Author Archives: Steve Jones

How To Grow Parsnips

There is no real secret in how to grow parsnips, but there are a few helpful tips that will make the process easier. So in this post I’ll reveal all the tricks and tips I’ve learned over the years to get the best from your parsnip seeds. Parsnips have such a poor germination reputation, this is due to a number of factors. The First Trick To Growing Parsnips The first tip is very simple always use fresh seed. This gives you the best chance of success the fresher the seed, the more viable it is, and so the easier it… → Read More

What To Do In The January Veg Garden

In my part of the United Kingdom January is either wet and mild or cold and frosty. It is currently cold, frosty, and extremely windy. Not really conducive to vegetable gardening. But here is the growing-guide what to do in the January Veg Garden. What to do in the January Fruit garden As long as the ground isn’t frozen, January is the perfect time to plant bare rooted fruit trees. Be sure to add a strong stake to prevent wind damage. This month is also the perfect time to Prune apple/pear trees. The trees are dormant at this time of… → Read More

Late December Update

As the year draws to a close and most peoples thoughts turn to christmas I thought I’d give you a Late December Update on how my allotment is doing. Late December Update I went to my allotment for the first time in about a fortnight to bring home the christmas dinner vegetables. The first thing I ever do on arriving at the plot is have a good look round and see what’s going on. Sprouts I grew Bedfordshire fillbasket this year and they’ve certainly lived up to their name, I filled a 500gram pot with just the sprouts from one… → Read More

8 Hacks For Easy Gardening

Follow my blog with Bloglovin Life is hard enough so anything that makes things just that little bit easier has to be a good thing. So here are 8 hacks for easy gardening. 8 Hacks For Easy Gardening 1. Banana Skin Fertilizer If you have fruit that’s not ripening, maybe green tomatoes or figs and you don’t have any tomato food, (I usually use comfrey plant food). This is a quick and easy hack for making a great plant food. All you need is an empty jar and a banana skin Just place the banana skin in the jar and… → Read More

The Top 15 Tips For Successfully Growing Vegetables

Follow my blog with Bloglovin There seems to be some sort of elitist attitude amongst some gardeners. They feel every new gardener should struggle and learn through their failures.Well not any more, here are the top 15 tips for successfully growing vegetables that I wished someone had shown me when I started. Basics So you have a plot of land to cultivate as a vegetable garden. The first thing to do is clear the weeds, then decide what to plant where. I work according to the 4 crop rotation system that has been tried and tested for 100s of years…. → Read More

Do Tomato Plants Benefit From Garden Lime and Epsom Salts

Do Tomato Plants Benefit From Garden Lime and Epsom Salts? Well I don’t know so it’s time to do some research to see what effect, if any adding these products to the soil when planting tomatoes has. What Is Garden Lime? Garden Lime or Ground Limestone with the active ingredient Calcium Carbonate is used primarily for vegetable crops to balance the soils PH levels. The PH levels indicate how Acid or Alkaline the soil is and can be determined by means of a simple test kit available at most garden centres. Too far to either end of the Acid/ Alkili… → Read More

How To Save Seeds From Runner Beans

If you have grown a variety of beans that you have enjoyed, and it wasn’t an F1 hybrid then it is well worth saving seeds for next year. F1 hybrids will not come true to type but if you’re not too bothered about staying true to type then save some anyway. So here’s how to save seeds from runner beans. How to save Seeds from Runner Beans Towards the end of the growing season, after you have been picking runner beans for a while and have frozen enough to see you through the winter, leave some beans growing on the… → Read More

Fatigue After Stroke

Having a stroke is a traumatic experience and if you’re like me staying in hospital is not much fun either. When you finally get home, again drawing from my own experience, you will feel exhausted. Not just physically, but emotionally as well so it can be difficult to identify fatigue after a stroke. Fatigue After Stroke After a reasonable time, if you still feel exhausted speak to your Doctor. Don’t leave it and just assume it’s normal. Listen to your body, sleep when you need to, but take care because it could be fatigue. What Is Fatigue? According to Oxford… → Read More

How To Grow Onions From Onion Sets

Follow my blog with Bloglovin The benefits of growing onions are many, for me the main advantage is the fact that they are organic. I also like to grow onions over winter and the only successful way to do this is with sets. So here we go, how to grow onions from onion sets. What Are Onion Sets? Onion sets are small onions that have been started as seeds in a commercial nursery and sold on at the size of a bulb. The advantage of using sets over seeds are: They are big enough to plant at the right distance… → Read More

The Best Way To Improve Soil

There are many things that can be done to improve your soil, and there are many ways to improve your soil you can : Add Compost Add soil improver Grow a green manure Add leaf mould Add fertilizer Add seaweed So lets explore the best way to improve soil. Why Improve your Soil ? To grow good produce you need good soil. That is it in a nutshell. Every crop you grow takes something out of the soil and to keep growing good produce you need to keep the soil as healthy as you can. What Is Compost ? Compost… → Read More