Unusual veg 1: Perennial onions
In this series of blogs on unusual vegetables I am looking at some of the quirky veg that I grow on my plot. I had a count up and I think I grow 50+ unusual types, so I’ll cover most
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Category: Gardens
What’s wrong with spent mushroom compost?
Spent mushroom compost – it’s light, easy to work with, full of nutrients, free of weeds and disease, rich in organic matter so improves soil structure and water retention. This soil improver is also reasonably priced with a one tonne
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#PeatFreeApril
It’s April and the #peatfree campaign is off the starting blocks. It’s hard to believe how much progress has been made since September, when an exchange on Twitter resulted in a group of gardeners and garden writers coming together to
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The allotments 2019 – successes and failures
It’s the time of year when the allotmenteers at Empire Farm are planning the year ahead, seed catalogues are out and planting plans in preparation. Like much of the country, the weather has been very wetover the last few months,
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Christmas poinsettias – are they green?
A few twitter posts re lovely poinsettias got me thinking. Are they green? Should we buy them? What are their eco credentials? And why are phytoplasmas so important? So, a bit of background first. Poinsettias are a member of the
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Who knew you could vaccinate trees?
Well, I for one didn’t! But thanks to a fascinating talk by Dr Glynn Percival of the University of Reading at the Organic Matters conference in Bristol I know a lot more now and will be using this knowledge to
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Jewel lilies
I’ve kept a couple of pots of nerines for some time, but didn’t really know much about them, so I grabbed a chance to visit the Nerine Exhibition at Exbury Gardens in Hampshire along with fellow Garden Media Guild members.
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Seeds – to save or not to save?
I can hear you all shouting ‘of course save seed’ and as generations of gardeners have done, I diligently save seed each year because locally-adapted seed is best – or is it? I have saved parsnip seed for the last
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#Peatfree – garden writers need to take the lead
There must be a lot of ‘peat is best’ gardeners and growers around as they account for more than 60% of the peat bought in the UK. They claim there are no alternatives but there are plenty on offer. And
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From field to productive flower farm in one year
It’s the height of the cut flower year and the new flower farm is looking simply fab! Wandering around it in August, its hard to believe that less than a year ago it was an overgrown, weedy pasture once used
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