Got water barrels? These two gadgets will help you make the most of the water you can collect.
Have as many water butts as you can. Rainwater is brilliant for plants so it’s worth the effort of collecting it.

Garden lake linking kit £9.99
Fits the ‘Garden Lake’ water butt range. (Not compatable with the Harcostar range)

Drill powered-pump £9.74
This niffty device enables you to pump water from a water butt, sink or bath into your water butt or watering can. Its easy to use you just need your own hose and a hand held drill. to pump upto 1,000 litres a hour. Supplied complete with two 13mm adaptors for 6.5mm diameter hose pipe.

If you take tender plants from the greenhouse and plant them out then you risk damaging the plants, stunting their growth or even killing them.

The process of preparing plants for being planted outside is called hardening off.

You must gradually introduce plants to the outdoors.
A greenhouse or cold frame provides shelter from cold temperature extremes, wind, rain, animals and pests, frost and snow.
The process of hardening off needs to be done slowly enough to not shock the plant when it is planted out finally.

Some steps can be:
putting plants outside during daylight and then moving them in at night, gradually extending the time outside. Use of cold frames without lids can allow exposure to some elements. Use of fleece when you plant things out, or windbreaks, can soften the impact of planting out.

Plants that are frost sensitive need to stay under cover until after frost risk has passed. Having sheltered corners of your garden can be useful for larger plants. Wrap them in fleece if it’s going to be cold.

If you need to plant out in a hurry then you must be prepared for plants to have a stop in their growth if they are not hardened off properly. It comes as a real shock to plants when they are exposed to the wind, rain and cold of outdoors.

I found some polycarbonate by a skip, asked and bought it home!
Some has been turned into cloches for my allotment, and some into this cold frame.

Scaffold board sides and hinged top.

Not quite full yet but will be using it to harden off as well as start more seeds in. It gives shelter from the worst of the weather and is really useful!

Thee’s a project on in Trafford to find growing space
http://www.kindling.org.uk/node/1128

When: 1st or 15th May, 5.30 – 8pm. Supper provided.

Where: St John’s Centre, St John’s Road, Old Trafford, M16 7GX

The Centre is on St John’s Road, behind the big red church (St John’s) on Ayres Road in Old Trafford.

Agenda for the evening:

5.30 Welcome – project objectives
5.40 What are we looking for?
5.50 How to record the data
6pm Supper! and Q&A
6.15 Walking the streets – data collection (in pairs)
7.15 Return to St John’s Centre – upload data – feedback
7.45 Presentation of populated map – Q&A
8pm Finish

Free compost in Watford
Household Waste Recycling Centre site at Wiggenhall Road (WD18 0FB, next to the council’s Wiggenhall Depot) between 4pm and 7pm on Wednesday 8 May 2013, to pick some bags of high quality compost (two per household). This is made from the green waste we collect every fortnight via your kerbside recycling scheme.

Long season cropping means this is a good value plant to grow.

Broccoli ‘All Year Round Collection’ (Purple Sprouting) – 3 packets – 1 of each variety (425 seeds in total) £5.99
This broccoli all year round collection includes the following varieties; Summer Purple (Aug-Oct) - British breeding especially for summer cropping as needs no vernalisation (winter chill) to produce tasty purple spears. Robust plants will produce high yields if picked regularly to promote fresh flushes of spears. Broccoli Summer Purple has good heat tolerance. Crops from July to November if sown at regular intervals. Apollo (Jun-Nov) - Grow your own distinctly-flavoured, tender-stem broccoli at a fraction of the price of imported supermarket produce. A cross between selections of broccoli and kailaan (Chinese kale) to give deliciously flavoured, soft and tender, nutrient-rich stems and flower buds. The main or central head must be cut to encourage plenty of side-shoots. Choice Selection (Dec-May) - A choice mix of three British bred Broccoli varieties, Red Admiral F1 hybrid, Rudolph and Cardinal. Vigorous plants to provide top quality, large purple spears throughout the winter and spring at a time when fresh vegetables are often in short supply. Grows best in fertile, moist, well drained soil

Broccoli ‘Red Spear’ (Purple Sprouting) – SowStrong® Collection – 1 packet (70 seeds) £2.49
Vigorous plants produce a huge crop of top-quality, tasty purple spears

Broccoli ‘Redhead’ (Purple Sprouting) – 1 packet (150 seeds) £2.49
An improvement on traditional forms of purple sprouting. Broccoli Redhead are seeds in the RHS Vegetable Collection and produce a more vigorous plant with large primary heads along with good sized, secondary shoots for picking over an 8 week period through from March to April

Broccoli ‘Choice Selection Mix’ (Purple Sprouting) – 1 packet (200 seeds) £2.09
A choice mix of three British bred Broccoli varieties, Red Admiral F1 hybrid, Rudolph and Cardinal. Vigorous plants to provide top quality, large purple spears throughout the winter and spring at a time when fresh vegetables are often in short supply. Grows best in fertile, moist, well drained soil

Broccoli ‘Summer Purple’ (Purple Sprouting) – 1 packet (200 seeds) £2.09
British breeding especially for summer cropping as needs no vernalisation (winter chill) to produce tasty purple spears. Robust plants will produce high yields if picked regularly to promote fresh flushes of spears. Broccoli Summer Purple has good heat tolerance. Crops from July to November if sown at regular intervals

Broccoli ‘Rudolph’ (Purple Sprouting) – 1 packet (100 seeds) £1.99
One of the earliest, Broccoli Early Sprouting Rudolph produces tasty large spears. If you live in a colder climate then you can still expect early harvests from mid February

This offers a good value plant – grow this and you’ll eat the delicious tender vegetable in the autumn and winter.

Broccoli Purple Sprouting 1000 Seeds £2.99
Quality Broccoli Purple Sprouting seedsA high standard variety which will produce superb purple sprouting Broccoli.

Really delicious, so order some now! They won’t last long as they’re very popular so if you want some order now!

Fresh Jersey Royal New Potatoes 4lbs (1.8kg) £10.99
Freshly picked Jersey RoyalsThese Jersey Royal New Potatoes are hand planted, grown and picked especially for our customers. They can be roasted or boiled once they arrive – remember to wash off all the dirt, you don’t even have to peel the potatoes! Please note that these are fresh potatoes, not to be mistaken for our seed potato varieties.As we are based in Jersey, home to the famous Jersey Royal Potato – a British favourite, we thought it would be a wonderful idea to be able to offer our customers the opportunity of ordering some of these unique tasting, delicious potatoes to enjoy.

Great selection plus look for multibuy offers

Venus Fly Trap Orange (Dionaea muscipula) 1 Plant 9cm Pot £8.99
Doesn’t just catch fliesThese Carnivorous Plants will not only prove to be an unusual and exotic feature they will also be a very useful and environmentally friendly form of pest control. The white flowers must be removed as they will take most of the energy from the plant which it will need to produce the traps.This fascinating little plant doesn’t just catch flies, but also any type of insect that gets caught in its trap i.e. woodlice, crane flies etc.

Venus Fly Trap red (Dionaea muscipula) 1 Plant 9cm Pot £8.99
A traditional Venus Fly trap that you can grow indoorsThese Carnivorous Plants will not only prove to be an unusual and exotic feature they will also be a very useful and environmentally friendly form of pest control. The white flowers must be removed as they will take most of the energy from the plant which it will need to produce the traps.These fascinating little plants don’t just catch flies, but also any type of insect that gets caught in their traps i.e. woodlice, crane flies etc.

Slug Eating (Sarracenia Purpurea) 1 Plant 9cm Pot £8.99
A natural solution to garden slugsAs this plant eats the slug, a seal is formed which prevents decomposition odour and stops other animals attacking the plant. The plant has long lasting attractive and colourful flowers which are ideal for flower arranging. The plant is hardy and can survive down to -4°F/-20°C.This slug eating plant is a natural solution to garden slugs that will bring an exotic touch to your garden and produces attractive and colourful flowers, ideal for flower arranging.

Sundew Plant (Drosera binta) 1 Plant 9cm Pot £8.99
Catching those unwanted pestOur new range of Carnivorous plants are easy to grow, very hardy and will prove to be an unusual and exotic feature to your garden. They are also a very useful and environmentally friendly form of pest control, eating the likes of flies, wasps and slugs!This variety will catch greenfly, whitefly, midges and mosquitoes and are especially good plants to put beside roses. It is a hardy variety and can survive in temperatures down to -5°F/-23°C.

Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia Wrigleyana) 1 Plant 9cm Pot £8.99
A natural hardy solution to vine weevilThis variety is a natural solution to rid your garden of vine weevils and will catch many unwanted pests in the garden such as wasps, slugs and flies. It is a hardy variety and can survive in temperatures down to -4°F/-20°C

Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia Dracula) 1 Plant 13cm Pot £9.99
Great Looking and Hardy SarraceniaThis Carnivorous plant variety is also known as the Pitcher Plant. It will catch many unwanted pests in the garden such as wasps, earwigs, flies. It is hardy and can survive in temperatures down to -5?F/-23?C

Snail Eating Plant (Purpurea) 1 Plant 13cm Pot £9.99
An attractive and natural way to keep your garden snail-freeThese Carnivorous Plants will not only prove to be an unusual and exotic feature they will also be a very useful and environmentally friendly form of pest control. As it eats the snails a seal is formed which prevents decomposition odour and stops other animals attacking the plants.This plant has long lasting attractive and colourful flowers that are ideal for flower arranging. It is hardy and can survive down to -4°F/20°C.

Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia pinky/red) 1 Plant 13cm Pot £9.99
Another Natural a way to rid those garden pestsBeing hardy it will continue throughout the winter to capture its prey and makes a fantastic addition to any garden. Can survive in temperatures down to -4°F/-20°CThis Carnivorous plant variety is also known as the Pitcher Plant and will catch wasps, earwigs, flies and many unwanted pests in the garden

Pitcher Plant (Sarracenia Leucophylla) 1 Plant 13cm Pot £9.99
Unusual ‘White Top’ sarraceniaBeing hardy it will continue throughout the winter to capture its prey and makes a fantastic addition to any garden. Can survive in temperatures down to -4°F/-20°CThis Carnivorous plant variety is also known as the Pitcher Plant. This unusual and interesting Pitcher Plant is commonly known as the White Top and will catch wasps, earwigs, flies and many unwanted pests in the garden.