Rosemary at Thompson & Morgan

You can buy seeds and plants at Thompson and Morgan. Or you can do what I’ve just done.

I bought a packet of rosemary from the herb section of my local supermarket. I only wanted a couple of pieces for a recipe I was doing but had to buy a whole bunch. I decided to freeze some and then just as I was putting some in the freezer I decided I’d have a go at rooting a couple of pieces. I was pretty sceptical whether they’d take as I dind’t know how long they’d been in the shop.

But I stuck two pieces in a small vase of water on the windowsill in my kitchen and waited. After about 10 days I noticed one had started to root, a few days later so had the other. After a couple more days I carefully potted them up. Result! I now have two rosemary plants that cost me virtually nothing! I should have tried more! I am almost tempted to buy a whole pack and try and root the whole lot! If nothing else they would be good for selling for fund raising for our allotment!

Of course I might just have been lucky and got the right pack of rosemary pieces, but if you want to try you’ll only be spending 69p or so and you’ll have plenty of fresh rosemary to cook with!

I’m not sure what the purpose of creating a 6 chicken rule is. If the family got another plot then could they then keep 12 chickens?

If it’s about health of the animals then that’s surely separate entire – welfare must be high.
If it’s about noise then what if every plot had chickens?

Owlsbury Allotments in Crowborough celebrate bonfire night.

Sounds an exciteing place to be – The 16 Acre Owlsbury site was purchased by Crowborough Town Council in April 2008 to use as allotments and to house other as yet undecided community projects and facilities http://www.owlsburycommunity.org/

Mini-Orchard Collection with Free Cherry at Garden Bargains

Fantastic value – would make a brilliant early Christmas present for anyone! Perfect if you have kids as they will enjoy planting it and picking the fruit in the years to come! Encourages healthy eating and a perfect way of saving money on your fruit bills in the future.

What you get – trees that are 5ft tall! They’ll only grow to about 7ft so are ideal for small gardens. They’ll prefer sunshine but will be happy with dappled shade but not full shade. Order some today and you could be planting your own orchard really soon! These are great value and over the lifetime of the trees the fruit will be virtually free. You will be picking your own fruit for years to come and the trees take very little care.

Flower/Fruiting Time the blossom in March/April and fruit July-September
Plant them at least 6ft apart though so they have plenty of room to stretch out and you can walk between the trees still. They will fill out over a few years. They need a light prune in the winter. Instructions are given and it’s not complicated. Prepare the soil well. You don’t move trees so get it right first time. Dig the hole to the right depth and then add some Blood, Fish & Bone organic fertilizer. Follow the instructions carefully – start digging the holes when you order the trees so they are ready to be planted as soon as they arrive.

What trees you get –

Delicious Crisp Braeburn Apple
Braeburn trees are renown for their massive cropping – and even in the first growing season these trees will yield several pounds of juicy, crisp, mouth watering fruit, thereafter the crop size just gets bigger and bigger every year. They are ready to enjoy from September onwards, and if stored in a cool place will last up to three months. Home freezing will allow you to savour that delicious Braeburn flavour all year round.

Delicious Conference Pear
Everyone knows that ripe juicy British pears are one of the most succulent fruits you can eat. The ‘Conference’ variety has a flavour of it’s own which is just simply sublime. Once established your tree will produce over 100lbs of delicious fruit every year. You can pick your fruits whilst hard from mid-September to store in a cool place – then allow them to ripen in a bowl at room temperature as required. Alternatively just leave them to ripen naturally on the tree during October.

Victoria Plum
Once tasted never forgotten. Our Victoria Plum tree is a popular classic offering incredibly juicy flavoured fruit and bumper crops year-upon-year. You can expect your tree to be laden with at least 100lbs of fruit for the next 30 years and beyond. Harvest from late July onwards, Victorias are ideal for jams, preserves and pies, or if kept in the freezer you can enjoy these beauties all year round.

These three are classics and you will pick lots of fruit each year.

Just seen this site Seed Swappers

Very interesting idea – you tell them what seeds you have to swap and ask for a few if you see any you fancy. Good for people who don’t know a lot of local gardeners!

Spaces at Nazeing allotment in Hertfordshire

Want an allotment and live near Middle Street at Bumbles Green?

Allotment Project given boost by Waitrose
THE ESCAPE community allotment project, based at Tumbler Hill in Swaffham, has been boosted by a cheque.

The Waitrose Community Matters scheme presented £206 to the Escape project.

The project promotes positive mental and physical health and is funded by Ecominds and led by Family Action in partnership with West Norfolk Mind and the Garden Science Trust.

They’re creating a sensory garden with plants that are nice to smell and touch, and a live willow sculpture.

Great brid seed offers from Jersey Plants Direct

12.75kg Choice Sunflower Hearts £28.98
Packed with nutrition great for birdsUse all year round in seed feeder. Good for: Almost all garden birds. Fantastic New Low Price – WAS £32.99 NOW £25.98Reward the birds in your garden with the 4kg Choice Sunflower Hearts. These Sunflower Hearts are packed with nutrition and make a great change for your garden birds. Husk free so no mess.

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This year I managed to grow a pumpkin!
It was a bit of a funny shape and not enormous but I turned it into a halloween pumpkin and some trick or treaters took photos of it!

I printed a template and taped it on and carved the pumpkin through that.

I can’t remember which site I got my Angry BIrd pumpkin carving template from but it might have been this one

Mine are still doing well although they are very perfumed they’re not very sweet. I only have a small patch of raspberries in my back garden and a couple of plants in the front but this year has been massive in terms of fruit picked.

Jersey Plants Direct have raspberries available to buy. Plant a few in your garden and you’ll be picking fresh raspberries yourself next year!
They are probably one of the easiest fruits to grow and indeed cope well with neglect. If you planted them on a bit of land and left them to it they’d be quite happy. The birds don’t seem to eat the fruit either which means no netting needed unlike other fruit that needs caging.
Delicious in flans or just with cream, or even eating them as you pick them on a hot summers day, raspberries are one of my favourite fruits. In the supermarkets they are horribly expensive – about £2 for 100g. For days on end this year I picked about 400-500g of fruit each day from a small patch of raspberries so they make good economic sense to grow in your own garden. The plants will give fruit year after year.
Turn them into jam to preserve them, or bottle them in vodka! I’ve got a small sample of raspberry vodka to try this weekend – they’ve been in about three weeks so I will have to report back on how good it tastes!

Raspberries Rubus Heritage (Red) 3 Plants £12.99
An abundance of great flavoured raspberries
Raspberries don’t mind a bit of shade as long as they have well drained soil. The more sun you can let them have though the better. The fruit is sweeter when it’s had plenty of sunshine. You will delight in picking your own raspberries, fresh from your garden – from plot to plate within a few minutes. Eat fresh with cream or make into pues and flans or turn into jam and enjoy this amazing fruit all winter.This raspberry plant produces an abundance of great flavoured fruit. Good all round disease resistance. Ideal for cooking.

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