Free compost offer in South Gloucestershire – 22,000 litres of compost to local communities and gardeners on Merlin’s assisted gardening scheme. Community groups will also be able to apply for funding for any horticultural projects they are running.
Gardens and Homes Direct added hundreds of new items
Ravello Marble Top Firepit Table £999.99
Perfect for keeping warm when the sun goes down, our spacious Ravello Marble Top Firepit Table will seat up to six* and is constructed in durable pre-cast concrete with an attractive marble-inlaid mosaic top surrounding the integral steel firebowl with a matching marble mosaic removable lid. Suitable for use with fireglass, gas logs and lava rocks the stainless steel ring burner may be powered with propane, butane or LPG bottled gas. The sturdy base plinth has a removeable panel door for gas bottle storage and an access panel to the flame control regulator and igniter switch.Features:• Sturdy pre-cast concrete construction with marble mosaic inlaid top.• Suitable for Propane, butane or LPG gas (gas bottle is not included). • Easy igniter switch and variable control stainless…
Winter Veg Salad Plants – Collection £8.99
Three excellent varieties that can be picked continuously throughout winter. Ideal for salads or stir-fries.Chard Rainbow Mix – Delicious and attractive stems in an array of bright shades. 18 Value plug plants.Lettuce Mix – A mix of different tastes, leaf colours and shapes. 18 Value plug plants.PLUS a packet of Rocket Pegasus Seeds – provides a good supply of strong flavoured leaves.
Twin Feeder and Hook Set £9.99
Now you can attract many types of wild birds to your garden with this delightful Twin Feeder and Hook Set which is elegantly decorated at the top and features an ornate finial. It comprises a heavy duty metal pole two hanging hooks and two metal feeders one for peanuts and the other for seeds. Easily assembled this is a wonderful and safe way to feed your feathered friends and observe their antics close up. The poles screw together which increases strength and rigidity while the ground spike makes assembly easier and also aids in supporting the pole. BTO approvedWith disappearing habitats and climatic changes the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) both recommend the year-round feeding of garden birds to maintain a healthy and viable flock of native species. Feeding requirements are greater in late autumn and winter when natural resources are in shorter supply and high energy levels are also needed during spring when birds are busy breeding and raising young. Once you have established a feeding regime
Polyculture is when you mix plants up rather than sowing them in huge patches. It can help avoid pest problems by breaking up the smells of plants and making them harder for insects and pests to find.
It is the opposite of monoculture which is the planting of one crop in a space.
Polyculture includes multi-cropping, intercropping, companion planting, and beneficial weeds.
Multi-cropping means having two crops from the space in one season – often radishes can be uses as part of a multicrop system as they grow quickly, but any quick growing crop can be used. They can be used to mark the line of a row of slower to germinate seeds. This harvesting in relay can be useful for getting more food from a small space. The three sisters planting – corn, beans and squash is an example of this.
Inter-cropping is when one crop is grow between the space between another. Some people use garlic – a tall growing plant – to fill in gaps. The garlic never takes much space and so is happy dotted about in gaps. Intercropping can be used with smaller spacing as some of the crop will be removed before taking too much room, allowing the remaining crop more space to grow.
Companion planting – example is when a combination of tomatoes and marigold can be multi-cropped to help deter some tomato pests.
Use of beneficial weeds – can be seen as a green manure waiting to be hoed into the soil. If you remember to hoe before they seed then this is fine. Some weeds can protect plants by keeping away pests either by smell or physically making it hard to get to. Nettles allow early aphids which in turn benefits ladybirds making it a good plan to allow a corner of your space to have some in.
Issues which might occur include not identifying the crops as seedlings if they’re not in rows. More experienced gardeners shouldn’t have this problem.
Some plants may be too vigorous for sharing space with other plants and cause issues over light, air, watering and feed requirements.
Using plastic water pipe to create arches over which to spread netting or plastic gives you pest free sheltered growing spaces.
John’s nets are on frames which can be easily lifted up from one side. They’re prevented from blowing away by stakes either side and can be propped open when you’re working on them.
This video is interesting, but their design looks like you need two people to open them up and close them again.
The photo on this post is on my allotment site. He’s used two different designs for the top bar – one he drilled a central hole and fed the pipe through, and the other just a channel to hold the pipe up. The wooden frame has holes drilled with a 22mm bit that means it all slots together really easily.
When you finally get to the top of the allotment waiting list you’ll get your allotment. You’ll be so excited about it but faced with the reality of an overgrown plot you’ll suddenly get scared! What have you got? A huge space full of weeds to sort out. It can be very daunting, but don’t worry!
You don’t have to dig the whole plot straight away and remove every last weed. Many sites have cultivation rules to ensure plots are tended. Most will be lenient with new plot holders on overgrown plots but it’d be nice to be able to make a different straight away.
One of the best techniques for dealing with a new plot is to cover as much of the surface as possible. You can use weed fabric, cardboard, layers of newspaper, plastic,
Where to get the cardboard: supermarkets can be a great source of cardboard. Contact the night shift managers who’ll be busy dealing with the overnight shelf stacking and you’ll almost certainly be able to get a pile of the stuff in big sheets. Weight it down either with rocks or more usefully by throwing some soil over the ground.
Break the plot down into sections. If you’re lucky then you’ll have beds and pathways in already. Some people see these as a hindrance and want to rearrange the plot entirely.
You might have plants in already, don’t cover these up. If you have rhubarb or fruit bushes then make these a priority to weed and feed. You’ll get a crop from these this year so it’s worth tidying them up. Getting plants growing and a crop from your plot will make all the work seem worth while.
Target the easy bits first – weed around the existing plants you’re going to be keeping.
This makes it look like you’re working hard. Once you’ve covered the rest of the plot you can uncover a part of it and weed and dig or you could go for the no dig gardening method which is certainly easier on your back.
No dig gardening videos
No Dig potatoes – a great video showing just how easy no dig is!
No Dig Bed Construction in 30 Minutes – he’s building this at the start of May to show it’s never too late to start planting! He uses a layer of soaked cardboard on the bottom to suppress weeds, manure, grass clippings, calcified seaweed, wilted nettles, paper shreddings,old growbags and compost. Topping off the bed with compost means you can plant into it straight away.
This is an easy to follow guide to making a layered bed the no dig way. It’s basically lasange gardening using materials most people should be able to find most of. The nettles is an interesting one – he touches on the fact they’re important for ladybird. This is because they’re home to the first aphids of the season which means the ladybirds also get off to a quick start. Just think about that before tearing down all the nettles in the garden! Whilst they’re prickly and not nice if you touch them they are useful for wildlife as they’re also home to caterpillars and useful for making a tea from for feeding up plants. Nettles have strong roots which reach down and pull up loads of nutrients and create plenty of nitrogen rich top growth which can be cropped periodically.
A youtube channel I watch quite often is thehortchannel.tv and he’s got an interview about the No-dig method with Charles Dowding
An aside from all the gardening items on this site – I attend Failsworth Writers’ Group and have recently send out this press release.
‘A way with words’ is a collection of poetry and short stories by the Failsworth Writers’ Group. It’s been published to celebrate the work of the group with the theme the Rochdale Canal.
The ebook includes adapted work from a project they took part in to create a promenade play ‘A way with words’ with Cathy Crabbe that was performed as part of the Rochdale Canal Festival. Additional works inspired by the canal have been added to the book to include a collection of poetry and prose by local writers.
The writing group meets every third Monday of the month at Failsworth library. New members are welcome to attend the sessions where writing projects are set and work read out and discussed. The writers regular enter competitions and have won prizes and been published in many collections.
Heather Ferrier, a local author with two books published, said, “It’s a great reflection of our work with some adaptations from the play as well as new poetry. We overlook the canal from the library so it was only natural to include the Rochdale Canal in the work we do.”
Sheila Stretton who also attends the group says “I look forward to our meetings at Failsworth library. Everyone in the group is so friendly. Some very interesting work has been achieved by the writers. I really enjoyed the project, A Way with Words:Cathy Crabb was great, she encouraged us all so much and the actors who played all the parts in our project were brilliant – truly professional.”
