tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68985326906796473952024-03-19T13:53:38.395-07:00Hardy PerennialUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-4054208673377613192012-09-09T15:00:00.000-07:002012-09-09T15:00:01.613-07:00Making a home out of EarthbagsFrom <a href="http://milkwood.net/2012/09/09/earthbag-dome-getting-it-done/#more-9633">http://milkwood.net/2012/09/09/earthbag-dome-getting-it-done/#more-9633</a> :<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The earthbag dome, while awesome, has been somewhat of a side-project since the first big gush of effort dedicated to its bag-raising (if that is a term) in Feb 2011. But now it’s time to get it done.<br /><br />Partly because done is the engine of more, and partly because we want Rose to have a cosy haven after a big day of cookery. Nearly there now….<br /><br />There’s a bit of an in-joke going around the farm about the earthbag dome… <strong>it’s been re-christened the effort dome</strong>. While we all appreciate that earthbag building can be an awesome building technique for earthquake and tsunami-prone areas, and is definitely fabulous insofar that it can be done with only some bags, barbed wire, local earth and a whole lot of human energy, <strong>the total human effort involved is quite immense</strong>.<br />...<br /><br /><strong>On the upside for the earthbag dome, it will definitely outlast us all.</strong> When the tinyhouse has crumbled in generations to come, the earthbag dome will still be sitting, hobbit-like in the landscape, providing solidity, warmth and cosiness to whoever cares to start a fire in the domelet.<br />
</blockquote>
<br />
I've always been interested in alternative construction techniques. Earthbag
building techniques have been used for a number of years both as emergency
building and in wars. The downside is that they do require a lot of effort to
make. On the other hand they are inexpensive to make and beautiful. <br />
<br />
There is a post elsewhere on the internet where someone tried to demolish
one of these buildings, and despite removing almost the entire bottom layer of
bags it still remained standing. Quite amazing.<br />
<br />
The article has a lot of pictures...they made a beautiful building IMHO.<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-47319963763104015782012-09-09T13:46:00.000-07:002012-09-09T13:46:00.025-07:00Problems with Sheering SheepFrom <a href="http://www.permacultureinbrittany.com/2012/09/shearing-sheep.html">http://www.permacultureinbrittany.com/2012/09/shearing-sheep.html</a> :<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Shearing Sheep <br />
<br />
The whether-or-not depended on the weather and as we’d ‘enjoyed’ le temps pourri (rotten weather) since some super days back in March, I thought the sheep would be glad to hold onto their outdoor coats. Their summer-wear, like our own, was left safely in a suitcase in the attic.<br />
...<br />
<br />The other aspect of my apprehension is the risk of cutting the sheep. One must avoid the temptation to push wool away, which can tent the skin leaving it vulnerable to the next ‘blow’ of the shears but rather pull the skin towards oneself, so flattening it out. <br />
<br />I’m better once I get started but the bad weather played to my procrastination. I’ve checked my notes and I sheared in May (2009) then early June (2010) then mid to late June last year and this year is was mid July when la météo confidently announced a string of hot days coming up. <br />
...<br />
<br />There’s another issue, which is that of flystrike, where a (certain type of fly) lays it’s eggs on a sheep, whose maggots then start burrowing into the poor beast. <br />...<br />
<br />All done in a day and not a single nick, I think I might just be getting the hang of this. <br />
</blockquote>
<br />
We have had an almighty time sheering our own flock. It spend a good four
months raining on and off, and it is bad for the sheep to sheer them if they
are wet. You can cut the sheep and get fly strike. The other worry is that the
rain actually breaks down some of the wool coat which produces a smell that
flies are attracted to. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately that meant we got one case of fly strike this year - luckily
easily cured.<br />
<br />
A second problem we have with sheering is that Hebrideans are notoriously
canny sheep. A Breed that is very hardy but also sensitive if anything out of
the usual is happening. They go into the pen like good sheep every day except
when the sheering is done.<br />
<br />
It is very interesting to read about someone else sheering their flock. We
have a friend that comes round every year to do it - maybe not the cheapest
way, but he can do it in a few minutes of effortless work, whereas we don't
have enough practice.<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-30378737258132853252012-09-09T10:36:00.002-07:002012-09-09T10:36:20.961-07:00A couple start up their own smallholding<br />
From <a href="http://cltampa.com/tampa/permaculture-in-the-burg/Content?oid=3402158">http://cltampa.com/tampa/permaculture-in-the-burg/Content?oid=3402158</a> :<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Nathan Levy is a tall sun-cured older man, teaching a small group the basics of permaculture. <strong>Right now, they are learning how to make dirt.</strong><br />
“You need something green, something brown, and some manure,” Levy says. “Basically you need nitrogen, carbon, and organisms.”<br />
Making soil is better than buying soil, Levy explains. Purchased soil can be sterilized, devoid of any pathogens, including the good ones.<br />
“With good soil, you’ll get a great vine and leaves but no sweet potato,” Levy says. “You can eat those leaves. People don’t realize there are greens that grow in Florida in the summertime.”<br />
The greens that grow in Florida’s heat and sandy soil may not be like the romaine lettuce you are used to.<br />
...“<strong>This is an entire community of bugs,”</strong> Levy says. On one side a pile of old eggshells and debris is a feast for all matter of life inside. <strong>What comes out the other end is some of the richest soil around.</strong> Thin red worms squirm through deep brown and black dirt.<br />
Levy sits everyone down in the shade and hands out water.<br />
“So what are everyone’s plans? Where are you going to grow?”<br />
...<br />
“We never got into this to make money,” Tina says. “We just realized that most people who grow for themselves always grow too much.”<br />
...<br />
“We’ve never been healthier,” Tina says. “We really want others to become self-sustaining, especially with the rising costs of food.”<br />
..<br />
“The stuff they sell at the grocery stories is terrible,” Nathan says. “I said to myself, I’ve gotta grow some vegetables.”<br />
</blockquote>
It's thrilling to hear about people making a living out of gardening and growing crops. Levy teaches how to compost, how to grow and harvest produce, and has set up a green box scheme where local smallholders can sell their produce.<br />
<br />
<br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-64286301082563535212012-09-09T10:18:00.000-07:002012-09-09T10:18:07.475-07:00Commeth the Man, Commeth the winter.
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This year had very strange and challenging weather. First,
until March there was a drought where we had very low rainfall all winter and
hose pipe bans. Of course, from the day the hose pipe bans were announced we
had continuous rain until the water company removed them. It was certainly one
of the wettest droughts on record!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">The consequences of this period of rain have been felt in
our apple crop. We have around a dozen old apple trees that were originally put
in long before we came to our home... and they haven’t shown the slightest hint
of an apple this year! Normally it’s a case of not even being able to harvest
them all – we give a lot of them to the sheep every year. This year nada. For
the first time since we moved into this house we have had to buy in apples for
crumble! The Shame!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">One good result of the rains is that unlike last year I have
not been stung by a horde of evil bees while doing the scything. On the other
hand the rain seems to have encouraged the evil red ants to make dozens of
nests in the long grass. Swish! Goeth the scythe. Attack! Goeth the ants. Let
me tell you now ants in your pants is NOT FUNNY.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I seem to be very sensitive to them. My skin goes really red
and scratchy.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Tomatoes... blight.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Runner Beans have done well.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sweatcorn... we were lucky. The rain stopped at just the
right time so this year our sweatcorn crop is better than ever. Delicious, too!
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Sorry about the lack of updates on the blog. I will try to
write more often, but my original plans went haywire due to medical problems
which meant that something had to go... and this blog was it! But maybe I will
post more often now things have settled down.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Hint for the day: If you are scything in a tall meadow, make
sure that you wear long trousers, and tuck them into your socks for maximum
protection. You don’t want ants in your pants! Oh, no sir.</span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">Hello guys, I must admit I have been remiss about posting to the site. The reason for this was drains. Or more properly, sewage drains. They didn’t work. We had to dig them, and then during this period of hard graft, lightning hit and our Internet died.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Well, now the internet has resumed life.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What has been happening in the garden recently? Well, we have been picking up tomatoes and other vegetables. They are delicious. Unfortunately, we are coming to the harvesting section of the year. During the hiatus we managed to pick millions of currents – red and black – blackberries, and raspberries.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now, as the first mist has come this morning it almost seems as if we are at the end of they year.</div><div class="MsoNormal">We are redesigning the vegetable portion of our garden. For some years this has been a little bit of a hodgepodge. With small, windy grass paths, and beds slightly too large to weed properly. So, work is being carried out. The first stage is to dig, dig as though life depends on it. At the moment the ground is very hard. But we are expecting it to soften this week, as rain is forecast.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Once the ground is dug, we will have a near allotment sized plot.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">At that stage, we will make paths, and work out some crop rotation for it. This has always been our weak spot. We like a relatively small selection of vegetables, and because of this we have not always done crop rotation correctly. Not according to the book, anyway.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This will probably continue. At least for some time. But, we are eating more greens – kale, spinach, and lettuce this year – and this offers some hope for better rotation.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That is one aspect of our gardening. The other aspect is making use of the orchard – getting in apples, stewing them, and freezing them. We hope that this will allow us to eat our own produce for the next year. We are missing sloe’s, but have picked a huge amount of pears that will ripen slowly over the next few weeks.</div><div class="MsoNormal">I think that summarizes this period of the year – still harvesting the last of the summer vegetables, clearing beds, weeding, and not enough time.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">One thing you really do notice, I think, is the way that the sunlight is drawing in. We are losing around five minutes a day at the moment. So, I hope you understand why this blog will be short and sweet.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Keep well.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-28924227465270867172011-04-06T12:14:00.000-07:002011-04-06T12:14:18.406-07:00Up the Garden Path - Looking at apple bloom<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">Today <span> </span>was the first day I noticed apple bloom in the garden. Yes, our apple tree seems to be coming into flower. It seems a lot earlier than normal, to be honest with you. And the crab apple hasn’t had flowers yet, even though it has had leaves for a while. But still the pinkish white blossom is delightful. It sets my mind to the future. We don’t really do what the books say to our apple tree.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now, for the best possible crop you are supposed to think the apples, and also prune them in particular ways.</div><div class="MsoNormal">We inherited out current trees in a state of some neglect, since the previous owner of the orchard kept horses which ate their bark. We replaced the horses with Hebridean sheep, which taste better but also like a bit of apple tree bark. The resulting mess means it is not really worth our time to prune the apple trees or, for that matter, to thin them out. We find the Hebridean sheep manage to thin anything out within thinning distance of the ground.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That said, even though we don’t do anything to the trees, the sheer quantity of apple trees means we manage to get a large enough crop for our purposes – which are apple juice and apple and blackberry crumble during the autumn and winter months.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">One thing I haven’t noticed so far is the elderflowers coming out. They may do soon... but not quite yet. Every year I plan to make some elderflower cordial, I even have a decent recipe, but that never quite happens. In amongst weeding, cutting the grass, and sowing plants I never seem to have quite got the time to do what I want.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But I hope that will change in time.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now, one thing I think every gardener should have at this time of year is... yes... sting cream! We have a supply of insect sting cream (brand not mentioned) and you should have too... preferably in a standard place. Because that way, when the inevitable wasp sting occurs, you are protected. When you are rattling in flower beds it is inevitable sooner or later you will get stung, or ant attacked.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, there we go... the health warning. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Grass cutting duty comes again, inevitable as spring gets older. But, amongst all of that, make sure you take some time to rest and recuperate in the garden. <span> </span>I guess I’ll speak to you again ;)</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-2541532879131971542011-04-04T11:58:00.000-07:002011-04-04T11:58:13.391-07:00Seed bed Preparation – for sowing outdoors<div class="MsoNormal">Developing a proper seed bed can be quite physical work. You need to dig the bed thoroughly in the winter. Probably double digging is best, but the reality is that often only single dig. This may include an application of lime, or manure, if at the appropriate stage of your crop rotation. Either way, you leave the bed to break down over winter, and come to it again in the following spring when the ground has dried out. You shouldn’t work on really sodden ground since it will damage the soil by making it too compact.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You will need to dig the bed over, removing any perennial weeds, and once you have dug it over you need to do something that will make you look like a bit of an idiot.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You need to get your fork, and whack the surface of the earth like a madman. Some people try to level it out with a rake, but a rake is really for getting the stones up on the top of the soil. Bashing the soil with a fork will make it nice and level, breaking any clumps up.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The resulting soil will be a perfect seed bed.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In order to get the best results when sowing, I generally suggest making a furrow with the handle of a hoe, and then sowing the seeds. Rather than pushing the soil back onto the seedlings, I think using compost is a better idea. Because the compost looks different to soil, you get a firm mark of where you have sown. This makes weeding a doddle.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The problem with sowing seeds outdoors is that even if you have a perfect seedbed, there will probably be seeds that are in the soil, so unless you mark the rows properly you won’t know which of the seedling are weeds, and which are plants. With a compost marker, you will be able to use your hand hoe to decapitate the weeds leaves before the plants have a chance to establish. This helps you maintain the perfect seed bed with much less effort.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On top of that, one thing you always need to do is mark the variety and time of planting on a label. While there are labels for pots, these can become lost. There are better options in garden centers, or you can cut up a plank from a garden center into small sticks. Write on the sticks with a permanent market, and just paint over the writing every year. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">One final thing... it is often better to water the soil before you sow rather than after. You don’t want to wash any of your seeds away.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is coming up to the perfect time of year to sow plants outside... we haven’t had a frost here for weeks, and we don’t expect any more. So have fun <span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-51711325805647889332011-04-02T09:19:00.000-07:002011-04-02T09:19:49.037-07:00Up the garden path - Sheep, nuthatch, cherry blossom and ebooks.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">Hello and it’s a superb Saturday today, with glorious weather. I have been taking it easy in the garden today. Less weeding, and more wandering about picking daffodils. And looking at the cherry blossom. Well, that’s not the only thing to report on the garden front... the hawthorn bushes by the house have come into leaves. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They are very small at the moment, but are as vibrant green as they will get all year round. One thing people don’t realise is that you can use hawthorn leaves in salad – they taste a little nutty. And I guess people will think you are a little nutty for trying them. But they do taste really nice.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The crab apple tree leaves are bright red at the moment; it is always funny how bright they are – almost like autumn. The crab apple always surprises me, because I always think it should flower before it has leaves – but it never does.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A brief walk shows that bluebell leaves are poking out, thousands of them in a nearby wood. They are not flowering yet. But give them time and they will be very impressive.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I was watching the bird feeder today and saw the first nuthatch for a while. It was feeding upside down. It seems strange to see it again, I didn’t think they were supposed to be in the country at this time of year and haven’t seen them for months. Still I am not a bird expert. So I guess I was wrong.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The Bird Cherry is flowering away, completely covered with blossom, and I can smell grass cuttings. So, it feels a little like we are in the middle of spring. I noticed the daffodils are now all out in flower. That seems early to me. They are supposed to be out at easter holiday, but I don’t think we will have many then. They will have already finished. White anemones are flowering where we planted them a few years back, not a complete success – we had planted a lot more than came up- but the ones we did manage to grow are starting to become thicker bushes. And we still have hopes for really thick clumps. Maybe in a few years.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Our vegetable sowing is a little behind. We have done some, but not as much as normal. Life is busy <span style="font-family: Wingdings;"><span>J</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal">And I have been writing a pretty comprehensive booklet about growing carrots. It should end quite large... and for sale on Kindle for a dollar. I don’t think it will make me rich, but it is worth a try.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In the meantime, we are almost on top of the weeds in a lot of beds, but we still have the flower beds to do, so I guess tomorrow weeding will happen ;)</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Have you noticed how much better gardeners world is on TV at the moment? It is almost like it used to be – a normal gardener in his own garden. That’s always quite interesting.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Our three new lambs are doing well, as well... gambling along, without a care in the world. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Hope you have a good time in the garden... this is the best of times in the garden, not yet too hot, and with birdsong, and new beautiful flowers popping up every two minutes. </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-86381433695251775092011-03-30T12:23:00.000-07:002011-03-30T12:25:35.614-07:00Preventing rabbits in your garden<div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">One problem you can get if you live in a rural region is the ever present rabbits. They despoil your vegetables and make a mess of your lawn. And they are getting much more common. Although in the 80’s they were well under control, they have been multiplying like – well - rabbits and they can be real trouble in the garden..</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The traditional approach to a rabbit problem was decidedly deadly. People used to snare them, or trap them, or shoot them. In the old days people used to go out at twilight, with night scopes, and then stun them with a bright headlight. The Rabbits would stand still making an easy target.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUl8-XPRNYHrjse-EkywOEYwSPjKGzoTCzTPUZXY6RD5epgzv_DLCnmrZazdBvut3vQMixRET5c0W8ukNiMVGlsc9IDG-Tc79unXqbTAeSj8cg5RAPV6BL-bqVv9Di7aPNwl-yR4UbkGQ/s1600/ra2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUl8-XPRNYHrjse-EkywOEYwSPjKGzoTCzTPUZXY6RD5epgzv_DLCnmrZazdBvut3vQMixRET5c0W8ukNiMVGlsc9IDG-Tc79unXqbTAeSj8cg5RAPV6BL-bqVv9Di7aPNwl-yR4UbkGQ/s320/ra2.jpg" width="310" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPS_S2GMGcfYIk0kKvh-5FRZ-tpvP5Wi-udGA4leem1oeN0xB5EDrZJsPFQGk6JtpGyT-eTyy3c-Q_NeDrgD-FknZk_LRIaOUQN9vqwT3Qq6mQCIb9cnL35zwkV0ZsUbP48-DMG9fo7gA/s1600/ra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Other approaches were to use ferrets to drive them into nets (this is no longer legal in many parts of the United States).</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, you can’t take many of these approaches these days. It is illegal to use snares, and if you do trap them you are legally responsible for killing them instantly, and in a humane way. When you trap them you need to use an approved trap.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Personally, my preferred approach is to try to prevent the rabbits getting into the garden.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are two main ways you can do this. The first is to get a dog. The smell of a dog will frighten the rabbits away from your garden. This method is more successful than you would think. And you don’t have to kill anything!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The second approach that works is rabbit netting. Now, you can get this commercially. But one thing they don’t always make clear is that you need to dig the netting deeply into the ground. Rabbits, after all, burrow.</div><div class="MsoNormal">This makes putting the rabbit netting up quite an unpleasant experience.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are other ideas, such as trying to use something like lions poo to frighten them off, or a sonic device, but I think in practice they are more quackery than effective. And so, from a practical perspective, you may end up having to trap the rabbits.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are no really great solutions to the problem. Unfortunately if not dealt with you will slowly get overrun with rabbits.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I guess the upside is rabbit pie. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I’m thinking about trying the recipe on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLlMQ3o-Z7g">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLlMQ3o-Z7g</a> although I think that this post has certainly alienated the vegetarian readers of my blog. Ah well. I hope they will forgive me <span style="font-family: Wingdings;">J</span> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-87320257141396587062011-03-27T03:41:00.000-07:002011-03-27T03:43:23.239-07:00.Chickens for slug control<div class="MsoNormal">Traditionally people have kept chickens for their meat and eggs, as well as using them to convert waste into food and fertilizer for the garden. These days, they are often treated as pets rather than farmyard animals.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We bought out first chickens eight years ago, as point of lay birds. This means that you have slightly older birds that are almost ready to produce eggs. There are advantages and disadvantages to this approach. You get eggs sooner, and the birds being older are more robust and healthy. You need less experience at breeding, and looking after younger birds.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL7J7jMYaD-TQDE3CLu5d57Jf13bxvbyyy-SqTB14bdZ7caBYjugW5PnEt69PQJOfh9HGWjWWd67spapGvc3lhJPSzd2nqEZ7OmVuPOj3-w-7qcPpMSqXl14rYzc3-u4emxuuo9IquZ20/s1600/ch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL7J7jMYaD-TQDE3CLu5d57Jf13bxvbyyy-SqTB14bdZ7caBYjugW5PnEt69PQJOfh9HGWjWWd67spapGvc3lhJPSzd2nqEZ7OmVuPOj3-w-7qcPpMSqXl14rYzc3-u4emxuuo9IquZ20/s1600/ch.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Probably the biggest disadvantage for the backyard keeper is that the chickens are not that tame, and haven’t had as much training or handling in their youth as you would hope for. While the birds do get tamer, I find that hand reared birds are often more tame.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There is such a wide variety of choices when it comes to chickens. We choose Light Sussex. It is a mixed breed that produces nice eggs, and can also be used for meat. The biggest downside of such a bird is that the breed becomes broody very often. You need to learn how to overcome this problem. Probably the most efficient means was the broody coup,</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I think people often think that looking after chickens is quite simple. Well, I don’t agree. While the first stages... making sure they have regular food, water, and medical attention is relatively simple it is like taking care of any other animal. You need to pay attention to them, and become aware of the problems you can have.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, it becomes very complicated when you get to breeding. Suffice to say, if you don’t know what you are doing I suggest seeking advice before breeding chickens. In particular, most people should not keep a rooster in their garden.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsSlnhxuvR7ij5YoSJfcVSEFKUJduvRRxZHp2y691489OEkOgKtGxfyWLawMx8K3wt9mtewDtt05MCAdai8L-DXIiwzFQm_VDPk_1RcUeGGGnkPM2aPqbds2oL8sKPnL55fgkrfkILZ2w/s1600/cou.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsSlnhxuvR7ij5YoSJfcVSEFKUJduvRRxZHp2y691489OEkOgKtGxfyWLawMx8K3wt9mtewDtt05MCAdai8L-DXIiwzFQm_VDPk_1RcUeGGGnkPM2aPqbds2oL8sKPnL55fgkrfkILZ2w/s1600/cou.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaUWNeAy0QSFCC0AomDL7qzGfo_w4YuvD03_NGzFzur3El8DmN6G-9uSMnxC-_dk_dqlSWjSO-BtVpc5IBjC2thnxZRygbjAcTRdCI8u9IPmXwKy1yXOPtHEYOozfv0YX4c-su26oHJiY/s1600/slu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">When we bought our chickens, we chose electric fencing and a paid chicken coup. It was perhaps the most expensive way to get chickens. These days, I would suggest that you convert a shed into a chicken coup instead. The biggest thing is to get the egg box and perches right, and make sure that the coup is not too large for the birds so they don’t get too cold during the winter.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You can find instructions on how to convert a shed in Seymour’s Self Sufficiency.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Looking after chickens is fairly easy. You will want to use a decent quality layers mash, or layers pellets, and may want to provide a source of grit or calcium in the enclosure. Probably the most common problems are with mites. You are probably advised to clean the coups with Jayes fluid at least twice a year, make sure there are dry dust baths, and probably worm the chickens regularly.<br />
<br />
In addition to that, you will also want to buy a red spider mite powder available in livestock supply shops if you get red spider mites in your coup. You need to examine the crevices of the coup regularly to check for them.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, decent hygiene is important, so you need to regularly clean your chicken coup out. This is not an entirely pleasant experience. But it does produce plenty of chicken manure, which can be put on the compost heap once it is rotted down.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Making sure they are tame</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The most important thing is to handle the chickens regularly, from a young age. It is important that they learn you are not scary. Otherwise, it becomes quite a challenge to catch them and treat them when they are ill. You don’t want to end up chasing them around the garden!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Using Chickens to eat slugs</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaUWNeAy0QSFCC0AomDL7qzGfo_w4YuvD03_NGzFzur3El8DmN6G-9uSMnxC-_dk_dqlSWjSO-BtVpc5IBjC2thnxZRygbjAcTRdCI8u9IPmXwKy1yXOPtHEYOozfv0YX4c-su26oHJiY/s1600/slu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaUWNeAy0QSFCC0AomDL7qzGfo_w4YuvD03_NGzFzur3El8DmN6G-9uSMnxC-_dk_dqlSWjSO-BtVpc5IBjC2thnxZRygbjAcTRdCI8u9IPmXwKy1yXOPtHEYOozfv0YX4c-su26oHJiY/s1600/slu.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You can get the best value out of your chickens by allowing them into your vegetable garden to eat slugs during the winter. While they eat any insects and slugs in their enclosure, they will also be providing a certain amount of goodness to the soil too.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Chickens do eat slugs, insects and snails, and they really enjoy removing these pests from your garden for you!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Locking the Chickens up at night</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I generally suggest locking chickens up at night, because they are a temptation to foxes. This is especially true in early spring, when foxes are particularly hungry. In any case you will need to fence your chickens very securely. Probably the best fence is an electric fence, but as long as you have a sturdy, tall fence with chicken wire that has been dug into the ground at least three feet deep, it should protect the chickens.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Some people may think their chickens are safe because they live in a town or city. This is no longer the case.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Summary</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Chickens produce great eggs, meat, and of course will eat the slugs in your garden so can even save you time. They are well tempered birds, but they do need a lot of looking after. If you want to take care of chickens, I suggest getting a copy of smallholder magazine and finding a poultry course in your area.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-74067793609991151792011-03-24T09:17:00.000-07:002011-03-24T09:17:34.903-07:00Easy soft fruit<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">Here is a list of the easiest soft fruit I grow in my garden. If you are going to grow fruit and vegetables, I think soft fruit is a great place to start. The fruit is delicious, and will save you a fortune. And, it is not hard to grow them – despite the rumours to the contrary.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Blackberry</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJvgiW6-WPo4W77HZtWrekdP12n_iR94NQxIIUpM7UpjQG8lf9ccGMVsmxR-7f2oqNDqiZZplDzyfjYKWn2troI0ntUF4zWsdIf9ETg8ot49ZXyeduVbQcVT1juAQCzut2skMWPIg0vI/s1600/ba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJvgiW6-WPo4W77HZtWrekdP12n_iR94NQxIIUpM7UpjQG8lf9ccGMVsmxR-7f2oqNDqiZZplDzyfjYKWn2troI0ntUF4zWsdIf9ETg8ot49ZXyeduVbQcVT1juAQCzut2skMWPIg0vI/s1600/ba.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Possibly the easiest of the soft fruit varieties that you can grow, blackberry is so vigorous that you can practically cut it to the floor every year and it won’t suffer from it at all. The fruit is plentiful, and there aren’t that many pests that will attack it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I guess the downside of blackberry is that firstly once ripened it is best picked before it rains, since sometimes the fruits can attract maggots. And secondly that it has very strong thorns that will prickle you when you pick the fruit or prune it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal">You can reduce these problems by spending a little money and getting a thorn-less variety. They taste just as good as other varieties of blackberry but are much easier to manage.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Even if you don’t grow them yourself, you can often find them around in hedgerows in the countryside. Fifty years ago people just picked them. These days, it is best to avoid them if they are too near a busy road. But if you can find some in a secluded field they are still delicious.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are many uses for them, including eating them raw with cream, blackberry and apple crumble, and jams. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Currents – Red, Black and white</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Currents are very easy to grow from cuttings, or you can buy them in the shops. Depending on your proclivities, you may decide to prune them like they tell you in gardening books. Frankly, I don’t bother. A little top dressing with manure every spring, and they provide a plentiful supply. The only difficulty thing is to net them. Otherwise the Birds will gobble them down.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Gooseberries</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiMDOOfFJ9Qy5S1ceA09hZPZB0-xJzQzXf9BVaovkbOo7WvPBhxuZ-GkEUreEJOZXKi1YYhW3ZxB27GUQr5pXS1jPwsF5O0EJhfn-JbB5mK6BHUrioUzLEEeLBgLMAAZzkQU0HRPegRU/s1600/gos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCiMDOOfFJ9Qy5S1ceA09hZPZB0-xJzQzXf9BVaovkbOo7WvPBhxuZ-GkEUreEJOZXKi1YYhW3ZxB27GUQr5pXS1jPwsF5O0EJhfn-JbB5mK6BHUrioUzLEEeLBgLMAAZzkQU0HRPegRU/s1600/gos.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is half and half. Gooseberries are not difficult to grow, in fact they are very easy... if it weren’t for the fact that they do attract butterlies. A gooseberry bush can be stripped raw in a day or so. So constant vigilance is necessary. For an organic gardener there is not much choice but to pick them off. This is not a pleasant experience.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The gooseberry is delicious when cooked. Personally I don’t like them when raw although many people do. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Loganberry</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIA0dSwqYrMfpgMvAcZkfyqknFLnOiR13GreOpi5vwByvuK4uKIxB_7ls3KRAcT4NJ9WjP-Ok5hq3nKkJCaqn_IMdfPfg0xqEUcK02H0k6nAbUbYlIFvZNACk4CavlJeYAw_Mueky0SU/s1600/lo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVIA0dSwqYrMfpgMvAcZkfyqknFLnOiR13GreOpi5vwByvuK4uKIxB_7ls3KRAcT4NJ9WjP-Ok5hq3nKkJCaqn_IMdfPfg0xqEUcK02H0k6nAbUbYlIFvZNACk4CavlJeYAw_Mueky0SU/s1600/lo.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is a rare mixture, similar to Blackberry in many respects. It makes absolutely delicious fruit. I haven’t grown one yet, and the gardening books do describe pruning in detail. I guess if we grew them here, we would dispense with the instructions to a degree.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Raspberry</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzJvgiW6-WPo4W77HZtWrekdP12n_iR94NQxIIUpM7UpjQG8lf9ccGMVsmxR-7f2oqNDqiZZplDzyfjYKWn2troI0ntUF4zWsdIf9ETg8ot49ZXyeduVbQcVT1juAQCzut2skMWPIg0vI/s1600/ba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg22qL8N20pmyXkuSEgUKquQO5qt-Z-jmIBNIwgz_IU6pLyXqeGyfYHuswhDNjveAn4dJ8-sOBRF2sLX5AZ-16B0JDZ71o-IOUssyDyaYLE9gExEDHSv3A9Lp6GIZuxU6aiIX-nlIM6CB4/s1600/ra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg22qL8N20pmyXkuSEgUKquQO5qt-Z-jmIBNIwgz_IU6pLyXqeGyfYHuswhDNjveAn4dJ8-sOBRF2sLX5AZ-16B0JDZ71o-IOUssyDyaYLE9gExEDHSv3A9Lp6GIZuxU6aiIX-nlIM6CB4/s200/ra.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Raspberry's provide delicious fruit, and they do require a certain amount of effort when planting, because they will be in the same place for many years. If you can give them a nice sunny spot with sandy soil, they will reward you for years without any real hassle at all.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Suggestions for planting and caring</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I think soft fruit has a reputation for being difficult because many gardeners look at the descriptions in the gardening books and think they should follow them exactly. And, in many respects, if you do so you will get great results.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> If you are like me, you will find yourself not bothering so much with the detailed pruning instructions.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> As long as you remember whether the fruit flowers on this years or ext years wood, you are often good to go. In the main all you need to do is keep it tidy. This kind of approach to gardening will not get you the ‘best’ results but will get you good results, without having to spend hundreds of hours fussing over plants.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I guess this is my personal gardening philosophy coming out: if you are not a professional gardener, doing something for money, you can be a little more lazy with your gardening techniques. If you don’t get 100% of the possible fruit... but get enough for delicious treats for the family, that is enough in my opinion.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In general I suggest not planting soft fruit in the same place twice, and making sure to start several fruit patches, because these plants often die off after five to ten years.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The main thing to do is make sure that you net the fruit every year. The easiest way to do this is to get plastic piping, like they use for insulation or for hosepipes, and form a small netting poly-tunnel covering the plants. Alternatively, if you have some time on your hands and a bit of DIY skill, a fruit cage is a good idea. But it will take a bit of ingenuity to construct. We’re planning to build one eventually, but it may take a few years.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Until then, we’ll use our home made poly-tunnel solution.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In general, with all of these fruits you can simply cook them and freeze them, so once you’ve picked them you can enjoy great homemade summer puddings, pies and crumbles almost all year round.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-60023091890665810562011-03-22T11:17:00.000-07:002011-03-22T11:17:22.280-07:00Up the garden path - More Sheep.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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Sorry about not posting much today. We have two new lambs, born today, healthy and well. It seems Mr Ram has been naughty. I was suspecting that we would get them this year, because we knew he'd got in without the usual permissions, but... well... two lambs earlier than expected.<br />
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Need to put iodine on them, check they are well. From the look of things they are feeding well, and look OK.<br />
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The weather today has been fantastic, we are planning to add some more spring bulbs in front of the kitchen window, and the Rhubarb is coming up well. We've noticed Raspberries leaves forming at the bottom of the canes.<br />
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It is also getting dark a lot latter than a couple of weeks ago... I think it may even be past the spring equinox. I noticed the neighbor's cats have been reproducing as well... their is another black and white youngster lounging in our garden.<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anyway, I will write again tomorrow... sheep to look after </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-1222580509096227692011-03-21T13:30:00.000-07:002011-03-21T13:34:42.701-07:00Search questions<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Every now and again someone comes to the blog through a search which I don’t think the site has answered yet, so I thought it might be useful for me to answer a few of the questions they type into Google. Just because I am a nice fellow. Several of the recent ones have been about vegetable gardens.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">So here they are</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> </span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">garden paths for vegetable gardens</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Here is the thing, with a path; you need to consider the size of the wheelbarrow or lawn mower you are going to use. That is the biggest factor. In our garden we use a simple grass path. You can also use a gravel path.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Basically, as a rule of thumb, when you are starting a garden I suggest non permanent. Once you are sure you have the layout right, you can dig the path, put weed proof membrane down, and secure the edge with wooden planks and stakes. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Once you have the edge, bark mulch is probably the best topping,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Of course, there are a lot of other ways to do things, and I’ll probably write something more detailed eventually.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">raw egg to make tomato plants grow</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Not a very good idea. Sure, there will be some nutrients in the egg, but by far the cheapest solution is to use normal compost, and feed the tomato plant with a tomato feed. It will work really well. Plus, a local fox won’t dig your tomato plant up to eat the egg.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">time of year for weeding</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Yes, it is. In fact, you can weed any time of year, but you shouldn’t go on the soil to dig when it is too wet. Basically, if your foot is covered in mud only weed from the path. You can use a plank to distribute your weight evenly while you are weeding. During spring there is the difficulty it can be hard to know what is weed or what really valuable plant is. So be careful of not weeding self seeded plants that could be valuable. Go for the big weeds.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"> </span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">when to plant tomato plants</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">The best time to plant tomato is 90 days before you want to harvest them. The other thing to consider is frosts. If you are still experiencing them, or likely to have frosts, you need to keep the tomato plants warmer using fleece or heating pad. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">when to start tomato in window box</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">That’s a pretty neat idea actually. 90 days before you want to harvest is the latest time you should sow them. If you are doing it as a window box, you can easily store them indoors. If I were you I would consider adding something low growing like, say, alpine strawberries, as well. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">The resulting container is going to get a little awkward so try to get a smaller variety of tomato plant.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Because you are not entirely limited on the frost front, you could even start them now.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Sp I hope those answers to the search queries people have been reaching this blog are useful to anyone who decides to come here in the future. All part of the service </span><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">J</span><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-9308326093410947692011-03-19T02:23:00.000-07:002011-03-19T02:23:27.845-07:00How to Grow Tomatoes<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixg4R8y2sd7xmcIE5xzH4uWxqaPLMzyIz7phy6LiwdkhZnRU-VM1iXL6513zSlIYlcfsHBd11ZR1C0ArETNgEkQh1-f5hyaKJlixiEI59gZdnX1sKAeMJL_ir0zMpk_QdGq2I4F9mymxg/s1600/tom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixg4R8y2sd7xmcIE5xzH4uWxqaPLMzyIz7phy6LiwdkhZnRU-VM1iXL6513zSlIYlcfsHBd11ZR1C0ArETNgEkQh1-f5hyaKJlixiEI59gZdnX1sKAeMJL_ir0zMpk_QdGq2I4F9mymxg/s1600/tom.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Growing tomatoes is great fun. I remember when as a kid my father used to start tomatoes off in the spring, and we’d watch them greedily for months. Then he’d start picking them but they’d barely get to the kitchen before we ate the lot. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">They are delicious, whether raw or cooked. I particularly like cherry tomatoes, eating them is like eating sweats.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The first job in spring is deciding which variety is right for you. The choice is confusing. There are two things you need to consider... whether it is an early or late variety of tomato, and what type of tomato it is.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In Britain Blight can be a big problem, and so many gardeners decide to go for an early tomato. Because blight is spread in the air by spores over a wide area it is possible you are in a blight zone. In which case, choosing a variety that ripens as quickly as possible, growing the tomato in compost rather than the soil, and keeping the tomato in a greenhouse or polytunnel all help.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A main crop tomato can take around 90 days from sowing to the first harvest. Early tomatoes are a little faster, and can be planted out a little earlier since they are hardier. So they are more likely to ripen before blight season starts.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The other main decision is on what type of plant you select.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><u>Cherry Tomatoes</u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkX6yUaJNyzIsELiQ-MZyE9Ub8jCiImh6fwKQWJVRtq9_e1nB5MeuySqOIIT6VtjxcRHWJ4ezLbHi6TenTC1YUMtGe8v07BAmUkHVHm2o5z-ueKkOXgXroM-PwQKZQpC5G2-_-ycYX3nE/s1600/ch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkX6yUaJNyzIsELiQ-MZyE9Ub8jCiImh6fwKQWJVRtq9_e1nB5MeuySqOIIT6VtjxcRHWJ4ezLbHi6TenTC1YUMtGe8v07BAmUkHVHm2o5z-ueKkOXgXroM-PwQKZQpC5G2-_-ycYX3nE/s1600/ch.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Cherry tomatoes are the most delicious tomato variety in my opinion. They are around 1 inch wide, and ripen quickly. You can eat a tomato in one. The taste is really strong, concentrated compared to other tomatoes.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><u>Plum Tomatoes</u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrVT-IdvGz1x2zy1yiGrTuDt1bWL36LYZZ9_N9d9Zbfs8hM5gFsjWVztQM00_ShPZrgan5cISIU2uWduZXgpLK3ZR23Vqln7GLFyZZcALdORHMHOeP_5f91X77RmqwOwSMVFf3C6pT-QU/s1600/plu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrVT-IdvGz1x2zy1yiGrTuDt1bWL36LYZZ9_N9d9Zbfs8hM5gFsjWVztQM00_ShPZrgan5cISIU2uWduZXgpLK3ZR23Vqln7GLFyZZcALdORHMHOeP_5f91X77RmqwOwSMVFf3C6pT-QU/s200/plu.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Plum tomatoes are named after their shape. They do look a little like a plum, have a decent size about them, but are not as large as beefsteak tomatoes. They are great in salads, and are easy to look after.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><u>Beefsteak tomatoes</u></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn0cXMJds0rwJj3I8VRcLufLrDAYkqJDA8_TVIi7YnT3MUUNmaLz9EnAnMZ5uCWldu-2VvDHdFo52EwjVvzExQkRl64oG2mxGlaHogOD62gzwAaiZDx4yVSBeZW6hGPyD-njJqI5i4UlQ/s1600/bef.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhn0cXMJds0rwJj3I8VRcLufLrDAYkqJDA8_TVIi7YnT3MUUNmaLz9EnAnMZ5uCWldu-2VvDHdFo52EwjVvzExQkRl64oG2mxGlaHogOD62gzwAaiZDx4yVSBeZW6hGPyD-njJqI5i4UlQ/s1600/bef.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This variety of tomato is often very large. They are nice to eat, although they often don’t have the same flavour as Cherry Tomatoes. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><u>Steps for Tomato Growing</u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Select seed </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">In general I think it is best to buy tomato seed every year. Many varieties of tomatoes available in the shops do not come true. So although you could in theory save the seed, you are not likely to get the same result every year.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Fill pot with compost</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">I think it is best to choose seedling compost. Some people intentionally put a handful of solid from their garden into the compost a week before. The theory is that the natural bacteria and mitochondria in the garden will develop in the compost, so preventing a shock when you plant it out. I don’t really believe the theory, but it is interesting. I would avoid this technique if you are in a blight area.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>3.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Dampen potting compost from below</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">Use a tray, and warm water. It is best not to get the pot swimming in water. If you use warm water – about the same temperature as a baby’s bottle – you will find that it speeds up germination.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>4.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Sow seed – be careful.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">It is quite a fine seed. Some people fold a piece of card, and put a few seeds on the card at a time, tapping the card so only one seed drops on the soil at a time. Of course, some people just do it by hand.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>5.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Place in dark until see shoot </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">This is often recommended, although I don’t really find it necessary... I have planted them before and they do pretty well wherever, as long as they are kept at a comfortable temperature. </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>6.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Put on window, or in cold frame or heated greenhouse</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">Once they have germinated, they need warmth, water and light to grow. A heated greenhouse, cold frame, or your window is great. In fact, if it doesn’t get below 5 degrees centigrade at night, an unheated greenhouse is fine too.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>7.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Make sure to regularly turn the seedling</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">If you keep the seed indoors, make sure you turn the seedling regularly to prevent it bending towards the light. Make sure there is a reasonable amount of light too. If the plant doesn’t get enough light it will try to grow towards the sun too much, and may become leggy.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>8.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Harden off when the seedling gets larger</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">Once you have a decent sized seedling, start putting it outside for the daylight hours. After a week or so, it should be used to it, so you can then plant it out.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>9.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Water a little but often</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">Make sure you don’t let the plant get thirsty, and don’t swamp it with water either. This is particularly important when the plant has fruit on it, since they can split if not watered regularly.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>10.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Plant outside, or in grow bags or containers in greenhouse</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt;">The choice of whether to plant outside or in a container is simple in a blight area – you grow it in a container. <span> </span>Otherwise, growing it outside in the ground tends to make for a really delicious tomato but at the risk that it will suffer from pests. Tomatoes in a greenhouse are less likely to suffer from early frosts. </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>11.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Feed</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">Use a tomato feed as recommended on the label. Tomatoe plants are very hungry. </div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>12.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Prune</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">How to prune a tomato is an entire new article in its own right, so I will discuss it latter!</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>13.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Harvest</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">It often takes 90 days from sowing before you get the first harvest. When the tomato is full sized you can either pick individual ripe fruit. Or simply cut an entire vine away and store that. People often worry about ripening the green fruits. It is easy, put them on a sunny windowsill in a open shoe box with an banana and some apples.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">The banana lets off a gas that makes the fruit ripen quickly.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;">When you prune, water or harvest the tomato make sure to wear gloves, as the tomato plant has hairs that can irritate some people’s skin.</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 18pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: 18pt; text-indent: -18pt;"><span><span>14.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span>Compost the plant</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18pt;">Unless the plant is infected with a disease, composting the plant is the last stage of the growing life cycle. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I hope this article helps you when you decide to grow tomato plants for yourself. It is exciting and fun to watch them ripen... although you often don’t get as far as the kitchen with them!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-56552364282873128702011-03-18T10:01:00.000-07:002011-03-18T10:01:46.354-07:00Up the Garden Path - The winter returneth<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">Today I have not had a chance to do much in the garden. The winter returned with a little bit of a vengeance. The rain has been constant, and it is cold. So, obviously the right time to curl up with a cup of tea and a good book. In this case, the Allotment Handbook by Fowley... which is a great read full of ideas.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, less grafting than expected, and more reading about grafting. And with a nice cup of tea, and bar of chocolate, there can barely be anything better.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We have finally almost run out of wood... this winter was colder than normal, so we have used all the wood we cut last year on the wood burner. And a load we bought. That’s not great!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On the other hand it is quite nice to look at the spring border, which is probably at its best right now. Even if the weather isn’t. Full of winter pansies, hellebores, and the silver leaves of pinks... which isn’t bad!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I cleared out the weeds from the rockery, and we have invested in bulbs for the lawn outside of the kitchen window... when we get a chance to plant them, they will add a splendid dash of colour in the autumn.</div><div class="MsoNormal">But there is a lot of pleasure to come before then!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-53693083298679602192011-03-18T09:53:00.000-07:002011-03-18T09:53:28.085-07:00Lifting Raspberry Suckers<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">We inherited our Raspberry plants from the people who owned our house. Since then we have done very little to them. Now, after a few years, there are a lot of suckers and the raspberry patch is very overcrowded. As a hardy perennial shrub, they produce fruit every year without too many problems.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Despite being relatively neglected, this patch produces more Raspberries we can eat for around a month, and we freeze and make jam, so we enjoy the produce almost all year round.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But it is probably wise to clear out the raspberry patch to make it easier to net. Luckily for us this time of year is the perfect time for lifting raspberry suckers. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Raspberries can be propagated in a number of ways, but probably the easiest is they produce suckers near the base of each plant. By carefully lifting them up with a fork or hand fork, making sure you don’t damage the roots, you can get an entire plant for free.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What I do then is put it in a large container of compost, making sure to water it. You can transplant them to empty ground as well. I just prefer the luxury of giving it a bit of care in the polytunnel.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It is generally best to transplant them now, just before the sap starts to rise in spring. The odds are that if you leave it a couple more weeks the raspberry leaves will start to open. And that is a big problem; you don’t want to move them once they have woken up for spring.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So... what if you don’t have any suckers but want even more raspberry plants? Well, you can stimulate the plant to make them. The technique you use to do this is called...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTo0NN7A3JUWWbAkc8pgBgDexOHBJLyXbupA4u9cnhVnytiKp6RqHgMLTnq1QB8zjhz4uByAVm2FkViAlhMqDMjKxLBZcCDGtlWaU7wb2kHo7TQSg7JmyC_iYeziMILD7sVM0ktDFiv8U/s1600/ra2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTo0NN7A3JUWWbAkc8pgBgDexOHBJLyXbupA4u9cnhVnytiKp6RqHgMLTnq1QB8zjhz4uByAVm2FkViAlhMqDMjKxLBZcCDGtlWaU7wb2kHo7TQSg7JmyC_iYeziMILD7sVM0ktDFiv8U/s320/ra2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Layering a Raspberry bush.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If you don’t have any suckers you can make them yourself. Like a lot of stemmy shrubs, raspberries will start to root if their stem touches the soil.<span> </span>In order to hasten this process, I roughly dig over the soil where I want the sucker to start, add a little grit if it is very clay, and then the hard work begins.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You’ve got to slightly wound the stem. Don’t go too mad about it. Just a scrape or two.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Then you bury the stem maybe 6 inches deep. And that is it, for a while. You can use a forked stick to make sure it doesn’t come too loose. Or a heavy stone, although you should be careful not to break the stem.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span> </span>You’d do that at this time of year for best effect – early spring. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">By autumn, the new plant should be ready. If not you just leave it for another year. You can tell when it is ready because the plant will seem to be growing... with quite a strong upsurge of growth.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">You just cut the stem to the parent plant, and you now have a sucker which you can carefully lift. Basically, at this point you have created your sucker.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Some people like to do the same process but with a pot full of compost... that is possible, but is not the best thing you can do. The reason for this is that the pot can dry out. And it does take some time for the raspberry to take.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">One thing to consider when using both these techniques is you should move the raspberries to virgin ground... the land you plant the new suckers in shouldn’t have had raspberries on for some time. Otherwise you might find that they get disease build up in the soil.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Raspberries like sandy soil, and do well in bright conditions. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, there are several types of raspberries which require slightly different pruning regimes, so I will probably talk about their care in another post.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyi-pm_OzRESlUaVF6S9MyCdcZjuQOcP7nFeqpFRO1oKFZBpGxGRji_v3VxGPq3yZfCwhunRMz0Ai3Azn5sahy_BsOugpcbJoPEAIfYERsIqWuGpPL-TB-_Yre9p7gnsDPE1UNVUmmTeA/s1600/ra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyi-pm_OzRESlUaVF6S9MyCdcZjuQOcP7nFeqpFRO1oKFZBpGxGRji_v3VxGPq3yZfCwhunRMz0Ai3Azn5sahy_BsOugpcbJoPEAIfYERsIqWuGpPL-TB-_Yre9p7gnsDPE1UNVUmmTeA/s320/ra.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Uses for the fruit.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A lot of people use Raspberry fruit fresh, in fruit salads, summer puddings or as a topping for cakes and puddings of all sorts. It works really well with simple vanilla ice cream. We also use a meringue nest, raspberries, and whipped cream for a delicious but naughty treat.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-9731271398266229602011-03-16T07:38:00.000-07:002011-03-16T07:38:49.571-07:00How to build a cold compost heapGarden composting is an important topic; there are basically three types of compost heap:<br />
<br />
• Hot compost heaps<br />
• Cold compost heaps<br />
• Slimy compost heaps.<br />
<br />
In this garden, we tend to prefer the cold compost heap. There are lots of articles on the internet about how to do it properly. The basic process is to try to get layers of different materials, together, such as grass, leaves, household waste, and anything other than perennial weed roots or seed heads that comes out of the garden. You are of course supposed to turn them.<br />
<br />
If you do everything properly, you get a compost heat that starts to warm up enough so that it generates enough heat to kill of any seeds. This is a hot compost heap. In fact, some large compost heaps are so hot you can see steam coming off them in the winter.<br />
<br />
There are a lot of instructions on how to make a hot compost heap on the web. So I won’t go into any detail.<br />
<br />
There are far fewer to how to make a cold compost heap, because they are not common in back gardens.<br />
<br />
A cold compost heap is similar to the hot compost heap, in that it will slowly start to rot down. Compost will eventually be produced. It just isn’t hot enough to kill seeds. A hot compost heap can compost waste within weeks. A cold one may take six months to two years. Now, most people say not to use cold compost heaps. And it is true that if you have waste matter with seeds in, or a small garden, a cold compost heap is a waste of space. When you have as much room as we do, a cold compost heap can be great. You leave it for a couple of years, slowly build it up, and go on to the next one.<br />
<br />
It is much less hassle as you are less dependent on getting the mix right, and if you don’t mind it taking a year or two to rot down, you don’t have to turn it either.<br />
<br />
A slimy compost heap is one where you have got the balance completely wrong. I would say most grass piles come into this category. If you pile grass up, it forms very thick layers that will bead down, and will rot very slowly. The resulting mess turns into a slimy pile. It is disgusting. It does still rot down eventually, but is not at all pleasant in the short term.<br />
<br />
Trying to get the balance right so you don’t go from a cold compost heap to a slimy one involves two things:<br />
<br />
• Making sure the mix is right<br />
<br />
• Keeping it from getting too wet<br />
<br />
How do you make sure the mix is right? Use only thin layers of grass, and for each layer of grass, make sure you put another layer of leaves, twigs or stems. Intersperse with vegetable waste from your garden. If you have roughly equal amounts of grass and other garden waste, each in a thin layer, you are much less likely to get a slimy compost heap.<br />
<br />
The second requirement is that the compost heap should be a little bit damp, but not too damp. The traditional allotment solution is to cover most of the heap with an old carpet. But you can use cardboard boxes or even plastic bags as long as you make sure there are some holes so the heap can breathe. You don’t want to cover it entirely. It does need some water and air.<br />
<br />
Cold compost heaps are largely rotted down by a mixture of some bacteria, but especially worms. While a hot compost heap works well even if it is not touching the soil, you really want to have a cold compost heap directly on the ground. <br />
<br />
Now... there are also some extreme old fashioned things you can do to this heap. If you are a bloke, saving your pee is a traditional way to add nutrients. Just dilute it a bit, and chuck it on the heap. Make sure the heap is far away from neighbours. In the UK this is not legal, and is just a historical piece of advice.<br />
People interested in permaculture often invest in a composting toilet too.<br />
<br />
If you are not so environmentally friendly you can use just what the garden produces, plus household vegetable waste. That’s what we do. It is easy, and we get great compost after a few years.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-82443603435386689622011-03-14T10:20:00.000-07:002011-03-14T10:30:53.493-07:00Up the garden path – New leaves spotted – daffodil path worked shocker – And actual flowersDecember, January and February are ever so slightly depressing months in the garden. Garden designers can spout on about architectural plants, the bark on a white silver birch. And how beautiful the frost and snow is.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal">But let me say this:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anyone who lives on a smallholding and has to get up early in the morning, when it is snowing, to dig paths for the sheep knows that they are liars.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So when you see actual spring, springing, it is all quite exciting. First came the hellebores, then the crocuses, and we are now well into early spring. We have... leaves... yes; new leaves have been spotted in the garden. In particular, rose leaves, and crab apple leaves. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We are still clearing away poplar leaves right at the moment... you know how it is, a poplar can produce enough leaves for a small city and then once you have collected them all into black bags, it all rots down, and you still need to buy soil improver from the garden centre. We did remove a lot of them before winter struck, but there are always more left to tackle.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Did I mention the daffodil path? Yeah, I think I might have mentioned that. Last year I planted daffodils by a path I go down to feed the chickens. And let me tell you... there are now 7 daffodils in flower. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I normally give a weather report... when I was weeding today it was cold, and there was a grey sky but not too windy. Nice weather for the time of year. It must have rained during the night, everything was very damp.</div><div class="MsoNormal">With the rose leaves coming out, we are defiantly in that cycle. I am waiting to see the first real tree blossom of the year... apart from the winter flowering cherry that doesn’t count... it is coming. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As I was weeding today, looking at the bed, it was full of such delights as forget-me-nots. Aquilegia, and a few fennel seedlings... oh... very exciting. It was only a few weeks ago that the gardening year really started.<br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This time of year things suddenly start accelerating... we are clearing beds like crazy, and we will be getting the veg beds ready as and when the weather is actually good enough to do that work.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We’ve noticed the pheasants are getting tamer again; they must have had a hard winter. They eat the seed that falls down onto the ground when we feed the birds. This year was a hard winter, and so... we have seen a lot more of them than normal.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I guess if we were running a proper farm, we would probably do something about it... but we aren’t... and we like having posh birds in our garden!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-13113193157298242392011-03-11T08:13:00.000-08:002011-03-11T08:13:33.567-08:00Growing Vegetables and Fruit Indoors<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">While a lot of the time you need a vegetable plot in order to grow your own vegetables, there are some plants that cope very well indoors. These range from tomatoes, to lettuce and a mixed salad, and even radishes and chillies.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In some ways the most decorative choices are lettuces, if you choose a mixed leaf seed packet. The different leave shapes can be very nice to look at. Of course, you can grow them almost all year round – there might be a little bit of a problem during the darkest winter months with light when they will grow very slowly though.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If you fancy going for something a little different, chillies are actually very successful when sown from seed and kept indoors during the spring. First you get some really beautiful white flowers, and then latter on the chillies start growing. These start off green, and progress to red. When they have ripened you can even use them – so you save money and get a really great house plant. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, you get months of an unusual decorative houseplant followed by great food. What a winner!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Tomatoes are more challenging, and should only be grown in a conservatory. But you can have the odd plant. Just prune them so they don’t get really hard to maintain.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Beyond that, you can grow baby carrots, radishes and even spring onions in a window box.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Probems with growing indoors</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The process for sowing and taking care of them couldn’t be simpler: get a container with a hole in the bottom and a tray, fill it with seed compost, and sow like normal. When growing vegetables in your home it is important to turn them. You do that just like you would turn a flower... literally making sure that a couple of times a day you turn them round so they don’t lean towards the sun.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This will prevent them getting leggy.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The second main problem people get is they fail to water them enough or water them too much. Plants in containers need a lot of regular water. It’s not exactly too hard though... just make sure you water a little, but regularly... so that the plants don’t get too dry buy also doesn’t get soaking wet. A little experience goes a long way on this.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Maybe these plants are too difficult for you?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In which case, If you want something really basic, parsley and cress comes to mind... cress especially is something that will grow almost anywhere. As a kid, we were given a head... and we grew the cress like crazy green hair. But of course you can grow it in soil, it is very forgiving. And probably the best choice for someone with no experience.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Decorative fruit and vegetables for indoors</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">On the other hand some people may not want to feature the veg... In which case, the alpine strawberry is a great choice. You can add it into the mix in a normal flower container, and it is low growing, with small but delicious ripe fruit. I would say the alpine strawberry is more a decorative plant than something that will feed the family... but on the other hand we planted some in the paths here, and it supplies us a hassle free strawberry crop whenever we walk past.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I guess the other side of the coin is people with greenhouses and conservatories that can go really wild. It is possible to get a lemon or orange crop if you have a greenhouse. In fact, I know a few people who make their own traditional lemonade with home grown lemons. Although of course you need to keep your conservatory quite warm if you are going to produce enough to compete with the supermarket – so it is not exactly a moneysaving idea!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">While these ideas won’t feed a family of five... they do mean that you will get more experience of vegetable gardening, and you will be able to produce home grown vegetables throughout most of the year.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Vegetable gardening is fun, whether you do it inside or out, and the basic process is much the same either way. Of course you won’t want to grow rhubarb indoors, or large crops like peas or beans... but don’t forget you can get a lot out of a pot by the back door... we used to eat beans for months with just two posts of runner beans made into a tripod we used to place by the front door. Beautiful flowers and delicious crops.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Plus by growing them indoors you are much less likely to experience pests.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-70605258448699610372011-03-10T06:50:00.000-08:002011-03-10T08:03:01.359-08:00Brassica Protection and considering crops to sow<div class="MsoNormal">This year, I want to eat some brassica’s. After the last year when el butterfly decided to strike with evil intentions and a family of thousands to feed, I decided it was time to get tough. The brassica’s need to be protected.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">My technique with netting so far has been to make a wigwam with beanpoles, and try to use this as a temporary fruit cage. It hasn’t worked so well. Just not practical. Whatever solution I chose has to have two main uses:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><ul><li>It has to carry fleece during the first through weeks of spring... while they are seedlings</li>
<li>It has to carry netting during butterfly season</li>
</ul><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And I want to also have something that doesn’t cost too much but at the same time is practical for watering too. So far in my research I have come across <a href="http://kgarden.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/brassica-netting-against-cabbage-white-butterfly/">http://kgarden.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/brassica-netting-against-cabbage-white-butterfly/</a> which seems to be the most practical solution.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I like how simple it looks... that will make it easy to make, and I don’t have great DIY skills.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Why am I planting Brassicas?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Well, I admit for a long while I didn’t. But due to health complaints with her eyes, the doctor said my mother should eat a lot more green leafy vegetables. So, rather than buy them from the shops, where they tend to be a tough and quite expensive proposition, I thought I’d grow my own.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Brassicas are also useful in crop rotation... it isn’t good to keep on planting the same species of veg in the same places.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyDCW16AQIPo4pzIo2-Y3oi5pXEKSRV6fJ2R9o81l-KFj6mmTIFW-sAM00f2aEzi7LjulbtdfDGt93K2qpfgXggU1xCidnCmMlB4RnhVsXp7Dcx25HjtaP2dAuVhDXiGq5EBejY74AxDc/s1600/cab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyDCW16AQIPo4pzIo2-Y3oi5pXEKSRV6fJ2R9o81l-KFj6mmTIFW-sAM00f2aEzi7LjulbtdfDGt93K2qpfgXggU1xCidnCmMlB4RnhVsXp7Dcx25HjtaP2dAuVhDXiGq5EBejY74AxDc/s200/cab.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">The downside is that they can be slightly more difficult to grow, they do have a lot of pests, and to be honest – personally I don’t like the taste of most brassicas. I have come to the conclusion I can live with kale, so that will be an experiment this year... trying out chard and kale to try to improve our health.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">When will I dig out the brassica bed?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It is coming to that point in the year where, even if the soil is not quite workable yet, I am pondering... I need to redesign the veg plot a little, the original design has been swamped with Rhubarb and Raspberries, and other perennial soft fruit, which we love... but which makes digging a little difficult.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It is the downside of our approach to gardening, which is more or less haphazard, while we understand the theory of design... it is our private space, and we often do things that are wrong simply because it is our.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;">Deciding which brassica’s to plant.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVqi08ppRX0gvtGLKeU5GT9Ehusksy3MaJYbRKGOiCzf9CM8dhtg5gQGCoC2Xk4is2qjZlXkMVjzzE5qiKpM_ruZQEApADOBaHtWXN8uod6N4bEFSshj9LogER6wqWP90DwxVXbHy9Jko/s1600/ka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVqi08ppRX0gvtGLKeU5GT9Ehusksy3MaJYbRKGOiCzf9CM8dhtg5gQGCoC2Xk4is2qjZlXkMVjzzE5qiKpM_ruZQEApADOBaHtWXN8uod6N4bEFSshj9LogER6wqWP90DwxVXbHy9Jko/s1600/ka.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I am thinking cabbage, kale, and maybe a few other brassica’s... I wonder which ones you recommend? </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-52785982421043902702011-03-10T06:30:00.000-08:002011-03-10T06:33:01.027-08:00Keeping Cats out of the Veg Garden<div class="MsoNormal">One of the worst problems with gardening near a town is the cats. Now, don’t get me wrong, delightful creatures which I loved when I was growing up. But they are terrible nuisances in the garden. They eat wild birds (which we like because of the singing), they poop in the most inappropriate places, and they dig up your garden.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTnTTvpt5z7Uy7lYBzc_6Bm2EI5X-S9yEXhpRsoKnJAzgoMNPXTMv9bSVH9SqDUpzs3PiQC-8d7Vb2MShGYNpKEYnEoMOIRN6SoOqk11UJp1v36rfJyWuLJqZw76Ipu41PRz_DGlUBBlQ/s1600/cat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTnTTvpt5z7Uy7lYBzc_6Bm2EI5X-S9yEXhpRsoKnJAzgoMNPXTMv9bSVH9SqDUpzs3PiQC-8d7Vb2MShGYNpKEYnEoMOIRN6SoOqk11UJp1v36rfJyWuLJqZw76Ipu41PRz_DGlUBBlQ/s1600/cat.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Over the years we have tried multiple methods... the screaming incoherently with rage, the native dance, and our favourite... the lion poop. Yes, we actually bought lion poop, on the theory that the smell would put them off.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It worked.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, the smell also put US off, and although we grew quite a large crop of roses that year, for some reason we failed to smell them as regularly as normal. Plus the neighbours complained to the council, because they thought that a sewage main had burst.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Maybe the lion poop pellets are a better idea, rather than fresh lion poop from the Zoo? I always consider the money saving way better though.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">One way that defiantly does work is large wire fences... but you end up looking like something the allies used to escape from in world war II.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We also invested in some kind of sonar device that was supposed to keep the cats away from the veg garden, which did not appear to stop the cats. Surprise, surprise, they just kept on going back. So, eventually our final solution has been a mixture of an old fashioned technique...</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">First, I have netted the plot. This prevents the cats from getting into the vegetable beds. And the second approach is to use the water hose. I made a nice empty bed for the cats... and they can use that bed. If they don’t they get the water hose pointed at them. I don’t actually drench them, just put it near enough that they can sense my displeasure.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"> Although, the neighbours don’t like me so much any more.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now, I am going to make a diversion... cat owners, it would be really nice if at this time of year you were to invest in a cat collar with a bell. All the younglings are going to be hatched soon. It would be nice if papa bird and momma bird didn’t get eaten by yopur cat. It also has a few other benefits too. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Like, for example, the fact that there will be less dead mice left to you as a gift.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><b>The weather report today</b>... a little more windy than normal. It is starting to be a bit more cloudy, but I’ve been enjoying tidying up the winter bed... this bed has flowers like hellebores and winter flowering pansies which produce a bit of color at this time of year. It also has a huge number of pinks that have a delicious smell later on in the year. But, months of not really weeding enough makes it a little less tidy than you would hope.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Anyway, I’ve just been watching magpies having a play fight out from the window of the study I am writing from... noisy, unfashionable birds, that I still like.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-63282174504053689462011-03-09T09:56:00.000-08:002011-03-09T09:56:24.314-08:00Up the garden path - here comes the sun - designing the blog - the revenge of the daffodils<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">Hello there, a wonderful Wednesday to you all, the weather today reminds me of a certain song...</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Here comes the sun” by the beatles. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFw5yl0yu-FocZnwahBxn4yelJ1v0gpVGIojnvPDf5D7-Vw20nMMEoxTUjnBVCsfA5xRf8-X9MvBYfNsItZbK7_pBAL9GlqgC38VirWstzSxlbccSU8I09XFa63DYI3OieHdvEbLQL_hc/s1600/suno1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFw5yl0yu-FocZnwahBxn4yelJ1v0gpVGIojnvPDf5D7-Vw20nMMEoxTUjnBVCsfA5xRf8-X9MvBYfNsItZbK7_pBAL9GlqgC38VirWstzSxlbccSU8I09XFa63DYI3OieHdvEbLQL_hc/s1600/suno1.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It’s like a miracle! Two days of gorgeous weather, light breezes... almost like a spring day. I said in my first up the garden path that March was the start of the gardening year, and the last two days has certainly been great weather wise.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It has been warm, and weeding has been... less of a chore than normal.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So what is the garden like at the moment? Well, one true sign of spring is that the grass is growing at a faster rate than lightning. And of course we did our first proper lawn mow of the year. Or would have, if the lawn mower hadn’t died with much over the top Shakespearean bad acting.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In fact, I don’t think we can morn for departed lawn mower, having cut through its power cord (twice) , <span> </span>dropped it (regularly) and asked it to cut 1 foot high grass one time more than we should have... it has perished after doing its duty.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So I guess at some stage soon we will have to buy a new one.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I was walking down to the sheep today, and there is a path of daffodils which I planted last year. Bulbs are funny things; you never know how well you did until months later. Well, I can confirm that not all of them came up... but enough did that in a few weeks down it is going to be a delight to see them when they are in flower.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So far we are at five daffodils in flower... I can’t wait until we get to see something more like this...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1lQrBcvsx03pDF13vV-oIdCBQUvtD_W1uMBvfGf82XwRwBZeBnRApA6i3mhKgLp2XuRgpD82fOWNCkoRt2UidkHn3gKdEnvIDDydq-8a6skfyAkOKewPN2mwrQvb8W9Wd1kjfiICt2ng/s1600/da12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1lQrBcvsx03pDF13vV-oIdCBQUvtD_W1uMBvfGf82XwRwBZeBnRApA6i3mhKgLp2XuRgpD82fOWNCkoRt2UidkHn3gKdEnvIDDydq-8a6skfyAkOKewPN2mwrQvb8W9Wd1kjfiICt2ng/s320/da12.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">We’ve been trying to get a wider variety of them, so they flower at different times. In theory that should work, but in practice last year they all got bunched together due to snow. So we got all our spring in one go. Hope we don’t repeat that this year.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It always feels like an act of hope, planting bulbs in the autumn. It’s fun remembering back to how deep you were digging, <span> </span>on a bright autumn day, as the sun was starting to go down and it was already starting to turn cold. The leaves were starting to fall from the trees. And, there you are... putting flowers in the bank for the spring. Sometimes you get very little from it. A few years ago we planted 1000 snowdrops, and got only around 50 back. Almost nothing at all. This time, we have been lucky.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But... even the patch of snowdrops that we planted has slowly started to spread.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Planting daffodils is always an odd experience. People seem to think you should use some weird bulb planter. I have always found just lifting the grass with a shovel works best. The bulb planters are useless in our garden. None of the soil has had enough improvement yet.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Although, even though it is not a gardener’s world flower bed, the plants still grow vigorously.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Catkins are starting to come out, and I noticed a few leaves on several bushes... I find that smaller bushes often start first, and then you get a progression. In our garden, the hawthorn and elder are the last of the main tree flowers. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I am looking forward to the pear blossom, it won’t be long now.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are rumours of bad weather appearing in the weather forecast... and we had a hard frost yesterday. So maybe winter hasn’t finished with us yet. But hope springs eternal.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So... what have I been doing?<span> </span>Apart from cut grass, there have been ample weeding opportunities to be had for all. And of course you might have noticed it has been change central on the blog. It took me a while to get it sorted out... I am not good at graphics programs. But I hope that at least everything is easy to read.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Starting a new blog is always a strange experience... I noticed that we have only just been indexed by Google, and it hasn’t adjusted to our posting schedule yet. Which, admittedly, is because it has been a little random.<span> </span>I hope that it starts to crawl the site more regularly.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But, even if it doesn’t I know that every post I write is another seed in the ground...</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Oh, did I mention another cool thing? The rhubarb is coming up... now I have to decide whether to force or not. In fact, i think I won’t force it. We grew the bed from seed... which is unusual. The best way to do it is to buy a plant from a garden centre. But, we wanted to see if the old fashioned ways work. Well... yes they do, but it is slower, and the plants take longer to establish. I get the impression we planted them in the wrong place too, they needed a bit more shade.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Sometimes gardens are like that, you make a few minor mistakes... but everything is a learning experience.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-45808195250964415982011-03-08T03:29:00.000-08:002011-03-08T03:29:25.466-08:00Theory corner – negative space – why where you don’t put flowers is also important.<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">This is part of my series of articles on how you can apply visual composition theory to Garden Design. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Negative space is the part of a picture that doesn’t contain an object. So, if your picture is of an apple... everything else is the negative space.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Many people don’t understand how important this is to classical artists.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Seeing negative space is difficult at first. Look at your thumb and first finger. Make an OK shape. The thumb and finger is a positive shape. But inside that space, there is another shape, which is called the negative shape in art.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And that shape is the key to composition for a lot of art.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">If you look at any great picture, one of the things that make it interesting are the balance of shapes around the object. The objects are often subordinated to larger compositional design. Sometimes it is so funny... you can literally draw arrows on the picture, it is so blatant.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But, as art came into the renaissance, the importance of the space around objects became more recognised. This is where the golden mean comes in. By placing centres of interest at certain places in the picture, you are almost guaranteed interesting negative shapes.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">For a better discussion on art theory and negative shapes, have a look at <a href="http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2010/05/design-balance-fitting-one-characters.html">http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2010/05/design-balance-fitting-one-characters.html</a> .</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This has implications on garden design that are barely thought about. To make a really gorgeous garden it is not just important where you put your plants. You must also consider where you do not put the plants, if you are going to make empty space into interesting shapes from a particular viewpoint.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, people won’t know what you are doing. But they will sense it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">This is less relevant when designing a garden as a whole than a picture, but when designing the view from a particular bench, you can use the same mental processes.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What can you do to make the negative shapes more interesting? One thing that is immediately obvious is not to centre objects. Place them either side of the centre. You should have a variety of heights, as well. Try to check not just where you are planting a flower, but have a look at the space around the flower to see if by changing the location you can create any interesting shapes.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Negative space is a hard concept to understand, but once you do so it gives you the ability to understand more of the design of a garden.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Actually, once you look for negative space you find that in the best gardens interesting negative shapes are always with us. <span> </span>Great designers often play with negative shapes without being that conscious of it.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are some other artistic concepts that people should consider when analysing the negative shapes of the garden – balance, unity and contrast are the most obvious ones. Every positive shape... bush or tree ... should be balanced by a negative shape in your design. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What I mean by that is that if you have a large tree, there should be a corresponding empty place where your eye can rest. Or if you have a busy space filled with colour or detail, a negative space that is quiet will act as a contrast making the noisy part stand out more.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Unity in negative spaces is a very difficult concept to grasp, but the positive spaces should all be related to each other... for example if you have a tree, it shouldn’t be planted alone, but you should plant it so that it forms a larger feature... and orchard or border... or simply a larger positive shape... and if the garden is planted according to this understanding of <a href="http://hardyperennial.blogspot.com/2011/03/theory-corner-principals-of-art-how.html">hierarchy in garden design</a> you will find that over time unity will develop naturally. The garden will be more than the sum of its parts. <span> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Contrast is another thing that should come naturally, but you can check for. Look at the empty spaces and make sure that some are larger than others, they form a lot of different shapes, and they are not boring. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">People might be wondering about whether visual art is a good guidance for designing gardens. Well, artists simplify the world in a way that gardeners can’t. But, when designing a garden, we can control things to an extent. By selecting certain points in the garden where we will view the garden from, we can use the principals of great picture design to inform out gardening. Rather like a sculptor will often decide where his sculpture will be seen from.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Of course, picture design is only a small part of the puzzle. I think my next theory article will go onto something completely different... <span> </span>the theory of magic as applied to garden design. But before that I will write a more practical post.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Och. Too much thought. Must... do... weeding.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-91569996331279361152011-03-07T12:14:00.000-08:002011-03-07T12:14:15.645-08:00Some gardening books<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">As a side interest I have been writing a few posts at squidoo to try out the writing platform there. I have been writing a few posts about gardening books. In particular, I have given vegetable gardening book reviews and <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/permaculture-book-reviews">permaculture book reviews</a>.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Permaculture is a philosophy that thinks human being should design their societies from scratch so as to be self sustaining. For a gardener, some of the principles resonate, but more importantly many of the suggestions they make are very interesting. Because, part of the philosophy of permaculture is gardening with the least work possible to get the maximum possible results.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">A perfect permaculture garden is rare, but every part of it would have some purpose. For example, you would grow the easiest to harvest vegetables, and only chose simple flowers rather than hard to grow ones that take a lot of effort.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In many ways, because permaculture investigates the history of gardening, these books are often full of information that can be very helpful and well thought out.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">That said, I think that generally they are far too radical for people to follow so instead of expecting to follow everything they say, just look for the good ideas. Ideas of having greenhouses, with a chicken coup underneath to provide heat during the winter are actually very practical in the right circumstances. Or the idea of using hot beds, an old Victorian method, rather than heated greenhouses are similarly interesting.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I don’t think people would necessarily follow all of the ideas in these books, but do think they offer some intelligent principals.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">More mainstream reviews are found in my <a href="http://www.squidoo.com/vegetable-growing-books">vegetable garden book reviews</a>. Now, everyone always say that you can save money by growing your own vegetable. I’m going to hang my colours to the mast here. I don’t think that is often the case. Once you buy seeds, books, and the land and put in the hours of effort, it is often more cost efficient these days to actually go to work.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Where gardening really comes into its own is that you produce really healthy food, have fun, and can take pride in the results. We do vegetable garden here. But, we are not self sufficient and hope that we will never get to the stage that we have to be.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I live on a small holding, and can tell you that much of the information in the tv shows about it is not completely accurate. Self sufficiency is hard work. In order to run a smallholding well there are always a lot of tasks you have to do... animals to look after, vegetable crops to tend, hedges to cut, grass to mow and on top of that in England most farm activities run at a loss.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, I am going to suggest that when you read the vegetable gardening books... they are a nice hobby, but again, you probably won’t feed your family or become self sufficient this way.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">What you will gain from them is delicious food, exercise, and a hobby that will probably make you fitter and happier.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And will give you something to be proud of.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">One resource though people don’t make much use of is their local allotment. Now, the allotment is full of interesting people who love gardening. So, if you have a problem you can often do better than reading a book. Actually talking to people with more experience of gardening than you is really ideal.</div><div class="MsoNormal">These people have been doing it for a long time.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">As an aside, I am starting to get to that point in the garden blog where I am running out of ideas a little, so if you are reading this I’d love your feedback, What do you want me to discuss?</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Otherwise, I will end up talking about the weather.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Which, today, has been fine, but a little colder than normal. I woke up this morning with the entire garden covered in a small layer of frost. I hadn’t seen that for a little while. It’s funny, every time you think you are nearer to spring something else happens.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I think tomorrow I am going to write a theory post. I will probably talk about negative spaces. That’s a hard sell to gardeners, but the negative spaces are the parts of the garden that are not filled with plants. Every garden design book talks about the positive spaces in the garden... the plants... but really fine design in visual work always has to include a balance between the positive and the negative. Designing what isn’t there. A unusual concept. So, talk to you tomorrow.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6898532690679647395.post-44485877857148782882011-03-06T03:45:00.000-08:002011-03-06T03:45:31.519-08:00What is permaculture?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-GB</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<div class="MsoNormal">Permaculture is a philosophy which says that people should live with as little impact on the natural world as possible, that cultures should be as sustainable as possible, and that people should minimize their use of things like oil, aluminum and other non-renewable resources as well as their use of energy.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">It is a movement that started in the 60’s, and probably peeked in the 70’s with the oil crises. Since then it has simmered away beneath the surface.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now, I don’t live the full permaculture lifestyle, but many of the basic principles of permaculture – trying to live with low impact on the environment, trying to use as few non-renewable resources as possible, while still living a great quality of life do appeal to me.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In many ways the last couple of centuries have been a disaster for the environment. We are losing species at the fastest rate since the last great extinction, huge swathes of Africa have become deserts, and both water resources and material resources are being depleted at a very fast rate.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Our entire economy depends on people becoming richer all the time, and in the occasions when this stops happening such as recessions there is huge personal suffering.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Human societies has never really been designed with the principals of becoming more self sustaining, and while we would all like to think our society will continue to thrive after our deaths, there are very many examples of societies that used all their resources and eventually died out. Rather than following the societies down the same path we should start to look at how we can reduce our impact on the environment.</div><div class="MsoNormal">Where I sometimes disagree with the permaculture books is that the solutions they offer are not very practical, requiring widespread changes, and I think people are more likely to follow through if we make smaller changes to society.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Now, I don’t intend this blog to be a philosophy blog, or even a permaculture blog, but how people garden can make a huge impact on the environment around them.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Taking a few steps right now could improve your gardens diversity a lot. Now, here is one radical change you can make without spending a fortune. Is your garden immaculate? Start looking for a little imperfection. A simple pile of wood rotting away can house over a thousand insects. And it doesn’t have to be ugly. You could use ferns, and woodland plants to make shady corner of the garden into something that is good looking while at the same time also provides a little ecosystem of diversity in your garden. By attracting insects you will also attract birds, which will give you something to listen to when you are doing the washing up.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Compost bins are another source of life in the garden. I know they are not always appealing but if you have a garden with a shed, and there is an out of the way spot you can dedicate to them you will have started to improve the quality of your garden as well as save money on compost.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Peat free compost offers another solution.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">With a lot of gardening other than seedlings, you can mix topsoil or your own home made compost with peat free compost to provide a reasonable experience when making the plants. Now, this is much less of an option for commercial growers who need every plant to be identical. But for a home gardener, who cares? It will give marginally different plants each time, but within a few weeks of having them out in the garden you won’t notice the difference.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There is another aspect of your garden design that the principals of permaculture can affect. One of these is to make the garden as easy to maintain as possible, put garden tools near the back door, and garden features you need to maintain regularly as near the house as possible. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Try to make the garden as easy on yourself as possible.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Don’t get me wrong, not everyone wants to make radical changes to their lifestyle, but by looking at where you waste time when gardening... and solving that regularly... you will eventually be able to get the very best out of your time in the garden.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">I hope all this doesn’t sound like preaching – I still use petrol tools, and live a pretty ordinary life. I just try to make small improvements where I can. I generally leave the big philosophy to authors, and try to improve the environment around me one small step at a time.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0