Tag Archives: mulch

Blossom End Rot What Is It and What To Do About It

Many gardeners are affected by blossom end rot, and it’s heart breaking to see your tomatoes inedible due to this damage. Don’t despair, it’s not all doom and gloom, and in most cases it’s an easy fix. So read on to find out how to identify it and how to deal with it. What Is The Blossom End? The blossom end is the end of the fruit furthest away from where the stalk joins the plant. It is literally the end the blossom was attached to, and that’s where we get blossom end rot. What Is Blossom End Rot? Blossom… → Read More

How To Conserve Water During Heatwaves

This summer has been unusually hot in the UK and particularly in Essex where I am based and I have been looking at ways to cut down on watering my plants. So this post is all about how to conserve water during heatwaves. On my allotment, once the water butts are empty, I have to use the water trough which is situated some distance from my plot. This is a problem every year but it’s even worse when it is so hot and everywhere is so dry. To water my plot adequately it takes 18 watering cans, each containing 2… → Read More

Companion Planting Comfrey

Comfrey is nature’s wonder plant. It’s uses in the garden are legendary, so welcome to companion planting comfrey. Companion Planting Comfrey What is Comfrey? Comfrey (Symphytum) is a herb with a deep tap root that can break through the deep soil and uptake minerals that other plants cannot reach. Why Grow Comfrey? As stated above comfrey reaches minerals in the soil that other plants can’t, so it is a good source of minerals to feed your plants. Comfrey is a particularly valuable source of fertility to the organic gardener. It is very deep rooted and acts as a dynamic accumulator,[6]… → Read More

How to help plants to grow organically

As you know if you follow my posts, I like to grow my food organically. That doesn’t mean I don’t use fertilizer, I do but obviously I use organic fertilizer. So with that in mind I thought I would share with you the various feeds etc… I use on my plot. So how to help plants grow organically. How to help plants grow organically All plants need feeding at some point during their growing cycle. I usually feed mine when either they are in flower or, in the case of brassicas, when they look slightly off colour. The only vegetables… → Read More

Dealing With Perennial Weeds

Bindweed

If you are a regular visitor to growing-guides.co.uk you will know that I grow organically as much as I am able, but I have been having problems dealing with perennial weeds. So this post is in a way an admission of defeat as any thing else. Dealing With Perennial Weeds Most annual weeds can be dug or pulled up and as long as they are not in flower they can be added to the compost bin. Thier roots are usually shallow and they spread by seed distribution so as long as you remove them early enough they don’t become too… → Read More

How To Stop Runner Beans Drying Out

runner beans

If like me you can’t always get to water your plot you need as many tricks as you can find to stop your plants from losing too much moisture, so this post is called how to stop runner beans drying out but this technique works equally well for squashes, tomatoes etc.For more information on Growing squashes click the link. It’s important that runner beans don’t dry out because when runner beans do get dry they get stringy. Step one – How to stop runner beans drying out The first thing to do is to dig a trench roughly a… → Read More

How To Make Comfrey Tea [Organic Comfrey Plant Food Guide]

How I make my own comfrey tea

What Is Comfrey? Comfrey is a herb that back in the middle ages was used by healers for all manner of conditions including acne, varicose veins and many others but its alternative name of “knit bone” gives a clue as to its main use back in the day, to speed up the healing of broken bones. Well I can’t tell you if any of that is true, all I can tell you is that as a plant food comfrey tea is second to none. Comfrey has a tap root (like a dandelion root) which penetrates deep into the sub soil,… → Read More