Also grown under the name Gay Feather or Blazing Star. The spikes may look like feathers but are a quite robust 1-2 feet tall. They flower blue, purple or white. I prefer a compact form like Kobold which requires no staking.

Gardenerstips on Liatris spicata

• Plant 4-6 inches apart in clumps of at least 10 bulbs for maximum impact. These wer planted singly and are just bulking up.
• The soil must be well drained over winter to stop the bulbs from rotting.
• Fully frost hardy
• Full sun to part shade Liatris species are used as food plants by butterfly and are magnets for insects particularly in late summer.
• Good for cut flowers and drying
• As a general rule divide a plant furthest away from its bloom time. So I would divide liatris in spring.

Wild flower gardens are generally thought to be at their best in spring but this colourful patch was a riot of colour in the middle of August.

Gardeners Tips for Wild Flowers

• Poor soil conditions encourage flowering. Do not fertilise wild flower gardens
• Group flowers with similar flowering times together. it would look to thin and patchy to have a mix of spring and Autumn flowers together.
• Do not be too quick to tidy up. Let the seeds develop and drop so that annual plants renew themselves for next season.
• If possible avoid competition from grass particularly for autumn wild flower gardens as they can choke off the flowering plants.

The RHS is trialling several varieties of Sweet Potato. They have picked a wet, sunless season so far but as the plants will be harvested during October there is time for a good spurt of hot weather (I am an ever hopeful optimistic gardener).

Normally these plants are difficult to grow successfully in Britain but for those who are a bit adventurous you may want to try this crop next year. If so follow the results of the RHS trials.

• Grow from cuttings or slips (young shoots) forced into growth be heat in a damp sandy compost
• Plant out in June they are spreading vine like plants related to Morning Glory and root along the nodes
• The black polythene acts as a heat absorber and offers protection
• The mounds can be filled with straw and soil mixed
• Avoid frost but allow the longest growing time possible.
• Harvest in early October or wait for half the crop until the end of the month
• Sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas, is a tender, warm-weather vegetable that requires a long frost-free growing season to mature large, useful roots.

The National Botanic Garden of Wales - Middleton Carmarthen

The worlds largest single-span dome bigger than the Eden project and lots of Lottery funding investment. Well worth seeing where your investment has gone.

Doubled walled garden creating several micro climates and themed borders with a cool oasis at the centre are the key aspects of your visit. There is a strong ecological approach within the garden and several ideas for you to consider when you return to your own environment.

Other Garden Features to See

• Bog Garden & Japanese Garden,
• Bee Garden & Tropical House
• Welsh Rare Plants & Physicians of Myddfai
• Nursery Glasshouses and The Great Glasshouse
• Mediterranean Garden
• Organic Farm, bio-mass furnace & Estate Walks
• Kitchen Garden and activities for children
• Lakes and Dipping Ponds

Other gardens in Wales can be found by clicking here

Mulching is the covering of bare soil with a mulch. Mulch can be organic or inorganic and its purpose is to conserve moisture in the soil, suppress weeds and protect the roots of new plants. The right material will cut down on maintenance with less weeding and watering.

Choose a mulch that appeals to you and don’t be worried about experimenting.

Inorganic Options

• Shells are an idea if you aren’t trying to grow acid loving plants.
• Ground glass and rubber chippings are also now available
• Gravel and grit can be acquired in various size grades depending on the location and the requirement. Finer grit can be used on the top of outdoor pots but for a larger area or around larger speciems a bigger chipping is more appropriate
• Slate can give a texture and feeling to a mulched area that transcends the basic purpose and harmonises with the greens in the plants
• Coloured chippings are now available in reds, golds and greys as a result of the base stone used. select a colour that you can live with and that complements the garden
• Pebbles or round rocks or slabs mat also be appropriate

Organic mulches

• The good old stand by garden compost is one of the favourites that also adds some nutrition
• Straw was an old substitute but is less attractive although semi composted ‘Strulch’ is available as a proprietary product.
• Coconut coir and husks may be used but pets may eat it
• Pine needles and different sized of bark are now available. Chose a bark that fits the planting scheme

If you do not want to use chemical sprays on your vegetables and plants how will you protect your crops.

Organic Tips

• Well you could try mix your own but test them on single plants first, monitoring effects for a couple of days.

• Several recipes are available but I use a very weak solution of Comfrey water as a foliar feed. I put a good bunch of leaves in an old water butt for a fortnight then dilute the liquid to a weak tea colour.

• For insect infestation try a stew brewed from rhubarb leaves and a bit of vegetable oil. Crush the leaves then poor boiling water over it and let is soak for a day or two then drain off and dilute to look like weak tea and spray of water it on after adding the oil to help it stick to the plants.
• Recommended for Roses is a pyrethrum base home made from Chrysanthemum cinerariefolium or Dalmatian chrysanthemums. They are safe to use on vegetables and they are safe to eat after 24 hours. (Do wash them).
• The soil association will allow farmers to use copper compounds on potatoes and sulphur isn’t totally banned.

Types of Sprayer

Read the rest of this entry »

Another wet and rainy day and all I can think about is the compost heap (well may be not all). We all slip up, drop clangers and get it wrong so I thought I would list some of my own errors or lash-ups.

Gardening is like that so I try not to beat myself up when things go wrong. There is always another season and a worse clanger elsewhere.

Soggy Compost

• An over wet compost heap will smell something rotten, really stink and I mean badly.
• Nutrients will be washed out at the bottom of the heap and lost.
• The composting process will be slowed almost to a stop.
• I wish I had covered my heap before all this heavy rain.
• Good compost needs air so it may help to turn the wet heap.
• Belatedly I have been putting some torn up newspaper in the heap as roughage and to soak up some excess fluids.
• Because this time I have built the heap on soil I can reclaim some of the goodness by taking a level of soil when I spread the compost.

Construction Issues

• In the past I have relied on a heap with no sides just a pile. This flattens out and spreads without ever getting to a good heat except perhaps in the center
• Read the rest of this entry »

Add fresh broad beans to a mixed salad for a special crunchy treat. It is a saying in our family that ‘broad beans make a salad’. They also make a fine vegetable or addition to a soup (Brown Windsor).

• The trick with broad beans is to pick them and eat them young. By the time the part of the bean attaching it to the pod goes black the bean is old, the sugar has gone starchy and the bean is chewy and the kids won’t want to eat them.
• Pick them whilst the bean is still growing and they will be sweet and tender with soft skins.
• Sow varieties like Green Windsor or the short podded organic Witkiem Manita (new to me) for flavour
• Eat ‘pods and all’ from varieties The Sutton and Stereo as you would mangetout
• White and green seeded varieties differ little in flavour but I have a preference for the green ones as the others remind me of school butterbeans (which were really lima beans).
• Heirloom varieties include Bunyards Exhibition, Masterpiece Green Longpod, The Sutton and Aquadulce Claudia.
• Black fly can be a problem at the tip of the plant so if you are organic pinch it out tops at the first sign.
• Tall varieties will need some string support between canes at the end of rows
• Late sowings in August can produce tender green tops for a stir fry

Longpod beans were fed to horses and were the origin of frisky horses being ‘full of beans”

It is no surprise that damaged fruit rots fastest. So it is with your compost. Cut or bruise the green stuff to make quick and friable brown stuff.

• Shred twigs and stalks

• Chop up any hard stems or long shoots with secateurs to about one inch lengths.

• Leaves and other plant matter will rot quicker if the bugs and bacteria can get at them from more than just one end. So the more cutting, bruising, shredding, tearing, scrunching or chopping the better.

If you want a new idea in seeds that will help create an eco-friendly garden try these mixed from Wallis seeds.

Beetle and Insect Bank a mixture of grasses to encourage beetles and insects to feed and breed. Can be planted in a small area in the garden

Pollen and Nectar Mix. A good mixture of flowers and grasses for butterflies, insects and birds to feed. A sunny area may be best but a small space will suit.

Wild Bird Mixture of plants producing seed or providing cover for birds. Ideal for small birds like finches, buntings and sparrows.

Clover Mix - red and white clover ideal for butterflies and helpful for bees

Bumble Bee & Butterfly mix to attract what it the name implies plus other insects

Now for the good news the seed mixes are available for less than one pound per packet. Four times quantities weighing 100gms will cost upto £2.50 but that will be a mass of seeds and subsequent plants.

The picture of the great yellow bumblebee is from the Bumblebee Conservation Trust http://www.bumblebeeconservationtrust.co.uk/