How eco-friendly are barbecues?

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Not very unless you use charcoal from local sources.

As the season is upon us, once again, it is time to talk about it.

Gas barbecues are certainly cleaner than charcoal but whether they are better, and especially greener and more eco-friendly, is another question. Presently the gas we use for those, be it propane or butane, is fossil fuel and thus non-renewable, charcoal on the other hand, if from sustainable sources, is. But for those determined to stick with old-school pit mastery, the central message is: check your fuel and especially check the origin of it. Far too much charcoal that is being used comes from far away and often from tropical rainforests.

This edict is inspired by a recent report from forestry NGO Fern.org “Playing with Fire: Human Misery, Environmental Destruction and Summer BBQs”. It is definitely not the cheeriest of summer reading but it certainly is eye-opening. Small-scale charcoal production has the potential to be a lifeline in rural economies all over the world. Sadly that is not happening.

The allegations against charcoal go much further than pollution. Somalian charcoal is linked to funding for Al-Shabaab. The trade in Brazil and Nigeria is linked to human rights abuses, including, in some cases, not just child labor but child slavery, much like with the mining of cobalt, illegal logging and increased emissions.

Thus it is best to buy homegrown charcoal with a good supply chain and suppliers of guaranteed homegrown and home-produced charcoal do exist. But in the UK we run a charcoal deficit. We only make 5,000 tons versus the 60,000 we go through every summer.

If you are shopping on price, and there are some who will, no doubt have to, alas, that charcoal will arrive typically via Felixstowe on a giant container ship from Namibia, 5,000 miles away, of from other, far away places.

Charcoal producers, in Namibia, and elsewhere, are paid by the tonne, and it is easy to chop down a large, protected tree, so charcoal is fueling deforestation. A 2010 investigation, “Namibia's Black Gold?”, found charcoal producers and their families living under plastic sheeting without access to running water or sanitation. And this kind of conditions prevail everywhere in those places.

Not that you would guess all this when you pick up a bag of charcoal from a supermarket. You are unlikely to see any country of origin on the bag. You should always look for an FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) symbol if possible. But that symbol and certification often is also not worth the paper that it is printed on.

Charcoal is excluded from EU timber regulation which requires all timber and many timber products to be legally sourced. So were it included, it would make it a criminal offense to import illegal charcoal from Namibia (and elsewhere).

Seasonal products, apparently, can get away with dodgy supply chains because they hold our attention for such a short time. Not just for us, as consumers, but also, it would appear, for any regulators. Too the detriment of ethically and locally produced product, and, obviously the Planet and the workers.

Thus, as with beanpoles and pea-stick, buy charcoal wherever possible from local producers, from coppice workers. Also local lumpwood charcoal is better in many other ways, and that includes the lighting of it. It should not require any BBQ-lighter fluid or blocks of any kind and should start just by using paper or other tinder.

Considering that the lighter fluid or bricks are petroleum product do you really want gasoline or kerosene with your food?

© 2018

Uses for chopsticks in gardening

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

How to use chopsticks in the garden and in gardening indoors and outdoors

Every year, billions of disposable chopsticks are manufactured in China and shipped across the globe to Asian restaurants and take-out restaurants and with almost every tray of sushi bought in supermarkets and other places you get a set of those as well.

Those chopsticks are made out of a variety of woods, including birch, spruce, cotton wood, or bamboo.

Before even considering using them in the garden and in gardening, though that is what, mostly, we will be looking at here, the first reuse of them is as what they are, namely chopsticks.

I have a couple of sets of those sets at home in the tin cans on the windowsill in the kitchen that hold the various items of cutlery. There is a tin for spoons, for knives, etc. and one of them has also got some (wooden) chopsticks in them (for use). I also carry a small set, in a leather wallet, for on-the go.

While I in no way support deforestation in the name of stuffing our faces with dumplings and Vietnamese Crab Fried Rice, I do appreciate, however, creative ways to reuse and recycle items that are otherwise discarded into the trashcan or at the very least stuffed into a kitchen junk drawer, as is all too often the case also with those chopsticks.

In Japan (and also China now, I believe) a trend was started a while back of “bring your own chopsticks” – much like the “bring your own cutlery” that has been advocated in the West, and this is certainly something that should be encouraged.

So, before reuse of such chopsticks in the garden think of reusing them as what they are and when you want to use chopsticks at home then use those. Or when going out where there is the chance that you may indulge in some Asian food then carry your own set.

Having said that I am well aware that often getting yet another set is unavoidable as in some cases they are prepacked with the meal you purchase and you have no choice and control over this.

Right, now for the reuse of chopsticks in the garden and gardening

Dibblet: A dibblet is one of those small dibbers for separating seedlings and replanting them. Some people use a small stick, a pencil or pen, or such while others spend money, actually, buying a special dibblet. Use a chopstick instead. Works great.

Seed Flags: After you have planted your seeds, it is time to make a label so you know where you have planted what. The best marker is a good old flag: Use colored tape, cut it into a fun flag shape, wrap it around one end of a chopstick, and use a marker to note the name.

Seedling Support Stakes: When seedlings coming up, and are getting tall they may need some support. Insert a chopstick into the dirt next to the plant, and loosely tie a piece of twine or string around it to help keep the plant upright as it grows.

Row Planting Guide: Want to make sure you plant your rows straight? Cut a piece of twine or string a few inches longer than your row will be, or just have a lot more string than you will actually need to have one you can use again and again. Tie each end to the tops of two chopsticks. Stick the chopsticks into the ground at either end of the proposed row so that the twine is suspended like a bridge. If you use more twine than you might need for shorter rows just wind then remaining stuff onto one of the chopsticks. You can use your trowel to dig into the ground directly below the twine, making a perfectly straight row.

Mini “Greenhouse”: Stick three chopsticks into a pot or individual seed starting cell, and fit a plastic bag over the top and you have an instant small propagator.

The above are, obviously, only a few ways in which you can reuse and make use of those chopsticks in the garden and gardening and I am sure many readers can come – and have come up – with other ideas in addition to those presented here.

© 2018

A Low-Energy Way To Keep Root Veggies Fresh

You don't need to invest in chest freezers—all you need is straw and a little bit of outdoor space.

If you're looking for a way to store your garden yield, but don't have a root cellar, try building a storage clamp. A clamp gives gardeners an inexpensive means to store fall-harvested root vegetables through the winter. The technique of insulating heaps of potatoes, turnips, carrots, and other vegetables with layers of straw and soil has been used for centuries in Europe. Here’s how it works:

Read more here.

The Grow Bag Frame – Product Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

ENGINEERED FOR URBAN GARDENS

The Grow Bag Frame is one of those "now why didn't I think of that" ideas. It lets you make the most of your grow bag by simply turning it on its side.

Simple and elegant in design, not only does it take up less space, it provides plants with deeper soil, encouraging stronger roots, and makes for less messy watering.

The pack includes plant supports and can be flat-packed for storage at the end of the season. Materials are two side frame and two cross bars, both manufactured from 6mm diameter, recycled (BS1052) galvanized mild steel and the three looped ties are made from strong 12mm plastic strapping. Made in the U.K. Dimensions: 86cm x 28cm x 120cm H. (33¾" x 11" x 47¼").

The strapping is of the kind that is generally used for large packaging and for securing stuff to pallets also. It is a very strong plastic webbing and will last for ages.

What we call in Britain a grow bag is not something that our American cousins are familiar with. I fact, I do believe one cannot even get that kind of bag filled with compost in the US.

Therefore Crown Garden Products have also created the reusable grow bag which can be used with the Grow Bag Frame.

The Grow Bag Frame is designed with a unique clip fixing - quick and easy to assemble and dismantle – the component parts simply slot together. The lower cross bar draws the grow bag upwards creating voids for watering and feeding. The whole planted assembly is very stable and can be picked up and moved by gently gripping and lifting the two end frames. For taller growing plants put a cane into the grow bag and tie it to the two cross bars to give your plants as much vertical support as you need.

The first time that I saw the Grow Bag Frame was a couple of years ago at one of the RHS' Flower Shows in London and was immediately taken by it, realizing what great concept it was and it was good to hear then that the makers had patented the design. Something that often gets forgotten and then a great idea, such as the Ladder Allotments, get copied by large manufactures who then can outperform the original designers and makers.

The Reusable Grow Bag, designed especially for The Grow Bag Frame, is a reusable grow bag made from tough heavy duty Polyethylene. All you need to do is to fill it with your ideal compost for vegetables, fruit or flowers. It has a capacity of 25 liters and is, like the frame, made in the UK.

The frame is easily assembled and, in all honesty, with a little common sense (very rare though nowadays) one does not even need instructions. It is intuitive, as far as I am concerned. However, anyone requiring instructions they come with it and also can be found online on Crown Garden Products' website.

The great thing about the Grow Bag Frame is that you can easily, with the bag and plants, move it around, say on a patio, and you don't have to be Geoff Capes to do so.

Crown Garden Products Limited are a small British company, specializing in developing products that help the home gardener achieve better results by using simple, stylish and clever ideas. All products are made in UK.

Recommended Retail Price £19.95 excl delivery.

A great idea and product for the urban gardener but which will equally be at home in the cottage garden in the country.

© 2013

Make you own garden tools...

...or at least some of them.

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

There are many small (and not so small) tools that we can make from wood, from wire, from tin cans and even from large glass jars and from plastic bottles of various kinds. Glass jars and some plastic bottle reuse is not so much for tools as for aids for the garden, but we shall include those here nevertheless.

Dibbers hand-carved from Ash (above) and Blackthorn (below)

Admittedly it will not be possible to make all your own garden tools yourself, especially not the likes of digging spades and -forks, shovels and such like, and even some smaller ones such as trowels, unless you have a forge and blacksmith skills. But there are still many tools and aids for the garden that you can fashion from a variety of “raw” materials.

The “raw” materials for making your own garden tools and garden helpers are wood and waste materials. The latter in the form of discarded fence wire or similar, salvaged; tin cans; plastic bottles and such; and large glass jars. The glass jars primarily for one use, that of single plant cloches.

There are many tools and aids for the garden that can be made, with little or no skills, from wood, that is to say virgin wood and waste lumber, and from “waste” wire and other items of waste. One man's waste is another man's resource.

Wood has once been a primary material even for garden and farming tools and implements, and this even included the plow in the beginning of farming. Other tools were still entirely wood until not all that long ago.

In parts of the Third World the digging stick is still the main tool in the vegetable garden and small fields. In principle the digging stick is but a large dibber that is used for, well, digging but not for digging wells.

When it comes to using wood from which to fashion garden tools and -aids the easiest, and very useful, tool to make is a dibber, and also the dibblet. The former for use of planting out plants into the beds and the latter for pricking out and transplanting seedlings.

There are others tools for the garden and the small farm that can and used to be made from wood. The pitch fork, originally two-pronged, was and is one of those, and quite simple to make. The hay rake is a little more elaborate but it is still possible to make this and other tools yourself with some forethought and skills.

Wire weeder handmade from wire coat hanger

Aside from wood, from the woods directly or “waste” lumber, there are other “waste” materials from which to make some tools for our garden that costs us nothing but time and a little effort.

“Waste” material resources stretch from tin cans, (fence) wire, glass jars, plastic bottles and containers all the way to pallets and ton bags. All of those, in one way or the other, can be used to fashion tools and aids for the garden, inclusive of fencing. But let's concentrate on tools and aids for gardening itself for the moment.

A tin can, without much ado, and without any conversion, can become a simple soil scoop for filling plant pots, or a scoop, though this is not necessarily gardening, for feeding your backyard hens, and tin cans have thus been used in gardening for almost as long as the tin can has been in existence. You can put aside several different sizes of them to be able to fill all manner of plant pots effectively.

Add a wooden handle to a tin can and, maybe, cut it to a shape using tin snips and then working it a little and you have got almost the equivalent of a (designer) soil scoop that would cost you in the region of US$25. It is that simple.

Leftover lengths of (thick) fence wire (or wire from those wire coat hangers that are tossed out by the ton by dry cleaners) can easily be fashioned into very effective weeding tools of the “Wonder Weeder” kind.

This simple tool works and, in fact, works fantastic and when it comes to weeding by hand, as is, more often than not, the case in gardening an effective tool of this nature is a great asset.

Many items of “waste” can become our raw materials – at times combined with wood or waste lumber – for making tools (and aids) for the garden and gardening. It is not always necessary to go to the store to buy or order via a catalog.

Glass jars, plastic bottles and containers, pallets, ton bags, general waste lumber, wire waste and much more all can be, in one way or another, converted to tools and aids for use in the garden.

But when it comes to the making of tools from waste materials (and not virgin wood) then it is tin cans; waste wire, be this left over lengths of fence wire or wire coat hangers; plastic containers cut up for a purpose and bits of waste lumber, and, at times, virgin wood for handles, that are our main resources and raw materials.

Depending on the thickness of the material some plastic bottles can be made into scoops and even garden trowels for use in soft and loose soil, and that simply by cutting out the right shape from the bottle with a pair of strong scissors or snips.

Farmers and gardeners have always be inventive with whatever came to hand until not so long ago, that is to say before the time of consumerism gone wild and made many of the things they needed from natural materials and “waste” products. Everything that could be was reused or recycled into something else, etc. to be useful as a tool or aid on the farm and in the garden and we should take a leaf out of this old book, or quite a few pages, and do likewise.

© 2013

More on making your own garden tools and -aids, and the detailed making of some of them, in a book aimed to being ready for the gardener's quiet season.

The garden trowel: The gardener's utility tool

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Much like garden gloves, and possibly even weeding tools, the garden trowel is one of several gardening tools that the hobby or professional gardeners simply cannot live without.

The garden trowel is nothing more than a small shovel really, but it is a piece of gardening equipment that gets almost constant use.

In addition to the basic garden trowel most people are familiar with, some trowels have serrated edges on the shovel blade, and when it comes to handles, there are several options.

The original trowel was different however and some are still made in that way. It was, basically, a bricklayer's trowel and it was used in a backwards pulling motion to open a hole in which to put the plant. Sneerboer from the Netherlands still forges a similar style today and it is that kind of trowel that is the one used in the tulip fields of Holland.

If you are buying a trowel for the first time, it is probably a good idea to visit the local garden center and give the trowel a “test drive”, so to speak to get the right one for you.

It should feel comfortable and be well constructed with a sturdy handle and a forged carbon- or stainless steel blade. Do not skimp on quality and chose a cheap one just because it is cheap.

If you prefer a hardwood handle make sure it’s smooth to prevent splinters with a reinforced interface between the handle and blade. Other handle options are available and work just as well including those that allow for a soft grip like the OXO Good Grip versions with a gel filled handle or the Thingamedig from Dalsonware Pty Ltd, Australia.

Another option for finding garden trowels and other small garden tools is to visit flea markets or antique and collectible shops that specialize in antique garden and farm tools. These tools were built to last so in most cases you can’t go wrong. Avoid too much rust (you can always get rid of a little bit of rust), worn and splintered handles, or excessive wear.

But latter source, as far as antique tool markets and such are concerned can be a more expensive option to buying a quality trowel new. On flea markets, trunk sales (car boot sales) and in so-called Charity Shops (if the latter have any) good secondhand garden tools may be had for less than in the garden centers.

Also, I am sure, you will want for more than just one single garden trowel as they are a little like horse for courses and a small transplanting one also will come in very handy indeed.

© 2013

Weeding can be very therapeutic

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Weeding can be a very therapeutic way to spend an hour or so, but to appreciate how good it can be you need to motivate yourself to start.

For a lot of people coming in from work and sitting in front of the TV is a great way to clear your mind, but rather than sit down and do nothing get up and get out weeding your plot. It is not stressful. In fact it relaxes you better than the TV, and you have a sense of achievement when you have finished. And the next day when traveling to work you can look back on what you did and be much happier and you can exude a level of smugness that will have people wondering what medication you are on.

To me weeding is such an exercise in mind clearing and relaxation but it is also that time when the ideas come in, often, for new articles and essays. Another reason why I like it, in the same way as path edging.

Many in professional gardening and grounds-maintenance give me a strange look when I say that I enjoy weeding the beds and edging the paths. They would rather not do it and that is the difference between someone who does it for the money alone and someone who cares about the job.

Aside from destressing weeding and edging gives a great sense of achievement for it gives instant results and you can look back at the work at the end of the day and be pleased with yourself. How many people have such a satisfaction in their jobs working in an office. The only other person that does is the craftsman or -woman who works with his or her hands and holds a finished object in those after a day's work.

This is also why, outside of work, I garden and like to make things with my hands. Relaxation and instant gratification, as far as weeding the garden beds and the finished objects made are concerned. What can be better?

Gardening is therapeutic anyway but makes it even better.

© 2013

Tools for (new) gardeners

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Give a man a fish, and he’ll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, and he’ll eat for a lifetime” is an adage that applies to gardening, too.

To introduce a friend to the joy of “grow your own,” offer a useful tool along with the promise of your support and advice. With all there is to learn, gardening can sometimes seem overwhelming. But guidance from a seasoned veteran can set the spark for a lifetime of gardening joy.

We were all beginners once, as well, and thus being prepared to assist a newbie with advice on tools and gardening in general will help raise new generations of gardeners, hobby – I hate to say amateur, as may are as least as good as the professional – and professional.

When it comes too tools there are a few basic ones that the new gardener will need and, in order for him or her to continue on the path the advice must be and should be to get the very best that they can afford.

Garden Fork

The garden fork is one of the most important tools in the armory of any gardener, not just the newbie, and thus it is best to invest in the best. Wow! That even rhymes...

Some old timers will tell you that a garden fork is about all you need and they are about right in that too. The garden fork is perfect for prepping new beds, turning the soil in old beds, and cultivating between rows during the growing season. In addition to that it is probably one of the best tools to turn your compost.

A garden fork is probably more important in the garden than is the spade though that too has its places and once again it the advice if to get the best that you can afford.

Garden spade

A good garden spade (or two), like with the fork, is also a tool that the true gardener cannot do without. While the fork can turn over soil very well, and in some instances better than a space, it cannot dig a hole for planting a tree, or dig a trench, and such. So, best to have a good one of each.

Trowel

For planting out plugs and pot-grown plants you will need a garden trowel.

Many people tend to use the trowel a little like a small hand spade and use it too dig holes with it in which to put the plants. However, there is a reason that it is called a trowel for the first tools used for transplanting were, in fact, bricklayers' trowels.

The right use of a trowel is not as a little spade for digging a whole when planting but to stick it into the ground and then pulling it towards you to open a whole into which to insert the plant.

In fact, if you have a lot of plug plants or those grown on in pots to plant then I recommend to actually use a good quality builder's trowel, as used for bricklaying as it works faster, especially with the right technique. Stick ground with top of “blade” towards you and pull, put in plant, and close hole. Repeat until finished.

Pruning Shears aka Secateurs

Secateurs (pruning shears) are a must for any gardener and here again I like to reiterate to go for the best. The best is not necessarily the most expensive ones either and my favorite has always been Rolcut, a brand of UK-made pruners, which no longer exists but it's parent, Loewe of Luebeck, Germany still makes the same tools.

The Rolcut pruners, as well as most of Loewe's ones, are not bypass secateurs, so beloved by many gardeners, but anvil ones which many often disregard as being of little use to them. The fact, however, is that anvil secateurs are much more useful often than are bypass ones, as the former can handle both green and dry wood easier.

Loewe has created a range of secateurs that a hybrid of the bypass and the anvil versions and I find them especially good.

Weeder

It would probably be a good idea to have more than one weeding tool and depending how you garden, whether raised beds, containers and grow bags, as myself, or in rows in basically a field weeds will always be there to be removed.

At times there is but one way to deal with them, aside if they are edible when you eat them, and that is to pull them out by hand. That time is when you have allowed them to get out of hand.

Other times using a hoe will suffice and here my recommendation would always be to use the CobraHead hoe, whether long-handled or hand-held, as it is just one of the best hoes I have ever encountered.

If you do not want to invest in that one then go for something else, obviously, but chose a drag hoe, that is to say one that you pull towards you as you have much better control over what you do with it than with a Dutch hoe. Many a little vegetable plant or flower has been cut off because of lack of control.

A good old-fashioned cultivator, ideally with removable tines, is also a good investment and you should also have a good hand weeding tool.

There is a wire weeder on the market called the Wonder Weeder, which is made of strong wire only and, to all intents and purposes, you could even make one yourself. I have done so. But still, my favorite is something that is very similar to the Wonder Weeder and that is a simple humble hoof pick.

Tubtrugs

While not a necessity, unlike the tools above, Tubtrugs are extremely useful in the garden, and not only the garden but also the home, the garage, the workshop, etc.

Tubtrugs garden buckets are light and flexible, yet strong, and don’t blow away like bags can. They can be used to blend potting soil, hold plant trimmings, collect weeds, and even mix concrete. I carry mulch, soil, leaves, and gravel in them. They are made of food-grade plastic that’s frost-proof, and the colors are cheerful.

They are made by a variety of companies and there are also some, which are extremely strong, that are made from old tires.

Sure there are many more tools that you may want for the garden, such as a soil rake and to create a good tilth after digging you more than likely will want for a good soil rake even though this can also be achieved with a garden fork by dragging it through the soil. Not as good and efficient though as a rake will do it.

So, let's go and dig some dirt...

© 2013

No Yard? No Problem?

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Many people believe that in order to grow their own vegetables they need a large garden but container growing is a great way to have great tasting fresh vegetables even if you don't have the yard space for a full garden.

Container gardening is the answer for those that are short of space as regards to gardening, whether flowers, or as far as we are concerned, vegetables for the table.

Growing in containers, with loose and deep soil, also allows the plants to be closer together and thus the density of them does away with an over-amount of weeds and also makes for a larger harvest.

The type of containers for this kind of growing is legion and you can go out and buy decorative ones at a cost or, alternatively, repurpose any other kind of container, including old bathtubs, sinks and the like. It just depends as to whether you want a certain look or just simply a food garden for as little outlay as possible.

Aside from putting your planters on the ground you can also use containers in the vertical, by hanging them up, putting them on old stepladders, etc.

certain trailing tomatoes, for instance, do well in hanging planters and hanging baskets and some plants can, actually, also be grown hanging upside down.

Pot and other containers hung on a fence or a wall can be used to grow herbs and spices and the do do very well in such situations. Also much easier to harvest if they are at the right height.

I have filled my yard, even though I could have been digging or using raised beds, with containers of all kinds that have been repurposed into planters, including so-called builder bags or tonne bags, plant buckets and tubs from tree planting, etc. Even old shopping carts have been drafted into use, lined with barrier fabric and such, as planters.

The latter are ideal for use with growing carrots as they are above the height of the carrot fly's vector and thus are more or less out of its reach to it.

That does not mean, unfortunately, that a container garden will be immune to pests. It is not, and neither to weeds. However, you have a little better access to each and every plant to check and manually destroy pests or remove weeds.

Using containers in your yard you can still have a garden and grow at least some food for your table even if you do not have the space for a proper garden.

So, go and dig some dirt and grow some tasty veg. You no longer have any excuse.

© 2013

Mixing flowers and vegetables

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

The majority of people, even gardeners, always think of flower gardens and vegetable gardens as two separate entities, but there is absolutely no reason to think that this is the way it has to be.

On the contrary. Think about the kitchen garden of colonial days in the United States and the cottage gardens of England. It was a mix of vegetables, fruits, flowers, and herbs.

While some see this as companion planting it is not, necessarily thus, as the plants may not be chosen for the companion value. Companion planting, on the other hand, is something that would make such a mixed flower and vegetable garden even better.

Such a vegetable-flower garden can be seen as an artistic palette, strictly for appearances and enjoyment. And with proper mix there is no reason, other than idiotic ordinances in many parts of the United States (and Canada) to have such a garden also in the front yard. Apparently, however, the powers-that-be in some town halls and such demand that the front yard is but lawn and maybe, just maybe, some pretty flowers.

Your vegetable-flower garden can be orderly or not so orderly. It depends on your personal style and choice. As a front yard food and flower production area it might be best to have it rather orderly as to not to upset some town hall folks.

You do however need to take into account the growing style of the vegetables and flowers. Pumpkins, cucumbers, and squash need lots of horizontal room to grow so you want to avoid planting flowers too close. Unless, that it, you train those plants to climb trellises, which most will quite readily do.

Think about plant forms and foliage too. Peppers are upright and shrub-like. Corn is tall, vertical, and leafy but would look terrific mixed with sunflowers. Or, concentrate on color combinations such as white, purple, and pink for earlier flowering vegetables and flowers, or yellow, red, and orange for late summer crops and blooms. The gold color of marigolds and the dark green of spinach for example or red flowers of nasturiums next to those bright red chile peppers.

You could also add some colorful brassicas into the equation. Despite the fact that some people see them just as, as they are also referred to by seed merchants, ornamental cabbages, they can be eaten and thus make for a great color combination, even still giving color in the depth of winter.

When it comes to planting corn why not follow the Native American approach and plant the Three Sister, that is to say corn, bean and squash together. The corn then acts as a trellis for the beans and even the squash to climb up and they seem to love to live together in perfect harmony.

© 2013

You Know You’re Addicted to Gardening When…

Your neighbors recognize you in your pajamas, rubber clogs and a cup of coffee
You grab other people’s banana peels, coffee grinds, apple cores, etc. for your compost pile.
You have to wash your hair to get your fingernails clean.
All your neighbors come and ask you questions.
You know the temperature of your compost every day.
You buy a bigger truck so that you can haul more mulch.
You enjoy crushing Japanese beetles because you like the sound that it makes.
Your boss makes “taking care of the office plants” an official part of your job description.
Everything you touch turns to “fertilizer”.
Your non-gardening spouse becomes conversant in botanical names
You find yourself feeling leaves, flowers and trunks of trees wherever you go, even at funerals
You dumpster-dive for discarded bulbs after commercial landscapers remove them to plant annuals
You plan vacation trips around the locations of botanical gardens, arboreta, historic gardens, etc.
You sneak home a 7 foot Japanese Maple and wonder if your spouse will notice
When considering your budget, plants are more important than groceries
You always carry a shovel, bottled water and a plastic bag in your trunk as emergency tools
You appreciate your Master Gardener badge more than your jewelry
You talk “dirt” at baseball practice.
You spend more time chopping your kitchen greens for the compost pile than for cooking
You like the smell of horse manure better than Estee Lauder
You rejoice in rain…even after 10 straight days of it.
You have pride in how bad your hands look.
You have a decorative compost container on your kitchen counter.
You can give away plants easily, but compost is another thing.
Soil test results actually mean something.
You understand what IPM means and are happy about it
You’d rather go to a nursery to shop than a clothes store.
You know that Sevin is not a number
You take every single person who enters your house on a “garden tour”
You look at your child’s sandbox and see a raised bed.
You ask for tools for Christmas, Mother/Father’s day, your Birthday and any other occasion you can think of.
You can’t bear to thin seedlings and throw them away.
You scold total strangers who don’t take care of their potted plants.
You know how many bags of fertilizer/potting soil,/mulch your car will hold.
You drive around the neighborhood hoping to score extra bags of leaves for your compost pile
Your preferred reading matter is seed catalogs
And last but not least:
You know that the four seasons are:
Planning the Garden
Preparing the Garden
Gardening
~and~
Preparing and Planning for the next Garden

-Author Unknown

Garden gloves

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Whether you are a professional gardener or garden just for the fun of it, a good pair, or two, or more, of gardening gloves is essential.

Garden gloves protect your hands from the elements as well as soil, thorns, chemicals, sharp or angular tools, and while you're puling up those pesky weeds.

Gardening/work gloves are little like horse for courses and you may not want to use the heavy leather gloves that you use for pruning thorns and briers for weeding, or for using chemicals (though it is best not to use chemicals in your garden, especially if growing food), etc.

It's important that gardening gloves fit properly, are comfortable, allows tactile sensation, and for some, look attractive. And, while it is possible to own just one pair of garden gloves, many people often own two or three pairs depending on what activity they are attending to. For instance, if you're pruning rose bushes it's prudent to wear a pair of heavier duty gloves than if you are doing light gardening chores like watering.

Cotton gloves are inexpensive and fine light gardening, but the downside is that they usually don't fit very well and may be slippery when handling garden tools. All purpose gardening gloves for general gardening chores are made from leather or synthetic suede, or leather.

When handling water or chemicals, garden gloves made from rubber material are your best option and there are some great products that have a very heavy PU applied to them but which can even be washed.

When dealing with roses, briers, thorn bushes, etc., look for garden gloves that will protect your hands from thorns.

When doing hand weeding your ideal choice of gloves might actually be, dare I say it, disposable gloves such as the Nitrile gloves that police officers nowadays wear at the scene of a crime or when having to touch someone.

As said, much of it is a case of “horses for courses” and therefore it may mean to have an appropriate pair for each and every task in the garden.

If you use a chainsaw then there is another type that you might want to have and that are chainsaw protective ones with Kevlar in the back of the hand.

Whatever the case it is my advice that if you are doing anything where there is the possibility of contamination, beyond just soil and soil bacteria, that you wear the appropriate kind of gloves.

© 2012

Grow your own small vegetable garden

Even the smallest space can produce plenty of vegetables, even a patio can

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

I am no market gardener, that's for sure, and I have varied success with my own small garden in that fashion but that is due to the location and the fact that I get overrun by slugs and snails and also the squirrels and pigeons think that my garden is a feeding station for them. Well, it is not but try telling them that.

Also, I must add that I am not the most consistent home gardener, as I am often too busy with writing material for the many magazines that I own and edit.

However, while I doubt that most families could become entirely self-sufficient (then again, is complete self-sufficiency even possible?) in the suburbs on their patio and/or small part of garden that they are often only willing to sacrifice for food growing, the food thus grown can go someways towards reducing food miles and costs.

Obviously, the bigger the area the more food you can grow. But, having said that, lots can be done in a small space. This was shown at the “Grand Designs Live” exhibition with the small garden that was shown there and also in other places. It is possible.

If you do not want to build raised beds with timber, bricks or whatever, then there are nowadays a couple of companies that produce “clickable” plastic siding that make then up a raised beds. But be warned! They are not cheap but they will last nigh on forever, unlike timber.

However, there are many other options for building a small garden – I mean other than digging up the ground. On a patio you would not and could not do that anyway. So, here comes “container gardening”.

There are containers and there are containers for gardening, obviously, From the old style terracotta put and tub to the plastic ones and everything else. You do not even have to go and buy such containers, as they can often be found thrown away. Old washing-up bowls can be used, the pots that contained trees from nurseries, the barrels that contained cooking oils – cut in half makes two – and many more. In addition to that there are the large bags in which building sands and the likes comes nowadays. Fold over the sides and – voila – one square raised bed of rather some depth.

The tubs presently mentioned all – bar the containers that once will have had trees in them – will require holes for drainage drilled into the bottom. I handle that quite simply and quickly here; a few shots of target practice with a .22 air rifle and, well, drainage holes. Who said they had to be x-amount of millimeter in size and perfectly round?

That is container gardening on the cheap, basically. It beats – in cost at least – any store bought tubs for plastic tub/container gardening.

In addition to that there are other containers that can be employed as well. Know of an old bathtub, whether iron (well, they are worth money...) or fiberglass? They too make great planters for vegetables.

There have been articles around about the advantages of growing your own vegetables and in them it is pointed out that not only do people waste less food by being able to go pick fresh vegetables when they need them, but the cost of having a small garden compared to buying fresh produce from the grocery store can save us all a lot on food.

So, what's stopping you?

© M Smith (Veshengro), July 2008

Growing potatoes in biodegradable cardboard boxes

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Growing potatoes in raised beds works well but building a raised bed can be costly and requires hard work. An easy to build, inexpensive, useful and attractive alternative for growing of potatoes can be had by using cardboard boxes.

Because of the hard work of building raised beds and the cost of it I decided to use the existing beds for other crops rather than potatoes and left growing potatoes out for a couple of years.

However, this year I came up with the idea of cardboard boxes, in lieu of the potato patio planters which are rather costly to the tune of about US$35 around these parts of the world. I am thinking, though, of maybe building my own (oar maybe I can find a manufacturer who would like me to review a couple of them). So, I have took two boxes that I had lying about, lined them up in the garden and planted potatoes in the bottom of the box using a soil mixed with mild potting compost. As the potatoes grew, I have added more soil. So far they are growing beautifully but we don't know as yet as to how good they are producing and as to whether it works at all, though there seem to be some small potatoes already to be had.

Such boxes are free, can be quite attractive and will bio-degrade and compost at the end of the season. New ones can be set up the following year and years in different parts of the vegetable garden to help rotate the crops. The top flaps of the boxes can be closed to protect the tender plants from a late frost. It is easy to build up soil around the growing potatoes; harvesting is also easy. You can either reach in for new potatoes, or you can peel the rotting sides away at the end of the season.

It is important to consider that as with all container planting you may need to check a little more on the watering.

So, why not grow your spuds in cardboard planters? No cost (for the planters, I mean) and at the end of the useful life of the “planter” it will compost to soil.

© M Smith (Veshengro), July 2008

Fourteen ways to save water in your garden

by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

It is important, especially nowadays, that we all protect our precious water sources and water resources by using water wisely. This does bot mean, however, that you have to let your yard and garden dry up completely. The trick is to know when to water and how much water to use on the plants and also and especially as well as what to plant and when. The following tips will help you water less often and more effectively.

Please also remember that everything that you put in or on your plants and lawn to make them grow is also going to find its way either onto your skin or into your vegetables, and the excess will go into the groundwater.

Chemicals do not all decompose into meaningless neutral entities. On the contrary rather. If you have not done so already, it might be advisable to make a change t to organic or natural fertilizers and insecticides. They are safer to handle, safer for your pets and safer for your kids, plus they don't contaminate the groundwater.

Read the rest here...

Tend to Your Garden in Winter

Although many of the perennials grown in the garden slumber through the winter months, the gardener is far from inactive.

In fact, winter in the garden can be as busy as any other season of the year.

Here are some essential gardening tasks that are recommend green fingers take care of when it gets frosty outside:

1./ Check in on your plants: Examine the greenhouse (or cold frame) regularly for any sign of pests or disease it could be harboring. Remove any dead flower heads, yellowing leaves, and other plant debris before mold starts to form, to cut the risk of infection.

Heavy snowfall can settle on conifers and evergreens with larger surface areas, causing the branches to buckle or break under all that heft. Knock the snow off to help reduce damage, because a torn branch leaves an open wound for infections in spring.

2./ Protect them from the cold: Insulate your greenhouse and cold frame with bubble wrap or similar insulation, because reducing drafts saves on heat loss and plant casualties.
Outdoor evergreens, container plants, tall plants, and plants introduced since the previous winter will need protection if the weather takes a nasty turn. (They can be severely damaged by wind, which can loosen roots.) Consider planting a windbreak or shelter to reduce the airflow.

Another problem caused by the wind is foliage drying out, which happens when freezing gusts draw moisture from leaves faster than it can be replaced. Erect a screen of woven plastic mesh or horticultural fleece on the windward side of vulnerable plants to reduce the wind's effects and protect the leaves. During heavy frosts, some plants may even benefit from being bundled up in protective fleece, which absorbs some of cold.

3./ Prepare the soil: Because winter frost can break down sticky clay soil better than any cultivation tool, it can be an ally when it comes to preparing heavy soils. This is the time to incorporate compost or other organic conditioners that will improve soil structure and boost plant growth.

4./ Deal with construction and landscaping jobs: Because sections of the garden will be bare, it's easier to see the garden layout and make changes for the coming spring. If the soil isn't too wet to be structurally damaged by foot traffic and wheelbarrows, you can take the opportunity to install or improve drainage systems.

5./ Handle repairs and maintenance, and that includes repairing handles: Consider the lack of vegetation a bonus, because this is an ideal time to drain and clean pools and ponds, as well as repair pond sides, walls, and liners. Or use this time to re-level, change the shape, increase the shape and size of borders, and reseed areas where growth is sparse. However, no work should be carried out if the grass is frozen, because footprints made on frozen grass can cause it to turn brown.

Repair, sharpen, clean, service, and otherwise maintain tools that are used in your garden, whether the lawnmower, the strimmer, bill hooks, secateurs, etc. A well-maintained tool or piece of machinery will give you good service for many, many years and will make life and work easier.

Michael Smith (Veshengro), January 2008