Compost Turners

Dolmen
Compost Mixer and Aerator

Dolmen Designs
£18.95
Hand held tool for mixing and aerating compost.
Accelerates composting by distributing oxygen, bacteria and moisture.
Simply screw into the compost, pull and shake to mix and aerate.
Extra long (1.35m) to reach the base of any garden compost bin.
This is the longest one – it uses a different action to the others. This is
a spiral you twist in.

Darlac
DP788 Compost Aerator

Darlac
Folding arms
Easy use
Metal for strength
T Handles
£11.75

Joseph
Bentley Compost Aerator

Joseph Bentley
Designed for lifting and mixing compost during composting process
Blades at the base are hinged–they fold back when inserted in the compost,
then grip and pull up compost when lifted out
Carbon steel construction
Ash handles
Long-handled design minimises bending, thus helping to prevent back strain
£15.49

Compost
Aerator

Compost aerator
Hinges at base open to grip compost when pulled
Turning compost speeds up the process
Measures 85cm
Sorby & Hutton
£10.99

What Will I Do with All Those Courgettes?
– Over 150 recipes for soups, salads, main courses, casseroles, breads and cakes — enable this easy-to-grow vegetable to be transformed into easy-to-make and delicious dishes.

This book will help you deal with all the courgettes you grow. Some years you’ll have so many and the neighbours will run and hide when they see you carrying sacks of them up the road. Once fellow plotholders have got bored with them to then it’s down to you to do something with them!

I made chutney from my courgette surplus last year. My family have been scoffing the chutney this year and say it’s delicious. I’ve opened a jar myself and it was very nice and espcecially good on cheese on toast!

Other books you might like include: Veg Patch: River Cottage Handbook No.4

What Will I Do with All Those Green Vegetables

Preserving, cooking and enjoying what you grow is the end point for many gardeners. Being able to produce a chutney or jam and store it away for the winter is a fantastic feeling. Eating your own home made strawberry jam can’t be beaten! Strawberries are the thing I’ve not had a glut of until this year. I only managed to make a couple of jars of jam so I haven’t given any of that away! The blackcurrent and raspberry though was in surplus so it was mostly that jammed that people have had. I did make some mixed fruit jam – this was very much like a popular fruity drink! Delicious!

Nemaslug Slug Killer 40 sq m – same-day despatch
This will solve your slug problem. This year is exceptionally bad for slugs! Well, good for slugs, bad for gardeners.

Nemaslug Slug Killer 40 sq m – same-day despatch

Uses microscopic worms (nematodes) which prey on slugs and kills them
Gives up to 6 weeks protection
Totally organic and harmless to wildlife, pets and children
Very easy to apply – just water in
Same-day first-class despatch (Mon-Fri, excl. bank holidays)

The easy and completely harmless way to rid your garden of one its most troublesome (and hungry) pests.
Packed in an easy-to-use powder form, Nemaslug contains a species of microscopic worms called nematodes which feed on the slugs and kill them.

Simply dissolve the pack into the required amount of water, and spray over the soil.

One application lasts up to six weeks, and there’s no need to re-apply after wet weather.

This pack will treat up to 40 square metres. The product is live, and has a shelf life of up to 4 weeks. Refrigerate on receipt, and until use. Nemaslug will remain effective for around 6 weeks, and will need to be re-applied throughout the growing season.

orders received before 2pm will be despatched first-class the same day. Working days are Monday-Friday.

Kurtis Taunton Outdoor Garden Bench

Classic Design
Wooden Slatted Bench
Steel Frame
122cm x 60cm x 80cm
Easy to assemble

Bosch ART 23 Easytrim Electric Grass Trimmer (23 cm Cutting Diameter)

Easy and ergonomic handling thanks to perfectly balanced design and weight of just 1.6 kg
Powerful 280 W motor
Second handle for convenient guidance in any work position
With a 100 cm-long shaft, the longest in its class
Reliable “Pro-Tap” spool which prevents the line getting tangled up when the spool is changed – plus Pro Tap spool
The ART 23 is fitted with a Pro Tap spool to enable efficient line feed. To lengthen the line, simply bump the spool to the ground and this will release more line.
Handy hooks for power cable

Cheap, lightweight, gets the job done.
Get your grass strimmed with this grass trimmer. Everyone calls them strimmers – but officially it’s a grass trimmer.

Do you strim before you mow? The advantages of this are the mower will pick up any stray grass!

Grass trimmers at Amazon

Beginner’s Bee Book recommendation – Bee Manual: The Complete Step-by-step Guide to Keeping Bees – Bee Manual: The Complete Step-by-step Guide to Keeping Bees
is well worth getting. It’s easy and simple to understand. this is the ideal book for a beginner to get started with.

If you want a more advanced complex book then this classic – Guide to Bees & Honey: The World’s Best Selling Guide to Beekeeping – Guide to Bees & Honey: The World’s Best Selling Guide to Beekeeping

Comes highly recommended for anyone interested in finding out more about keeping bees.

Guide to Bees & Honey: The World’s Best Selling Guide to Beekeeping

This is the ideal guide for anyone wanting to start beekeeping and a revered reference book for experienced beekeepers. It includes information on all you need to know, including how to avoid swarms, plan requeening, or provide the colony with winter stores. It features key information on Varroa. It is copiously illustrated throughout. Fully revised and updated, this new edition of ‘Guide to Bees and Honey’ also presents expert advice for readers who plan to maintain a few hives for personal recreational use, as well as those who want to expand an existing colony into a commercial venture.

For the latest information on Varroa visit the gov website

Another bee book is by local author Paul Peacock! Keeping Bees: A Complete Practical Guide
More popular than ever, beekeeping is a fascinating craft that is fun to learn and the perfect antidote to the stress of modern life. This practical guide covers everything a new beekeeper needs to know, from buying equipment to harvesting your very own honey. With clear, step-by-step instructions on handling and checking your bees, helpful tips and advice on keeping them healthy and productive and also featuring a collection of tempting honey-based recipes for you to try, “Keeping Bees” contains everything a modern beekeeper should know.

Half-Hour Allotment – Lia Leendertz – The Half-hour Allotment (Royal Horticultural Society)

This one is next on my list to get hold of!

The main theme of the book is that you just give your plot 30 mins, 5 days a week to your allotment/garden, with weekends off. Or you dedicate the same time, 2.5 hours at weekends.

This practical and inspirational handbook is aimed at the new generation of gardeners who want to enjoy the taste and health benefits of growing their own food, but who have little time to spare. Expert advice and innovative techniques show you how to grow the right quantities of the fruit and vegetables you love, and enjoy the satisfactions of tending an allotment or vegetable garden without becoming a slave to your plot. Tested by fruit-grower Will Sibley and author Lia Leendertz on their own allotments, these methods will enable you to get the best results in half an hour per day, or even less.

The book covers all aspects of allotmenteering and vegetable gardening, including the practicalities of obtaining and maintaining a site, choosing what to grow, designing the plot and advanced projects such as building paths and shelters. A section on harvesting, storing and cooking shows you what to do when your crop is ripe and ready.

Organic Gardening: The Natural No-dig Way

In Organic Gardening, Charles Dowding shares the philosophy, tips and techniques which have enabled him to run a successful organic garden supplying local restaurants and shops for over 25 years.
Forget the rules: `received wisdom’ about gardening is surprisingly inaccurate. Understand better what is going on in the soil and with your plants, in your own garden and climate, and work out your own methods instead.
Respect and encourage life as much as your can, chiefly by spreading good compost or manure.
There is no need to dig in compost and manure – just spread it on top and let worms take it in. Digging can harm soil structure, and is not helpful to plants.
You can reduce weeding to a little hand-weeding or hoeing every ten days.
Based on his experience of a system of permanent slightly raised beds, Charles takes you through a delicious variety of fruit and vegetables: what to choose, when to plant and harvest, and how best to avoid pests and diseases. The book includes recipes to inspire you to culinary heights with your fresh-picked produce.

Click here for more info Organic Gardening: The Natural No-dig Way

J. Arthur bowers cocoa shell mulch – J. Arthur bowers cocoa shell mulch ( Mulch – J. Arthur bowers cocoa shell)

Cocoa shell mulch is perfect for suppressing weeds and holding moisture in beds and borders, and is a natural by-product of chocolate manufacturing.
It rots down gradually, improving the structure of the soil but will need topping up every few years. Once the cocoa shell has been spread over the borders and has got wet, it will form a crust which binds it together. This crust will help prevent slug and snail attack.

Each bag covers approximately 1.5 square metres at a depth of 5 cm

Please note: Cocoa shell contains the naturally occurring substance theobromine. If eaten by dogs, this can be very harmful. Please keep your dog away from the treated area until the mulch has settled i.e. a couple of weeks. If you are still concerned, please contact your local vet.
A white mould occasionally appears on cocoa shell when first applied this soon disappears as the cocoa shell starts to form the crust which binds it together.

If you have a dog I would avoid this product just to stop you worrying. If you love chocolate though you’ll love this!