Ideal for using on empty ground – captures nutrients which you then dig back into the soil.
Plants and Seeds has this new item today

Wilko Poultry Manure Pellets 7kg from Wilkinson Plus £5.98
A natural organic plant food with slow release nutrients to feed for longer. ideal for feeding all types of plants around the garden and helps enrich the soil and maintain the delicate balance. Contains phosphorous pentoxide.

When you’re cutting lettuces, and other cut and come again plants, do you just pick bits of plants off with your hands? If you do then you’ve almost certainly disturbed the roots or even damaged the plant. Using sharp scissors is one way of cutting neatly without damaging and for micro- leaf plants it’s essential.

Get maybe a second pair to leave in your greenhouse so you’re never tempted to just pick with your fingers.

An interesting site about Old Lawn mowers

The Old Lawnmower Club was formed in 1990 to promote the collection, preservation and display of lawn mowers made from 1830 onwards. We have more than 500 members around the world.

The Stewart Snow Shovel was put through it’s paces today. I cleared five paths in total – all different surfaces to see how it worked.
It’s lightweight and easy to hold. The D shaped handle means you can hold on to it and get a good rhythm going making it easy to make light work of snow clearing.

It’s available in two lengths
40cm Snow Shovel (wooden or aluminium handle) £12.99
46cm Snow Shovel (wooden or aluminium handle) £14.99
The one I’ve tried is the wooden handled one. This is not cold to grip which is a consideration if you’ve not got thick gloves to keep your hand warm when you’re holding it.
It’s easy to swap hands and use the shovel both sides too so you don’t wear your arms out.
The metal edge on the front makes it very good for scraping along the paths and clearing lots of snow off. It does make a lot of noise on some surfaces though but you know it’s there to protect the plastic of the shovel.

The shovel has a decent size scoup shape allowing you to shovel and clear snow by just pushing it along if you don’t want to shovel it out of the way. But it’s not as big as other snow shovels, but this means you’re never going to overload the shovel – it’s a couple of inches less wide than another snow shovel I’ve tried and I found this one so easy to move about even when I’d loaded it up with snow.

It’s easy to store as it can be hung up by the D handle too.
Lightweight and practical winter accessory. Every home should have one.

It didn’t take me long to clear the neighbours paths!

You should find Stewart Snow Shovels in shops. Their website is here

– get as many water barrels as possible. Daisy chain them together using the bit of kit listed below
– get barrels that have not had nasty chemicals in
– keep them lidded. This keeps out dirt and insects.
– make them child proof.
– don’t drink the rain water.
– decorate them if you want!

Connect them up to the roof downspouts to fill with rainwater. Sheds and greenhouses are worth having their own barrels. Some people think you should have a rain barrel inside the greenhouse so the water is the same temperature. It’ll also act as a thermal heat store too.

New items at Unwins Seeds & Plants

200Ltr Water Butt £54.95
This green wood grain effect 200 litre water butt is a must in any garden. It’s made from a minimum of 75% recycled HDPE plastic and comes with a 5-year guarantee. Unlike many other water butts advertised elsewhere ours comes complete with a stand child safe lid Quick Connect and downpipe diverter kit -ready for immediate installation. Downpipe converter kit will fit 68cm diameter round pipe or 65cm square pipe. Maxium distance from pipe to butt is 50cm. The butt with stand measures: 68cm diameter (at the widest point) and 118cm high (2.3 x 3.9ft).

Read the rest of this entry »

Becoming Domestic

permaculture on the new home front

Fancy rehoming some battery chickens?

No snow yet, but it’ll be here sooner or later so it’s nice to see that cmpanies
are looking to make better snow shovels to make the task of clearing snow easier!

My biggest hint is buy your snow shovel before it’s snowing!
Reviews coming soon!

Hints on clearing snow – wait til it’s stopped snowing!
Warm up – dress warmly as well as doing some stretching exercises!
Don’t spend too long in the snow.
Wear gloves at all times! Once your hands get cold and wet it becomes too miserable to stay out.
Stop for a rest!
Don’t over do it!
Clear your path and elderly neighbours paths!
I did three paths last year! Mine, my elderly neighbours and the lady next door to him as she has a couple of little children!

Put grit down after you’ve cleared snow, not before!
There is snow clearning advice on direct.gov.uk site – basically they say don’t be afraid of doing it, but don’t add water as it’ll freeze and make things more slippy and dangerous.

Stewart Garden prepares for winter with exciting range of snow shovels

Stewart Garden, the gardening products division of UK manufacturer, Stewart,
has launched a range of snow shovels.

After two consecutive harsh Arctic winters which brought Britain to a grinding
standstill with snow levels which had not been seen since 1947, the impressive
Stewart range is a timely reminder to consumers to be prepared. Already, some
forecasters have predicted that Britain is just weeks away from being in the
grip of temperatures as low as minus 20c, with snow beginning to fall from November.

New to the market are two separate ranges of durable Stewart Garden snow shovels;
either long-handled or telescopic.

The long-handled shovels come with either a robust wooden or lightweight aluminium
shaft, complete with a D Handle for comfort and grip. The recycled plastic blades
are fitted with an aluminium blade edge, either 40m or 46cm in width, to give
extra strength and durability.

The shovels are available with a suggested retail selling price (SRSP) of £12.99
for the 40cm shovel with a wooden blade and £14.99 for the 46cm model.
The aluminium-handle 40cm shovel carries an SRSP of £14.99 and £16.99
for the 46cm shovel.

The telescopic shoves carry an aluminium shaft and they are a compact size
which makes them easy to store in a car boot. The adaptable shovels are fitted
with a D Handle, and a 28cm blade, carrying an SRSP of £16.99, which includes
a free storage bag worth £1.99.

For two consecutive winters, Britain has experienced a prolonged deep freeze
with roads blocked, as both pavements and paths became laden with heavy snow,
while grit supplies ran out. Stewart Garden has brought to the market an extremely
valuable and adaptable range of shovels which will be put to good use and which
are a must for retailers to stock.

Full Stewart Garden shovels and SRSPs

Long-handled snow shovels:

40cm Snow Shovel (wooden handle) £12.99

46cm Snow Shovel (wooden handle) £14.99

40cm Snow Shovel (aluminium handle) £14.99

46cm Snow Shovel (aluminium handle) £16.99

Telescopic snow shovel:

Telescopic snow shovel with storage bag £16.99

The business has undergone a series of changes to its brand and corporate identity
in the months since, including the creation of the Stewart Garden division complete
with striking new packaging design. Features of the new packaging include the
Grow With Us strapline, reinforcing Stewart Garden’s commitment to grow
your own, and a subtle, yet unmissable red and blue, detailing underling Stewart’s
position as a quality British manufacturer.

Stewart Garden’s commitment to the gardening sector is stronger than
ever. Major investments are planned for new technology, new products and expanded
merchandising and POS support for retailers.

For further information on Stewart Garden visit www.stewart-garden.co.uk.

Very pretty huge garlands of dried flowers

“have a tradition here in Cornwall of constructing a garland made of Pittosporum foliage which is suspended the whole length of the main hall of the Tudor house. It is 18 metres (60 feet) long and about 30cm (12″) in diameter and this is the base for our dried flower display.”

Got an old brolly? Preferably one of those clear plastic ones .. turn an umbrella into a fold-away cloche