Peat Ballan

Talkback: Growing strawberry plants

I put in a strawb bed with 50% home grown plants, and the remainder of store bought. I don't know whether it's the weather, but the berries are looking very 'peely wally' and 'she who must' is encouraging me to rip 'em all out and start a new bed. Might this be a good idea. I have invested lots of fibre , mulch material, old growbag stuff, and last year, some old playground bark chips. Have I buggered up the soil ?  

Does anyone know a proven way to rid my allottment of mares tail?

As mares tail has  been around for several million years, don't expect it to be an easy job !  I had it in my allotment fo a few years after taking it over, and have made continuous raids on it, buy digging it out by the root, CAREFULLY, and trying to get EVERY bit of the root our, even the small bits, as they will just regenerate if left, from the tiniest remnant overlooked. Dig, scratch, root out at every chance appearance, and accept that it is an ongoing task. Be vigilant and patient. You will eventuaally reduce it to a manageable level.  Goof luck.  Oh yes ! If you can get a pig in to rootle it up, then this is even better !

Talkback: Wet weather on the veg plot

The wet weather has been so extreme so far this year, that I have just about given up on any successful crops. I should have gone for either a rice paddy or water cress ! I thought it was gunna be a good year during one warm patch a couple of months ago, but then it rained and turned cold enough for a virtual 2nd winter. Sweet peas under a frame, with fleece covering them, failed miserably, dwarf beans disappeared as soon as they poked the surface. Blueberry bushes have thinned out alarmingly. Peach and cherry leaf curl hit as usual, and leaves have dropped off from heavy rain. A zero crop of apples is expected. What a calamitous year !

Talkback: Emptying the compost bin

Finding wildlife in the compo bin is the worst thing in the gardening day, oop t'lotty. I have found bumble bees, a rats nest, sow bugs, (wood lice) and a multitude of wrigglies, crawlies and buzzers.  I HATE causing distress to the wee critturs, but as there are some 6 bins, barrels, tubs and bins for compost making, I do have a choice of compost to use.  No toads yet, but an occasional froggie goes wooing out into the damp nights from a bin quite often. I think a second pond is called for, for the use of toads, should they desire. I would also welcome newts, sober preferred !

Fiskars Weed Removing Tool

Hmph !       As for aerating the grass/lawn, I think a mills bomb would have the same effect for the crater effect, BUT IT still LEAVES 50% of the root system in the ground, on the ground I have anyway !  Love the dialogue anyway !

Talkback: How to grow garlic

DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME !  I thought I would be clever and try bottling the cloves in olive oil. I now have three jam jars of garlic cloves, that are slightly fermented, and when I try to open them, it is like having a champagne bottle of garlic explode in the kitchen ! Takes days for the smell to disperse ! Like being sprayed by a skunk, it permeates clothes, fabrics, drawers, towels and hair to such a degree that people either turn away from you or ask if you are English !

Anyone want a bottle of garlic wine ?

Talkback: Peach leaf curl

I forgot, last year, I gave a red card to a reluctant plum tree, pulled it up unceremoniously from it's spot, and put it in the 'sin bin' oop top of lotty. Here, in shame and isolation, in the same season of its' exile, it PRODUCED FRUIT !!! I think it should be called 'Contrary Plum' !

Talkback: Peach leaf curl

Two peach trees, bought two years ago Last year they flowered. Fruited sparingly. This year, nowt, except for one measely reluctant blossom on one tree. Bright green new leaves, but starting to curl inwards, tightly. Is this a case for the wonder-drug, Bordeaux mix, to be sprayed liberally, in addition to pruning off the curled leaves ?

Talkback: How to grow garlic

So many methods of planting for garlic, itis difficult for the beginner to decide which to try. I too, was abeginner a few years ago, ( or seasons ) and I just jumped into the fray with my usual enthusiasm on a foundation of optimism and determination. The garlic more or less looked after itself from day one ! I use a different bed each time, about 5mX3m, well dug over, a bit of oh be joyful material thrown in for soil improvement properties, and weed occasionally with a hoe-hoe.(haha).They DO look after themselves, and in about August time, after 7 months, harvest , drying the bulbs out on a rack in the sun. Garlic in a pot, is best with a leg of lamb thrown in at the same time !!  Garlic is a hardy and well behaved plant. I LOVE it !

HANDY HINT FOR GARDEN LABELS

I manage to get some good bargains from Wilko's at the end of the season, whenever that is !  Bags of composts for the following spring, gong for 25 to 50 pence, BIG 'uns too ! If one has storage space, the autumn is a bargain basement dream come true! All sorts of spontaneous cheapo's !

bee hives

benefits of bee hives 

bonfires

where and when to burn or not to burn