Category: Garden and Growing Tips and Advice

  • JOBS TO DO IN THE GARDEN IN JULY

     

    Check brassicas on a regular basis to ensure cabbage white butterflies haven’t

     

    laid their eggs; wash off with a strong jet of water from your hose pipe.

     

     

     

    Continue to feed tomatoes, cucumbers, melons and anything that has started

     

    to fruit.

     

     

     

    Take side shoots out of your tomatoes and support them if necessary. Take off

     

    bottom leaves to allow water to penetrate the roots, allow air to circulate and

     

    prevent diseases.

     

     

     

    Cut back strawberry plants that have finished fruiting and give them a good

     

    feed to encourage runners which can be planted up when big enough.

     

     

    Check garlic and if the leaves have started to go yellow and bend over then it is

     

    the time to harvest. Put them somewhere to dry and then store in a cool place

     

    for continuous use.

     

     

     

    If you are growing courgettes harvest them regularly to stop them from

     

    becoming marrows.

     

     

     

    Lift early potatoes as they mature.

     

     

    Cover your soft fruits to stop the birds from taking them all.

     

     

     

    Keep all beds weeded as they take the nutrients out of the soil and away from

     

    your vegetables and flowering plants.

     

     

     

    Dead heads all flowering plants on a regular basis this will encourage them to

     

    flower again giving you more colour for longer

     

     

     

    Turn compost bins add water if they are too dry.

     

     

     

    Keep your ponds topped during hot spells.

     

  • Just a bit of waffle and a question

    I wondered if anyone looks at the site and reads the blogs and stuff we post.   I know our facebook page gets plenty of visits.  As the project here develops we hope to be able to add more an more useful bits of info to the website.  We want to make it worth you visiting the site and so wondered what sort of things people might want to see.

    We have some obvious suggestions like general site news, recipes and gardening tips but wondered if there was anything else.  If anyone has any suggestions or even would be interested in helping create content (we are a community project after all) then please get in touch.

  • Growing Chillies

    As one of a handful of places successfully growing chillies, we often get asked for tips and advice.

    We spoke to Rob our head gardener who is the resident expert on chillies and asked him for his top tips.

    Sow seeds very early Jan/Feb

    Keep warm during sowing ideally 21 deg. C

    Make sure you feed well throughout the growing season and use premium organic feed e.g. a good tomato feed.

    It takes 90 days for fruit to mature from flower to fruit, so a long hot Summer is the secret to a good harvest.

    Once harvested dry them slowly and keep them in the dark to maintain a good colour and flavour.