Garden And Gardener

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Archive for May, 2009

Price reductions at Focus DIY

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

Reduced price on products today at Focus DIY

Karcher K2.900 Pressure Washer
Karcher K2.900 Pressure Washer was £139.99 now £104.99
1400W Universal Motor with auto start stop100 bar maximum pressure 90 bar operating pressureIncludes dirtblaster lance large wash brush 10 x clean tabs and T50 patio cleaner

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New products at Focus DIY

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

New product at Focus DIY

Dominica Bistro set
Dominica Bistro set £129.99
Add a touch of colonial elegance to your garden with this classic rattan bistro set and watch the sun set with a freshly made iced tea! Timeless style at an unbeatable price.Weather resistance artifical wickerEasy to cleanEasy assembly70cm round tempered glass top tableHeight:720mm

Allotment sharing

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

On the allotment everyone is really friendly and helpful. The old timers are happy to share their years of experience.  One man started on an allotment in 1953!

When people have too many plants to put out they offer them round, and people like to have a nosey in your greenhouse and see what you’ve got on your plot.

John gave me a packet of soya bean seeds – I’ve planted a couple of rows and am going to put in another row if I get chance this week.

Steve from across the way popped over today to ask me what I had growing in a tray in the greenhouse. It’s a flat tray of leaves from a money plant that I’m experimenting with as to how many will root. I’ve already gor 18 tiny plants potted up for the allotment open day plant sale but wanted to know if I could get some leaves to root. I have done at home before now and got some great plants from it, so I stuck about 50 leaves in a tray.  The mother plant is pretty much unwanted now and looking a bit straggly so it’ll sit under the bench in the greenhouse until Autumn and then I’ll have to decide what to do with it.
I have Steve a large piece of it for him to pot up and see if it’ll grow. It’s normally really easy to take root so he should have a couple of healthy plants in a week or three.

Lots of people on the plots today – car space was heaving – Sundays are very popular and hot Sundays even more so. There were lots of people pottering about with watering cans.

Did a little weeding around a couple of rows of veggies and watered the peas. Spotted the first pea flower today – which is excellent news!

I read that you need 120 ft row of peas to feed a family of four. I assume that it meant for drying some for winter too! We love fresh peas and it’ll be so nice to be able to pick some this year – perhaps some will even make it home to the pan!

Extremely hot weather again today.

What you could be planting now

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

What you could be planting right now – buy these seeds at Suttons

It’s not to late to put seeds in so why not check out this great list of seeds from Suttons.

Beetroot Boltardy Seeds – For use in summer and autumn make successional sowings
of suitable varieties from late April to July

Resistant to bolting and recommended for early sowing.

Price £1.30

Sunflower Giant Yellow Seeds grows up to 9ft tall! Fun for kids to grow and
for the birds (or humans) to eat the seeds!

Grow the tallest Sunflower!

Price £1.55

Salad Onion White Lisbon Seeds – delicious spring onions. Easy to grow

Has a mild flavour and grows quickly

Price £1.30

Cosmea Sonata Dwarf Mix Seeds

For bedding or large pots.

Price £1.75

Courgette F1 Defender Seeds – for delicious summer veg

Compact and heavy cropping!

Price £2.45

Leucanthemum Snow Lady Plants  – Flowering: May-September

Masses of blooms like a carpet of snow!

Price £7.95

Geum Queen of Orange Plants – very bright

Popular cottage garden plants

Price £6.95

Primrose F1 Suttons Select Mix Plants

Masses of vibrant blooms.

Price £15.95

RHS Chelsea Flower Show

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

RHS membership gives you discounted tickets for their wonderful garden shows.

Chealsea Flower Show is one of the best gardening shows in the world and is famous for it’s innovative and beautiful gardens.

It’s an opportinituy to see some amazing gardens that have been designed and built just for the show.
Here’s a brief outline of what gardens were made in 2009. Get membership of the Royal Horticultural Society and get discounted tickets for these garden shows

Perfume Garden – a fantastic garden which has a diverse range of plants that are used in the perfume industry. From clipped western red cedars, Thuja plicata, to the Sedum rosea. The plants are have their place in the world of perfumerie and the central statue is a machine making perfume from a recipe of Queen Elizabeth I in the 16th century!
Designers: Laurie Chetwood and Patrick Collins

The Marshalls Living Street – a fascinating expression of the front gardens of four contemporary terraced houses. Showing how different small gardens can be.
Designer: Ian Dexter

Future Nature – dealing with extremes of rain either none or loads. In essence a storm drain garden. Using lots of re-used materials.
Designers: Nigel Dunnett, Adrian Hallam and Chris Arrowsmith

The QVC Garden
Inspired by one stanza from Tennyson’s The Oak:

Live thy Life,

Young and old,

Like yon oak,

Bright in spring,

Living gold”
Designer: Adam Frost

Laurent-Perrier Garden – classical structure of the planting lends an air of grace to this garden.
Designer: Luciano Giubbilei

Foreign and Colonial Investments Garden – ribbon planting weaves one plant’s colour through a flower bed. Using plants that are adaptble to climate change and featuring endangered plants that can not adjust.
Designer: Thomas Hoblyn

The Cancer Research UK Garden – theme is impact and the garden is a structural piece of design using gentle water, walls and plants.
Designer: Robert Myers

The Daily Telegraph Garden – Swedish inspired minialist design featuring strong, elegant and sustainable planting.
Designer: Ulf Nordfjell

The Quilted Velvet Garden – Tony is described as an horticultural artist,creating over sized stepping stones to create the dreamlike state of an arduous journey towards the soft seating area.
Designer: Tony Smith

The Key – homeless themed garden – starting with narrowing, uneven paths, dead ends and dark forbidding planting that like dark, living walls – there is a way through the wall and inside that is a space of comfort and shelter. Symbolic of the journey homeless people have to struggle through.
Designer: Paul Stone

The HESCO Garden – the climate change worry – too much rain is embodied in this wonderful garden – a stone cottage in the shelter of a wooded, rocky landscape, complete with a typically rainy day. Inspired by the 2007 floods in Leeds where properties were flooded out. Using rainwater diversio to water features within the garden preventing the crisis of flooding. Using wonderful yorkshire stone to make the cottage.
Designer: Martin Walker and Leeds City Council

The Canary Islands Spa Garden inpsired by the volcanic landscapes and bizarre, unique flora of the Canary Islands and the designers shared passion! With steaming thermal spring water, black laval rock and towering palm trees, this is a truley impressive garden! And you’ll know James Wong from grow your own drugs!
Designers: James Wong and David Cubero

Echoes of Japan in an English Garden – features rare rhododendrons, and traditional garden features from Japan including the suikinkutsu (Japanese water harp) and the seikaiha (wave pattern), drawn in white sand. A mix of Japan and England in the garden.

Designer: Kay Yamada

Hot weather and the allotment

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

When it’s as hot as it is today there’s a few jobs that definately need doing.

Watering newly planted seeds, and plants that are developing fruit need lots of regular water. Potatoes that are growing need plenty of water too – so don’t forget them!

Hoeing the weeds away when it’s this hot is really effective. The poor things shrivel up and die in the sun – so it’s well worth spending some time doing this where you can.

Chickweed seems to be especially active this year and is everywhere. Several plot holders are blaming it on it being in the compost from last year and are refusing to compost it this year. Old timer Percy is quite happy to accept all compost material donations though – the bigger the heap and the faster it’s put together the more heat it generates and should kill all the seeds.

We’ve filled one side of our double compost bin already. Partly through some old uncomposted stuff being put back in and all the new lovely weeds.

Watered the tomatoes today as usual and added some plant food to the watering can. They’re doing really well – the initial four plants and the extra ones are coming on pretty well too.
We planted out about half the leeks – they were as fat as pencils and getting far too tall so we decided to put them out now. We dibbed holes 5-6 inches deep and put the leeks in. They’d been in pots of compost so we rinsed most of this off to get them into the hole – the book I’d read said nothing about this – but seemed to think you’d just have roots (as did the man on gardeners world!). I’ve not trimmed the roots or tops of them – my book says this old way isn’t really needed.

I also planted out the cucumber plant – I’ve only got one as I know we don’t eat a lot of them. It’s pickling type which should be ok for salads peeled (they’re a bit spiney apparently) and good for pickling! I adore pickles so am looking forward to doing these.

The onions are coming on nicely. Weeded them again today and they’re nearly clear of chickweed. I have very much learnt the need to put them in very straight rows as it makes hoeing so much easier.

A word of advice – wear a hat in such hot weather! and you should put on sunscreen too!

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Saturday, May 30th, 2009

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Price reductions at Gardening Direct

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

Reduced price on items today at Gardening Direct

Herb Markers
Herb Markers was £8.49 now £5.50
Make sure you can remember which herbs are which when they're planted out. These durable 16cm markers enhance your herb array, denoting sage, tarragon, basil, thyme, dill, chives, parsley and rosemary.

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New products at John Lewis

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

Loads of new lines today at John Lewis

Barlow Tyrie Arizona Armchair, Natural
Barlow Tyrie Arizona Armchair, Natural £930.00
Modern, monolithic and modular, Barlow Tyrie’s Arizona collection of deep seating can make a dramatic impact on any patio or in any conservatory. The range is made from synthetic wicker, which is extremely strong and completely resistant to sun and rain, so you can leave out all year round. Each piece has been hand woven over an aluminium frame and requires minimum maintenance, and with a choice of seating configurations, you can pick and choose the combination you like. The plush cushions are made from 100% acrylic, and in wet weather should be kept indoors. Designed by the renowned German-born Vladimir Kagan, one of the 20th century's pre-eminent modern furniture designers. His designs from the 1940s, 50s and 60s have become icons of mid-century modernism and have been a major influence on many of the designers who followed him.

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New products at Gardening Direct

Saturday, May 30th, 2009

New lines at Gardening Direct

Words of Wisdom (I Can Resist)
Words of Wisdom (I Can Resist) £15.99
Add a philosophical note to your garden or home with these realistic looking 'stone' plaques that are in fact made from lightweight waterproof resin. Easy to hang on walls and fences, they look even more convincing when surrounded by plant foliage. Add instant interest to boring blank walls and fences.

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