Garden News

Since there was a break in the rain this morning, I decided to sort out some jobs, instead of the endless monotonous weeding. I repotted the four Woad plants which survived the Winter (or my neglect, depending on your opinion?) To separate their intertwined roots I had to tip them out and tease them apart ever so carefully, so I hope they do alright.

So much for the Salad Bed- its been over-run by parsley and strawberries, and the single montbretia which arrived last year has somehow multiplied into about ten plants at least. The Chard (red stems) are pretty much done for, and the parsley needs a severe talking to. If I just cut all the parsley back I'm wondering if it will behave itself for another year- does anyone know? Or once it has gone to seed as spectacularly as this do I need to start anew?

Back in May we had 'The Brown Wind' which burnt all the leaves which were out. No raspberry flowers, or apple blossom or anything else which fruits, as a result. At the time it was horrible, days of gale force winds, but as you can see from this acer, which is in the same state as my apple trees and fruiting canes, its going to take more than one season for plants to recover.

The Hub has been rescuing plastic sheeting from his Work skip, so this morning we laid it all out to see was their enough to put together a bit of a polytunnel. He reckons we have enough for the roof, and we'll use pallets along the sides for the present. He's going to get a few poles from the Sawmill down the road, and a coil of rope, so I'll keep you updated!

And here we have the salad I picked earlier for lunch- ssssh, don't tell them, its dandelion leaves! And some other greens too- of course!!

So that's the state of the Nation as we go to press today!!



My Fertilizer Factory! (tutorial)

I didn't come up with this idea, I saw it demonstrated at a Teacher's Science Day several years ago and have been doing it on and off ever since....but it kept blowing away so the Hub made the frame from an old crate he found in the skip at work, and now it lives in the back kitchen. It doesn't smell, surprisingly, but I guess it might if the weather was very warm.

Take a plastic bottle, 2 liter is good, and cut the end off to use as a lid. Take another bottle and cut in in half, retaining the lower half and discarding the top part.
Sit the top of the first bottle upside down in the bottom of the second bottle.
Fill the bottle with vegetable and fruit peelings, tea bags and compostable kitchen waste.
Use the end of the first bottle as a lid to keep flies out and any smells in!
I have four lined up here in the crate. As the organic matter degrades a highly nutritious (for plants!!) brown liquid will drip down into the bottom part.

Take the contraption apart and pour the liquid fertilizer into the can where you can dilute it at least 1:5 with water. If you water your plants with the solution too strong you may scorch the roots. Empty the partly degraded organic waste into a compost bin to finish degrading into dry loamy compost suitable for the garden.

It looks gross, it really does, but have you seen the price of commercial fertilizers for house plants? I use it mainly on my indoor plants, and, if you look back over previous indoor photos you can see that it really is good for them. I know I'm a bit addicted to triffid-like house plants but...whatever blows my hair back, right??? But its just as good on outdoor plants, potted or ground, vegetables, tree saplings, flowers, I've used it on everything.