Outside, The ‘Box

Even the best of us get nervous, twitchy, fearful. The finest, most experienced growers at AutoPot are nonetheless stalked by their personal ‘bêtes noires’. For Jason Ralph-Smith, our MD, that beast is outdoor growing. 

The lack of control, the fickleness of weather, the pestilent creatures that lurk in the land, all seeking to undermine his efforts. All proceeding in their serene yet unstoppable rhythms to destroy his creations. Forces of nature, ranging themselves for battle on the high seas of his raised beds, like a great fleet of Napoleonic ‘Men-O’-War’, preparing to let rip into his cabbages. 

Time to face down those fears in the name of personal and plant growth. This season we’ve banished Jason from his indoor R&D comfort zone and into the great al-fresco. Exiled to the wilds (of Hampshire), marauded by chickens, he has gone back to the earth to produce veg with just his wits, whiskey barrels, and wily watering ways.

Despite the change in milieu there’s been no tempering Jason’s ambitions. He’s crafted three 10ft x 4ft wooden raised beds which are now packed with a huge range of crops. Intrigued by this living larder? Of course you are. But let us first rewind a little to the bed build. Right to the point where we find Jason in full trifle-making mode.

Into the bed frames went a melange of twigs, sticks, and logs as a base (the sponge fingers if you will). On top of that base layer went some top quality Welsh hill topsoil (fruit layer). That was covered in a layer of cardboard (jelly layer) onto which Jason applied a layer of Biobizz Light Mix (definitely the custard) – generously supplied by Highlight Horticulture. Finally, another layer of the Welsh stuff (cream) and a thorough watering (forgot to put sherry in earlier, lash all over the top). Delicious. Now for the plants.

Bed 1 has been populated by courgettes, kale, radishes, peas, runner beans, and French beans, with the legumes encircling a cane wigwam growing frame. All are in decent health, although the seemingly endless oscillations of ‘spring’ weather (sunshine and showers, temperature peaks and troughs) has somewhat interrupted development of a few. The courgettes (despite sporting decent fruit and flowers) and the peas are a little yellow in the leaves. Greenery is returning but taking a little while to reassert. 

The wet weather spells are all very well for irrigation but the rain has been interspersed with days on end of intense heat. During these hot conditions the beds dry out fast and the plants are quickly exposed to wilting and drought stress. To remedy this our peasant farmer is AQUA-boxing clever.

He has installed two automatic plant watering systems in Bed 1 to provide regular irrigation as-and-when required. The systems in question are AQUAbox Spyders. They take the same technology as that found in all AutoPot products and repurpose it for in-earth growing. 

Each Spyder is placed directly in the ground and distributes water and fertiliser to the surrounding soil using buried capillary matting. The plant roots reach out to the underground water source and draw from it. So now Jason has an automatic, ready supply of irrigation, going directly to the roots of his crops, which is concealed away from the elements, and is therefore protected from evaporation. Splendid.

The Spyders are being supplied with water in ole-timey style from whiskey barrels which have been converted into attractive, rain-collecting reservoirs. In truth, most plants prefer collected rainwater to that drawn from the tap, so this eco-friendly setup is ideal in more ways than one. 

The barrel-butts have been raised off the ground atop half-barrels to create gravity pressure. It’s this gravity pressure that powers the system and supplies water to the AQUAboxes in lieu of electricity. Because they’re 100% utility-free Jason has been able to set up the Spyders far away from his house, in exactly the spot that suits him.

Although the systems themselves are ultra-low maintenance when running, Jason has encountered the odd pipework issue. The 16mm pipe that runs off the barrels and acts as a master supply to the AQUAboxes could do with lagging in order to maintain steady water temperatures. 

Branching off from that 16mm pipe is the 9mm pipe which connects to the individual AQUAboxes. Jason has decided to bury this blue pipe in order to reduce the amount of it being consumed by crows. If they like blue so much why don’t they just nibble the sky? Madness.

Bed 2 plays host to a completely different roster of vegetal verve. Therein Jason has planted purple and green flowering broccoli, nasturtiums, rocket, beetroot, plus two types of lettuce – never a dull moment!

Not to be confused with supermarket ‘broccoli’ (which is in fact Calabrese), Jason’s flowering varieties should provide a steady supply of cut-and-crop-again buds throughout the season. This is a delightfully quick and fresh approach to growing broccoli and an interesting alternative to the commercially available varieties with which most people associate. 

Also of note are the nasturtiums with their radish-like peppery piquancy which promises to add a unique dimension to this years’ salads and garnishes at chez Ralph-Smith.

In Jason’s third and final bed are the root veg and alliums. Yes, here we have onions, shallots, leeks, parsnips, and carrots galore. Too ‘galore’ perhaps. Having planted up Jason is now beginning to question the density of his crops. Carrot thinning is definitely on the agenda although nature is always there to lend a helping hand, sending some critter or another to pick off the odd crop. It’s attritional out there guys!

As a twist on the AutoPot irrigation Jason has chosen AQUAbox Straight for Beds 2 and 3. The capillary matting attached to the Straights runs in a straight line (who knew!), unlike the Spyders in Bed 1 where the matting runs in a radial arrangement not unlike the legs / web of a spider (imagine that!). Otherwise the principles are exactly the same.

Given that this is a multiyear project, with many more beds to add, the automatic irrigation is going to come in very handy indeed. During wetter weather Jason is able to simply, temporarily deactivate the systems using the taps adjacent to the reservoirs. In time there’s a Keder greenhouse in the offing too, with a proposed location right next to the beds that’ll allow for all manner of plant nursery activities and crossover growing.

We very much look forward to seeing whether Jason can tolerate the uncontrollable forces of outdoor growing. Whether he can smile at a gastropod as it devours his dinner, dance with the aphids, shake hands with a caterpillar, and be at peace with nature. Or completely lose the plot. Either way it’ll be fun to watch. Keep tabs on insta @autopot_global and Facebook @AutoPotSystems.