Garden Centre Online have a great selection of wellies

Hunter Original Aubergine Wellington Boots £41.99
The original aubergine wellington from Hunter, legendary for comfort and fit. General use boots, perfect for everything from shopping to walking the dog. Its design has won it iconic status and made it a must have fashion item. Colour: Aubergine Leg fit: Standard calf fit, full knee length. Vulcanised natural rubber construction, built on an orthopaedic last for the legendary Hunter fit Traditional calendered natural rubber sole Quick dry knitted nylon lining Multi-layer cushioned sponge insole We have a range of Hunter Boot colours here GardenCentreOnline is an official Hunter Distributor  

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Wickes has two ways to buy top soil – small bag, big bag!
Can be very useful if you are making raised beds to buy good quality top soil – especially if you’re planning on growing vegetables.

Top Soil £3.05
Specially selected and graded soilSterilised, lime and chalk freeFor creating beds and bordersIdeal for lawn preparationFor general garden use

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Westland plant food available at Wickes
regular feeding of plants is important for good results.
Pick the right plant food for the right plant. Different formulas target different growth areas.

Westland Nutri Tomato Food Concentrate £4.29
Natural feed for healthy fruit growthProduces tasty and abundant fruitProduced from organic resourcesConcentrated, mix with water

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The cheapest compost we’ve found is at Wickes!

70l for £4.07

Bargain!

Wickes says it’s suitable for seeds, cuttings, potting-up, window boxes, hanging baskets and outdoor planting
It is a peat based compost though – so not for those cutting back on peat use. It has added nutrients and lime, producing an ideal medium for seed sowing and potting
Feeds plants for up to five weeks
Absorbs water easily

Other composts at Wickes include:

Westland Growbag £1.99
Suitable for greenhouse, conservatory or patio useRich in potash for growing healthy fruit, flowers and vegetables indoors or out

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It really is time to think about planting potatoes – here are some at T&M incase you need some ordering.

Lots of potato collections at Thompson & Morgan

You don’t need to chit potatoes – some people believe you get better results if you do though. North facing window best.

Gourmet Potato Collection and Planters – 15 tubers – 5 of each variety £7.99
 Customer RatingIntroduced exclusively by Thompson & Morgan- Best In Class – for gourmet potatoes- Bumper crops of evenly-sized attractive potatoes- Growing mouth-watering potatoes couldn’t be easierSecond early, early maincrop.Colin Randel, Chairman of the RHS Vegetable Trials Committee has tried and tested hundreds of potatoes over the years. With his specialist knowledge he has picked three tasty potato varieties as his top rated for flavour. Our wicker-effect planters make an attractive and convenient way to grow the best potatoes that you have ever tasted. Height and spread: 60cm (24″).Collection comprises: Potato ‘Blue Belle’ – Early maincrop. Increasing in popularity for the home grower, this versatile and attractive looking potato produces good yields that are suitable for a wide range of culinary uses.Potato ‘Inca Bella’ – Second early/ early maincrop. From ‘Mayan Gold’ parentage, with a pink-blushed cream coloured skin and golden coloured flesh. The distinctive nutty flavour makes this variety a superb salad potato, or harvest later as an early maincrop if larger tubers are required. Cooks approximately 30% quicker than your usual potato.Potato ‘Piccolo Star’ – Second early. Very high numbers of mouthwatering, oval baby new potatoes, with a firm waxy texture and bright, creamy skin and flesh. Absolutely superb as a boiled ‘new potato’ or left to cool as a salad potato.Useful links:How to grow potatoes in the ground Potato Selector GuideHow to grow potatoes in bags     How to stop blight

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The Potato Council website has a database of all potato varieties.

Try freecycle or ask your neighbours!

Our allotment site recently put out a flier asking for old garden equipment or plants and within half an hour we’d had one lady come and offer us pond plants and within a couple of hours we’d had the offer of a pond liner that we so wanted!

I’ve given away bluebells via freecycle and other plants from my garden.
It’s always worth a look on your local freecycle.

There’s also sites like Seed Swappers that enable you to swap seeds. There’s also garden swap shop

Spring bulbs are fantastic for the bees! A good reason to invest a few pounds in bulbs for spring flowers. Not only do they look amazing but they are a vital support for bees in the early spring!

My crocuses are out and looking amazing and have had several bees visiting.

My daffodils in the front garden haven’t got any sign of a flower though. This is because they were planted too shallow. I didn’t plant them I hasten to add, but I keep planning on digging them up and reburying them more deeply to give them a chance of flowering.

If you have ‘blind bulbs’ then you’ve probably not planted them deeply enough.
You might be able to bury them under more soil to get the required depth but it’s probably as easy to dig them up carefully and replant.

Deadheading bulbs – do you deadhead your bulbs? If you do then you stop them making seeds and allow them to put their energy into the bulb which means they should be stronger than ever next year!

Got foxes in the garden or on the allotment?

You can pay someone to trap and remove the fox – or you can try a free method that entails you collecting pee and then using it on the areas the fox uses. Ideally, this article says, use the pee from a male under 30.

How can you tell if you have foxes? You might hear them as they are very noisy sometimes at night. You might see them during the day sometimes but dusk you might see them scurrying about on the streets.
In summer we had the cubs playing on the allotment. They were timid but would stand and watch you until you moved a bit too close and then they would disappear away.

If you feed your cats or dogs outside then you might notice the foxes appearing to scavange any food that’s left.

This news story is worth a look –
Biggest fox shot – it’s a massive fox been caught = 38lbs!

Growing potatoes in different ways

Container potatoes – lots of bags available, or solid built containers,
or even old tyres.
Top up soil or compost as the leaves grow. Water regularly and heavily.

Earth up – requires dug beds in ground. Earth soil up around stems as
they grow to protect them from the frost and ensure the potatoes don’t
get light on them and turn them green. Put on as much muck as you can.

Mulch method – don’t dig the bed, but put mulch layer of newspaper
down first. Put potatoes on and cover up with compost or soil. Cover with more
soil or manure as they grow.
Some people like to put the potato in the ground a few inches and then heap
materials on top. Straw can be used as a mulch but will maybe require more watering
than you’d like.

Potatoes are often seen as a good first crop on new land. They don’t
have magic powers about clearing weeds but the traditional earthing up process
helps eliminate many weeds. The addition of lots of manure also helps break
down the soil. I have found that growing potatoes in this way can transform
soil but it is still hard work!