Entries Tagged 'Home And Garden' ↓

Ideally, really good compost is supposedly brown and crumbly with the sweetest of smells, like woods in the autumn. In fact, it very rarely is. If you have a very big compost heap with only the very best organic material to build it with, then you can achieve this in spring and summer. Most of us, however build our compost heaps with whatever organic material available and the compost is very variable with a lot of semi-rotted fibrous matterial. That doesn’t matter. It will still improve the soil and will certainly do no harm, it will just take longer for it to become  “humus”.

Garden Peas are almost every child’s favourite vegetable, with good reason. Together with sweet corn they are among the sweetest tasting of all vegetables, and when grown in your garden they taste even sweeter. I always eat my first pod of peas uncooked, just to savour the flavour.

Crop rotation is a very useful and old method of growing vegetables to give the maximum use of nutrients in your soil and to prevent the build up of pests and diseases.

I use a three year scheme (pretty general) and this is how it works. First, all vegetables and divided into groups. The first group consists of Potatoes, carrots, beetroot, persnips, onions, leeks, garlic, tomatoes, courgettes, marrows, pumpkins, celery, Florence Fennel, aubergines, peppers, cucumbers, melons, celeriac, salsify and scorzonia. You can also include Hamberg parsley in this if you do not grow it among your herbs. With this bed you start by double digging incorporating manure in the upper and lower levels plus two handfuls of blood, fish and bonemeal. Then grow as many of this group in this patch  as you want.

Sweet Peppers and Chillis are fun to grow. I use them both for cooking and for decoration. They are easy to grow and very rewarding. I find them very useful in cooking also. I use my Capsicums (sweet peppers) both raw in salads and also cooked in all manners of ways and dishes. They are not particularly hot but add a certain piquancy to dishes. For heat you need chilli peppers. Both types are decorative and can be kept in pots in the house as decoration and used as wished.You can also freeze peppers and chillis for use when wanted.

The warm summer weather draws people into the backyard. First there are the cleaning chores after a long winter and readying the garden for the summer months. Soon it will be warm enough for barbecues with the family, picnics and garden parties that are so enjoyable in the warmer months.

If you are ready to look at landscaping ideas to transform your garden, consider building a garden pond. If you are unsure about how to build a pond you will soon discover that with some preparation and planning, you can build a garden pond in a weekend. Your garden can be transformed from ordinary to extraordinary with this easy addition.

A Garden Pond Provides Tranquility, Peace and Beauty

The gentle sound of running water is renowned for its ability to soothe and refresh and to calm the soul. Close your eyes and imagine yourself surrounded by the beauty and sounds of nature as you sit by a running stream. Let the sound of running water stimulate your imagination. By building your own pond you can experience this joy every day.

Deciding On The Design For Your Fish Pond

As you plan your garden pond design and the location for your pond, try to select an area away from too many falling leaves. If your garden is on a deep block of land you could choose a location at the end of a winding path to draw people through the garden to the sound of a waterfall. In a more urban environment you could locate your pond close to the house so that you can enjoy the sounds of the pond from inside the house.

Other Creatures Can Benefit From Your Garden Pond Design

you’ll be able to observe the wonders of nature in addition to the soothing effects that your garden pond design will bring, . A garden pond provides not only an oasis for humans but also for small animals and water creatures. You shouldn’t be surprised if your new pond attracts song birds, frogs, turtles and other water-loving creatures. You can also consider adding fish to a pond. Brightly colored fish with their colors of gold, yellow, black and white provide a brilliant contrast to the dark waters of the pond and the deep greens of aquatic plants.

French Beans, in my opinion, are one of the most delicious of the beans. There used to be only one type, that are now called bush beans or dwarf beans, but now you can also grow them as climbing plants.

Climbing plants make considerable sense, particularly for people short of space. Growing upwards means you get a larger harvest for a smaller ground space. However, they are later to crop than the shorter varieties.

Thompson and Morgan seed catalogue is one of the best for the information they give for  each of their packets of seeds. Not only do they list the height, spread and general descrition of the plants, they also give information about the type of soil conditions required, the amount of sun and also the number of days required for germination of seed. They also give a ‘green finger guide’ axplaining the level of experience and care required to get the best results. Should you need to soak seed for optimum germination, or any other treatment, they list that too. In fact, it gives just about all the information you could probably want. And on top of that, they print pictures of almost all their plants.

Broad beans have significantly better textures if you pick them young. If you leave them too long they tend to end up a bit like cardboard when cooked. You do not necessarily lose quantity in the harvest by picking early, since the plant will continue to crop after you have picked them. Because they are an early harvest, once you have finished with them, you can clear the site and still have time to grow another late crop of a different vegetable.

If you have a fish pond in your backyard, you should learn how to take care of it by yourself especially if you are on a tight budget. In this time of economic crisis, you can hardly afford to pay for those expensive fish pond care services anymore.  Fortunately, fish pond care is not really that difficult and you do not need to have some training to be able to care for you fish pond well. With the right pond care products and some practice, you can do just like a professional. To help you care for your fish pond, here are some easy steps for you.

When choosing lettuce, you really are spoilt for choice. I like the texture and taste of Cos type lettuce so I always grow a row or two of them. I start them off  by sowing a pinch of seed in a 3 inch pot and when they are large enough to handle, I transplant into rows which are 6 ins apart, leaving 3ins between plants. This means that when they become a bit crowded, I pick alternative plants for salads. Lettuce seed will not germinate if the temperature is too high so you can only do this in the spring. If you want to sow more lettuce in the summer, you must do so outside. Alternately, sow loads in the spring and do not prick them out. Leaving them crowded will stop them growing and you can then plant them out when you want them. You must be careful, though, that they do not become ‘leggy’ because they are fighting for light.