Horticultural
Favourite Gardening Blogs & feeds (40)
Country & Rural Garden News (13)Newspapers (6)Other Gardening News (A-J) (29)Other Gardening News (K-Z) (30)Jane Perrone's organic gardening blog The HotBin: Aerobic hot composter review It's normally around Christmas time - when other people (some may call them 'normal') turn their thoughts to presents, festive nights out* and how long it takes to defrost a turkey - that I start getting twitchy about my kitchen caddy... Winter salads for free: how I kicked the supermarket salad bag habit A while back I made a decision that I wasn't going to buy supermarket salad leaves any more. It wasn't one of those big, announce-it-on-Twitter-and-write-a-blogpost-about-it things. More just a gradual realisation that I was fed up of drab lettuce that cost 10p a leaf when there was a world of green stuff to be grown and gathered without recourse to the shops... Foraging books, apps and maps ? a review There are lots of foraging books out there, but which one?s the best? Here?s my review some of the major titles. Food For Free by Richard Mabey (£4.99, Collins Gem) This is the classic forager?s guide, first published more than 30 years ago and still going strong... Green roof update - six months after planting As years go, this probably wasn't the best for establishing an extensive green roof - too dry by half, and I know I am anthropomorphising but the crows and pigeons seemed to take a vindictive joy in pulling out my plug plants and spreading them around the garden... Why is it so hard to find a decent bit of trellis? Sometimes it seems ridiculously hard to find what seems like the simplest of products without having to go down the hugely expensive ?bespoke? route - you know, getting a blacksmith to fashion you plant supports from old horsehoes, that kind of thing... Side passageway at sunset: what no Nicotiana scent? I like this shot because not only do the big leaves of the Nicotiana sylvestris look good under the light, you can also see the silhouette of the plants on the green roof at the end. This part of the garden has been an object lesson in the benefits of "backdoor gardening" - because these beds are literally outside my back door, I spend lots of time tending them... Chicken keeping: dos, don'ts and should Is? I?ve been researching chicken keeping for over four years now and I still haven?t taken the plunge. I could easily buy one of those cheap flatpack coops off the web, or splash out on an Eglu if I?m feeling flush... I'm in love with a roving sailor: Saxifraga stolonifera ?Maroon Beauty' Saxifragas were one of those things that I used to get excited about when perusing my copy of DG Hessayon?s The Houseplant Expert as a kid.* I?d never thought of them for outdoors, aside from my much-loved (and neglected) Saxifraga x urbium 'Variegata', but when I spotted Saxifraga stolonifera ?Maroon Beauty? at the Wrest Park garden show earlier in the year I had one of those ?it will be mine!? moments that will be familiar to any plant enthusiast... Sowing flowers from seed: successes and failures My brain is currently a grab-bag of blogposts: of all sorts of bits and pieces. Blogging's had to take a back seat to all sorts of things, not least changing numerous nappies, replacinga broken dishwasher, fridge and DVD player, reading The Tickle Book over and over and OVER to my 1-year-old, and making lots of jam from my Victoria plums... Mirror, mirror on the wall, are you lovely or actually rather horrible? Mirrors, the experts advise, are great in gardens. They give the illusion of extra space, bounce light around and add depth. I am not a big fan of the ones that make you think you're looking at an open door or window, but I can see how these acrylic sheets would look great behind trellis...
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