PUSHING THE GARDEN BOAT OUT
Alice Griffin meets the boater who has brought a new meaning to gardening afloat, with a little help from a Crowdfunding campaign.
WHEN Kit Acott Mattingly was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018, she found herself longing for a garden from which to grow organic food to aid her recovery.
However, completely unready to leave her life on the canals, she tentatively floated the idea of a garden butty on Facebook. This post led to friends offering to contribute and a subsequent Crowdfunding campaign.
“We managed to raise enough money for steel to build a hull and with my husband, Mike, we took the idea to Paul Barber of PJ Barber Boat Builder Ltd. He suggested that with our small Lister SR2 engine, pushing the boat would be more efficient than a butty so the idea of a shunt was happened upon.”
Aboard their boats, 47-year-old 30ft Gyptian , and one-year-old shunt garden extension, Hortus (Latin for garden) which is 25ft, Kit and Mike continuously cruise the length and breadth of England.
A retired herbalist who still happily offers one-to-one teaching, Kit was brought to the canals eight years ago. Led by wanderlust, a love of the waterways and 18th century engineering – as well as a desire to be close to nature – she is passionate about her way of life.
“I am happiest living simply. We make our bread, grow our veg and live in a tiny space. I like having just a handful of clothes, along with just my most favourite and useful books.”
Before Hortus was built they grew only herbs to sell as part of their trading, but in her previous life Kit worked on a smallholding and grew up with horticulture. “I’ve never grown vegetables any other way than organic,” she tells me, and now she is able to use produce grown aboard to make healthful juices.
“Juicing makes me feel well, gives me energy and is a good way of getting way more than my five-a-day.” Kit also makes good use of nature’s abundance by foraging: “I forage all the time, using lots of young nettles in juice, which I also dry to add to soups and stews throughout the year. I make elderflower and elderberry cordial, pickled ash keys, crab apple, damson and bramble chutney as well as hawthorn, elderflower, meadowsweet and dog rose tea.“
Kit’s gardening approach is basically large-scale container gardening, making use of 10 60-litre containers, plus a greenhouse. “We make our own compost using a wormery and gather molehills as we go – along with river sand – to make our own potting medium. I also add things like ground eggshells and tea leaves to this mix, which helps reduce our waste.”
Starting many plants early in the hothouse at the front of the boat, Kit then plants out into the main hold, which has curtain sides that in winter and spring create a cold greenhouse. “Once the plants are strongly established in the containers and the frost risk is over, we open up the curtains.”
The plants are then fed comfrey and nettle concentrate to provide potash and nitrogen, banana skins for potassium and seaweed and eggshell calcium. Kit’s garden seems to bloom with this approach, with a variety of foods to harvest. “This year we are growing salad, tomatoes, peas, French beans, potatoes, beetroot, leeks and cavolo nero, along with mint, coriander, bay, chives, oregano and rosemary.”
I asked Kit if she had any tips for others dreaming of food production aboard their boat: “I would suggest a couple of long thin troughs of culinary herbs, as fresh herbs add so much pizzazz to cooking so you get very good value for very little space.”
Kit also enjoys a large tub of flowers on her gas locker lid. “I fill this with bulbs, cowslips, summer allium and ivy for a tiny all-year-round flowerbed.” But her absolute top tip is to water every day and feed every week.
Once Covid restrictions have lifted, Kit plans to trade once again. “I trade secondhand china, and soon coffee as the garden was designed to maximise space for growing, but also to house a tiny space for a takeaway coffee kiosk.”
Trading from her boats as she wanders is Kit’s priority these days and it’s heartening to know of her deep affection for this way of life, as well as for the environment.
“It's deeply important to me to live a low-impact life. The boat gives us the opportunity to produce electricity from solar panels, to stay mindful of our water usage, to live without a car, and to travel hundreds of miles at human pace.”