Organic Garden Blog

Mar 6, Gardening Catalogue Summary for Organic U.K. & Europe

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:40:06 GMT

Go straight to the practical stuff you need with this gardening catalogue review. You'll can save time and money too and take the green approach.

Mar 6, Gardening Catalog Summary for Organic America

Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:40:03 GMT

Review of online gardening catalog s goes straight to the practical stuff you need for gardening, saving you time and money. Take the green approach here.

Mar 5, Growing Runner Beans

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 21:45:45 GMT

Check out my tips on growing runner beans for a nutritious crop that fits into any garden. You can get a bountiful crop for freezing

Mar 5, Natural Fertilizer

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:07:23 GMT

discover natural fertilizer that boosts your vegetables, flowers, shrubs and container plants while reducing additional fertilizer needs. Many other advantages too - find out here.

Mar 5, Organic Fertilizer & Soil Amendments

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:49:02 GMT

Use organic fertilizer to grow strong healthy plants, improve poor soils & help build long term strength & stability of soil & plants. The problems of artificial fertilizer salts are avoided.

Feb 26, Select Potato Varieties

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:04:04 GMT

Help in choosing potato varieties to suit your cooking style & taste, the growing season - earlies, mid season, late season, to - all important - disease resistance & soil type. Make your choice here.

Feb 24, Organic Gardening, Make Compost & Grow Plants

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 09:19:02 GMT

Discover a healthy, more active life, that saves money with organic gardening Compost, fertilizer, gardening tools & practical methods of growing & handling garden tools are described here.

Feb 12, Organic Weed Control

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:39:29 GMT

Dos and donts of organic weed control. Discover why weeds succeed and how to control them organically.

Feb 12, Versatile Garden Tools

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:33:30 GMT

Get more from your garden tools, much more... This page describes the specialised and highly efficient garden tools system that I use

Feb 11, Comfortable & Effective - Garden Hand Tool Design

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:12:29 GMT

Discover what turns a garden hand tool into a good weeder, cultivator & planter, adding comfort & efficiency to your gardening

Feb 11, Garden tool review of spades & forks

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 05:47:38 GMT

Compare the latest garden tool designs of spades & forks. A review by the organic gardener includes new & specialised tools.

Feb 10, Raised Bed Potatoes

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:29:47 GMT

you can expect raised bed potatoes to be clean & unblemished - early & late & no digging involved. Find more on how to grow a potato delicacy even on hard surfaces

Feb 10, Growing Potatoes

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:40:30 GMT

Gardeners are growing potatoes again because choice & flavour beat all you can buy. Get the tips that deliver a big crop plus links to alternative space saving & easy ways of growing on patios & yard.

Feb 10, Potato Bin, Buckets and Potato Grow Bags

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:36:53 GMT

a potato bin, potato bag or container, will grow a potato crop over hard surfaces such as patios or paved yards. Discover how to grow the earliest potatoes & win prizes at your garden show

Feb 9, Starting Seeds Your Way

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:48:13 GMT

Find the most a suitable methods of starting seeds for your chosen plants & garden needs here.

Feb 7, Selecting winter flowers

Sun, 07 Feb 2010 18:11:43 GMT

A selection of winter flowers to help you create an eternal garden; one that is interesting all year around.

Jan 30, Growing More With Garden Seeds

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:03:02 GMT

Variety, choice, & substantial cost saving; just a few benefits of growing garden seeds yourself at home. Start here to bring your home garden alive from seed

Jan 30, Harvesting Potatoes

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:01:27 GMT

What you need to know about harvesting potatoes - 'new', 'maincrop' - potatoes from the garden or from potato bags, tubs, and potato barrels. Also about storing your potatoes and disease control.

Jan 30, Planting Potatoes

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 11:01:26 GMT

Planting potatoes involves chitting or sprouting early tubers before planting. Find more here on the planting season, depth, row spacing and alternative methods

Jan 13, Certified Seed Potato

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 22:00:25 GMT

The meaning & importance of 'Certified seed potato' is explained & why all potato growers should plant them.

Dec 28, How to Prepare Garden Soil for Seeds

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 21:05:15 GMT

your garden soil needs to be a fine crumb texture to do well growing seeds. Discover how to turn your yard earth into a fine seed bed using simple organic home gardening methods.

Dec 21, On Using Gardening Catalogs

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:11:10 GMT

Discover online gardening catalogs that can give you better value than garden centres or telesales.

Dec 21, Organic Gardener's garden web

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:53:55 GMT

Link to my neighbours through my garden web

Nov 9, Using Gardening Tools with Long-Handles

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:53:05 GMT

Avoid strain & save time with long-handled gardening tools by using the right technique. Here's how to make your hoe, rake, & cultivator tools work efficiently

Nov 6, About organic gardening

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:21:47 GMT

What is organic gardening about?

Oct 26, Chickweed Salad

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 23:23:46 GMT

I was reminded of a small piece I read lamenting how gardeners eradicate chickweed. This gardener claimed that chickweed made a lovely constituent for salads. Of course it's a good time for weeding right now as autumn rains have softened the soil but it is not yet sodden with winter wet. This came to my mind as my none organic gardening neighbour was lifting his summer begonias today to plant winter pansies. With them were handfuls of chickweed. But what mattered to him was getting his winter flowers in now so they had time to grow before winter. My story was quite different. You see I am one of those organic gardeners who have almost banished chickweed. I've been left with two straggly pieces that I saved after I reading the piece. It's scarcity in my garden shows how persistence can virtually eradicate annual weeds in a short time. But now I hope to grow a bed of chickweed for salads. In fact I'm looking forward to tasting it for the first time. Well it has small white flowers too, and it's easy to control by hand-weeding. A line of hairs running along the stems is a useful identification feature. Although chickweed is described as an annual it often persists over winter and is capable of fruiting almost all year long. Indeed it probably provides food for ground seed feeding birds, like sparrows. There are many other, perhaps more respectable, small leafy plants that you can grow to add to salads. Self-seeding, they are probably best grown among your wildflowers.

Oct 21, Rock Garden Building

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:41:29 GMT

I've just got back in from the garden - it's been a very busy time. Over the last 8 weeks I've been building a new rock garden and new garden landscaping (see picture below). My aim is to create diverse habitats for wildlife and develop a design that suggests the natural landscape. My suburban garden should feel like a place I want to be in. I take my inspiration from mountain and moorland. What could be more challenging for a small garden? The main constraints are:
A) the small size of the garden; and
B) the straight hedges that confine and truncate more open views. A major part of the solution is a matter of getting the scale right. Small leaved compact plants not too crowded will be vital to success. But I've learnt many other things too.

The photo doesn't do it justice and it's got a lot of growing to do yet. I'll also be using rough lines of small shrubs to suggest mountain ridges. This is just the beginning. You'll see - this will work. I'll be posting more detailed information on my my website of the principles and planning that have gone into this work and the lessons learnt. More soon...

Jun 23, Ever Tried Fresh Nettle Tea?

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:07:47 GMT

Just in from the garden for a quick morning break - and I had to write a quick note about my drink. I've just picked some nettle shoot tips - only the very young tips and a few near-the-tip leaves. A handful in total. I washed them carefully, put them in a mug and poured on boiling water. Then I stirred them and pressed them with a flat knife and there's my drink. I'm drinking it as I type. My nettle tea smells and tastes of peas, with no bitterness at all, no need to add anything and quite smooth. I'm going out now to put the rest of the nettles into my comfrey bucket where I'm making a rich organic liquid fertilizer for the fruit. ++++++++++++++++++++++ Recently on 13th of June the World Nettle Eating Championships were held in Dorset UK. Would you believe that the contestants come from New York, Australia and Europe. The activity began over a farmer's argument about who had the longest nettles in their field. Apparently one farmer promised to eat any nettle that was longer than his. In a TV report one enthusiastic contestant compared the sensation in his stomach to eating a sheep. Get the details on this link. My nettle tea seems to have gone done just fine and I'm looking forward to having enough nettles to make it again. I think the best way to grow them will be to keep them cut so as to stimulate plenty of branching and lots of shoot tips. Believe it or not lunch time is upon me already and I've got loads more gardening to do. Until next...

Jun 9, Strawberries Are Too Hot To Eat

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:58:50 GMT

Let's be honest - it was an experiment. Sometimes I like to try new things to see if they work. It's often the only way to find out. After all I asked around, I looked in books, but could find nothing. I was thinking about strawberries grown in cloches and that my new greenhouse would be a good place to grow them without the bother of cloches. I thought the fertility needed by tomatoes would suite strawberries. So I planted some previously good varieties in my greenhouse including Elsanta and Flemenco. That's why I'm fast coming to the conclusion that the greenhouse has been far too hot for them. Early in the season the flavour was good. But now I have to admit the fruit are generally smaller than expected and taste watery. I suspect this is due to a higher than normal rate of plant respiration (for strawberries) that is turning the sugars into carbon dioxide and water. O.K. it does seem that cloches are great for getting an early crop but not for the whole season. I should have known, because strawberries are well adapted cool weather. In future I won't worry about putting a strawberry in the shade. I'll finish with a quick reminder about the organic gardener's Marigold 'tomato growing secret' that is known to repel white fly. It does have a strong fragrance, and is now being joined by the fragrance of Basil plants that I'm just planting into the greenhouse today. The seeds were sown indoors. More later...

Jun 9, Hurt But Getting By Organically

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 00:58:50 GMT

The last thing you want as a gardener is incapacitating sickness or injury - especially when the plants need caring for in hot weather or need to be planted out. My last post (2nd June) told of a bicycle accident. This has certainly put me right out of my stride. The muscles in my upper body hurt. But at least I can pass on a few things I've learnt.

First - my health is more important than gardening - so everyone says. Although, I do find organic gardening a big asset in staying healthy.

Second - there may be some small jobs I can do - indeed all those important jobs I never had time to do when I was busy and active.

Third - take it slowly, I won't feel under pressure, there's no rush. A little weeding here a little weeding there has made a massive difference.

Well at least enough of me has survived! And sufficiently so to continue enjoying my gardening pleasure and to reap the natural delights of the garden. I expect to be back into the more heavy duty tasks as this week progresses. Well hopefully.

Jun 2, Early Summer & A Crash

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:49:45 GMT

Hello again. Well, I'm delighted with my gooseberries. All 4 varieties are set to give a big crop after the recent move. That's down to a good dose of organic garden compost and organic fertilizer. Pigeons are a nuisance bird. Please don't feed them and keep other bird food under cover and the bits swept up. I keep chasing them so they feel uncomfortable and don't settle. Although the pigeons haven't touched my greens yet I know that will change later on. Then I can expect to wake up one morning to find all my greens eaten. So do provide protection or you'll lose them. I've protected some of my greens with black cotton, some with chicken wire, and some with ultra fine mesh. Barriers are better and the chicken wire is the best of all. It won't stop you watering plants. I watered my cabbage by spraying over micromesh. But I've realised that slugs easily climb up this (especially when wet) and breach the gritty barrier around the plants. I've been testing slug traps. Beer definitely works and kills the slugs. Liquid coffee attracts the slugs but then you need to go out and kill them. Ducks are probably the best organic garden slug controller to keep, but they can be messy. Note to look back on: This week started with a return from hospital early Monday morning. Yes, someone opened a car door infront of my bicycle again. This time I hit the corner of the door. I was carrying a potted plant in my rucksack at the time. My body was squashed. The deep wound in my chest is stitched and I hope to be getting back into the garden soon. But hopefully without painkillers to assist.

May 21, Nitrogen Fertilizer - Blood Meal

Thu, 21 May 2009 22:54:43 GMT

Organic nitrogen fertilizer blood meal is fast acting

May 3, Compost Tumbler Bins - Design & Use

Sun, 03 May 2009 14:25:30 GMT

Compare compost tumbler bins with traditional composters. This pages reviews their design and particular method of use.

May 3, My compost bin works

Sun, 03 May 2009 13:42:42 GMT

More on making compost, compost bin and worm bin designs

May 1, The New Gardener

Fri, 01 May 2009 21:21:43 GMT

So many things have changed in my organic garden this year. It's as if I had started a brand new garden from scratch. Although there's a good deal of bare soil right now the potatoes are coming up fast. And it's no good starting plants off too early. Next year of course I'll have established a better crop rotation with overwintering vegetables. I'll also have a few perennials within and around the vegetables. That will make the garden feel lived in once again. I'm very pleased with my fruit collection. I've transplanted 4 gooseberries into new positions and re-planted my raspberries including a few new varieties. I prepared the soil with my home-made organic garden compost and leaf mold, plus a little fish, blood and bone. They are thriving! And I'm expecting even this year to have an excellent crop of gooseberries. To make your own nutritious soil for transplanting into see my pages: on composting and worm bins. My strawberries are getting bigger in the greenhouse. But one or two plants have small infestations of greenfly that I'll keep in check by regular finger-and-thumb treatment until the ladybirds fly in. I've raised 3 varieties of tomatoes from seed and 2 varieties of sweet peppers. 3 varieties of dwarf green beans went into rootrainer modules last week and they're now growing fast. But I have some seed trays indoors with herbs that are taking for ever to germinate. I've concluded that my house is actually too cold for them. So as soon as possible I'm going to get a heat mat to place them on. It will be more economical than heating the whole room up. I'll try to include more photos in my organic gardening updates as I go. See you soon.

Apr 20, Find a compost container for home composting

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:16:38 GMT

A modern compost container has many features. Find out more from my latest reviews and learn more on how to use them at home

Apr 5, New Year, New Garden, Busy, Busy.

Sun, 05 Apr 2009 10:37:01 GMT

I've probably ordered too many potatoes. So as well as sowing seed, I'm re- calculating how many plants I need and where they will all fit for best use of space. I'll soon be looking forward to some rest while waiting for the seeds to emerge. Last week I planted seeds of pea 'Delikett' which has succulent pods. I have some Winter Gem lettuce plants left over which I've planted out. I'll do my best to keep the pigeons off them. I've just completed planting 19 shallots of 'Golden Gourmet' to follow a row of 10 of 'Vigamor'. My new Rhubarb 'Champaigne' plant is doing very well, as are my Gooseberries after a recent move. This is down to organic gardening, enriching the soil with organic garden compost and mulch, plus organic soil ammendments. Seeds of Leek 'Bulgarian Giant' are just germinating after taking care to keep them watered. Carrot seeds haven't shown yet. Because tomatoes are hard to store except as chukneys, I've decided to grow more sweet peppers which I can easily freeze. Even so I'm growing 3 different tomato varieties to add plenty of variety in taste to summer meals. There's lots more too... Hedgerow wildflowers have been sown, plus Thyme 'orange scented, and Hyssop. Loads more to do....

Apr 1, Plant Catalogs

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 23:49:49 GMT

You can have an amazing garden when you get planting. This page details a few top plant catalogs available online.

Apr 1, Easy to grow flower seeds & plants

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:40:44 GMT

Choose from easy to grow seeded mats for busy people or wide variety from packets of flower seeds. Coated seeds, plug plants, modules, trays and more are described to help you grow a beautiful garden.

Mar 22, Essentials of compost making

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 17:11:40 GMT

How compost making works.

Mar 22, transplanting shrubs

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 16:59:32 GMT

Practical know-how about transplanting shrubs - find out before you start

Mar 9, About garden shredders

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:17:23 GMT

garden shredders are a big help with garden waste - compare the designs and how they are used here

Mar 7, Spring Into Action

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 20:12:56 GMT

Welcome fellow gardeners and welcome spring. Well I get precious little time for my website these days as I'm very busy gardening. I'm progressing a major development that I've long been planning for my garden. It requires a lot of effort moving soil and big plants but I love getting stuck into strong man jobs. I'll have some photos so come back for organic gardening updates... This year I've 'gone to town' on potatoes having acquired around 85 seed potato tubers including - 'Lady Christl', 'Kestrel', 'International Kydney', 'Cara' and one for free - 'Vivaldi'. The ground is ready but they seem to be slow in chitting. My page 'The potato plant & varieties to grow' is among several new pages on this. Add to that beans, peppers, carrots, shallots, a few onions - my mainstay crops to eat; plus tomatoes, leeks, lettuce, chard, Romansco Cauliflower... I may become self-sufficient in food. Carrots for example:- I'm sowing about 2M or longer lengths per month to get about 24 roots (6 per week). I'm also adding 2 new raspberry varieties to my successful fruit collection and this year I hope my relatively new apple cordons will bear a good crop. There's several packets of seeds going out for fragrant flowers and as bee and butterfly attractants. In between time I'll try to make time to add more organic gardening updates and webpages to explain how it all works.

Mar 7, Weed out Lesser Celandine Now - U.K.

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 20:12:56 GMT

'Lesser Celandine' Ranunculus ficaria has pretty yellow flowers but it can become a messy weed spreading everywhere. This is because it produces clusters of fleshy root tubers and bulbils. Disturbance later in the year enables these propagules to spread everywhere. So if you have a problem with this plant, now is the best time to weed it out - not a moment later. Otherwise leave it be.

Feb 21, Garden Mulch

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:49:11 GMT

Save time weeding, protect & improve the soil. Find out how garden mulch is key to better organic gardening & - no dig gardening - .

Feb 21, How To Clear Fall Leaves & Tidy Garden

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 16:23:48 GMT

Tidy the garden, pick up fall leaves more easily, & do something really useful like - make compost

Feb 20, Fish Emulsion & Fish Meal

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:33:53 GMT

On using fish emulsion & fish meal as organic phosphate & nitrogen fertilizers. Brief discussion on how they are made plus their action on plants and how to use them.

Feb 19, The Ornamental Gourd

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:42:10 GMT

A packet of gourd seeds yeilds an interesting variety of decorative fruit. This page, with pictures, describes how I grow & prepare them.

Feb 9, A Good Winter's Jobs

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:40:19 GMT

I can do little cultivation on the garden soil at present - it's too wet. But this last few days I have moved a few shrubs and done some cutting back - sawing branches actually. Two things impressed me:
First, how easy it was to dig up the shrubs now the soil is quite moist throughout. Freeing the roots from the excess soil must have been less damaging to the plant. I got one shrub up easily within 15 minutes. The second thing I noticed was the good quality of soil around plant roots. The bottom of the hole was full of fine soil crumbs. This shows how growing plant roots can actually improve soil texture, by helping to stabilise soil particles. I'm looking for a similar result this year as I plan to grow a big crop of potatoes. Well I'm pleased that the U.K. winter weather has been a little harder this year. Ice on the ground - snow indeed - it's about time. That should set the pests back. Although last week while on a farm I saw some voracous winter catapillars. Here's a link to my organic gardening update on potato growing.

Feb 3, Growing Lawns - organic alternatives and traditional

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:34:15 GMT

Styles for growing lawns described here:- Ornamental, Utility, Wild Flower, Lazy Lawns... With organic lawns you can be formal & traditional or beautifully relaxed - plus more links to lawn info...