Well, if you’re planning any gardening over the Easter weekend, it doesn’t look good. It seems that the weather forecast is showing showers for Friday, Saturday and Sunday leaving just the Monday to do any light gardening.
If you have a greenhouse, then you might be lucky enough to be able to follow Read the rest of this entry »
Following my little rant yesterday, I got to thinking about the poor people who buy a house from one of these ignorant fools and thus inherit one of the neglected, overgrown gardens I talked about in yesterday’s article.
I inherited something along these lines a few years ago and it’s a daunting task even deciding where to start, so here’s a list of priorities to help:
Things you’ll need
Some people grudgingly put up with gardening because they want a pretty garden and somewhere to play with the kids and the dog. Some people truly resent gardening enough that they will hire a gardener to mow the lawn and keep the weeds down. Some people hate gardening so much that they gravel or patio the entire area and don’t even want to be bothered keeping plant pots on it.
But the people I really hate are Read the rest of this entry »
If you’re anything like I was when I first started gardening, and if you’re lucky enough to have the odd tree or two in your garden, then you may have decided that a few plants growing beneath the tree would look really nice.
You may even have tried planting a few plants or shrubs there, and you may even have checked to make sure you were buying plants that like to grow in shady areas or areas with reduced light. However, they may not have flourished and you’re left scratching your head and wondering where you went wrong.
The answer is not in the amount of light that the plant needs to grow, the answer is actually in Read the rest of this entry »
Well, I wrote the other day about how to keep cats out of the garden, and now we’re going to talk about how to attract birds into your garden (yet somehow you still need to keep those damn pesky cats away! A gardener’s life is tough)
Attracting birds to the garden brings more benefits than you might think. Firstly, you get the pleasure that comes from watching the birds eat, play and bathe in your garden, but as well as that, they also help to keep the insect population down. Just one bird can eat between 500 and 1000 insects in one afternoon!
To attract birds, put Read the rest of this entry »
You would have thought that living in wet Britain, we would never suffer a drought or water shortage, but it seems that our water companies are so used to having plenty of water that they don’t need to be too efficient or innovative with ways to collect it. Hence last year we had a hose ban and no doubt this year we may have the same issue.
If you’re a keen gardener, this could cause you a real problem because you’ll want to water your plants and garden regularly to keep them in tip top condition. Water is not only a precious commodity in this respect but it is fast becoming expensive too. All new properties have water meters installed and many households have chosen to install a water meter because of incentives offered by the water boards.
Therefore, it is important to save water. You should put out various sized tubs or containers to catch rainfall so that you have free water available for the garden. Also, if you do need to water the plants or lawn, do so at night because the lower temperature helps plants to absorb the water more readily. Therefore, water will not be wasted by running off through the soil and you won’t need to use as much water to get the desired effect.
If you were looking for interesting garden furniture, something like this would be a real talking point (picture courtesy of Pooktre). These guys actually grow trees into a shape, such as a chair or a table or just another unusual design for Read the rest of this entry »
I’m willing to bet you can’t imagine how gardening somehow contributed to socio-economics… well, it did
Back in the early 1900’s an Italian economist, Vilfredo Pareto, remarkably influential in his time, was also a keen gardener. Whilst carefully tending to growing peas, he noticed that 80 percent of his peas were produced by only 20 percent of the peapods. You and I may not have thought anything remarkable about that, but Pareto, a keen observer of economic inequalities noticed that this extends to Read the rest of this entry »
Top ten ways to keep cats out of the garden was debated quite passionately in the office, and most of the suggestions were unrepeatable here unfortunately and did involve torture and other unmentionables… so here’s the lowdown on how to do it with advantages and disadvantages of each:
The best way is naturally to buy a cat yourself. Other cats will stay out of his territory. Two problems with this. Number one, I’d have to have a cat. Number two, knowing my luck, I’d get a sociable cat who’d invite his mates round. So no.
The second best way is to buy a dog. I have a dog. Two problems with this Read the rest of this entry »
Who would have thought that a little gardening hobby could land you in jail?
It seems one lady found her gardening habit dangerously addictive - she stole $38,000 from Read the rest of this entry »