Fruit, Veg, Flowers and Slugs

With autumn well and truly upon us jobs in the garden and the vegetable patch become fewer and much of my time on the plot recently has been as much about tidying-up and clearing away as anything else. I have four compost bins and try to add as much as I can from what I am clearing from the greenhouse, vegetable patch and flower beds to these at this time of year; if you don’t have compost bins I thoroughly recommend getting at least one. With my four bins I can produce two or three hundred litres of compost in a year, great for simply spreading around the garden or for use in potting mixes and with the price of store-bought compost rising constantly at the moment, you can save yourself a tidy couple bob at the same time. As I am clearing the greenhouse I am also preparing it to store the more tender plants over winter; the seven Agapanthus I have in pots will go in there for the colder months for example. Talking of Agapanthus, any regular reader may recall I mentioned I had sown som...

It has been a while since my last post for one reason or another so I have quite a bit to report on.  I mentioned in my April posts some of the experiments I had undertaken for the growing season, taking Olive Tree cuttings and sowing Clover into my lawn; so far so good with both I am happy to report. I have two Olive Tree cuttings that appear to be coming along nicely; it is of course a slow process as they are so slow growing, but two of the three cuttings appear to be forming roots. The Clover has germinated pretty well and I plan to add to it over the coming weeks hopefully leading to a lawn that is as much, if not more, clover than grass by 2026. I have also sown some Purple Creeping Thyme seeds as another little experiment to add to the garden all being well. The seeds were sown thinly onto a potting mix of peat-free compost and perlite in a seed tray and gently pressed into the mix to ensure good contact; the seeds were not covered with any further compost or vermiculite, ...