Biodynamic gardening update: July 2010
“It’s nearly the end of July. Surely there’s something we can eat from the garden?” Danny was exasperated – forgetting that we have already munched loads from the garden in the past few months. Spuds, orach (German Mountain spinach), calabrese, turnips, broad beans, raspberries, strawberries, tayberries, loganberries, peas, lettuces and salad leaves. But then I twigged that he’s desperate to start harvesting his favourite. Runner beans. They are a bit late this year but a careful examination of the beans revealed that they...
read moreExperimenting with reseeding the lawn
This lovely hot summer and the pile of rocks that I dug out of the herbaceous borders have connived to wreck the lawn in the herbaceous garden. The grass paths in the kitchen garden aren’t too bad as they have been watered with the overspill from the borders. But when we peek out of the back door we saw a desert of cracked mud and yellowing grass. Even during cooler summers the pounding of tiny Min Pin paws always results in a long grass free dried mud path down the garden. This year I was determined to crack this problem. Sensible...
read moreHow to maximise your space for planting. Take a long hard look and think laterally.
“Danny I’m thinking of renting some more land. We just don’t have enough space for all our projects.” “I’m sure that you could rent some land very easily around here but let’s wait until we have maximised the space at home first. Our land is free.” “But we have maximised our space – increased the size of the borders and made the paths quite slim in the kitchen garden.” “Well the forsythia in the front could go for a start. I’m having problems getting out of my car.” He’s had it in for the forsythia for months...
read moreDog poo wormery
We have two compost heaps and a large traditional kitchen waste composter but still need more compost than we can make. So I started looking at the possibility of investing in a worm composter. The worm casts that are made create a great compost and the wormery also collects a liquid feed that can be diluted and fed to plants and shrubs. Organic fertilisers can be very expensive. Although we are now making comfrey and nettle tea, sometimes plants need that extra boost. Then I discovered that there are wormerys that convert dog poo into...
read moreBosch Rotak 40 electric rotary lawn mower: a review
We bought the Bosch Rotak 40 electric lawnmower to replace our ancient petrol engine model. Read how well it performed on our bumpy lawn and how well it coped with the ovegrown bits.
read moreCompanion planting: flowers with vegetables
It’s all very well growing 2000 flower plants but having started planting them out in the herbaceous borders it was clear that I was quickly running out of space. Some of my large swathes of perennial plants just had to go. I cut the more rampant ones back and dumped the ones that I didn’t like 100%. I also took a long hard look at the shadier border that I’ve never really bothered with and moved any plant that can cope with semi shade to that location. But still I didn’t have enough space. Then I had a brain wave. If marigolds are...
read moreHow to clean your gardening tools with ease
What do you think this is? Well it’s not a bucket going to a fancy dress party dressed as a cardinal. This old metal bucket with the broad lid from a rainproof chicken feeder has transformed the dull process of cleaning my new gardening tools at the end of the day. In the past mud clung to the hand forged tools. An oily rag worked 90% if I was not too impatient for my supper. But my cleaning process wasn’t efficient. When you are tired a quick clear up/clean up is an essential part of garden happiness. Then Paula, who writes the...
read moreExperimenting with intensive potato planting
Danny has been frantically busy for weeks now. So he swapped cooking for seven nights running (simple quick food) if I finished off his potato border and planted the spuds. As you know I’ve started practicing biodynamic principles in the garden this year. I’m hoping for an increased harvest and a healthier garden all round. I read what John Soper had to say about potatoes in his book Bio-dynamic Gardening –lots of good advice but he didn’t give spacings. So I consulted my gardening bible Joy Larkom’s Grow Your Own...
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