Do You Agree?

"I think the true gardener is a lover of his flowers, not a critic of them.
I think the true gardener is the reverent servant of Nature, not her truculent, wife-beating master.
I think the true gardener, the older he grows, should more and more develop a humble, grateful and uncertain spirit."

[Reginald Farrer, In a Yorkshire Garden, 1909]

But More Importantly ... How To Get The Water Out?

"Ding Dong bell, Water's in the well ..."

We’re luckier than many in that our family allotment has its own well. This was a constant point of interest – and fear – as a child when I could stand near (but not too close) to the edge of the well as my Dad drew water up in a bucket.

Our well isn’t a fancy one – not the safe, wishing well type – but is simply covered by a couple of large flag stones, which when lifted away reveal the well. My problem as a child was that I daren’t stand on the stones as I thought I’d wake the troll who lived down there (oh ... the imagination of a child ... unfortunately - for my boss - it’s never left me ...).

As my Dad is now a Granddad in his sixties, he’s looking for an easier way of getting at the water … drawing up enough water in a bucket to supply all the vegetables in the allotment isn’t easy. So I’m after a pump which we can connect to a generator, draw up the water (about 10 metres from the bottom of the well) ... job done.

One of my colleagues at Bradshaws is suggesting a Draper high pressure pump ... and at just £109.95 I think it’s a small price to pay to keep our veg well watered (unintentional pun!!) and my Dad’s back from giving out ... I’ll let you know if it works.

Quick Question ... what do you think to me making a few £££ on the side and selling ‘Greenhouse Girl’s Bottled Well Water’ ... the easy way to keep your plants well watered this summer ???? Any takers?

You Don’t Need To Go To The Gym To Get Fit ...

Finally, the excuse I’ve been looking for ... when I’m working in the garden, pulling up the weeds, planting out new annuals or simply picking flowers I can actually say I’m keeping fit.

Apparently (I’m guessing it depends on how much effort you put in ... I tend to weed sat on my bottom, doing more sun gathering than pulling up weeds) you’re burning up calories as you garden. If you don’t believe me, here are a few examples:

Mowing the lawn with your electric mower – 205 calories
Digging – 170 calories
Weeding – 153 calories
Picking fruit or veg (not off the supermarket shelf!) – 102 calories

These figures are based on you spending about 30 minutes in the garden (and most of us have that amount of time to spare ...).

A South African Sundew Plant Arrives On My Windowsill ...

I came across this little plant in my local supermarket and fell in love with this little foreigner ...

I’m still at the phrase book stage of learning the language of my new windowsill resident ... he only speaks pigeon English as his instructions indicate:

“CARE: This bogplant prefers much light. Place the pot in a saucer with much water.”

I was impressed with his ‘bug’ catching abilities as he caught loads of little black flies as he travelled around the supermarket in my trolley (although this did make me wonder where the little black bugs were coming from ...) on his sticky looking leaves ...

And I’m expecting great things as he's got a long single ‘stem’ in its centre (about 6cm tall) which looks like it may become a flower ...

But, as I’m notorious with my house plants for over watering, any advice would be appreciated or I may never see Drosera Aliciae in flower ...

And I’m not The Only One ...

As you’ll see the beetroot we planted earlier this year is still growing strong ...

I’m really looking forward to when it’s ready to pick and the distinctive red stained hands as I boil, peel and grate my why through pounds of beetroot ...

As I was wandering the web looking for new beetroot recipes (a bit of pre crop anticipation) I fell upon this wonderful site packed full of beetroot facts and figures ... makes me think whatever subject you’re looking for someone will have created a site dedicated to it!

Lovebeetroot.co.uk is packed full of useful (and useless) information all packed together in a site that is a feast to the eyes ...

Did you know that the red pigment in beetroot is used to colour strawberry jam?

That the Victorians used beetroot to dye their hair (no blue rinses then)?

That you can make wine (similar to port) using beetroot?

A New Twist For The Hanging Baskets ...

This is the first year we’re trying some varieties of ‘Tumbling Tomatoes’ planted in hanging baskets. We’ve always been reluctant to grow these trailing tomatoes as they are so much more expensive than the usual varieties (greenhouse girl v penny pincher) ...

But last year one of our local garden centres was selling off their seeds half price so we took the opportunity and got a packet of both the red and yellow cherry tomatoes.

As you’ll see we’ve potted up a number of hanging baskets in the polytunnel, where we’ll keep them warm and well watered ... rather than putting them outside and letting them suffer the unpredictable Yorkshire weather ...

Having the baskets resting on wooden slats also makes me think we should get some crop bars fitted into the top of our polytunnel ...

I think this a job for the Autumn when we’ll have time to order and fit them unlike now when all our time is spent keeping on top of the watering and weeding ...

hi ho, hi ho and off to weed we go ...

I’m A Violet, What Are You?...

Find out what type of flower you are by visiting ‘This Garden Is Illegal’. The quiz only takes a few minutes and then you know what you are in floral terms ...

Apparently, I’m a violet ... with a shy personality ... hesitating to try new things or meet new people ...

It should have also said I’m suspicious, ‘cause I then went back and changed all my answers to see if it gave a different flower every time ...

A Really Cool New Website ... especially useful as we bake under the sun

I came across this new website – launched by Chris Beardshaw at Chelsea Flower Show – this week and it’s brilliant!

On the home page you can read a ‘Quick Tip’ from CyberChris ... for example, did you know
‘The yellow blooms of Marigold, when placed in the glasshouse, can be used to entice aphids and whitefly off your crops and flowers.’ ?
And every time you return to the home page a different ‘Tip’ pops up ... cool

Sounding very profound, Growing for Life says it’s ‘been created out of a passion for bringing people and plants together ... the desire to get back to the roots of gardening – to share knowledge, enthusiasm and more importantly to have fun’ ... gardening, fun ... sounds like my kind of thing ...

And wow ... there’s even a game to play ... you can become CyberChris and try to keep your plants alive in a virtual gardener ... I hang my head in shame as of the six sunflowers in my virtual garden, only two survived ... I can even kill plants in a virtual world!

If you want to try the game for yourself, click here ... and good luck

These Are A Few Of My Favourite Things ...

“Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens ...” Julie Andrews ... eat your heart out! (You’re lucky this blog has not got sound ‘cause I sound like an old saw when I sing ...)

Seriously, when you first get a greenhouse you don’t really know where to start to make the best use of the space. You know what you want grow and you know you want it to grow well, but usually that’s about it.

But if you had to advise a new greenhouse gardener on just three things they could buy to help them get the best from their greenhouse, what would it be? Here are my suggestions ...

Aluminium staging – best with two levels, giving you storage for your pots and room to grow on the top – I’d always recommend aluminium over wood as it’s so easy to look after, in fact after almost 7 years mine still looks brand new!
Compost Sieve – I actually wasted a lot of effort by thinking I could cheat and use any old ‘reject’ sieve from the kitchen, but now I’ve got one with deep sides it’s really easy to get fine compost without it flying everywhere!
Water Matting – sounds simple doesn’t it, but you don’t realise how much easier watering onto matting is than having to water individual pots – and with water matting there’s no chance of knocking small plants flat with a deluge of water!

But I’m sure you’ll have a different opinion, so what would you choose???

Does Anyone Know My John Doe?

My friend found these perfect little (they’re about 1cm wide) seed pods on her garden this week. Each has already shed its’ seed and is now an empty shell ... but from what plant we wondered?

And then we started waxing lyrical on their beautiful shape ... that the plant must have perfected these aerodynamic seed pods to distribute its’ seeds far and wide (which makes me think it’s probably a weed).

So, if you know my John Doe could you please let me know ... before we find a seed pod in tact and start cultivating some sort of triffid ...