Exactly what do plant roots do?
Plants need roots and although some plants absorb water and nutrients from the air or host plants, most have their roots firmly embedded in the soil and here we look at what their functions. Firstly roots (hopefully) anchor the plant securely in the soil against buffeting by winds and passing animals. Secondly, plants take in nutrients from the soil, compost...
Want to grow Figs? Yes you can!
Dried figs are a veritable Christmas treat whether eaten alone or offered to carol singers in ‘Figgy Pudding’. Personally I would rather be offered chocolate biscuits by satisfied customers when I go carol singing but there is no accounting for taste. Figs are not hard to grow in South East England as long as you have a sheltered spot with...
Raised vegetable beds – why & how
Winter is an ideal season to plan and build in the kitchen garden as there is little to harvest or plant. Raised beds have gained popularity recently so I thought it would be interesting to take a look at why you might use them and offer a few practical tips. If you find that ‘the ground is a long way...
Awesome Autumn
November sees the final flourish of autumn leaf colour before the usual gales finally strip deciduous trees and shrubs of their old foliage and they descend into dormancy to sit out the cold of winter. Have you ever stopped to think about why nature provides this colour burst? It is all to do with recycling! The chlorophyll that turns leaves...
Leaf mould & the self destructing sack
We are now well and truly in the leaf gathering season so ensure that you make the most of nature’s bounty by rotting deciduous leaves into leaf mould for use as a fantastic soil conditioner. Leaves need plenty of air circulation to decompose and must be fairly wet when stacked to kick off the process. I have never found...
