You can now play with various bed designs and materials, using your drawing as a planning tool. Level places from which to work are invaluable when gardening on a slope, because gravity pulls people downhill, too.
In the row where next year's tomatoes and peppers will go, I like to sow nitrogen-fixing legumes like hairy vetch, crimson clover, or Austrian winter peas, or a blend that includes vetches, grains and clovers.
The peppers can then color up indoors, in the warmth, leaving the remainder to develop further. If it's too windy, much of the gas simply blows away, slamming the brakes on the ripening process.
Grass clippings are a ready-to-hand source of instant mulch too, and will help to keep plant roots cool and moist in hot, dry weather. Remove covers during the day to enable pollination, then replace it in the evening to provide a little warmth and protection...
Practice crop rotation to help prevent a build-up of crop-specific pests in the soil, and if you have suffered from a soil-borne pest such as wireworm it's a good idea to dig or at least disturb the top few inches of soil with a fork between crops –...
When you sow depends on what type of cabbage you're growing. In very cold regions, growing cabbages in a greenhouse or cold frame is a great way to guarantee a winter-safe crop. Either way is totally delicious! Cabbages you've grown yourself are undeniably...
After all, what's the point in having a beautiful garden if you can't take a moment to revel in its all-round gorgeousness? Sit the smaller pot inside the larger pot, levelling up the rims by pouring sand into the base of the big pot till they are even.
Asian radishes grow slower than little salad radishes, so they are best planted about eight weeks before your first frost date. Watermelon radishes have stiff, serrated leaves that resemble those of turnip, and the only tricks to growing them are to plant...
Preserving techniques help to spread out sudden gluts so that summer's bounty can be enjoyed later on in the year when fresh pickings are thin on the ground. Label each bag with the date and details of what's inside – you'll quickly forget and it can...
Other names for rutabaga ( Brassica napus var. After the first frost passes, harvest your rutabagas during a period of dry weather. Avoiding Problems When Growing Rutabagas Like most other root crops, rutabagas need sunny, well-drained soil with a near-neutral...
F1 hybrids should include ‘F1' in the variety name on the seed packet. These plants cross-pollinate, so you'll need to overwinter more than one plant of the same variety to flower the following season.
Pruning in summer helps plums to avoid disease Before any pruning task, stand back and take a look at your tree. They are a whitish colour, with a wooly surface and purplish-brown underside.
Even thorough scrubbing fails to remove all traces of chilli pepper's spicy capsaicin; as you might imagine, a careless rub of the eye during a momentary lapse of concentration can be painful.
This extra layer serves a few purposes: it shades the soil from the sun, helping to keep it cooler, and it acts as a lid on the soil, dramatically reducing evaporation. Prioritize shady areas for crops that prefer cooler conditions, such as salad leaves.
Potato foliage can be kept snug with an insulating layer of fleece, removed during the day to allow maximum sunlight penetration. You should have no problems holding them back for an extra month or two provided conditions remain cool but frost-free.
It sounds counterintuitive, but there's logic behind this apparent madness I promise! Read on or watch our video to find out why we do it. Their smaller fruitlets may be thinned using just your thumb and finger to detach the surplus.
Blast all areas of the leaf, especially the undersides where they mostly congregate. Greenhouse whitefly are tiny but can seriously weaken plants Greenhouse Whitefly Organic Controls Whitefly can strike any time from the middle of summer.
Harvesting Harvest in early summer when the tops begin to fail, and the bulbs have divided into several plump bulblets. Frost tolerant Yes. In clay soil, use raised beds or rows. Troubleshooting Onion root maggots can cause plants to collapse.
You can also coat the fingertips of a yellow rubber glove with petroleum jelly to make it easier to collect any beetles clustered in blossoms. Females lay eggs near the base of plants, and the larvae feed on the plants' roots.
Large plants produce edible, starry blue flowers that attract bees in droves. Borage attracts large buzzing insects that dominate their air space. Crop Rotation Group Miscellaneous ● Soil Any average, well drained soil.
Dig and move perennial onions every fall. They lay eggs at the base of onion plants, and the larvae tunnel into onion roots. Tips: Yellow sticky traps or yellow pans of water can be used to monitor and trap onion flies.
Dried valerian roots are used to make a bedtime tea that promotes sleep. Troubleshooting Control valerian's spread by cutting back flowering stems before they can shed seeds in your garden.
Locate it where leaves can be conveniently picked, crushed and sniffed. Feeding Not generally required. Position Any sunny spot. Gather stems for drying or steeping into tinctures in early summer, just before the plants bloom.
Position Full sun. As the flowers fade in the garden, trim them off with scissors or pruning shears. Feeding Topdress with rich compost in spring, when new growth appears. Troubleshooting Tulips are often eaten by deer and squirrels.
Harvesting Snip off spent blossoms to keep plants looking neat, and to prolong flowering. Troubleshooting White ageratum blossoms go brown as they age, which is not as noticeable in varieties that bloom blue.
Harvesting Use a digging fork to loosen soil along outside of the planting before pulling roots. Feeding Not required. Spacing Single Plants: 7" (20cm) each way (minimum) Rows: 7" (20cm) with 11" (30cm) row gap (minimum) Sow and Plant Sow direct into...
