Have you heard of Rootgrow?
This is organic friendly fungi that I have been using this summer, when planting perennials, roses and shrubs. KateUK mentioned it in a comment on the blog and when I spotted Rootgrow in the garden centre, I invested in a pack. Everything that I planted with a sprinkle of Rootgrow crystals has flourished. So if you are planting this Autumn you might consider investing in a pack to give your plants the best possible chance. Rootgrow is a mycorrhizal fungi that creates a secondary “root” system. So a plant has double roots to...
read moreWe have got a Solar Tunnel polytunnel!
It’s all Lynn Keddie’s and Jackie’s fault. They both set the “why not get a polytunnel” seed in my brain. Like everyone else we are becoming very concerned about the rising price of food. It just seems to be creeping up and up. If we invested in a polytunnel we could extend the growing season even further and might be able to become 95% self sufficient in vegetables and a lot of fruit. That is with the help of the freezer, the dehydrator and plain old fashioned bottled fruit and tomatoes. The fledgling flower selling business...
read moreGrow Red Brandy Wine tomatoes for flavour and great returns
We’ve grown a wonderful new (to us) tomato this year. Taking Tamar’s advice – she writes the sparky Starving off the Land blog – I invested in an American variety of tomato seed called Red Brandy Wine. This variety has some resistance to blight. I spotted biodynamic seed in the Lunar Organics online catalogue . Following biodynamic principles, I sowed the seed on a fruit day. Then pricked out and planted on the relevant day. Incidentally I found the Lunar Organics biodynamic calendar much easier to use than Maria Thum’s...
read moreAn infestation of mice
We have mice in the chicken run, mice in the garden, mice in the larder, the kitchen, the bedrooms. In fact there are mice everywhere. Looking ultra cute and messing up our cottage big time. Something had to be done. I tackled the larder first. Trapped one within minutes and no more came. Just one mouse had created havoc in there. QD had a great deal on Tala Le Parfait style jars so I invested in loads of them. Now nothing in our larder is contained in a box or a bag. It looks pretty too. “Catching mice is easy peasy.” I thought as I...
read moreFour years old today: Happy Birthday Cottage Smallholder
When I was four, I remember going to a fancy dress party dressed as a fairy. I had a wand and glittery shoes and presumably dinky wings. A tiny part of me secretly hoped that by dressing the part I might feel what it’s actually like to be a real fairy and possibly even to be able instantly to cast spells. But as I clattered down the road in my new shoes I seemed so human and clumpy and the wand remained just a sparkly star stuck on a stick. When I sat down on a cold wet August day in 2006 and wrote the first post of this blog, I can’t...
read moreCrocs: a review
Inca and I are still regularly attending the Animal Health Trust. She is undergoing a course of Chemotherapy which seems to be working well. Inca is very lucky she is been treated by Lara Matiasek who is one of the Senior clinicians in neurology. Inca likes Lara although there is often a bit of a struggle when she is carried away! Generally all the vets wear loose blue tops and slacks and very strange brightly coloured shoes. These shoes intrigued me and eventually I just had to ask about them. “I do hope that you don’t mind me asking...
read moreClimbing courgettes: basic care
This year I’ve had a series of disasters on the courgette/zucchini growing front. Seeds haven’t germinated, pots have been knocked over snapping the contents and when I finally planted the remaining three out in big pots in the kitchen garden they were guzzled by slugs. “I can’t face the thought of a summer without home grown courgette salads. “ Danny exclaimed. “We’ll have to buy a plant.” As home grown courgettes taste so much better than shop bought ones I was hoping for a courgette glut too. Apart from raw courgette...
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...
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