May 30, Who's Garden Is It Anyway?

Do you ever wonder whether you are the real gardener in your home?

Do you ever feel that the real gardeners are the wild birds - pigeons, blackbirds and the like? They are just waiting... ...
and waiting... ...

Right now my Blueberries and Gooseberries are just a little too hard for them. But the young birds are out of the nest and any day now you can bet they will discover their favourite food.

Don't leave it too late! If they don't get near enough to test out your berries they won't know they are there. But if they discover the crop they'll be frantic to break down your defences. See below for netting.

Pigeons are another menace here. I sometimes wonder - as I see them patrol my plants - if they are really doing the gardening.

They have left my poor young crops of oriental cabbages alone for now... But then... ...

You can bet they are just waiting until the crop is ready. Anyday now they will swoop down and have the lot.

There's evidence to suggest that purple leaved varieties don't attract them so easily. But unfortunately I've already had damage to my young seedling peas. The culprit has to be pigeons.

So now you've gone to some trouble and expense to grow a crop - here's the answer to save the crop from disaster.

American Gardeners -
2 kinds of netting are here.


U.K. Gardeners - find attractive

natural looking Long Fruit Cage lower down the list here. Larger cages are also
available on link.

My suggestion:- If your netting goes down to ground level either put wide tape around the bottom or fix it to a barge board.

Happy Gardening :-)

May 24, Versatile Gardening Tools

Get more from your gardening tools, much more... This page describes the specialised and highly efficient garden tools system that I use

May 15, Grow Organic Today Harvest Nutritious Food Tomorrow

Grow Your Own - Take Control - Be Productive - And Enjoy Life's Natural Goodness

To make the most of your garden this year visit these links.



Grow even more seeds and plants - the best prices for American Gardeners are here.


Get more variety in your garden below:

HREF=http://track.webgains.com/click.html?wgcampaignid=1864&wgprogramid=299&clickref=garden-seeds&wg
>
Grow The World In Your Garden with Eden Project Seeds on this link.

>Easy Seeds for Children and target=http://www.suttons.co.uk/Gardening/Vegetables/Organic+Seeds/list.htm" >Organic Seeds variety is the spice of gardening life and you'll find some nice plants here.

Quality Seeds (no thrills packaging) - U.K. experienced mail order and I always make savings with them.

May 13, Growing Potatoes

Gardeners are growing potatoes again because choice & flavour beat all you can buy. Get the tips that deliver a big crop plus links to alternative space saving & easy ways of growing on patios & yard.

May 11, The Untidy Gardener

My kitchen table is strewn with 19 packets of miscellaneous garden seeds, 6 half-empty packets of seeds are left on the floor in my back porch after sowing - and - my fridge is topped by 3 boxes of seed packets organised into flowers, vegetables and herbs.

That I'm afraid is the earthy truth of the organic gardener. But wow - look at my garden!

Not for me the sterile bark covered sheet mulches - no my garden is vibrant, buzzing, and there's lots to look foward to.

I have one good reason to clear the kitchen table, because my dinner is cooked from organically grown brussel sprouts, leeks, and tomatoes, along with fresh tarragon - and very tasty.

TIP: Try Tarragon with tomatoes - it beats the popular basil/tomato combination.

Growing in my garden today:

Pak Choi 'Ruby' sowing in succession

Cauliflower 'purple graffiti' x12 red coloured veg are high in anti-oxidants.

Romanesco Cauliflower x8

Cauliflower 'igloo' x 12 a compact variety (must remember to keep pigeons off).

Celery 'lorreta'

Beetroot 'Boltardy' grown in succession and for early crops.

Carrots - 'Amsterdam Forcing', 'Early Nantes', 'Chantenay Red Cored'*** later 'Autumn King'

Also:

Broad Beans 'Master Piece Green Long Pod' in between Potato 'Juliet'.

Pea 'sugar Anne' a sugar snap variety

Dwarf bean 'Tendergreen' ('Purple Teepee' to be sown this week)

Runner Beans 'Butler' growing up the shady side of my greenhouse

Potato 'Anya' coming up between last year's still standing leeks 'musselburgh'

Onion 'Bedfordshire Champion' and 'Giant Zetau' - for late maturing & good keeping.

American 'Land Cress'

plus Potato varieties 'Cara' and 'British Queen'

Tomato 'Harbinger' 'San Mazano' 'Gardeners Delight'

Sweet Pepper 'Redskin' 'Golden Gourmet'

Cucumber 'marketmore'

Melon 'SweetHeart'

Courgette x5 2 varieties

There's lot's more... and more to come... the seeds are here for your country

I will be sowing salad leaves later among the flower borders.

I have lot's of winter lettuce in the greenhouse.

TIP:

If your winter lettuce is going to seed try storing it in the fridge.

Herbs Growing Include

Dill, French and Curled Parsely, Good King Henry, Orange Scented Thyme, Thyme, Tarragon, Rosemary, Sage, Golden Oregano, Lemon Balm, Chammomile, Chives, Apple Mint, Spear Mint, Hyssop, Fennel, Bronze Fennel, Chervil, Basil, Sorrel, Lovage, Cutting Celery...

Flowers Growing Include

Doronicum 'Leopard's Bane'

Bluebells,

Winter Aconites

Myosotis - all these for - early flowers around the fruit garden to aid pollination

Marigolds, Calendula, Alyssum, Phlox, Aubretia, Scleranthus, Sedum 'Kamschaticum' 'Spurium' Helianthus, Cytisus, Broom, Achillia... ...

I'm developing low mounding plants between rocks or compact shrubs.

There's still time to grow seeds - this link will help you select them.

Must get back to my organic garden now. Do get out there. More later.

Happy Gardening.

May 7, Organic Gardening Compost Saves And Improves

Today I did a spot of voluntary work in a Victorian Walled garden. I was weeding a raised bed. This had been filled with compost made from leaves and with some wood chip.

There was no hard clay and only a few larger soil lumps. It was amazingly light stuff. The bed was moist enough, and felt dryish - but that's after weeks with no rain.


Organic Compost - Good For Gardening Work

The big big advantage for me - the soil was so very light to work that the usually difficult perennial weeds pulled almost straight out.

So after hearing so many complaints about the quality of branded composts I must write again - make your own seed and potting compost from leaf mold, garden compost, comfrey leaves and the like.

Adding organic fertilizers like bone meal also works because these are not chemical salts and are kinder to seedlings.

And your own home-made leaf mold, garden compost and well-rotted manure will be the very best stuff to use in new raised beds or containers.

I'm currently re-writing pages on grass and lawns as a starting point before updating and clarifying pages on garden compost, mulch and leaf mold.

Visit the-organic-gardener.com to learn more and you see how it all comes together.

Happy organic gardening.

May 3, Organic Gardening, Make Compost & Grow Plants

Discover a healthy, more active life, that saves money with organic gardening Compost, fertilizer, gardening tools & practical methods of growing & handling garden tools are described here.