Natural Remedies in the Garden

Lovely post Liz did not know you could use comfrey like a dot leave I remember that next time I get stung by a nettle

Green Lizard's Blog

The dock leaves are allowed to grow.

We were busy at the plot the other day doing positive things for the plants.

One useful thing that my sister in law came up with was adding wood ash to the water for the onions. This seems to distract the onion fly that has previously devastated crops.

We use plenty of more natural tools to tackle plot problems. Here’s a few more.

Ladybirds are encouraged as they eat aphids. Aside from being very cute of course.

Spiders and toads are encouraged to eat the flies too!

Dock Leaves: Great things!

Our broad beans had problem black flies. Black fly seem to like dock leaves. We have them growing in our plot.

They’re also good for treating a nettle sting or comfrey can do the same.

dealing with Bugs

If the flies are still a problem then we boil a solution of…

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Why A Farm?

lovely post Erin’s thank you for sharing

erinsbackyardfarm

Now I know some of you out there are thinking – why is this blog entitled Erin’s backyard farm? Why not just Erin’s back yard.

Well I will tell you why.

It is because of how we think of things around here. Everything is interconnected and we know it.

When I am placing the soiled chicken straw in its pile I am not tucking it away somewhere. I am letting it rest and mellow. I am letting those yucky microbes die off and those good microbes increase in number. I am saving it away, until it is mellow enough to lay on my garden. I am looking into the future and dreaming of rich soil.

When I choose to pull up plants to create a garden space, I am not only thinking about the bounty I hope the future vegetable plants bestow upon me, I am thinking of…

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Make Do and Mend: a Hero in my house!

lovely post Liz

Green Lizard's Blog

Restoring the blogging pattern with Tuesday being craft related; here’s a story with a happy ending!

The man in the house has many talents. I think the observant among you will already have spotted him in lots of jeopardy.

He likes nothing more that wrangling bees, climbing on roofs and going underwater.

But this means only one thing.

He’s a bit hard on his trousers!

Now he had a favourite pair of shorts. In fact this is a tale of two shorts!

But the ‘arse’ is hanging out of them!

Now we could just throw them away or turn them into rags or shorten them.

Not sure that’s a good idea!

So

HE set to work.

First he cut some bonding iron-on and a patch of black fabric from another pair of shorts.

He turned in the edges to stop the fabric from fraying.

Then he used the sewing machine…

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The Big Lunch Resourceful Week #2

lovely post Jen thank you for sharing

My Make Do and Mend Year

Day 2 of the Big Lunch Resourceful Week.
Today the focus is food, and as well as a Twitter Q&A with Steven Lamb from River Cottage, you can find a top Resourceful Recipe from him over on the Big Lunch Blog-I’ll post the link as soon as it’s live!

Steven Lamb from River Cottage

At the launch event on Sunday, Steven’s passion for food and the bigger things that can happen when people get together to share it, came across really clearly: He pointed out that by being resourceful and sharing food, the simple act of sharing food was not only a way to bring people together but also to start conversations you wouldn’t normally have. Which sounds pretty fab to me!

Soooo, what does eating resourcefully mean to you?

For me, I think it is all about being making the best use of the food that we have-both…

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When are the rewards! I’m getting impatient!

Lovely post Martha thank you for sharing

Martha's Kitchen/Garden

The weekend promised to be soaking and dismal but delivered something a little more uplifting if a little damp and blustery in places. Where was I? Need you ask. I was obviously slaving away wondering why exactly it feels so important to grow my own beans when I can buy them down sainos for a quid. I felt a little disillusioned this weekend, the allotment was beautiful as ever but the weeds have started running amok and the clay is as solid as ever.

I did take a very pleasant detour on Saturday to Mottingham stables to get me some well rotted manure. This is not the stuff you get in B&Q all dry and sterile, it’s squelchy and black and bursting with worms. The stables are idyllic, tucked away on a road that feels like you are out in the country, old and full of character. I had a…

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Plan the holiday! Holiday the plan! Update!

lovely post Liz thank you for sharing

Green Lizard's Blog

I wrote a list! I had two weeks off! It was useful to try and have some goals.

Here’s how I got on!

Here’s my list.

1. Crochet

In week 1, I started with another sheep. This one will be travelling to England shortly. It went together very well. But then I didn’t finish it…..

2. Cook macarons

First step: find the ingredients. Old eggs, ground almonds, powdered sugar are key apparently. I got as far as getting the ingredients but as I’m not a keen baker that was it. Still it means I’ve got further goals to meet!

3. Finish reading Daniel Deronda
Hmmmmmmm!

4. Look into publishing ebooks
So far I’ve found out a bit more but more work is still needed.

5. Make a film Hooray! One to tick off at last!
Done the film for work. Yippee! Not done the other films. Boo! I’ve been…

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Sporadic Gardening – Hints and Tips

Lovely post Sophie thank you for sharing

The Forget-me-Not Cultivation Blog

April, is supposed to be rather busy on the whole garden front but I’m finding that I’m spending more time out of it than in it at the moment.

Why?  Mostly because of April weather (it’s been mostly typical showers in the past week or so), but also because time is also a bit short at the moment with working, exercising and training Mouse my JRT!

All in all time spent is rather sporadic and I’m finding it rather a challenge to keep up with what I should be doing against what I am actually doing.

So I’ve found a few garden related hints and tips which are tending to help me keep on track, and so I thought I’d share them with you.

Garden tips

• Make plans – if you haven’t already got a plan for your garden/cultivation space then then it’s always a good idea to start one…

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Worming your way into my Garden!

lovely post Liz

Green Lizard's Blog

So I’ve already written about my hens, my bees and my quail but the first creatures we worked with haven’t had a mention yet.

The back yard at the house is about five metres by six or something. Really small. It’s walled and paved, hemmed in by a garage and a brick built shed.

It was greenless!

Ironically when we moved here we thought Great! Low Maintenance.

There was a creeper on the back wall that had fallen down and was heading toward the house.

So since then, we wanted to try and create compost from our kitchen waste. Although the system here for household waste is great and it’s all separated it’s a shame to waste all that green nutrition.

We didn’t think a compost would work for us (though that may change) so we decided on a project.

What’s the difference between a wormery and a…

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Thursday 24 to 27 of April 2014

;W ell look what I have had arrive in the post yesterday It’s to help look after the spiders that in turn look after the bugs not quite sure where I will be putting it possible by my raised beds?

?

 

http://youtu.be/kwO107yYUrY

 

 

http://youtu.be/0xNwuTLTN-4

 

 

http://youtu.be/GLvaSf6uqFs

 

 

So here we have the roots I have cut of the grocery spuds and my pineapple that I am trying to grow it does go into the greenhouse or happy in the kitchen or on a window sill I change the water every day on the pineapple and will possible do every other day on the spuds

 

I am going to plant out some of my flowers I got growing in the greenhouse today and David brought me home yesterday another 7  Lily mixed bulbs  which I think I plant near some lonely daffs near my raised beds to help with pollination of my veggies  later in the season and some of my spinach as well as they are big enough to go out and I put a net curtain over them to keep my dear garden birds off there are other plants they can eat but not my spinach or any off my veggies if you do not mind

http://youtu.be/Mi-avQboitk

 

 

http://youtu.be/Abw6iFXctSg

 

 

David not happy about me using washing up bowls or the fact it means I can grow less things as he will not let me expand to more raised beds which I think is unfair as I can easily put two more four square foot beds  in front of the first without going on the main area of grass

 

 

Friday

 

We had some rain during the night and it rather dull and grey outside at the moment my compost bins are open to get a nice soaking then hoping it will warm up to start cooking and helping it to turn into compost  ready for the autumn  

 

http://youtu.be/ASpjX1nTtqg

 

 

I wanted to weed the soft fruit area but rain has stopped play my be if it stops rain I can make a start on it later I must be getting old when I was younger I would work in the rain but David dose not think it is worth getting a cold or a chill through working outside in the rain

 

 

I take matters into my own hands and like fellow blogger Sophie Cussen who blog is

The Forget-me-Not Cultivation Blog and also joining in on the Garden connect  thing were a group of us grow almost the same seeds and we see how each other’s

Do as we all across the world map   http://www.hiemstragardens.com/garden-connect.html

 

Saturday

 

Walked round town this morning David spotted this lovely tray of plants and I liked the single one at the back never grown any before or had them in any of my gardens I believe

You can take stem cuttings from Osteospermums (AFRICAN DAISY).  

And the other one is Aquilegia (SPRING MAGIC WHITE)

 

 

http://migardener.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My wild flower meadow mix from Country file arrived to day so I sowed that as well and gave all the new plants a good drink thinking about turning some of my planters I got from my mother into alpines as their looked so nice on gardeners world last night and I seen one or two on other blogs

when we were shopping this morning we went into the New Pact Animal Shelter Charity shop and the  Mayor of Swaffham, Cllr. Anne Thorp was their too open it for them

 

 

 

 

Have a blessed week

Easter Holiday Projects

Lovely update Kate thank you for sharing

www.wildlifekate.co.uk

I had put aside quite  lot of my Easter holiday this year to get all the main panting and seeding done in the Project B&B part of my garden. The weather has been very kind and I have managed to achieve almost all that I wanted to do, amazingly! This is a perfect time to be planting and seeding , as hopefully the warmer weather, interspersed with April showers, will get everything growing and establishing.

I seeded the top of the bank with a selection of seeds I had…..

I planted up the sunny, fence side of the area with 5 different Buddleias to create a bank of nectar rich flowers in the summer. I also planted a mixture of Echinacea (cone flower) and Leucanthemum (Daisy) as well as some Asters in the corner bed I created at the top end of the area. Seeding this with some Cosmos daisies…

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