Grand Garden Show Tour of Lilac Cottage with Jack Barnwell // Garden Answer

Pea straw is the waste product left from large scale agricultural production of peas. A versatile product used as both a stock feed and garden mulch, pea straw has been popular for several years increasingly so in recent years. As a stock feed pea straw is often baled and silage wrapped when still relatively green and fresh. Pea straw garden mulch is usually baled when dry and can be purchased direct from the farm or from a local garden centre.

Chicken Tractors are one of the best ways to maintain a chemical free vegetable garden. Chickens love to scratch around in the soil while doing so consuming weeds, weed seeds and other rubbish while leaving their manure on the ground ready to fertilise the next crop. Chicken Tractors are designed to pull around easily so the chickens can concentrate their cleaning efforts on a specific bed or section of a garden…

A beautiful yard doesn’t just happen, it takes work. There are a few things you need to do before cold weather sets in if you want a gorgeous yard all year long.

Foliar sprays are a great way of giving your vegetable plants an immediate boost while at the same time providing an ongoing supply of nutrients to the overall plant. There are several foliar sprays commercially available and heaps you can make yourself at home. Some foliar sprays are obvious and easy to make others sound a bit strange and are perhaps less common…

Root vegetables, which include crops such as carrots, parsnips and turnips, are reasonably easy to grow provided your soil is deep and not too stony. Root crops are biennial, which means that during their first year they build up reserves in a storage root to enable them to flower well the following year. Most root crops prefer an open, sunny site. The soil should be light, and should not have been recently matured. Root crops prefer a moist soil, so you may have to water them in dry weather. They are usually hardy, and the vegetables can be left in the ground over winter, to be harvested as needed.

Powdery mildew is common in cold climates as well as among store-bought potted plants, so check yours carefully before purchasing. Any rose can contract powdery mildew, but those that are particularly susceptible include chinas (although these are rare in colder areas), deep pink and red hybrid teas, polyanthas, and rosa wichuriana.

Vegetable seedlings are often planted out when their nutrient supply is at the point of depleted. I always recommend holding off from feeding for several days to a week after planting out, this is to allow the plant to recover from any transplant shock and develop fresh roots in its new surrounds. Feeding after this time should be a weak liquid organic fertiliser such as liquid vermicast or aged manure (other than poultry) that has been soaked in water for several days…

Leafy vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts are all members of the brassica family and so can be treated in a similar way. They all suffer from the same range of pests and diseases, but those can largely be avoided if you use the right techniques. Most brassicas do best in an open, sunny site in a soil that is fertile but free draining. They do not like a soil that is too acid and it may be worth adding lime to bring the soil down to a lower pH.

In order to grow fennel, you need to sow the seeds in early to midsummer in drills half inch deep and 18 inches apart. Thin the seedlings to 9 inches. When the bulbs begin to swell, draw up the soil around them to blanch, which will improve the taste.

In order to grow beetroots, sow bolt resistant varieties under cloches in early spring for an early summer crop, followed by a late spring sowing for a summer harvest. An early summer sowing will provide a crop in autumn and winter. Sow seed in a well prepared seedbed in drills about one inch deep and 6 inches apart, spacing seeds 2 inches apart. The seeds are in fact usually made up of a cluster of seeds and so produce several seedlings close together. Thin to leave the strongest plant at each station. When roots reach one inch across, thin again by removing every other plant.

Although it has been used for hundreds of years as a way to help your garden and plants grow, not many people really know how composting works. It is a little bit like recycling – you allow the garden waste to be broken down over time, which then gives you the perfect food for your plants. Things like dead plants, leaves, food waste and even coffee grounds can be used as part of your compost.When the waste starts to break down and decompose, bacteria and fungi are encouraged to grow, which are all beneficial to plants and flowers.

A hanging tomato plant has a lot of advantages, one of them being that it is able to resist many diseases since it enjoys lots of air. This factor allows it to be immune to water or moisture related diseases. Rotting and other moisture related diseases have been known to bring about a lot of losses in…