Growing Potatoes without a garden
Growing your own fruit and especially annual vegetables seems to have taken the UK by storm in the last couple of years. For those who only have a small garden or even a patio, the good news is that you do not need a huge vegetable patch nor an unnatural commitment to digging to grow the archetypal vegetable: potatoes. You...
Magical Runner Beans
To be honest there is nothing particularly magical about runner beans but they do make a great subject for watching the rather magical process of a seed germinating. The main advantage of beans is that the seeds are large enough for you to see the root and shoot emerging with the aid of a clear plastic cup and two sheets...
Choosing an irrigation system
After such a wet winter it may seem perverse to talk about irrigation systems but if you are planning or replanting an area of your garden, it is worth thinking about watering now. Unless you are using drought tolerant plants then at some point int eh summer watering will be needed especially in the vegetable garden. A traditional hose and/or sprinkler...
Plant types – all those acronyms!
Plant type abbreviations are simple once you understand them! The first letter(s) refer to the hardiness and the final letter refers to the lifecycle. Thus HP is a Hardy Perennial and HHB is a Half Hardy Biennial. Of course there are trees that do not withstand freezing conditions, but apart from a couple of frost hardy palms they are not...
Mulching – Why & What?
Making compost at home The aim of mulching is twofold: to retain water in the soil by reducing evaporation and reduce weed growth by excluding light. You can mulch with a variety of materials including stones & landscape fabric, but the best is well rotted organic matter as this brings a 3rd benefit: over time worms will drag it down into...