May 30th, 2010
 Recently we attempted to have a BBQ, which actually became an indoor picnic thing because of the weather. Our friends Stuart & Michelle were kind enough to bring us some plants with instructions to keep them on the window sill for a few weeks.
Well a few weeks have passed, I have some grobags in the car waiting to be used – I best plant these, er, plants! The only trouble is I’m not sure what they are. Can you help?
 Plant 1  Plant 2  Plant 3  Plant 4  Plant 5  Plant 6  Plant 7        
Posted in
A begginer's guide No Comments »
April 19th, 2010
We’ve been in our house now for 5 years. We still haven’t really got to grips with the garden. This is the year when everything changes…
About me
Technically I have green fingers. My parents were commercial strawberry farmers for many years (they also did a stint as freesia growers) and my Uncle owned several large rose farms. Growing runs back further, at least two generations, in Mum’s family as far as I know. The only photo I’ve seen of my great grandfather is of him in a greenhouse with some grapes his picked for the Queen (I seem to remember my Uncle’s place had something to do with providing flowers for the royal wedding of Diana & Charles… something like that). I grew up around commercial growing, and my folks kept some pretty neat gardens too. I’ve done plenty of grunt work both on the commercial side and the domestic, and my first attempt at being entrepreneurial was propagating vine cuttings that my granddad had taken when we cut back the grapes one winter (I successfully sold them to a local nursery, making £50 – not bad pocket money when you’re 12 years old back in the early 1990s). Despite all of this, I’m very much a novice. I’ve never done a project for myself, and never done anything without a lot of guidance.
The Garden
We live in a pretty standard two-up two-down Victorian terrace in North Birmingham. If you know the area, you’ll know the type of house I mean. We have a long thin plot of land, and an extension off the back of the house that provides a kitchen and bathroom. The cross city line runs at the back of our house, so we have a thick stand of trees at the bottom of the garden, which runs East-West, the sun rising in the garden and setting behind the house. It’s a nice size, gets sun for much of the day, but it’s an akward shape to use.
The Plan
Our objectives for the garden are pretty modest, I think:
- we want to be able to sit and enjoy as much sun as possible;
- we want the garden to be safe and secure for our baby;
- we don’t want to spend more than a few hours per week maintaining it;
- we want to start growing a few bits and bobs to eat;
- we want to breathe a bit of life back into our neglected herb garden.
Over the coming days and weeks I’ll be adding more to this picture of our garden and our needs. Some of the things on the list aren’t as simple as they sound, so I’m going to need a lot of help from more experienced people. Hopefully some of you will stick around to help me out. I’ll also be assembling a motley crew of advisors (my Mum, some colleagues, and hopefully some green fingered bloggers will even pop over and give me some advice over a beer or two – that will at least answer requirement 1 on my list). I’d love for you to stick around and learn with me, and if you have any tips you can always leave a comment on any of my posts.
Posted in
A begginer's guide No Comments »
March 29th, 2010
 After the longest, hardest winter for a generation, the garden has probably suffered damage and now needs some intensive care to get it ready for Spring. The more garden care you can put in now, the better the results you will enjoy during the rest of the growing year. But take care – make sure that the soil is in a fit state to work and that the lawn will not suffer damage by trying to work on it too early.
Let’s start with the lawn. The lawn is probably looking at its saddest now – brown, lifeless except for the moss and untidy. Don’t despair and don’t panic. Now is the time to start making the conditions right to encourage strong grass and discourage moss and weeds.
Grass likes an open soil structure with good even moisture levels and plenty of encouragement at the roots. Lawn care is all about giving your lawn these conditions. Moss will thrive on poor soil structures and if you mow the grass too short. Aerating the lawn breaks up the soils and lets in air, moisture and nutrients. De-thatching removes all the dead material which can choke off the roots of the grass and allow stronger, more vigorous weeds to thrive.
Now is the time for lawn care. As soon as the conditions are right, check for damaged areas, ground that needs leveling and edges that require repair and attend to these. Then start by de-thatching and aerating. Next, if moss is a problem, apply a suitable anti-moss dressing. Finally start to mow at regular intervals – but keep the blades high for at least the first three or four cuttings. You can think about applying a combined lawn weedkiller/fertilizer dressing in a few weeks time when the grass is growing vigorously.
Next to the beds. If you didn’t get round to preparing the vegetable patch in the Autumn, don’t despair. Get digging now – or start up the tiller or rotovator to make life easier. Like lawns, garden care applied now will pay dividends with your crops later in the year. Level the ground, work in good, well rotted manure and prepare the patch ready for planting. After such a long winter, soil temperatures will be low and, if you want to give early crops a good start, cover part of your plot with fleece or polythene to warm up the soil.
On the flower beds, all the work is about clearing the debris of winter and getting conditions right to promote early growth. Remove dead material, finish winter pruning and top-dress where required. Get a small tiller in there if you have room and improve the texture and fertility of the soil. Above all, do not be tempted into planting tender specimens too early – there are still hard frosts around for several weeks yet.
But Spring is definitely in the air and the excitement of another growing season beckons. Good gardening!
Posted in
Garden Preparation No Comments »
March 4th, 2010
That brief moment between the end of winter and the beginning of the gardening explosion that is Spring is a time of excitement, anxiety and panic. What have I not done that I should have? Is it too late/too early to…? Will the lawn mower start?
For all keen gardeners though, now is the time when the planning stops and the hard work begins. Now is the time for tillers and rotovators, for mowers and hedgetrimmers, for fertilizers and seeds. Old hands will know that nature is both a hard task-master and infinitely forgiving. Growing your own fruit and vegetables is one of life’s great joys and the fact that you are a week or too late in preparing your plot or planting your seeds will not, in the final analysis, make a huge difference to the results you achieve. As a friend told me about beekeeping – “the bees don’t read the books” so they won’t behave in exactly the “right” way. The same is true of your garden.
Of course you need to out all the necessary basics. First check and muster the troops: Do you have the tools for the jobs facing you? Check the hand tools, the mower and any other garden machinery like tillers or rotovators, hedgetrimmers, aerators and lawn rakes. Everything ok?
Next, you must plan your gardening season: layout and prepare the vegetable plot, getting a good, fertile bed suitable for your crops. If you are growing in raised beds, order them now and set up in the best location. Decide on what you want to grow and lay out the area – at least in your mind. Order the plants and seeds in plenty of time (the same applies to the flowers and border plants). Plan for support and protection later in the year – canes, netting, fruit and vegetable cages. Anticipate the whiles of the enemy – slugs, snails insects and birds are just waiting to take advantage of all your hard work just one day before you had decided to pick your crop!
Tidy up the flower beds, removing any casualties of Winter and planting or relocating plants as required. Inspect the lawn and treat the ravages of the frost, snow and ice. Aerate and scarify, repair lumps, bumps, edges and worn areas, top dress to attack moss and other weeds, start mowing only when the time and temperature are right – and with raised blades to start with. Above all, follow the instructions on the packet, particularly with fertilizers and dressings.
Posted in
Garden Preparation No Comments »
|
View Basket
Checkout
