Garden And Gardener

Everything for the Gardener and their Garden

Archive for the 'allotment' Category

Spider proof shed!

Wednesday, December 5th, 2018

Spider season hits: New spider-proof shed

 

With 25% of the British public admitting they’re too scared to venture into their sheds due to arachnophobia*, experts at Tiger Sheds want to tackle this head-on with the world’s first Spider Proof Shed.

 

No longer will you fear grabbing your gardening tools or bustling for your bike; visit your outbuilding with confidence with the Spider Proof Shed. The shed has been intelligently designed to repel spiders and unlike your standard garden shed, the whole space is airtight.

 

As we all know, spiders like to crawl their way through the smallest cracks and holes so the expert designers have taken extreme care to cover any potential areas that the eight-legged visitors can sneak through by including a special airtight door seal. The windows are made from toughened glass and are completely sealed in to ensure the shed is not only water resistant but spider proof too!

 

The shed also comes with lining paper in a sky blue colour, as this has been scientifically proven to help repel spiders. Tiger Sheds are also offering extra treatments as an upgrade with your purchase, such as treating the wood used with peppermint, citrus and insecticide; all ingredients which spiders despise!

 

A novelty ‘No Spiders Allowed’ sign comes as standard with your purchase, making the perfect decorative piece for your Spider Proof Shed. It even features some useful tips on keeping your shed spider free!

 

As an optional extra with this product, you can include our ‘Creepy Crawley’ den, which is a special home designed to attract spiders away from your much loved garden shed. The Spider Home is a dark wooden box with holes for the spiders to crawl into. The inside of the box is painted black to make it even darker to attract them to stay in the Spider Home. We suggest you place this outside your Spider Proof Shed.

 

Jack Sutcliffe at Tiger Sheds said: “Before developing this product our skilled design team carried out extensive research to fully understand exactly what repels spiders and keep your garden building spider-free. The product is scientifically proven to be spider proof and is the perfect shed for anyone who has a fear of spiders and wishes to enter their outbuilding in full confidence!

 

“For those who are still sceptical we also offer an optional six-month ‘pest test’ which will be conducted by a fully trained member of the Tiger Sheds team who will carefully inspect your Spider Proof Shed for any spiders. If we do find any, these will be carefully removed and a full investigation will take place into how this may have occurred.

 

For more information on the worlds first Spider Proof Shed please visit: https://www.tigersheds.com/product/spider-proof-shed/

 

Chicken sitting

Wednesday, July 18th, 2018
Eggs! A range of sizes

Bet that one hurt!

I’m currently chicken sitting for someone who isn’t well. I’ve been collecting the eggs> This was the first lot I collected. There’s an absolutely huge one.

Poached egg plant

Friday, June 1st, 2018

The bees love it.
Mine is covered in honey bees.  This is a path that I’ve not weeded for a few weeks since the poached egg plant started to flower. It’s now so full of bees it sounded like a full bee hive!  Buy poached egg plant seeds online at amazon

 

poached egg plant

Seed trays on ebay – absolute bargains

Friday, June 1st, 2018

Buy seed trays on ebay – a great way of starting plants off

New vegetable seeds for 2018 from Suttons

Wednesday, October 4th, 2017

25 new types of vegetable seeds from Suttons available to grow in 2018

New for 2018

 

Tomato Seeds – Red Zebra £2.99

Spinach Seeds – F1 Rubino £2.99

Spinach Seeds – F1 Comred £2.99

Radish Seeds – Diana £2.49

Pepper Chilli Seeds – Pearls £2.99

Pepper Seeds – F1 Cardinal (Purple) £3.49

Onion Seeds – Purplette £1.99

Lettuce Seeds – Rossa di Trento £2.99

Leek Seeds – Chefs White £2.99

Herb Seeds – Basil Round Midnight £2.99

Cucumber Seeds – F1 Zipangu £2.99

Carrot Seeds – F1 Fire Wedge £2.99

Cabbage Seeds – F1 Sunta £3.49

Cabbage (Collard) Seeds – F1 Sweetie £3.99

Beetroot Seeds – F1 Bolder £2.99

Broccoli Seeds – F1 Monclano £4.99

Bean (Dwarf French) Seeds – Cannellino £3.49

Bean (Runner/Butter) Seeds – Czar £3.49

Seed Potatoes – Kingsman £4.99

Seed Potatoes – Golden Wonder 1kg £4.99

Pea Seeds – Blauwschokker £2.99

My allotment

Wednesday, October 4th, 2017

Allotment covered in nasturtiums

This yeah my allotment looks really green. You can’t see some of the paths because the nasturtiums have took over. They’re looking really lush and green and they have spread and spread.
I should be out there clearing them away but the flowers are full of bees – both bumbles and honey bees so I’m leaving them as is for now.
When the first frost wilts them I’ll go and pile them up on my compost heap – which is also covered in them.
I quite like their ground cover aspect but the leeks might not feel the same way.

Next year I’m going to pull them all out in July and then see my plot more empty at this time of year. I imagine I’ll get a lot self-seed again like they do. Which is fine. I wouldn’t mind one of two plants but I think they’ve got a bit crazy now. On the bright side they are edible and you can use the leaves and flowers in salads. They are very peppery though so you don’t need many. They might be good in a saag but I’ve never cooked any yet! Maybe this year.

The stick with a bottle on is just a short cane. There’s a borage plant there that’s doing really well too.

Protect your allotment property

Thursday, September 21st, 2017

One of these might be just the thing for fixing all your tools together. It’ll only work on D handle tools, and items you can loop it through. I will be writing about allotment thefts very shortly and what we can do to help reduce the risk!

Ten years ago, the worst that could happen to your garden was that someone might dig up a couple of your prize geraniums. But now, green fingered thieves are much more cunning and come with machinery able to take a BBQ, lawnmower or your favourite gnome.
Master Lock’s legendary 90-year heritage and continued pursuit of excellence ensures its comprehensive range of security products offer the highest levels of strength, reliability and functionality on the market. The security specialist is so commonplace in the US that ‘Master’ is now a byword for ‘padlock’. The founder of the company even helped the world renowned escapologist Harry Houdini devise his acts  in the 1920s.
The Python adjustable locking cable from Master Lock is 1.8m long and 8mm in diameter, ensuring it can coil around furniture of various sizes. This useful garden gadget is constructed using a 100% steel braiding plus is weather tough and rust resistant; whether it is Mother Nature or a pesky burglar your garden furniture and plants will be safe. Similar to a bike lock, but much stronger, simply loop the sturdy cable around a gas canister or ladder and attach to the nearby fence or shed.
There is never not a perfect time to secure your garden furniture. But if you are going away over the summer or preparing to pack up your garden for the winter months, now is the time to act!
Garden theft is big business in the UK with some £4 billion of furniture, plants, paving stones and wildlife stolen each year, a rough estimate published by The Telegraph in 2016.
Master Lock
Python 8418EURD
£24.95

Cheap seeds at T&M

Friday, June 16th, 2017

Cheap seeds at T&M

Vegetable Seeds


Quick – you only have a limited time to take advantage of our very special offer and buy 10 packets of seed for just £5! Choose your favourites from over 250 flower and vegetable varieties.

To receive your offer, simply add your chosen 10 packets from the selected range to your order and your discount will be applied in your shopping basket. This offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotional vouchers. Your 10 cheapest packets of seed will be included in the offer. Hurry, offer ends midnight Sunday 18th June 2017 or while stock lasts.
mse-10for5-flowersmse-10for5-veg

Shallots

Wednesday, October 12th, 2016

I havested my shallots. The red sun did better than the golden ones. So I’ll be trying more red sun next year.
I’ve pickled them according to a recipe my mum gave me.

Use red english shallots if possible.
Peel and top and tail them. Wash thoroughly in cold water a couple of times and then dry them off. Place the shallots in a large china bowl and cover with salt. Leave for a day covered – use a plate if you don’t have a lid for the bowl.
Wash off all the salt and rinse under the tap. Dry them carefully. Pack them into jars tightly and add a pinch of pickling spice – but not too much! Add the pickling vinegar which has been sweetened with demerara sugar to taste. Ensure the shallots are all covered and then lid the jars. Place in a dark cupboard and leave for 3-6 weeks before eating.

pickled shallots

Tomato harvest

Monday, October 10th, 2016

I’ve had a good year for the greenhouse tomatoes. The outdoor ones succumbed to blight rather quickly, and although the sungold lasted a bit longer than the big tomatoes, they too went over very quickly.
homegrown tomatoes

I’ve left the plants there as there are some ripening still, with some green ones. I will leave them a little longer, but it’s getting cold at night now. I’ve shut the greenhouse door now to try and conserve the heat of the day.

My plan for winter will be to empty the greenhouse of all plant material, wash the glass and then add some muck to the beds. I might dig out some of the dry dusty material and make sure it’s packed with muck. The muck then gets to rot down before spring when it’s time to replant the greenhouse.