rosy apple aphid on apple tree

Cure by washing them off.

I’ve been out with my camera this week! Am impressed by the bees on the broad beans. They can be hard to spot!

My spuds mulched with grass clippings are starting to flower. They’ve done really well!

Of course it’s the digging up that will be the true result!

They were laid on top of a couple of inches of fresh lawn clippings. The spuds were then covered up with lots of lovely top soil. They’ve had some grass mulch on one end of the bed and straw on the other. Because they are quite close together there’s no weeds apart from a dock I found in the corner of the bed where there wasn’t any leaf cover.

I will be videoing the digging up of these potatoes!

Bricks! Am digging a rockery up and have discovered tons of bricks. Most are going to be used as hardcore on a project but I’ll keep some of these intact ones as they have a nice name on!


They say Halsall Bury on them.

It’d be interesting to know how old they are.

Some fab pictures – two greenhouses too!

Another gardening blog – a garden veg grower who is on the waiting list for our site!

I ordered mine from T&M, potted them up and then hardened them off before planting them outside on my allotment.

Mine were plants – but you can grow them from seed too.
Thompson & Morgan has both seed and plants available

Globe Artichoke ‘Concerto’ F1 Hybrid – 5 plants £10.99
Globe Artichoke ‘Concerto’ is the first spineless purple hybrid variety, producing delicious crops with an excellent flavour. The astonishingly tasty hearts make a supreme delicacy when pickled, and the base of the leaves can be eaten too. This majestic perennial vegetable makes an attractive addition to any vegetable plot. It is ideal for the flower garden too, attracting bees to its thistle like flowers when left unharvested. Height: 180cm (71″). Spread: 75cm (30″).

Read the rest of this entry »

The peas get wet in the rain just like everything else. They won’t mind the rain though as they need water to grow those peas!

I threw on some chicken muck pellets not so long back so with the rain they’ll all be breaking down nicely so the plants can use the nutrients.
I’ve got lots of pease in – three rows of different ones, plus the spares I sowed later are growing up pea sticks. They’re easy to grow and we love picking the peas and eating them out on the plot.

The mange tout types are::
Carouby de Maussane – “Tall growing mangetout variety with attractive purple flowers. Large pods up to 11cm long. Good sweet flavour. Height150cm.

Oregon Sugar Pod – “Tall growing mangetout type producing really large broad flat pods. For the sweetest flavour pick when the peas are just forming in the pod. Height 100cm.

Using potatoes with a grass mulch – this is the first year I’ve done this. I started on the last section of my allotment to be dug over. I got some top soil to help me – it was being thrown out of a garden so I asked if I could have it. This top soil was put on top of the bed I’d dug over. There’s a lot of couch grass on my plot so I know this is a problem that I will have to work on. Hopefully having potatoes on and earthing them up and mulching will really help though.
This section has grass mulch on. I’ve got another section with straw mulch, muck and a layer of hops. It’s not a very scientific test – and they’ve been applied at different times – and only some parts of the bed had extra top soil. The areas with the extra top soil are doing best though!

The grass mulch is being nibbled away by worms and breaking down which means it should be enriching the soil as well as helping to stop weeds. You can keep topping up the mulch with a thin layer of grass clippings each time you mow your lawn.

Looking for a beautiful compost bin – then Wriggle Wrigglers have this really lovely compost bin:

Their beehive composter is so attractive that there’s no need to hide it away at the bottom of the garden! Nestle it in amongst your vegetable patch or flower garden, anywhere you can add your waste conveniently and have your compost ready to use when you want it. There’s a special door at the bottom that lets you harvest your compost easily and, if you want a whole batch of compost at once, the four sections simply lift apart. Made locally from rough sawn, sustainable, treated timber, each preassembled layer simply stacks easily on top of the next. The clever design allows air to circulate within the bin. It is also available in a range of special colours – these are painted to order, please allow five days for delivery. Size: 615 x 615 x 950mm (approx 300 litres) Please note that current Beehives do not feature the ‘handle’ on the lid, as shown in some photographs.

This beautiful compost bin is available in lots of different colours so you can match it to the theme of your garden.

Beehive Composter, Blue £155.00

Beehive Composter, Lavender £155.00

Beehive Composter, Plain £128.00

Beehive Composter, Poppy £155.00

Beehive Composter, Sage £155.00

Beehive Composter, Seagrass £155.00

Compost bins are often ugly things we want to hide away at the bottom of our gardens. There’s no need to hide this one away though. It truly is just beautiful! You will love having this compost bin in your garden. Your friends will be envious too. It’s based on the WBC hive – William Broughton Carr – that’s the classic hive design people think of when you imagine a bee hive. This compost bin is stylish and lovely. Your garden will look really amazing with it!
I believe your friends will think it’s the most beautiful compost bin they’ve ever seen too!
This compost bin could be a great gift for a reluctant composter. If someone you know doesn’t want to have a black dalek bin in their garden then this stunning compost bin might convince them that composting is for them.
You can compost all your garden waste including lawn clippings, as well as vegetable peelings form the kitchen.

The TV show Gardeners World – do you watch it on TV or catch up on iplayer?

You can only watch them for 14 days after they’ve been on TV but probably wise to keep up with the for the seasonal advice!

Monty’s hint of don’t water potatoes until they’re flowering needs noting!

I’ve always enjoyed watching gardening programs on TV. I prefer those with vegetable gardening or interesting projects to watch. I don’t mind watching about flower shows but unless it’s something really special they’re going to see it can be a bit dull. I’m not overkeen on flowers – not that I dislike them, but prefer to find out more about other aspects of gardening.
I used to watch Gardeners world back when Geoff Hamilton used to present it. I loved the show then – even though I was young, as I loved gardening and pottered in my gran’s greenhouse all the time.
With the weather being so bad at the moment it’s nice to know you can watch gardening programs on iplayer to catch up with your favourites.
Monty Don’s garden is Longmeadow – Geoff Hamilton’s was Barnsdale. I love the parts of the program they do on their own gardens.