flowerpotman gardening tips and articles scroll down for. How to make a compost heap.How to make organic compost, How to make a wormery ? Colours you have in your garden. Plants for late summer. Plants for Winter. Winter-flowering shrubs. Container Gardening. Wild Rabbit Control. fox mange.wasp control. Organic Vegetable gardening.how do I make a compost heap. MAKING COMPOST AND LIQUID FERTILISER IN A WORM BIN. Colours you have in your garden say a lot about you... .
Dark blue commands respect and is the Police Green is relaxing and is used on the walls of hospitals get the ideal. The colours of leaves, flowers and berries not only change our mood but show personalities. So next time you're in someone else's garden, take a look around If the garden has consciously been planted with lots of red flowers this can imply assertiveness and play down femininity by either sex.
Red shows physical strength, Liverpool and Manchester United play best in red,in a garden it could be used in a more active area, perhaps forming a barrier around the lawn or swimming pool. Use the tints, tones and shades they are stimulating and exciting and in extremes reds will actually raise the blood pressure. Crocosmia 'Lucifer', Papaver orientale 'Beauty of Livermere' and Potentilla 'Red ace' are all strong masculine red.
Yellow is for emotion, ego, optimism, self-esteem and spring, with daffodils, primroses, Fritillaria imperialis and skunk cabbage. It is bright and cheerful, the colour of sunshine and lifts the spirits. To much yellow may say that self esteem is not at its highest
Blue is the colour of intellect and boys. , soothing and calming and encourages reflection , lowers blood pressure. Its the sky and the sea and in the garden can have the same effects. Great swathes of forget-me-not, Anchusa and cornflowers to relax. Its peoples favourite colour maybe because we recognise the need for calm and logic in our lives.
Green is the choice for a relaxing garden. Created by chlorophyll which is vital to life, in nature it shows water in abundance Think twice about ripping up your lawn and laying decking because when we are surrounded by plenty of green we are reassured. Hostas, ferns and rhododendrons all provide an excellent relaxing backdrop to other colours.
Violet is the colour of someone who prefers to be left to peaceful thought, someone who gardens just for themselves and isn't worried about shouting out their achievements to others, Lovely people. Wisteria, Syringa vulgaris and various delphiniums are all suitable.
Pink is an expression of femininity for those men in touch with their feminine sides. A hint of reddish pink like Cistus x purpureus and Filipendula palmata is soothing and brings out the feminine parenting instinct .Its flesh colour also make it sexy .
Orange is sexy too its the colour off physical enjoyment and fiery passion. It can create a feeling of physical comfort and can look very sensual. Try Euphorbia griffithii 'Fireglow', Lilium 'Enchantment' .
Plants for late summer Rudbeckia 'Goldstrum' yellow flowers late August to September .In groups will produce an excellent show in the first season. need to be staked or supported by other plants. Japanese Anemone - Easy to grow under trees or larger spring flowering shrubs. flowers are produced on long stems making it possible to flower above existing plants in a border. Cosmos - annual, will produce an excellent late summer display, produces quick results and colour in the first year.
Plants for Winter Prunus Autumnalis Rosea - small flowering cherry tree with small highly scented flowers. Helleborus Niger - The Christmas rose, as Christmas arrives the display of waxy winter flowers does too. Grows best in semi shade in a sheltered spot near to your house.
Winter-flowering shrubs Camellias Rhododendron species Garrya elliptica 'James Roof'Jasminum nudiflorum Ericas Cornus officinalis Daphne laureola Subsp. philippi Parrotia persica Skimmia japonica 'Rubella' Image: Derek St Romaine The majority of winter plants can be bought container grown and planted at any time of the year. But from November try to get bare rooted and root wrapped plants. These are much cheaper so save money.It is possible to plant at any time during the winter providing the soil is'nt frozen solid or waterlogged. Prepare light sandy and heavy clay soils with bulky organic matter - well-rotted manure, compost, leafmould, composted bark.On clay soils improve the drainage by digging in plenty of sharp sand or grit.
Containers Nearly all winter-flowering plants can be grown in large containers. This makes it easy moving them close to windows and doors in fact it's a good idea to plant your winter plants close to the house as.many produce flowers with a lovely scent. Mix in plants with colourful leaves and evergreen foliage, berries and seed heads can make lovely natural Christmas decoration.
Herbs prefer a dry soil and are generally more aromatic as a result, e.g Rosemary Sage Thyme
The brown and green compost heap
How to make a compost heap from the brown and green stuff
Making and using compost for organic gardening. Its made from garden and kitchen waste,(about half the stuff we send to landfill sites ) its rich, dark, crumbly and will smell good .Use it it to feed and condition the soil saving money spent on fertilisers and saving space taken up by landfill sites. How ECO friendly is that. Its a simple process nature does most of the work and my tips below should help get the balance right.
What equipment do I need ? None but ! If you are a neat tidy gardener or have a small garden ask your council for a composting bin they are the same as the ones a garden center will charge the earth for or check out this sensibly priced one . The best compost heaps are sited directly on soil in an accessible and sunny part of your garden and covered with cardboard,sacking or bin bags.
What can I put on my compost heap ? Anything that ever lived apart from meat, fish and cat and dog muck.The important thing is to get the balance right a mix of green and brown waste, this comes with practice . This list should speed up the learning process.
GREEN Grass mowings and young weeds,Comfrey ,Nettles ,vegetable peelings,tea bags and leaves, coffee grounds,green prunings,cow and horse manure, bedding and manure from your free range chickens. lawn mowings.
BROWN Cardboard, cereal packets,egg boxes,Waste paper, junk mail, Glossy magazines,Newspaper,pet rabbit, guinea pigs bedding,Woody prunings, your old bedding plants,Wood shavings, Fallen leaves, egg shells even wool and cotton.
Check now and then, if the heap is slimy add more from the brown list, if the heap is hard and lumpy add more from the green list.
How do I start composting? Simply by adding a MIX of the GREEN and BROWN stuff and covering the heap with sacking, old matting or bin bags (anything to keep the heat in) add enough to make a fair size heap, the bigger the pile the more heat it will generate (heat starts the composting process) The heap will start to heat up in a few days, this means your home made compost factory is working,just keep on adding BROWN and GREEN stuff. After a couple of weeks turn the pile inside out, this allows oxygen in and speeds up the composting process or if you aren't feeling to energetic and don't mind waiting longer for the crumbly stuff, leave nature to get on with it.
When's the crumbly stuff ready. If you turn the compost heap now and then and keep the heat in it could be ready in about 12 weeks but can take up to 10 months, depends on your effort with the fork,the weather, the mix but whatever, its well worth waiting for. When its turned a dark brown earth colour but is still a bit lumpy (and you just cant wait to use it on the vedge plot) its safe to use, just put the really lumpy twiggy stuff back on the heap.
Diseased plants with club root and white rot etc. should not be composted, if you are not sure dont compost them.
Most weeds will be killed in a good hot compost heap but best not to add ,celandine, docks, buttercup, ground elder and bindweed etc. to your compost heap until they have been rotted down in in a tied up bin bag.
Worms and insects are essential in a compost heap, so welcome and expect them.
Rats will not be attracted by your heap but will almost certainly be already present in the area and will visit the compost heap now and then.
Home made compost is safe to handle, probably safer than the stuff sold in garden centers no added chemical fertilizer just take the usual precautions you would take when gardening .
Hope I haven't made it seem to difficult, it really is not. Your vedge and fruit will be safer to eat and taste better, you will reduce demand for landfill sites and you will save money.How ECO friendly is that. Do it, make a compost heap from the GREEN AND BROWN STUFF. Mike Ballard
HOW TO MAKE COMPOST AND LIQUID FERTILISER IN A WORM BIN (Wormery)
Awormery composts waste using special worms known as brandlings, tiger worms or redworms and can be kept indoors but is probably best kept outside, near to your kitchen door.or in a shed or garage in the winter. Even if you havn't got a garden, its just the job if you want to compost vegetable scraps, and tea bags and lots of other stuff ,instead of sending it off to fill up the landfill sites. You will produce a small amount of compost and a liquid, which forms a concentrated plant food and is great for using in pots and containers. You will be recycling about half of the waste that would otherwise end up in a landfill site (we are running out of sites) Saving money and reducing the use of chemical fertilisers, how eco friendly is that.
YOU WILL NEED.
About 400 worms, order safely from Amazon, details are on my shopping page A plastic dustbin and a plastic tap from your local hardware shop or the ready made wormery also listed on my shopping page, Bag off gritty sand, a couple of bin bags and shredded newspaper (worms seem to prefer the Daily Mail).
YOU NEED TO Drill tiny breathing holes around the top of the bin (not in the lid of the bin, this could let the rain in). Fill the bottom of the bin with 3" of gritty gravel for drainage and lay bin bags over the gravel. Lay 4 inches of damp shredded Daily Mail over the bin bags . Drill the tap into the bin just above the gravel. Now make a small hollow in the shredded newspaper and place the worms inside.
THE BEST BIT NEXT You can start feeding food scraps.to your new pets make sure the scraps are chopped up well and placed no more than about 2" deep across the shredded newspaper. Cover the waste with a couple of sheets of damp newspaper to keep the whole thing moist. You can add more scraps when the last lot.has been eaten. This will depend on how many worms you have. Practice will make perfect so don't be put of if it gets a bit smelly, just reduce the food or on the other hand if they send Oliver worm to ask for more, increase the food.
WASTE THAT MAKES GOOD SAFE COMPOST INCLUDES. Egg shells, coffee grounds, tea bags, cereals, fruit ,annual weeds (not in seed ), bread, any green leaves, all chopped up vegetable and fruit, potato peelings , chopped up hedge trimmings.
BEST NOT TO FEED TO YOUR WORMS
Meat and fish better for the cat, Grass , Weed seeds ,Diseased plants , Rice or pasta, Baked beans, Cheese, Onions, Cooked potatoes, Cat/dog muck.
Its not rocket science and these tips will help.
After about 4 weeks you will probably be able to draw off some liquid fertiliser (thru the tap) for your plants and depending on the heat* generated in the bin (indoors or out) compost may be ready to use after a couple of months.
*Never overheat the worm bin thinking you will speed up the composting process, the food will start to rot.
When you use the compost, just pop the worms back in the bin to start all over again.
If it gets to soggy, check that the liquid is being drawn off often enough, add a little less green stuff and a bit more dry stuff.
If it looks a bit dry sprinkle a few drops of water over the waste and maybe add a bit more green stuff. You will soon get the balance right and in a few months you will be showing your neighbor's how to make compost in a worm bin
A few flies and a bit of mould inside the worm bin are normal.
Happy worms breed, so expect some small white baby ones from time to time.
Don't leave your worms without food for longer than a month.
If the top layer isn't ready when you want to use your home made compost, scoop it out onto a newspaper, remove the stuff that's ready and put the top layer back into your worm bin, worms and all.
Give the surplus home made compost and liquid to friends and family.
Important tip, KEEP THE LID ON TIGHT !!!
Its easy so give it a go and reduce landfill, reduce the use of chemical fertiliser, eat safer and better tasting fruit and vedge. How eco friendly is that !! and you save money how good is that !!.
Mike Ballard
More of this stuff on my website.You are welcome to use this article on your website as long as you reprint it as it is, You must include an active link back to my website, http://www.flowerpotman.com
Limited by space or poor soil try growing homegrown vegetables in containers on window sills,patios, your balcony or your doorstep .
Selection
Almost any garden vegetable will grow in a container . Some are ideally suited including tomatoes, peppers, spring onions, beans, lettuce, squash, radishes and parsley. runner beans and cucumbers. Most plants that will grow in your garden will do well in containers.
Soil
Soil should be free of disease and weed seeds, Mix in some home made compost .
Containers
Any container can be used for growing vegetable plants. Tupperware, cans, tubs or wooden trays. They should be easy to handle and have space for root growth.
Good drainage is important drill or cut drain holes about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch from the bottom and add an inch of coarse gravel in the bottom.
Seeding and Transplanting
If you have saved seeds from last seasons harvest you will know how to sow them, if not read the packet . Its really that easy. Always buy plants that suit your site and soil and can be transplanted, choose disease-resistant varieties whenever you can. Organic seed catalogues offer a huge range of plants, both ornamental and edible.
Fertilization and Watering
Making your own Organic liquid mix is best.( Lots of free information on the net) Home-produced organic garden compost nourishes the soil, (Tips on making a compost heap below)
Chemicals Chemicals, even organically acceptable ones, can cause more damage than we realise. Contact killers can often hit non-pest species, while treatments designed to combat fungal problems can be washed into the soil, damaging worms. Try to avoid the use of chemicals, such as pesticides and fertilisers. Almost all chemicals will kill plants and animals beyond those targeted. Work with nature rather than against it. Organic gardeners want their plants to grow well, but not at any cost. Dont rely on an arsenal of pesticide sprays to deal with problems accept and tolerate a certain level of imperfection.
Light
Nearly all vegetable plants will grow better in full sunlight than in shade. lettuce, cabbage, greens, spinach and parsley will tolerate more shade than radishes, beets, turnips and onions. Fruit bearing plants like cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes need a lot more light so position the vegetables in areas where they can receive the best possible growing conditions.
Harvesting Eat the vegetables at their peak when full off flavor .
Humane pest contol including Urban fox control, fox mange, wild rabbit control, avoiding wasps
Wild Rabbit Control Rabbit-proof fencing is a good low cost way to keep wild rabbits of your plants. Use chicken wire that is 36" high around the edge of your gardens, Dig a trench about 6" deep and 8" wide to form the perimeter. knock the stakes in on the inside of the trench. Bend the bottom 6" of the chicken wire outward along the ground (forming a letter "L" shape). This will prevent the rabbits from tunneling their way under the fencing and into your garden Set the flange end of the fencing down into the trench, with the flange pointing outwards. Fill the trench back in burying about the bottom 6" of the "L" shape. Staple the chicken wire to stakes. the closer the stakes are to each other the more support you're providing your rabbit-proof fences. Its easy and effective but if you don't like digging and fixing things give me a call. Tip wild rabbits don't like Fox gloves, Catnip or Aromatic herbs such as lavender and they hate foxes and rabbit stew !!!! But its a fact of life rabbits eat almost anything so you may be in for a struggle. At some point you just have to look at the bigger picture and make a choice—stop planting at all. plant only in well-protected areas or plant enough for you and the wild rabbits Don't fight it, be happy, enjoy your garden and nature.
Urban Foxes in my garden
Do foxes carry diseases?Do foxes attack babies, children or adults?Will a fox kill my cat? What can i do? Can a fox infect my dog with mange? Humane fox trapping. THE LAW. Answers on this page.
Do foxes carry diseases? The main disease problem in foxes is Sarcoptic Mange, commonly known as fox mange. Symptoms to look for: crust on the skin, fur loss - bare patches around rump and tail - scratching and chewing of limbs. In the final stages, face and ears get very crusty, eyes appear sunken and the animal becomes very lethargic. This can be caught by pet dogs and can be fatal within four months, if not treated, Fortunately there are several good treatments for this parasite and the disease can be controlled. Consult your vet.Foxes do spread Toxacarisis (causing blindness in children) and can carry Weils disease, against which dogs are vaccinated. What can i do?if i see a fox suffering from mange in my garden. Most foxes and domestic pet dogs contract mange from contact with an infected individual. But the mites can survive in the environment, often in dens or narrow passages that an infected fox has squeezed through ie a hole in the fence- any fox or dog passing the same way will get infected. Removing fox mess and loose hair etc every day will help reduce the risk of infection. Do foxes attack babies, children or adults? Rare and unusual but driven by mange and If cornered a fox - as a last resort - may try to bite its attacker. However this is easily prevented, by not trying to approach or pick foxes up. Will a fox kill my cat? Very rare,foxes and cats usually ignore each other. Your cat is more likely to be killed in a road accident. Will a fox kill any other pets? This sometimes happens when foxes are rearing cubs and can be very easily avoid by keeping rabbits and guinea pigs in strong hutches with a lock that cannot be knocked open. Humane trapping of foxes. It is illegal and cruel to trap foxes using snares or spring traps, it is also cruel (and not a good idea if you have a pet dog) to leave the infected fox to die ,In four months an untreated dog or fox is likely to be dead. If you suspect you have a deseased fox visiting your garden a cage trap is a humane way of catching the animal and transporting it to the vet for treatment or disposal. The cages are baited, the fox will enter the trap to get at the bait, and it will either tread on a trigger plate or by pulling at the bait, release a pin which in turn triggers a door. One advantage of cage trapping is that it allows pet dogs and cats to be released unharmed. The Law Poison: There is no poison that can be legally used on foxes. Use of a poison to kill foxes would lead to either a large fine or imprisonment. Gassing Again the use of any gas to kill foxes is illegal. Spring traps Can not be used against foxes and traps with teeth have been illegal in this country since 1954 for all animals. Free running snare: May be legally used to catch foxes but is subject to many restrictions. In urban areas its doubtful that these restrictions can be met. Self tightening snare: Is illegal
wasp control
Wasps are beneficial insects preying mainly on other insects, many of which are pests but are a nuisance when nesting near homes If you know where they are, try not to go near their nesting places.Using pesticides to control wasps can be effective, but these chemicals are harmful to the environment. Try these natural methods to stop them getting into your house. Prevention Remove food sources. such as pet food, picnic scraps, open rubbish sacks, open cans, fruit juice.Similarly cover drinks and open food containers when picnicking or having a BBQ, . Swatting and squashing wasps is dodgy When a wasp is squashed it releases a chemical which attracts other wasps. It's best to walk away. Seal entry points vents, cracks around windows and door frames etc but daily sightings may mean they have already built a nest. You may be able to locate the nest. Wasps flying in and out may be entering and leaving their nest. Its a good idea to call in the professional most councils will help.
Removal
Before removing the wasp nest yourself ,be sure to wear protective clothing. Wasps are drowsy and slower to react at night. Have a helper to hold a torch for you. so both hands are free. If you can see and get to the nest easily,place a cloth bag over the nest and tie it at the top making sure its well sealed then pull the nest free. Drop the bag in a bucket of water; keeping it fully submerged with a heavy object. Underground or wall nests are difficult to remove, and should be left to the professional.
TRAPS Trappings in spring is effective, because in early spring wasps are usually queens and each trapped queen produces thousands of worker wasps in the late summer. You can buy wasp traps or make your own.
Water Trap. Cut the top from a 2-liter plastic bottle, take off the screw top. Fill about halfway with water. Coat the neck with jam, turn it over and fit back on the bottle.Wasps will go down the funnel to get the jam, but will find it difficult to get out and drown.
Jam jar trap.Pearce holes in the metal top big enough for wasps to get through, half fill with jammy water.
Keeping cats and dogs off of my garden
Put in some short pieces of chicken wire and screen where there using it as a litter box, you can use anything that is scratchy or spikey like thorny stems of raspberry or holly
With your own pets discipline from the start is important. You need to use a firm voice, shaking pennies in a can, using squirt guns or some other noisy alternative for you to show them they cannot go in the garden area. Also, have some type of visible barriers where you have flower, herb or vegetable beds, low walls, hedges, fences etc. as long as it can be seen so it gives your pet something they can eventually understand as the "stay out" area. For easily damaged plants you may have to get creative until your pet learns and use fencing to keep them away. Just wondering though where are they going to go if all this works, next door i guess!!!!!.
Plastic or cardboard as a mulch will help some to keep cats away, plus you can lay twigs around the areas where they are digging. They also don't like to get there feet wet , so water during dry spells. planting alliums, chamomile, marigolds or rue in the beds sometimes works
Spraying "DETTOL" where the cats go or scattering prickly Holly leaves around their digging areas works . Moth balls also seem to work A friend sprays the area with vinegar about once a week, respray if it rains they like fish but not chips.
flowerpotman.com landscapers is published by Mike Ballard, Hazeldene, Weston super mare.