Lawn Spikers and Aerators

Like all plants, lawn grass needs air, water and nutrient from the soil. Too often these resources are lost to the grass as a lawn gets compacted by walking and playing on the lawn.
Water runs off compacted ground and doesn’t soak in. Air is crushed out and worms that would help aerate the soil are not tolerated. Soil can become sour and lacking in nutrient despite seasonal fertilizers.

Treatment with Spikers

• One solution is to spike the grass as you walk on it wearing the shoes as shown in this picture.
• Hollow tyned forks are good for removing a core of soil to leave a short tunnel for water and air to penetrate the soil.
• Professionals have special aerators for large areas like sports fields and bowling greens.
• Amazon have a range of Aerators from the shoes to the wheeled roll up and down types.

Comment and Warnings

• It is hard work to penetrate compacted soil
• Select a time when the ground is as soft as possible then the comment above is still valid
• Remove excess ‘thatch’ and any soil that is pushed to the surface by the spiking
• A wide spike is better than a narrow spike. Narrow holes fill up quickly.

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My Fat Tomatoes are Well Fed

Well the tomatoes are not yet as fat as I hope they will be. I have now started feeding with ‘Tomorite’ a high potash feed made up in a watering can from a concentrated liquid.

I also use other liquid feeds from cheaper sources in between Tomoriting the Toms. I am not sure this does them any good but variety is the spice of life as a good tomato will tell you. As you may see from the label Tomirite now contains Seaweed extracts and that saves me adding the seaweed concentrate that I have been using for several season (the bottle seems bottomless).

Consistency is the key to Tomato growing and I water daily in hot weather feeding alternate days. I also damp down the greenhouse in the morning if we are in for a hot day.

Tomato feed is fine for giving flowers a boost. You probably don’t want any more leafy growth on your annuals so deadheading and a booster feed will increase the flowering capacity of your plants.

Drip feed seems to be a new fad that I find a bit cumbersome. It may work well for a small number of plants. A variety of Tomato feeds are available from Amazon including some of these new fangled drip feeders.

Tomorite is supplied by Levingtons and is widely available. They claim it is a ‘Liquid plant food for tomatoes, also ideal for flowering pot plants that appreciate a high potash feed. Contains seaweed extract that supplies many micro-nutrients essential for maximum growth and better crops. Ideal for feeding growing bags, giant planters and tomatoes growing in open soil’.
‘When to use: April to August’ according to Levingtons but I find that too early to start and feed June to September in my greenhouse and stop in August outdoors.

For more on seaweed

Praise Nets for Cabbages and Soft Fruit

Nets or horticultural fleece are great for crop protection. I can’t praise them high enough for looking after this years soft fruit.

After a week in the Alps I returned home expecting the birds to have decimated my Raspberry crop. Fortunately the family jam maker had the presence of mind to peg white horticultural fleece over the ripening berries. We returned home to a good crop of red raspberries and empty bird feeders.

The picture shows how pigeons are kept off the brassica crops at Ripley Castle gardens in Yorkshire.

Nets and horticultural fleece allow water through but keep most pests out. The can be good for deterring carrot root fly for another example.
Fleece seems to bring on plants a bit quicker and you will see more and more farmers using the fleece early in the season.

The heavy weight fleece is available with other products from Amazon

Netting is used for supporting climbers. Peas and beans like some support and many flowers will clamber up netting strategically placed. I didn’t take enough care with this years sweet pea nets and am suffering as a consequence.

Bees and Bee Keeping Books

Bee keeping books

A second selection on Bee Keeping Equipment

More Bee photographs and a range from Google

Bee World and other specialist Apiarist book publishers International; Bee Research Association

Gardening Book of the Month June 2011

Late Summer Flowers will soon be upon us. This book by Marina Christopher will be in paperback at a lower price by August but if you can’t wait buy from Amazon.

Reviews in Other Publications

• A timely book where the author’s practical experience and knowledge really shines. (Garden Answers )

• It is a must for any one who wishes that their garden had a more vibrant colour from August throughout to the edge of winter, needs inspiration for plant combinations, or simply wishes to indulge themselves. (Organic Gardening )

• This book is packed with gorgeous pictures. (Independent on Sunday )

• Useful reference…descriptions of her choice of plants…gives practical advice…comprehensive plant dictionary…accurate information…excellent photography.(Gardens Illustrated)

• Seed heads, late perennials and also foliage, are revealed as valuable components. (John Fredericks)

• Great source of ideas and lots of practical tips not only on plant selection but also cultivation and propagation based on strong science and obvious real nurseryman experience. (Alistair Campbell)

Garden Chairs

Garden Chairs

• Solid wooden furniture can be both functional and decorative.
• I particularly like the ‘companion seat’ where two wooden chairs are linked together with a place for a cup of tea.
• Single seats can be moved around to take advantage of the sun.
• Patio chair sets are designed to be used with a table for alfresco dinning.
• Aim for good quality seasoned wood and look after it with regular applications of an appropriate oil.
• Solid metal chairs may need painting to avoid rust unless they are made of light weight aluminium.
• Tubular metal may be plastic coated to reduce maintenance.

Folding and Stacking Chairs

• Lightweight steel tube chairs with canvas seats and a back rest and cup holder are supplied in storage bag with integral carrying handle and drawstring closure. You often see them pulled from the back of cars at picnic spots. They can be functional in your garden and put away when not in use.
• Chairs built on the old deck chair line collapse into a thin, stackable rectangle. There is now a rocking chair version of the old deck chair (see below).
• Plastic preformed chairs are often designed so that one can be piled on top of the other to save storage space.
• Recliners look the most comfy when accompanied by plush cushion covers.

Garden Chairs from Amazon
Wooden Garden chairs from Amazon

Source David 365 flickr CC Attribution 2.0 Generic

Log Roll Edging

I have had problems with my terracotta edging alongside a path. It looked very tidy and the sculpted effect was very pleasing. There is negligible soil to hold back and a straight concrete path edge to butt up against. However after 3 winters 25% of the sections have broken or crumbled. This is annoying as they are not cheap and it takes time and effort to replace the damaged ones.

An alternative may be the log roll type edging shown above. It is more robust and less aesthetically pleasing but needs must. Made from tanalised wood it will probably last up to 10 years. The links are made from robust galvanised wire.

Log Roll Edging Tips

• Log rolls are available in various heights. 6″ is a bit small for some jobs if you need to bury part of the edging 9″  and 12″ seem my preferred sizes.
• Roll lengths also vary but more than 6′ in length and the roll becomes harder to handle.
• You can get untreated wood rolls but they will rot quicker.
• You could treat the wood with a paint or dye similar to that used for fences or decking.

Other Options For Edging

• Metal edging strip is popular on lawn edges. Green and black versions are available.
• I use some concrete paving on its side and kerb stone sections.
• There is a Bamboo fence sold as edging that looks attractive in the right setting.
• Willow hurdles or woven willow can act as edging.
• Gard Edge is made from polypropylene and is guaranteed for 10 years.
• For a neat lawn edge there is nothing to beat a well tended gully and the soil cut back regularly with a lawn edging tool.

Amazon supplies a variety of Log Rolls similar to the photograph above.

Read more about Lawn Edges

Gardening Book of the Month May 2011

In Search of Paradise: Great Gardens of the World by Penelope Hobhouse is a history and evocation to understand gardens. The book is one to savour and return to many times. It is an appropriate choice for a gardening book of the month when so many people are contemplating holidays away from their own gardens.

What is in The Book

• “Gardens Through the Centuries,” is the first section on a journey covering four thousand years from the earliest gardens in what are now the deserts of the Middle East.
• In the middle ages the first Mughal Emperor Babur 1483 – 1530 had a number of gardens including the Garden of Fidelity which was divided into four parts with a central pool.
• The attention to detail  in Chinese and Japanese gardens express a respect for nature, where the placement of each stone had meaning.
• Places for contemplation, stroll and moss gardens were found in Japan.
• Then moving on to the lavish gardens of Italy and symmetry of gardens in Germany, Netherlands and Russia. The formal gardens of France complete this section
• Penelope  Hobhouse then discusses the contribution to garden design made by Roberto Burle Marx, Fernando Caruncho, Dan Kiley, John Brookes, James van Sweden.and Beth Chatto.
• The 200 plus photographs and even more pages creates a tour de force

Sources
Amazon purchase price £17.50
Gail Cooke and Gang Chen reviews.
Other books by Penelope Hobhouse including Gardens of Persia

Nutrients and Fertiliser for Plants

You might not think your plants need 5 a day but they do need nutritious food to survive and thrive. In many situations they can get all they need from natural sources, just look how weeds thrive without the help of gardeners.

Essential Nutrients and Chemicology

• Hydrogen and Oxygen in the form of water or H2O.
• Nitrogen N – more than the gas in the air
• Potassium or Potash K
• Phosphorous P
• Magnesium, Sulphur and Calcium.
• Carbon -  in naturally occurring gas or solid form.

Trace Elements Needed By Some Plants

• Iron Fe
• Zinc Zn
• Copper Cu
• Boron B
• Chlorine Cl
• Manganese Mn
• Molybdenum Mo

Sources of Nutrients & Fertilisers

• Good hearty soil will contain most or all the plants needs for a while. If cropped heavily then soil needs some help to recover. Every flower you cut or vegetable you eat has taken some nutrient from the soil.
• Organic compost are natural and have a good balance of nutrients without being too potent. Garden compost or well rotted  animal manure are the tops.
• Man made chemical compounds are offered as fertilisers in liquid or solid forms. The balance of chemical content is recorded as the proportion on NPK eg 22:11:5 is high in nitrogen whilst 8:8:8 is a balanced fertiliser.
• Seaweed is a good tonic often rich in the trace elements.

Three Key Critical Fertilisers

• Nitrogen,  Phosphorous and Potassium often referred to as N.P.K are the essential three.
• Nitrogen is key for leaf and stem growth and all round vigour of your plant. Ammonium Sulphate is a quick acting inorganic nitrogen producing fertiliser, Hoof & Horn is  organic or a compound fertiliser with potash will convert to plant friendly nitrogen.
• Phosporous helps the growth of strong roots and seedlings. Bone meal or fish meal contains phosphates or a compound with ‘superphosphate can be purchased.
• Potassium needs to work with nitrogen but is particularly influential on flowers and fruit. Compound fertilisers are the best way of providing potash along with some nitrogen (tomato feed is rich in potash). Wood ash can be used but the amount of potash being added is uncertain.

Fertiliser Products

A range of special fertilisers bespoke for each species of plant is available from available from Thompson & Morgan

A widely available and favourite fertiliser with all elements bound together in a granule is Growmore

MiracleGro and other proprietary fertilisers from Amazon

Organic Liquid Seaweed

Read more on Calcified seaweed

Ladies Gardening Gloves

Heavy gardening can play havoc with your hands.
Even light weeding and pottering can damage nails and create tough skin to say nothing of the ingrained dirt.
I have a barrier cream called Hand Guard by Manders International that shields hands from dirt and infection. Apply before gardening then wash off with the dirt when you finish. It is no substitute for good gloves.

I won’t use the tipped gloves when weeding I need direct contact between my fingers and those roots. Funky colours however help me find them if I put them down somewhere.

Glove Types

• Cotton gloves are OK for keeping clean but do not have heavy protection.
• Palm-side leather protection is definitely welcome for prickly bushes and rougher work.
• Full out leather gloves Like the ladies ‘Kew’ type are the top end of the market in price and performance.
• Nitrile and rubberised gloves are an acquired feature.
• Pruning Gauntlets and heavy duty gloves would be my first choice if only for safeties sake.
• Why don’t gardening suppliers make fingerless gloves?

Sources
Amazon Ladies Gardening Gloves

Picture By fragglerawker_03 on flickr under creative commons license