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Category: Gardening

General gardening tips and hints

Growing and Sprouting Seeds

Growing and Sprouting Seeds

Germinated seeds of edible crops can be very tasty and full of healthy properties. Crops are ready from 4 days onward depending on the variety. Below are several lists of seeds and nuts for growing and sprouting at home.

Choice of Seeds for Sprouting

Red Cabbage Brassica oleracea
Attractive, pinkish tinge to stems adds colour to salads. Red Cabbage is easy to sprout in a warm dark place if white sprouts are required, or in the kitchen, out of direct sunlight, for green sprouts. This will give two slightly different tastes and textures. Sow all year round; fast growing, ready to eat in 2-4 days.

Spicy Fenugreek  Trigonella foenum-graecum
Fenugreek Sprouting Seeds have a strong spicy curry flavour. High in Vitamins A and C. Easy to sprout in a warm place. An airing cupboard is ideal if white sprouts are required, or in the kitchen, out of direct sunlight, for green sprouts. This will give two slightly different tastes and textures. Sow all year round; fast growing, ready to eat in 2-4 days.
Use raw to add flavour and texture to a salad and sandwiches. Blanch in hot water and add to stews soups, casseroles and curries or put in stir fries

Lentils   Lens culinaris
Lentil Sprouting Seeds have a slightly nutty/peppery flavour. High in iron and Vitamins A and C. Easy to sprout in a warm place. An airing cupboard is ideal if white sprouts are required, or in the kitchen, out of direct sunlight, for green sprouts. This will give two slightly different tastes and textures. Sow all year round – fast growing, ready to eat in 2-4 days.Sprout in a warm place for nutritious sprouting seeds.

Sprouting Seed Method

  • For growing indoors put 1 tablespoon of seed in a jam jar or seed sprouter.
  • Cover seeds with about 250ml of water and cover the jar with a piece of muslin and secure with a rubber band.
  • Soak seeds overnight and they will swell considerably. …

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Tips on Growing Thrift – Armeria Maritima

Tips on Growing Thrift – Armeria Maritima

Armeria juniperfolia x maritima

Armeria maritima has many local names and is also known as Sea Pink, Cliff Clover, Ladies’ Cushions, Heugh (or cliff) daisy, Armeria juniperifolia or Marsh daisy and Sea thrift.
The colour of the 1″ ball shaped flowers varies from white Alba through pink and mauve to dark red.
The clumps of dark green foliage form good mounds useful for contrast of shape in a rock garden. The densely packed grass like leaves are up to 5 inches long.
Thrift is a perennial but if it browns in the center split the plant.

Cultivation Tips

Thrift grows well in dry, sandy soil or low fertility soil.
It is very salt tolerant hence its appearance as a wild flower along the coast.
Take basal cuttings in summer or divide large clumps in Autumn.
They need full sun all day but can tolerate dry, windy conditions.
Thrift flowers in spring through summer. Remove spent flowers to encourage more blooms.

 

Varieties to consider and Other Names

  • Thrift is also known as Sea Pink, Armeria Maritima, Sea Pink,
  • Armeria maritima alba is a white variety
  • Splendens is the best Pink variety.
  • Bloodstone is dark red.
  • Vindictive is light pink and has an AGM from RHS
  • Laucheana has dark green foliage with bright pink flowers
  • Rubrifolia ihas dark bronze grass-like foliage turning deep red in winter and a cluster of pink globe shaped flowers

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Homemade Organic Garden Sprays

Homemade Organic Garden Sprays

If you do not want to use chemical sprays on your vegetables and plants, how will you protect your crops.
There are several organic sprays you can use and many can be prepared simply at home or in the garden shed.

Organic Tips

  • Well you could try mix your own but test them on single plants first, monitoring effects for a couple of days.
  • Several DIY 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 if washed.
  • The soil association will allow farmers to use copper compounds on potatoes and sulphur isn’t totally banned.
  • ‘Organic’ products from garden supply companies can be bought from Amazon
  • Milk is a mild acid and has some fungicidal properties if you want to spray a 50% solution on mildew.

Types of Sprayer

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Special Ideas to Help Birds and Wildlife in your Garden

Special Ideas to Help Birds and Wildlife in your Garden

Bird Feeders

Feeding and Feeders

  • I like the use of a candle or tea light holder to carry a suet ball or piece of fruit on the spike that normally holds the candle.
  • Seed feeders come in various shapes. Look for one that allows the seed to run freely and not get wet in a sump. Wet seed will germinate and block the hole.
  • Include special feeds for special birds like meal worms, fruit even pasta as well as nuts seeds and your usual bird mix.
  • Put some feed on the ground. I put a cover over the seed and bird food. You can get different sized spaces for larger or smaller birds.
  • Make or buy a feeder that will stop seed falling on the ground in the slightest puff of wind.
  • Make your own fat ball food with seed and fat or suet.

Bird Feeders

Grow Plants That Help Wildlife

  • Grow bushes which produce berries.
  • Grow plants that produce plenty of seedheads for winter food. Leave them all winter if necessary.
  • Plant perennials that provide all year around habitats rather than short lived annuals.
  • Select plants that are rich in pollen and nectar chives nettles and Monardia for example.
  • Plant native species and not exotics and F1 plants

Special help for Special Visitors

  • Have more than one supply of water for drinking.
  • Add some sugar to water to attract butterflies.
  • keep water and food away from cats and predators.
  • Do not be too tidy, leave an area where wood can rot and feed insects.
  • Avoid chemical sprays.
  • Plant up winter hanging baskets to provide habitat and varied food sources.
  • Think vertically as well as horizontally. Birds like to be above ground for feeding and safety.
  • Keep feeders, water and food areas clean.
  • Donot bother feeding the sea birds in our picture.

Bird Feeders

Sources.
Ten Plants for birds

‘ * Centaura scabiosa – the seeds provide food for birds and other wildlife
* Taxus baccata – this native evergreen shrub produces berries which provide food for birds and other wildlife
* Campanula carpatica – a compact nectar-rich variety that sits well in gaps between paving
* Fagus sylvatica – a native tree that supports a number of insects and food for animals
* Anthriscus sylvestris – a nectar-rich plant attracting lacewings and hoverflies which eat aphids
* Ilex aquifolium – this evergreen shrub produces winter berries which provide food for birds and other wildlife
* Cotoneaster horizontalis – this deciduous shrub produces brilliant red berries in autumn which provide food for birds and other wildlife
* Buddleja davidii – the ultimate attraction for butterflies
* Achillea millefolium – nectar-rich plants which are wonderful for attracting bees and hoverflies
* Lonicera fragrantissima – a fragrant shrub which makes a nesting site for birds and a refuge for insects’

Collecting Containers – Tips for Garden Pots

Collecting Containers – Tips for Garden Pots

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This fine collection of sundry containers were getting a soaking in our summer rain. The wheel at the back only contains fresh air but could become a feature for a ‘Herb Wheel’ if laid on poor soil.

Tips for Containers

  • Small clay feet in threes or fours lift the container off these Yorkshire stone flags. This aids drainage and prevents the base of the container freezing onto a path and then loosing the base when moved.
  • Mulch and decoration on the surface of a pot can be organic with bark or inorganic with a variety of pebbles and stones. Mulch helps prevent moss and keeps the wind & sun off the soil surface.
  • Bear in mind a small pot will constrain the roots and a large tree will become a bit like a bonsai. That can be quite desirable but remember to freshen the compost by replacing the top 2″ annually and fertilizing regularly.
  • Pots can bake in summer and roots become distressed. Black and plastic pots are the worst whilst evaporation through terracotta cools a bit. If in doubt keep moist and shaded.
  • Pots can freeze but bubble wrapping your pots can help hardy plants through winter.
  • Pots located together look better than pepper-potted around. They also help maintain a humidity level in a micro climate (not too important in this wet garden)

Unusual Containers

Long Toms

  • A bog garden can be created in an old galvanised basin without drainage holes. Miniature water lilies are now available for small ponds so give it a try.
  • Long Tom or old Chimney pots are ideal for tall statuesque displays. Try some airy grasses at the back near a wall.

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Children’s Bottle Gardens and Terrariums

Children’s Bottle Gardens and Terrariums

photo by medoriastar

Bottle Gardens for children can be entertaining and educational. Plants can be supplemented with small toys as any gardening is meant to be fun.

Containers and Bottles
At the larger end you may want a fish tank garden, which is easier to plant up and maintain. Cut a piece of glass to fit on the top.
An old sweet jar laid on it’s side or a goldfish bowl can be planted up
Clear glass is needed to get photosynthesis working.
The larger the bottle top the easier it will be to fill and maintain.

How to Plant up
Put in a 2″ layer of fine gravel to aid drainage
Cover with a layer of compost no more than 2-3 ”
Plant mini plants in the compost, taller growers at the back.
Cover again with a thin layer of gravel to hold soil in place.


Small Plants for a Children’s Bottle Garden

Select plants that are slow growing and dwarf in habit like:-

  • Polka dot plants Hypoestes phyllostachya
  • Friendship plant Pilea involucrata terxtured or lined varieties
  • Peperomias are compact with heart shaped leaves
  • African violets and the carpet plant Episcia both have good flowers

Cultivation of your Bottle Garden
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Eco-friendly Protection in the Garden

Eco-friendly Protection in the Garden

Vegetables

If you are in the ‘protection racket’ then a gardeners best friend is a walled garden. This protects from wind and driving rain and helps create a micro climate. Walls retain heat from the sun and are great for training climbers and some tender plants.

Protecting crops and ornamentals from natures predators is next on the list. The tent over this fruit cage keeps the birds away and the plant pot on a cane holds the mesh in the centre. Micro-fleece barriers are now regularly used to protect carrots, brassicas  and other crops from insect and pigeon damage.

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Flowers in Soft Colours and Pastel Shades

Flowers in Soft Colours and Pastel Shades

This autumn has produced many great displays of reds and yellows but think on about next years softer colours.

http://gardenerstips.co.uk/blog/

The garish and brash have no place in some muted garden designs. Out with fiery reds and sizzling oranges and in with pastels and soft colours.

White and Creams

  • Stark white doesn’t always work for me. A pure white Campanula may draw the attention away from the surrounding display.
  • White edging such as Alyssum works well and as with other white flowers looks good with dark green leaves.
  • Off-white is a favourite and some cream Roses work extremely well in soft colour schemes.
  • Avoid creams that verge on being pale yellow.
  • White in leaf colour as with some variegated Hostas helps lift a colour scheme.

harlow 17.4 027

Pink – Shocking or Candyfloss

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Tips for Dark Winter Gardening

Tips for Dark Winter Gardening

Book Cover

What can gardeners do in the cold wet months of December and January? The soil will probably be cold and wet as so will be the weather particularly if you live in the north of England.
Stay warm and dry and do all the cleaning and maintenance jobs you have avoided. When the growing season starts in earnest you wont have the time.

One tip for indoors is to invest in a ‘blue light’ or natural light bulb. This can con plants into thinking the days are a bit longer and the light levels a bit brighter.

A top ten tips

  1. Curl up with a good internet connection and browse away on the host of gardening web sites including Gardenerstips.
  2. Ask Father Christmas for a gardening book on your favourite subject or by a popular set of authors like Matthew Biggs, John Cushnie, Bob Flowerdew, and Anne Swithinbank.
  3. Plan your garden campaign for the coming seasons. Record what you want to achieve and the actions that will help you achieve it.
  4. Order your seeds and summer bulbs from a quality supplier.
  5. Check your over wintering plants, cuttings and stored vegetables.

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Growing Blueberry – Vaccinium

Growing Blueberry – Vaccinium

2014 was another year of poor cropping for me. Time to put my blueberries in the sun and keep picking wild bilberries just in case!

Blueberry is part of the family of acid loving berry fruit that includes Cranberry, Bilberry, Whortleberry, Lingonberry and Huckleberry. Given the right conditions you can grow a succulent sweet crop of Blueberries in your garden.

Blueberry Varieties

  • Blueberry Bluecrop pictured above as fruit start to develop. This is a reliable and readily available variety that produce fruit in mid-summer. Plants are upright and can grow to 6′ tall and 4′ wide.  It has excellent orange and copper leaves in autumn.
  • Blueberry Duke AGM has long lasting fruit and a good yield. Flowering later than other varieties it seldom suffers from late frosts.
  • Blueberry Bluegold is a smaller plant that can also be grown as an ornamental shrub or in pots and produces very tasty berries in August. The fruit has a longer life than most varieties.
  • Other varieties include ‘Earliblue’ an early ripening variety with medium, light blue berries, excellent sweet flavour and impressive autumn colour. ‘Bluetta’ is a compact variety, with a spreading habit, producing a medium-sized, light blue berry. ‘Patriot’ is a high-yielding, vigorous, hardy variety. ‘Coville’ is the latest cropper with large fruit that can be left on the bush for a long time before dropping.

Blueberry Growing and Cultivation Tips

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