Growing Californian Poppy From Seed – Week 1
Monday afternoon, I took a trip to Morrisons with my Daughter, Keira, to get some potting compost, a propegator and some seeds. A propegator is effectively a seed tray with a clear lid acting as a mini greenhouse. The seeds I bought were Morrisons branded Californian Poppy, Cosmos, and a mixed pack of annuals for 59p per pack. The Miracle Grow potting mix and single propagator were £2.99 and £3.49 respectively. Yesterday afternoon, I poured some compost out into a tub and asked Keira to help me take out the "bones", before telling her "that's not bones darling, that's bark and stone ...
Free Seeds By BBC Blue Peter Project “Be Good To Bees”
Long time famous UK childrens TV program Blue Peter are giving away 75,000 packs of free wildflower seeds in an attempt to help save the UK's diminishing bee population. In 2008 last year, over 2 billion bees were lost from the UK bee population of approx 250 species. Bees play an important role in our ecosystem, providing us humans with food and responsible for the continued reproduction of plants through cross pollination.
Tips On How To Grow Sunflowers From Seed
The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is a fascinating plant to grow, especially for children. Whether growing for competition or pleasure, exercising the following advice will help provide your sunflowers with the best conditions for good growth and health. Selecting A Sunflower Species To Grow The first step in growing sunflowers is deciding on the species you wish to grow. There are 67 species of sunflower across the world with single or multiple stems, growing heights, head sizes and colours. Read through the details of each popular species below to help make an informed choice on the sunflower you plan to grow. Music Box is what's ...
Lawn Mowing Tips: Grass Cutting & Edge Trimming Guide
By following simple recommended cutting heights for your grass type, you can make significant improvements to the health and presentation of your lawn. Setting your lawn mower to cut higher with longer cut grass, you can help improve and maintain the health of your lawn and help eliminate weed growth. Lawn grass cutting - long and often Regardless of grass type, you should always have your lawn mower set on a longer cut. Cutting your grass too short can encourage weed growth by allowing more light into the soil. A good rule of thumb is to only cut one third off the grass ...
How To Keep Cats Out The Garden
Keeping cats out of your garden is an age old, common problem for most gardeners, especially with the UK cat population exceeding 7.2 million in 2008 last year. The following tips explain some popular methods on how to keep cats out of your garden. When cats enter your garden, they will often urinate and/or leave a special surprise for you - freshly squeezed poop. After covering the mess by scratching away at your quality soil, they lay down to rest, suffocating your now squashed bedding plants. The problem of cats in your garden is not limited to gardening. Leaving cat crap scattered ...
Quick Tips On Protecting Your Lawn From Weeds
Although grass is also a weed, it is important to understand that the ideal conditions for lawns and weeds are a little different from one another. By following the simple tips below, you can greatly increase your chances of winning the "weed war". Frequent mowing. By cutting the grass regularly, you are keeping the grass healthy by letting sunlight in whilst preventing weeds from maturing or worst still, reproducing. Cut grass high. By cutting the grass too short, you are allowing sunlight into the lawn bed, helping promote weed growth. Set the cut height on your lawn mower to a longer setting. This will ...
Kids Gardening: Garden Projects For Children
With most kids fascinated with insects, seeing how plants grow and by simply getting mucky, gardening can be a fun and educational adventure for children. There is a wide variety of plants that are easy to grow and maintain, suitable for younger children. My personal favourite as a nine year old child was Helianthus annuus, commonly referred to as Sunflowers, when I ended up competing with my next door neighbour, also aged nine at the time. Grow The Worlds Tallest Sunflower I have fond memories of growing sunflowers from seed in the back garden of the family home when I was about ...
Natural Organic Pest Control
With the continuous threat from garden pests, it's easy to opt for simple chemical pesticides, especially if the problem is widespread. However in many cases, natural organic alternatives found in most homes will be equally efficient at tackling the problem. How did gardeners protect their crop before pesticides were invented? Encourage Hungry Predators By encouraging predators into your garden one step up the food chain, gardeners can rely on nature to take its course with the predators feeding on your garden pests. Don't Group Single Plant Types Grouping single plant types together in one single area is asking for trouble. Make sure matching plant ...
How To Apply For An Allotment In Scotland
Finding Your Nearest Allotment In 2007, SAGS (Scottish Allotments & Gardens Society) published a document detailing most, if not all allotment plots in Scotland. In recent years, demand for allotments has risen, exceeding supply with some applicants entering a waiting list of a few years or more. How To Apply For An Allotment Contact your local authority who are obliged by law to provide a certain number of allotment plots in any given area. Your local council will likely have an allotment officer who will deal with your application directly. Along with your application, you will likely receive an information pack or leaflets ...
Top 5 Gardening Websites
I'm sure I speak for most gardeners, from beginner to pro, when I say the Internet can be a tremendous help in expanding your gardening knowledge. The help and advice offered by many of the gardening related websites and blogs, is normally of good quality, with a plethora of accurate, well written articles. On the other hand, there are number blogs and websites with little more than five articles, stuffed full of adverts. From the time Garden Grower went live, my research sometimes leads me to various, well designed, well written gardening websites and blogs. My Top 5 Gardening Blogs & Websites BBC ...
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Lawnmower History: Who Invented The Lawn Mower
Before lawn mowers were available, grass had to be rough cut either by grazing animals or through back-breaking use of a scythe, sickle or shears. It was not until the nineteenth century when one man would change lawns forever. The lawnmower was invented in 1827 by Edwin Beard Budding of Stroud, Gloucestershire England. On a visit to the local... [Read more of this review]
Is a Tomato a Fruit or a Vegetable
With the tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) being so easy to grow, it’s no surprise that the tomato is the world’s most popular fruit. In America; the worlds biggest consumer of the tomato, more tomatoes are eaten over any other single fruit or vegetable. Not only favoured for their taste, tomatoes are also an excellent source of vitamin... [Read more of this review]
NPK Fertilizer – What Does N-P-K Stand For?
Shopping at my local garden centre yesterday, looking for NPK fertilizer, I overheard another customer asking a member of staff, “what do the three numbers on the front of fertilizer packets mean?”. Perhaps surprisingly, the member of staff didn’t have a clue. This gave me inspiration to create this post. Understanding these... [Read more of this review]
Tree Watering Tips
Watering trees; a seemingly simple task, is actually quite complicated if done correctly. Weather conditions, soil type and condition, time of year, and the tree’s species; age and size, should all be used to determine the volume and frequency of watering required. The effect of drought stress on trees An under-watered, drought stressed tree suffering... [Read more of this review]
Top 5 Gardening Websites
I’m sure I speak for most gardeners, from beginner to pro, when I say the Internet can be a tremendous help in expanding your gardening knowledge. The help and advice offered by many of the gardening related websites and blogs, is normally of good quality, with a plethora of accurate, well written articles. On the other hand, there are number... [Read more of this review]
Insulate Your Greenhouse With Bubble Wrap During Winter
With summer almost upon us, now is a good time to insulate your greenhouse using bubble wrap packaging material. Applying the large bubble type bubble wrap to your doors, windows and frames, will help increase temperatures inside your greenhouse during cold winter months. The air pockets in the bubble wrap act as an effective insulator, without reducing... [Read more of this review]
Brinno GardenWatchCam Digital Camera
Leisure, hobby and personal safety camera manufacturer, Brinno have released a new product to their range, the GardenWatchCam. The GardenWatchCam uses a 1.3 mega-pixel CMOS sensor and manual focus lens, capable of focusing on subjects as close as 20 inches using macro mode. The camera can be set to take pictures at a wide range of intervals, ranging... [Read more of this review]
Growing Californian Poppy From Seed – Week 1
Monday afternoon, I took a trip to Morrisons with my Daughter, Keira, to get some potting compost, a propegator and some seeds. A propegator is effectively a seed tray with a clear lid acting as a mini greenhouse. The seeds I bought were Morrisons branded Californian Poppy, Cosmos, and a mixed pack of annuals for 59p per pack. The Miracle Grow potting... [Read more of this review]
Free Seeds By BBC Blue Peter Project “Be Good To Bees”
Long time famous UK childrens TV program Blue Peter are giving away 75,000 packs of free wildflower seeds in an attempt to help save the UK’s diminishing bee population. In 2008 last year, over 2 billion bees were lost from the UK bee population of approx 250 species. Bees play an important role in our ecosystem, providing us humans with food... [Read more of this review]
Tips On How To Grow Sunflowers From Seed
The sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is a fascinating plant to grow, especially for children. Whether growing for competition or pleasure, exercising the following advice will help provide your sunflowers with the best conditions for good growth and health. Selecting A Sunflower Species To Grow The first step in growing sunflowers is deciding on the... [Read more of this review]
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