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Frost protection is a post from: Gardening News
Another Great Reason to Grow Marjoram is a post from: How to Vegetable Garden
Do my garden birds know more than me and the weather forecasters? Sometimes it makes me wonder. This is the most severe winter we have had for years. Snow, freezing temperatures that have not even reached as high as the norm for this time of the year and yet as soon as the snow and ice have cleared the birds are singing like spring is just around the corner. Not only are the garden birds singing to claim their territories but the Jackdaws are trying to build a nest in my chimney. With the winds coming from the north temperatures are still below what they should be so what is it that instils so much encouragement in them? Maybe it is the lengthening days.
Food for our feathered friends must be in short supply; a Greater Spotted Woodpecker is visiting and feeding on the large fatball I hang in the tree near the seed feeder. I have had them visiting and taking peanuts from the feeder but this is the first time I have seem them take fat. The Blackbirds are still coming to me to beg for dried fruit but even they are now taking peanuts from the feeder.
The garden birds may be preparing for spring but I think it is going to be a while before I can do any gardening outside. The lawns are looking a bit sad after the snow and I have never seen so many shrubs, including hedging, with such burnt leaves for a long time. Mother Nature has a way of recovering from these setbacks but it would not surprise me to find the odd shrub and perennial plant not putting in an appearance this year.
Probably another week and I will be making a sowing of tomato seeds. As decided after last years growing season I will just be growing Harbinger. There are newer tomato varieties that will produce fruits all the same size. However that is not a consideration for me, my tomatoes can ripen at many different sizes and I can put up with that in exchange for the excellent flavour.
In spite of the very bad weather my early flowering Mohonia is still providing colour. I have met gardeners who do not like this group of shrubs but I am a fan. There were a couple in the garden when I moved here and I have added to the collection. Very accommodating, nice yellow flowers with a pleasing perfume that can fill a garden. They make great “full stop” plants in a border or can be used as architectural plants due to their shapely (and spiky!) dark green leaves.
November in the garden last year was a bit bleak to say the least. Early really cold weather finished off the annuals and the dahlias had to be put into storage. What a difference this year. 
The weather did turn cold, the cold winds suggested a repeat of last year but instead the cold winds went away and unseasonal mild weather returned. The result is that the Dahlias are still looking good, the Cosmos are still stars in the border, Geraniums are still flowering en mass and Busy Lizzies (Impatiens) in sheltered spots are flowering their hearts out.
It is strange looking out of the window into the garden. There are trees that have completely lost their foliage due to the strong weekend wind, others with no foliage but have berries hanging like coloured baubles, Acers that are showing there beautiful autumn foliage, shrubs with autumn colour, roses still blooming and annual bedding still in flower. There can be no doubt however that we are well into autumn, the Sycamore leaves are thick on the ground with still more to come off this majestic tree. The leaves of most the trees in the garden are easy to gather using my Stihl Leaf Blower / Garden Vacuum but the shear bulk of wet Sycamore leaves make the job hard work.
I can report pleasing results from my summer containers this year apart from two bowls that sit either side of the steps down to my front lawn. Why I cannot say but they have just not looked good all summer and yet two other large pots a few feet away using the same compost and plants from the same sowing are still looking good. This weekend I removed them thinking that I may discover a problem at the roots but no, the compost was full of healthy root. I have replanted now with Winter Flowering Pansies that I sowed earlier this year so it will be interesting to see if they fare any better.
The one problem, if you can call it a problem, of summer bedding still doing well in containers is that I do not have the heart to uproot them as I know I should and the Winter Flowering Pansies really need to be planted out. Still, I am sure I will wake up one morning soon to see bedding that has collapsed and had enough!
The last of the cucumbers have been picked and eaten this week. What prolific croppers they have been. Just two plants have provided more than enough cucumbers for the family and there were plenty to give away. If you have not tried the smaller fruiting varieties that grow just big enough to provide one meal then I urge you to do so. Picked fresh, still crisp and used in a salad or put onto sandwiches, excellent.
When you go away on holiday in the height of summer it is always a worry that friends or neighbours cannot get round often enough to keep up the watering. Everyone is busy and they cannot be expected to lavish all the love and care that you would yourself. One of the good things about taking a vacation this time of the year is that most things will survive well enough with a watering every other day. This has been the case with my week away rambling in the wilds enjoying the fresh air.
The birds have had to find alternative arrangements for the week but they are slowly finding the food again. Each day is bringing back more feathered friends.
Only a week away but I can see significant changes. Autumn colour in plants, tree and shrubs that was not present a week ago. The grass is not growing so quickly, it is cooler and the days are getting shorter.
There is still plenty of colour in the garden from flowers and the colour from the flowers is being joined by foliage colour.
The Rudbeckias seem to have been flowering for weeks as do the white Cosmos. The large flowered Dahlias have certainly been worth waiting for and have provided good value.
The tomatoes are coming to an end now. There are still tomatoes on the vines but it is doubtful whether they will all ripen. Of course I can pick them and ripen them inside but my preference is to use the green tomatoes in chutney. The theory is that we will eat the chutney through the winter months but believe me it has no chance of lasting that long no matter how much we manage to make!
The Runner Beans are also coming to an end, there are still some to pick but do not look as appetising as a couple of weeks ago. Very likely they will be a bit hard and stringy.
One success of this year has to be the Mini Iceberg Hearts lettuce. Sown close together in a deep box they have done well and hearted up into nice crunchy heads. They stand for a long period and the cut heads will keep for up to two weeks in the refrigerator.
I sowed seed of Winter Flowering Pansies a few weeks ago and they are ready to go into their winter locations now. Two containers can be cleared to make way but I am pleased to say that the other containers that will home them are still full of flower. Sorry pansies, you will just have to sit in trays a little bit longer.
Gardening Jobs for November | Gomestic – One of the easiest ways to brighten a dull garden is to put in a few winter flowering pansies. They do well in pots, or in the borders. Winter jasmine and early hellerbores also provide some welcome colour. Image via Wikipedia …
It is not so long ago that I made an entry in my diary giving an opinion on the tomato varieties that I have grown this year. At the time I stated that I would grow more of the same next year, this being Harbinger and the plum variety Red Alert. I have changed my mind and will only be growing Harbinger next season.
So what has changed?
Harbinger has proved to be the best cropper by far and in my opinion Harbinger has the better flavour. In addition Harbinger tomato plants have proven to be much healthier.
The blackbirds have disappeared as they usually do at this time of the year to moult. I spotted one in one of my rhododendrons and he hardly had a feather left on his head.
The great news on the bird front is that we have more sparrows this year that we have had for a very long time. They are doing their best to eat me out of bird seed but I have no complaints. Flocks of them arrive on mass and disappear together. I hear them in the bushes near the feeder waiting for a refill. Their numbers suddenly declined dramatically one winter and it has taken years for them to make a comeback. The funny thing is, last winter was the harshest we have had for many years and yet it is this summer that we have had the biggest increase in numbers. Long may it continue.
For the first time ever I have had problems with caterpillars on my salad crops grown under cover. I recognised the caterpillar of the cabbage white but I must confess my ignorance when it comes to identifying the other thug. Whatever it was it had a voracious appetite!
This autumn I must give some thought to my vegetable garden layout. I have already made some alterations that will help next years crops which has entailed cutting back shrubs and trees that had put on more than expected growth due to good growing conditions.
My begonia hanging basket is looking good at last. For the first time this year I have grown tuberous begonias from seed that are recommended for baskets and containers, having only grown the fibrous rooted varieties from seed. They have taken a while to reach flowering size but the wait has been worth it. Hopefully I can over winter the tubers and have earlier flowers and a cheaper hanging basket next year.
I say that my first garden was not very big and yet when I see the small gardens that are offered with new build homes I realise how luck I was.
That garden was my learning curve and was fine at first but gradually I became frustrated because I could not plant specimens, especially shrubs that appealed to me. In a small garden you have the choice of planting small shrubs or medium sized shrubs that need to be pruned back each year. The latter solution is a never ending battle as the shrub tries to regenerate by being even more vigorous. Shrubby Potentillas performed extremely well for me and I still retain affection for these “superb doers”.
Moving to my present garden, over 20 years ago, I found that it had been maintained but for me it was not a garden. As I sit in the back garden writing this it is not only the colour on show that pleases me but the structure of the garden. I have to say it is made more pleasurable by the delicious perfume of Rosa Rugosa Alba that I introduced into the garden this year. Yes I know ideally I should not let it flower in its first year but could you snip off all those buds and miss those beautiful flowers and the scent?
The main structure of the garden is formed by trees and shrubs. A lot of thought went into choosing the right trees to plant as they were expensive to buy and I knew they hopefully would be with me for many years.
When developing the planting plan for the borders my first thoughts went to the shrubs that I wanted to form the backbone and being a much larger garden than my previous one I had a lot more to choose from. Colour, size and form needed to be right as, if done correctly, this would enable me to mix and match colourful perennial herbaceous plants and annuals. One thing I remember about this process was that the pencil eraser was worked very hard!
Perhaps all these years on I take these shrubs for granted. They demand so little from me yet give so much.
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I have to confess that I didn’t know that they had gone out of fashion but this only goes to strengthen the opinion that I have held for a long time. If you are going to create a garden then create one to please yourself. Fashions and fads come and go, look at new ideas and pick out things that you like but incorporate them into your own ideas. I can think of “new ideas in gardening” that caught my imagination in my early days of learning to garden but certainly did not deliver what was promised and disappeared as quickly as they appeared.
Do My Garden Birds Know Something That I Do Not? is a post from: How to Vegetable Garden
When I saw the headline in The Seattle Times Newspaper “10 Steps to a 30 minute garden” my first thought was “Oh no, not yet another of those quick garden makeover fixes”. There have been so many of those television programmes where gardening gurus have been called in to do a makeover in anywhere from half a day to two days for people who do not have any idea or real desire to create a garden. So often the result is good, perhaps a bit fanciful, but within a year has been allowed to deteriorate.
My other gripe has always been that these type of gardening programmes can send out the wrong message to new home owners. Create a garden over the weekend just like you would decorate a room in your house. The trouble is those who have not gardened before may get the idea that you only have to freshen up the garden as often as you would your house decor.
When I read the article I realised that I was misinterpreting the headline. To quote; “The popularity of gardening has even taken a hit, as we find more and more competition for what would have been time spent in the garden. But whatever the reason, if 30 minutes is all you have to spend each week, here’s my list for 10 ways to minimize your time while creating a beautiful, lower-maintenance yard and garden.”
The article gives sensible gardening tips for those who want a tidy looking garden but find their time pulled in all directions.
The message for any new home owner or budding gardener is that a garden takes time to create or to get to your liking. In fact any experienced gardener will tell you that a garden is never finished. You can always see things to improve, unfortunately plants and shrubs die for a variety of reasons and this can create the opportunity for a change of theme or improved theme.
If you want a wildlife garden you should only grow wildflowers. These are not my words or my belief but something quoted in conversation to me this week. It is a fair enough view I suppose although incorrect. Where do you start when answering this argument?
I suppose the first point is where do the plants in our gardens originate? The species originated in wild from seed sown by Mother Nature and many have entered our gardens as nature intended while others have been “improved” by plant breeders. Some improvements have resulted in larger flowers or longer flowering periods but at the cost of loss of perfume or no longer being capable of producing the food source intended for companion insects or birds. I may be in danger of sounding like Charles Darwin when saying that plants, insects, birds and animals have adapted over millions of years to live together and provide mutual benefits. If there is a problem with our modern wildlife gardens it is that our gardens include trees, shrubs and plants that have been imported from other continents and have adapted along with their homeland wildlife.
Of course this introduction of flora is not new. Many species we think of as British natives were brought over by invaders, sailing ships seeking new continents and the modern day plant hunters. If it were not for these intrepid adventurers our garden would not be as colourful or diverse. So what has changed? Transport, the world has become smaller. Imagine being a plant hunter finding a new species and having to find a way to keep seed viable, a plant or cutting alive for two or three years as your ship found its way home. Nowadays once back to base the collection can be home in a matter of hours. In addition so many plants are bred abroad and imported by the thousand.
Do you have to let your garden run wild to be a wildlife friendly garden? No but a garden can be too tidy, so tidy in fact that it looks and probably is sterile. I can remember the bad old days when we were encouraged to spray chemicals as soon as the first aphids or other pests appeared. In fact with some treatments we were told to spray before they appeared. Believe it or not I saw a neighbour digging up a perfectly healthy plant that was in full bloom and looked beautiful. When I enquired as to the problem the reply was that that it was covered in bees and he could not stand insects of any kind. A sad but true story.
We are advised where possible to grow a small patch of stinging nettles in a corner of the garden as they are the staple diet of certain caterpillars. In a small garden it has to be recognised that this is not always practical, especially where young children play. But does this mean you do not have a wildlife garden? Absolutely not, this is only one part of the ideal. I am lucky that I have a field backing into my garden and in one corner I do have a nettle patch – the other side of the hedge. Am I cheating? No, they do grow into the hedge so I do have to be careful that they become too invasive but if I was a very tidy gardener I would find a way to kill off the lot.
Last year gale force winds blew down a few branches from a Hawthorne tree. They have not been wasted and in fact some of the smaller diameter parts are stacked in a corner for insects and hedgehogs.
If you are interested in attracting bees, butterflies and other insects into your garden there are specialist websites that will advise the best species and varieties to grow. But don’t go away with the impression that the required plants will be expensive to acquire. A good example is the native foxglove, readily available, will seed themselves without becoming invasive and the bumblebees love them. It is a pleasure to sit by a foxglove in summer and see a bumblebee disappear into a foxglove and then come backing out with pollen sacks full. A word of caution however, foxgloves are poisonous so care should be taken if you have a young family but this also applies to many other plants.
Wildflowers are all weeds. There are those who look upon wildflowers sown in their gardens by the wind or the birds as weeds. If you define a weed as a plant growing in the wrong place I bet there are not many of us who do not have a weed growing in our garden. There are certain “weeds” that come up in my garden each year and I leave them. They may have small flowers but are exquisite in their own right and are usually easy to pull up if in the wrong place. Pernicious and invasive weeds are another matter.
Water is a medium that we are encouraged to have in our wildlife garden. Not all of us can have water in the garden especially if we have young children but even a small bird bath can be very beneficial. Site the bird bath close to safe cover so that a well bathed and heavy laden bird can easily make it into cover to preen. A wildlife garden pond does not have to be huge; a friend of mine has a very small pool with cover planted on the edge that has frogs and tadpoles every year.
To finish here is a story from this last week. A gardening friend went out into his garden to turn his compost heap and was going well until he came across something he did not expect, a field mouse nest with very small young. Did he think that it was only a mouse nest, maybe a pest that needed to be removed? No he carefully covered the nest with compost in the hope that the parents would return to look after their young. Now this is what I would call a wildlife gardener.
Creating a wildlife garden can be fun and very rewarding. Design and tend for your garden with garden wildlife in mind and you will attract wildlife that will make your garden come alive and be a more enjoyable place.
Restricted space in your garden should not deter you from growing vegetables; there are ways to achieve this even in the smallest garden.
We like our farmers to grow organically and so should we home vegetable growers. There are those who argue otherwise but common sense suggests this is the healthy approach.
Buying organically grown vegetables in the supermarket usually results in paying more for your produce but fortunately if you consider having your own vegetable garden higher prices is something that you do not have to worry about any longer.
Just think by growing your own vegetables you only have to step out into your garden and bring that ultra fresh produce into your kitchen for preparation. How much better is that than driving to the supermarket for veggies that may have been flown half way around the world?
Any vegetable can be planted, grown and harvested in your garden or backyard, even on your patio. Restricted space means choosing the right varieties and maybe ensuring that you have containers with sufficient depth. For instance, if you do decide to plant a squash you should know that this vine type plant can be trained up supports instead of letting it take its natural course which would take up too much precious ground space. Carrots can be grown in any old container as long as the container has sufficient depth.
Sit down and consider the varieties that you would like to eat. Choose the seed carefully; there are varieties of plants available these days that are a lot smaller when reaching maturity. Choose wisely if you garden in a limited space.
Buy your seed or buy plants ready started. It is far better to buy and start from seed which is the cheaper option but in your first year you may find that it is too late to sow seed of one of your favourite vegetables. Whether you buy seed or plants make sure you are buying from a reputable source.
To find out more read gardening tips for growing vegetables in a small space or town garden or read these articles:
Home Hydroponics for Growing Vegetable Plants
Grow your own vegetable plants indoors using hydroponics.
Growing vegetables year round can be a challenge in most of the US. The winter
months won’t support any type of outdoor gardening in most of the US, and
in the southern states many types of vegetables won’t survive the summer heat
and drought.
But Indoor Gardening can be a real challenge as well. Proper lighting is always an issue, as most vegetables want 8 hours or more of sunlight a day.
Of course many vegetables such as corn or large vining plants like cantaloupe are just not practical even if you could create enough lighting to support them.
But it’s not at all out of the question to grow small leafy vegetables for salads,
and many herbs can be grown indoors as well. These generally are not heavy feeders, so they are also well suited for a Hydroponics Systems.
One of the more popular systems for growing container vegetables indoors is the Aerogrow Aerogarden system. It includes room for several seed pods and a built in adjustable height grow light. With a microprocessor based controller, the flow of nutrients in the hydroponics system and the timing of the grow lights are optimized for the specific type of plant that you are growing at the time.
By varying the height of the grow light as the plants increase in size, you
are able to maintain the optimum growing conditions for weeks at a time.
Another advantage to the Aerogarden indoor garden system is the variety of seed
types available for the system.
You can grow a variety of lettuce, spinach, cherry tomatoes, herbs, chili
peppers and even petunias.
With this large a variety of plants, some folks find they need more than one Hydroponics system
to keep up.
Being aware to what you eat is what physicians would usually suggest to you. If you have been eating sufficient quantity of healthy foods such as fish, meat, fruits and vegetables, then fret not. Because some of these hold harmful chemicals, perhaps you should start switching to organically grown vegetables
and other food products.
Essentially, the mainstream of these organic vegetables and other food products have been genetically changed making it a smart choice for buyers. For reasons of better production and profit, some farmers may tend to employ some assorted techniques which may include the use of chemicals and fertilisers to make them look and feel larger even if they are aware that this can be damaging to your health. Producing organically raised crops is not that difficult and needs nothing magical whatsoever, but having some productive soil, sunlight, water and some fertiliser can just do the trick.
Home Garden By following this simple plan, a study shows that eating foods and vegetables on a regular basis which have been grown organically can help maintain a heartier life because those may contain fifty percent more vitamins and minerals than those made from conventional methods. These organically grown vegetables taste better compared to other processed or commonly produced products giving you the feeling that you will live longer by consuming these everyday. This is because although fertilisers and pesticides have their benefits, they get rid of essential vitamins and nutrients so you are not getting the required daily allowance that your body requires. Another benefit of eating organic vegetables and food is that you help the environment which happens because farmers are no longer using harmful chemicals and put these into the ground. The land which they have cultivated on can be established by the next generation because the land that has been educated for so long, is still fertile.
In stores, you may compare the prices of those conventionally grown products to those with those organically grown vegetables and other items and you will see that the latter can be found really expensive. Your life is one invaluable treasure and something that you should take care of, so budgeting yourself towards eating the best foods can just block you from acquiring the quality of life that we all want and need. You should think about going organic as this will profit not only you but also people around you especially your family and friends in the future, more than you think it could.
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Home Garden The price of organic vegetables and other products will go down in time if more farmers resolve to take part in its production thus introducing and selling it to the markets. It is only because there is a tiny department of this available now in the store but when it becomes an industry standard, things
will change.
Until that happens, you can probably plant and grow these in your backyard, you just need the supplies especially the seeds or the fully grown plants to help you get started. You should take part in assisting these grow not only by splashing water every morning as there are still a lot of other matters that you should recognise to take good care of them and that is by doing some thorough research about it. One of the numerous things that are getting the introduction of organic foods and vegetables in the market a challenging deal is the fact that US imports from many nations that are not yet practicing organic
planting. For everyone here as well as other countries to enjoy the benefits of organically raised vegetables and fruits – encouragement, proper help and introduction should be started and driven to bring it to the surface.
At the weekend I found time to watch a television program that I had recorded of a TV personality designing and planting up a large herbaceous border in their new and bigger home and garden. Some really nice plants and shrubs were chosen, I wish I had the spare cash to go out and buy all those at one go. Or maybe not, there is something special about planning, getting the bones of a border done and adding some specials as you can afford it.
The funny thing was it took me back to the first border I created in my present garden twenty years ago. The circumstances were similar; suddenly a bigger garden and the chance to plant those big shrubs where one would have filled the old garden, also the opportunity to plant an all year round garden. Add to that the fact the border was cut in front of a large hedge and it really was a feeling of déjà vu.
If I was starting my border with the knowledge and experience gained during those twenty years I would do things differently and I could see this presenter making what I would now think of as making the same mistakes. I am not saying my knowledge of plants is greater because I am certain it is not, it is more of looking at practical issues to do with the situation.
Whilst the planting was being done I also wondered whether once established certain things would overpower the rest of the border. Jump 12 months on and in my opinion that looked the case. It is all a matter of your own taste of course, I have and have had my own gardening heroes who have influenced my style of planting but in the end I do what I like and not to please everybody else.
My Garden is My Space and no matter what the weather, it provides me with a lot of enjoyment.
