you can look at recordings from the last few years. Next time you are stuck inside with nothing better to do, have a browse – I guarantee you will find something of interest.

And finally, apples

As well as ordering seeds, I have been processing loads of apples. I have around 300kg in the chiller and the early varieties are beginning to go soft, so I am busy processing them into all sorts of goodies for freezing or dehydrating.

Apple leather

I’ve been making a big batch of apple leather - a healthy snack that’s much tastier than it might sound and not to be confused with the vegan biomaterial alternative to leather! A fruit leather is simply a thick, smooth fruit puree dried into flexible sheets.

Make some apple puree, adjusting sweetness to your taste. It needs to be quite thick and smooth for the best results.
Spread the purée evenly over a sheet of greaseproof paper or a silicone mat to a few millimetres in thickness.
Place it in a dehydrator (around 56^oC) or a cool oven at the lowest setting for 5–6 hours until it is firm but still flexible. Check regularly as over drying will make it brittle. You can also make a small batch in an air fryer using the dehydrate setting, but I’ve not tried this method.
Once dried, peel it off the paper and roll up the sheet.

You can store it as a whole roll or cut it into strips, keeping it in an airtight container where it will last for several weeks. I usually make four sheets at a time, rolling them up between layers of greaseproof paper (like a Swiss roll) and then store them in the fridge where I find they last for months . They also freeze well.

Make your own apple cider vinegar

And I’m not wasting all those peelings. Rather than popping them in the Bokashi bin I turn them into apple cider vinegar. I’ve been following a simple method recommended by Stephanie Hafferty on Instagram, which doesn’t require adding extra sugar.

Two jars of fermenting apples and some final product

Sterilise a large (I use tall Kilner jars)
Fill the jar ¾ full with apple peelings (don’t use any rotten pieces ).
Pour in enough water to fully submerge the peelings.
Keep peelings submerged by placing a scrunched-up piece of waxed paper at the top or similar to keep everything underwater.
Cover the jar with a piece of muslin to keep out fruit flies and leave it to ferment.

The mixture will bubble away happily for a couple of months (or longer if you prefer). The flavour changes over time. It starts as a light, fruity and slightly fizzy vinegar, but as it ferments further, the acidity and complexity of the flavour profile increases.

Calcium feed

I like to have plenty of free vinegar as I use it to make a calcium-rich foliar feed for plants using eggshells. I clean the eggshells, break them up and toast them gently in a frying pan until they are golden brown to remove water and egg residues. Then I crush them and pop in a large jar and add some of my vinegar, its about 1:10 in volume, cover with muslin and forget for a few weeks. It should fizz when you add the vinegar. The extract can be drained off and stored in a dark place for ages. When you come to use it as a foliar feed you need to dilute - I use a tablespooon of extract in a 15 litres of rainwater (standard bucket). (recipe from Nigel Palmer’s Regenerative Grower’s Guide to Garden Amendments published by Chelsea Green)

Happy Gardening

Sally

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