Category Archives: Uncategorised

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

Mindful Gardening

These days there is a buzz about mindfulness. As a gardener I got to thinking about mindful gardening and how to do it. so here goes. Mindful Gardening What is mindful gardening? Before I can answer this question let’s break the words up Mindful from the word Mindfulness so What’s Mindfulness? Mindfulness According to wikipedia “Mindfulness is the psychological process of bringing one’s attention to the internal and external experiences occurring in the present moment, which can be developed through the practice of meditation and other training.” Gardening According to dictionary.com “the act of cultivating or tending a garden.” So… → Read More

5 Reasons Why An Extended Summer is A Good Thing

This year we have had a heatwave extending into late September. This got me thinking about the bonus that this gives us. Before I start my list, I would like to point out that as a result of an extended summer the pollinating insects are keeping busy which leads to extended crops So here are my 5 reasons why an extended summer is a good thing. 5 Reasons Why An Extended Summer Is a Good Thing 1. The bean season goes on longer. I’m not sure my family will agree that this is a good thing, but I happen to… → Read More

Old Fashion Garden Sayings

Red sky at night

There are a lot of old fashion garden sayings handed down through the years from our grandparents. Many times we dismiss them as sweet old ramblings. Once you look closely at them, you can see a lot of truth and it can be very helpful to remember these sayings and garden accordingly. So I have selected the ones I have heard most and I will share them with you in this post. Old Fashion Garden Sayings This first lot are mostly weather forecasts, I suppose using plants and nature as sign posts. “Red sky at night shepherds delight, red sky… → Read More

A Moment Of Serendipity

Young rhubarb (serendipity)

Serendipity – A Definition According to dictionary.com Serendipity is defined as “an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident”. Put plainly I would say it’s being in the right place at the right time. Why a post on Serendipity? Well a couple of weeks ago I was at my allotment when a Serendipitous ( if that’s even a word ) moment occurred and I would like to share it here. Working Hard I had been planning to turn my current pallet based compost bins into a rhubarb bed since last year when I added three plastic compost bins to my… → Read More

Air pruning

Air pruning pot

Every where I look lately there seems to be a reference to Air pruning, so I thought I’d look in to it. After some hours of research it appears to be a good idea. So what’s it all about? Well basically, its about letting the roots of your pot plants come into contact with the air which will “burn” them. Thus stopping plants becoming root bound. What happens with pot plants is that over time the roots reach the side of the pot and then start growing around the inside of the pot eventually strangling the plant and killing it…. → Read More

Successful seed germination

In all the years I have been growing vegetables seed germination has been somewhat sporadic, but I have discovered a successful seed germination technique which so far has a 100% germination rate. I have only tried this with tomato seeds so far but I used 13 seeds and I have 13 seedlings. So now I am trying many different seeds in the hope that they will be as successful. Parsnips are always a seed that I have a problem germinating( last year I managed 12 parsnips out of 36 seeds) so I have now applied the following technique to my… → Read More

Don’t dismiss the Dandelions

Dandelions

Don’t dismiss Dandelions as just another problem weed to get rid of. Like Comfrey ,Dandelions have long tap roots which allow them to absorb minerals that other shallow rooted plants can’t reach. All parts of the Dandelion are edible, flowers, leaves, and roots. Dandelions contain the following:- Vitamin A Vitamin B Vitamin C Vitamin D Vitamin E Vitamin K Vitamin P Iron Potassium Zinc Calcium Lecithin Magnesium Niacin Phosphorus Boron Young Dandelion leaves can be used in salads and are quite sweet but older, fully grown leaves tend to be bitter and should be stripped from the central stem as the… → Read More

How to make a yew hedge

recently planted yew hedge

At the Big Garden we have been getting battered by the strong winds recently and as a result of this quite a few of the hurdle fence panels around the herb garden have been severely damaged. So it was decided to replace them with a living fence (yew hedge). The first step is to remove fence panels, once this is done, dig a trench roughly a spades depth keeping it as straight as possible (we used a string stretched between two stakes) and mix in some compost then water thoroughly then place each plant approximately one foot (30cms) apart. Spread the roots out… → Read More