This blog is nice. Got some interesting photos and as you scroll down more appear. But it makes me feel confused about what I should be clicking on.

The bean photos are excellent.

I’ve got some comfrey roots in pots outside (Hopefully they won’t be blowing away in the gales). I’ll be planting them on my allotment in order to crop the leaves on a regular basis once they’re established.

This blog shows a comfrey bed! The photo is right at the end and it features watering kits for tomatoes – something of interest to anyone who grows in a greenhouse – drip feed set ups.

Once my comfrey bed looks this impressive I’ll post a photo!

Did you know you can eat some flowers? Of course cauliflowers might be the first that springs to mind!
This list at T&M lists edible flowers and offers notes on them – Edible Flowers list at
Thompson & Morgan

Of course artichokes are the flower of the plant that you eat the petals and heart of.

I know you can eat nasturtium flowers and leaves and treat the seeds as capers and pickle them!
Courgette flowers can be battered and deep fried for an interesting treat!

Capers are also a flower bud!
Elderflowers are used to make a sparkling drink!

I know you can eat chive flowers – I just like to leave them for the bees.

Some I know about are:
wild garlic, primrose and borage, ramsons, courgette flowers, saffron crocus (for stamens),
Some I didn’t know – rose petals for jam apparently!)
orange Day lilies (hemerocallis sp)

You can make rose petal sugar by adding rose petals to sugar.
You can do the same with lavender. Lavender can be used as a flavouring in biscuits too. I’ve also seen this last week on one of the food programs (royal dinner thing) that something was flavoured with gorse flowers.

If you fancy a book on the subject of edible flowers then Amazon have several!

Although not using the flowers you can make spearmint sugar by adding spearmint leaves to a jar of sugar.

Wiki has a list of edible flowers too

The Farmers’ Handbook is a free permaculture eBook created by Chris Evans (UK) and Jakob Jespersen (Denmark), who have spent considerable time in Nepal, helping to develop locally appropriate methods and technologies that can help the people of Nepal live better lives, and sustainably so.

This free eBook volume covers how to reuse waste water, dealing with sweeping, building a pit latrine, making compost, mulching and double digging in the garden, seed saving, Integrated Pest Management, using liquid manure safely, as well as keeping bees and livestock. It also includes a fascinating description of how to build a non-cement-based water system.
The book covers composting, mulching, pit latrines, and much more! A great afternoon read!

It looks like you have to register to download it though.

Here are the original downloads – it’s split up into chapters
It is really interesting – the photos are of Nepal I assume – and whilst some of the techniques aren’t quite relevent to the UK it’s fascinating.

One thing they recommend is burying a big pole in the compost heap. You use it to wriggle about to get air to the bottom of the heap and if you put it out you can tell from the state of the poll whether the compost is too wet or dry.?

This garden blog is lovely – lots of photos of interesting bits of garden! It’s called Giggling in two gardens

It’s been updated recently too which is good! The blog talks about lots of things including Gertrud Franck companion planting!
Lots of nice photos and posts to keep you interested!
And if you’ve ever had half a boat you’ve wondered what you could do with in your garden then you should definitely have a read!

This book looks a fun book for anyone with a small garden.”Patio Produce” is about growing delicious, wholesome fruit and vegetables in the smallest spaces.

Patio Produce: How to Cultivate a Lot of Home-grown Vegetables from the Smallest Possible Space
The book gets good reviews and is worth a look if you have a small yard!

My own hints on growing in small spaces is firstly to think vertically. You might only have a small floor space but if you have walls then you have the opportunity to grow on them too! And I don’t just mean by using canes to train beans up.

You could fix guttering lengths to the walls, each at a slight angle so they drain into the next one down. Fill this with compost and grow micro-salads, salad leaves that don’t need to grow really hugely before you harvest them.

Fix shelves to the wall and grow in pots! Make sure that the material you use for shelves won’t rot and sag ending up dropping all your seeds on the floor. If you can find plastic shelving them that’s perfect as it won’t rot.

Recycle old pan stands by using them to grow in pots on them.

Most of us stay indoors. Some might go out and fetch in the compost bin that’s decided to roll around outside. For most of us though staying in and curling up with a good book is a good idea.
If we start browsing on amazon then we’ll spot the Growbag Pots (Set Of 3)
that we’ve had our eye on for a while and perhaps even add them to our shopping basket.

It’s tempting to look at books too – Growing Tomato – books at Amazon and add a new one to the collection. Sometimes it’s nice to reread your existing gardening books. Sometimes things spring out that you’ve not noticed before – perhaps you read that comfrey doesn’t mind a boggy spot in the garden and decide you’ve found the perfect place for it.

In this weather it can be frustrating if you’ve got things to plant out. Just remember the weather is cold and wet and plants don’t like it anymore than we do either.

I’ve been reading through ‘Tomatoes for Everyone. including Ring Culture and growing on straw bales by Frank W. Allerton’ that I bought from a second hand shop for a tiny sum of money. It’s a fascinating book – some of which strikes me as quite bizarre. We’d never think of using formaldehyde to sterilise soil but it’s described in this book.

The book also mentions straw bales for growing tomatoes on and suggests a liner under them to allow the bottom inch to sit in any water that comes out from watering them. I shall have to put my straw bales on a sheet of plastic out on my plot to help them stay damp. I don’t dig them a trench to sit in but will instead look at fastening the corners of the plastic to make a trough around them! See what you can think of from reading!

Gardening Event at Wickes with great offers – 25% Off ALL Categories (Top Selling): Deck Boards, Deck Lights, Trellis, Sleepers, Border Log Rolls, Landscape Fabrics and 2.5L Apply & Protect Decking Stain

Other Categories: Screening, Wooden Border Edging, Bamboo Edging, Garden Sleepers, Garden Hand Tools and Multi-Purpose Compost

Starts: Friday 27th April 2012

Ends: Monday 30th April 2012

Plus for a limited time only Wickes 2.4M Deck Board will be 50% Off

Offer: 50% Off 2.4M Deck Board

Starts: Friday 27th April 2012

Ends: Monday 30th April 2012

Set of 4 Soft Grip Adjustable Pressure Sprayer Heads

Today’s Special Value Price
£10.88

Really useful spray heads that fit to plastic drinks bottles. perfect for using with weed killers or other products that need a controllable spray mist.

Set of four adjustable pressure sprayer heads. The set features sprayer heads in four different colours that attach to most plastic bottles to create a pressurised spray bottle for liquids such as detergent and weed killer. This is a unique and useful utensil for versatile use around the home and garden.
Universal fitting – easily attaches to most household bottles (0.5L – 3L) so you save money and are more environmentally friendly too.

Coloured tops for safety – the sprayer heads come in four vibrant colours to distinguish between the liquid you use in each one, for example: blue for water, red for weed killer, green for fertiliser and yellow for detergent.

Creates a fine mist or single jet
• Ergonomic, soft grip pump-action handle

Contains:
• 4 x pressure sprayer heads – one each of blue, yellow, green and red
• 8 x refill tubes
How to use:
• Once fitted onto a bottle, you can pressurise the bottles by pumping the plunger, then press the trigger for a spray of liquid
• When finished the pressure can be released by pulling the release valve

All measurements are approximate

Anti moss spray at QVC – this amazing anti moss spray is back in stock. It sold out back in April.
It’s really effective!

Langdon’s Green Clean 2.5 Litres Anti-Moss Spray £16.50
Get rid of ugly moss, algae and lichen with this non-toxic and bio-degradable anti-moss spray. Simply spray the affected area, leave it for 36 hours and it will begin to disappear. In 48 hours it should be totally clear, then you can just sweep it away. This 2.5L spray will cover an area of about 20 square metres. It can be used on block paving driveways, patios, decking, fences, canvas and brickwork. You can even use it on glass or plastic conservatory roofs as long it doesn’t rain as it takes a little longer on non-porous materials.