Garden Supplies News » gadgets

New Plants, DIY Gadgets And Queen Anne’s Lace

hughe — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 13:51:13 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

I know it’s rather late but I have just noticed an article on new plants for 2011 and this has prompted me to check a few sites to see what new varieties are on offer this year.

Black and white seem to be common themes with the Black Velvet petunia and the Coconut Ice sunflower with its creamy white petals. Personally I’m not too keen on black flowers in the same way that blue roses do not seem to be quite right in my eyes. Here is a selection from Birds & Blooms.

High Country Gardens are featuring “the exclusive new Agastache “Blue Blazes” and a remarkable new ornamental grass called “Blonde Ambition” Blue Grama that has been chosen a Plant Select Winner for 2011″. Another of their newcomers that caught my eye was the Pink Cotton Lambs Ear (Stachys lavandulifolia).

Monrovia have come up with a number of exclusives with eye-catching names such as Blue Balloon Bluebeard, but the plant that I noticed was the Cathedral Gem Sausage Vine. Not that it is particularly impressive, but apparently it was found growing on the wall of Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire, U.K.

Tipnut is a website that I haven’t come across before. As its name suggests it’s full of tips on everything from household, health and beauty, DIY projects, crafts and gardening. The page I found was “Crafty Gadgets & Gear For The Garden” with a dozen crafty projects for the garden. These include DIY seedtape and a planter’s yardstick as well as various tool organisers. The Garden & Plants page has sections on Homemade Weedkiller Recipes, Raised Bed Plans and Do You Grow Dishcloths?

Queen Anne’s Lace is a wildflower which is common in North Georgia. Apart from its attractive white flowers it has many useful features. The plant is a wild carrot which can be eaten like a carrot when young, but that is the least of its virtues. The seeds can be used to make a tea which apparently “was used for centuries as a morning-after contraceptive”. A tea made from the leaves has many other uses as does the oil made by steam distillation of dried seed. The juice from the roots can treat skin conditions including wrinkles. When mixed with honey and oatmeal you have a homemade facial. Read more..

And finally some practical advice. When you see a title like “Should You Take the Burlap Off the Root Ball Before Planting?” you would expect to be given either a yes or a no, but it seems that you have to make up your own mind. Read more..

Cat Repellent And Raised Beds Revisited

hughe — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 10:42:34 +0000

: Image via Wikipedia

In my last post I discussed ways of keeping cats out of your garden and also the subject of raised beds and how some people thought that you could’nt grow veg without one. Well today I have found a gadget, or rather an installation, that combines all round protection from intruders with built in raised beds. Wire mesh over a stout wooden frame is strong enough to keep deer out and netting above and below deters both climbing cats and squirrels and burrowing rabbits. The raised beds inside come complete with soil and optional extras include watering systems and even “a starter supply of organically grown plants”. This is clearly not for someone who is worried about the cost of the wood for constructing a raised bed since prices for the basic 8-by-10-foot model start at $3,500. Read more..

Cat Repellent and a Small Budget

hughe — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:14:39 +0000

A few years ago I wrote an article on How To Keep Cats Out Of Your Garden. As well as placing a copy on my website I submitted it to Ezine Articles where it has been viewed over 152,000 times. Clearly cats are a problem for many gardeners and although various solutions have been suggested, none appear to be particularly effective. I found this article which is concerned with keeping your cats in the garden and preventing them from escaping into the neighbourhood, but it seems that the remedy they suggest would be equally effective at keeping other cats out. The basic idea is that you erect a special type of netting on top of your garden fence. Because the netting is flimsy the cat cannot get a grip and vault itself over. The article includes a link to a page with detailed insructions for a Do-It-Yourself Cat Fence. Read more..

Raised Beds are so popular nowadays that some people believe that you cannot grow vegetables without one. To buy the timber kit and suitable soil to fill it from a garden center will set you back quite a few $$$, and this has led people to think that they cannot afford to start a garden. People turn to growing their own vegetables with a view to saving money, but often it turns out that it would be cheaper to buy from your local supermarket when you take account of all you have spent on plants and fertilizer as well as tools and equipment. But help is at hand in the form of Maureen Gilmer whose Small Budget Gardener: All the Dirt on Saving Money in Your Garden contains helpful tips and advice on how you can create beautiful, healthy sustainable landscapes with recycled materials and limited resources. Read more..

Koolatron, Naked Ladies and the USB Greenhouse

hughe — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:33:31 +0000

Bulb planting time is here again and all the papers are full of articles reminding us that now is the time to complete this task. Pop them in the ground and then wait for spring is the general tenor of their advice, but it’s not always that simple as Mike Lascelle has discovered. Raccoons and squirrels are always on the lookout for a free meal and your bulbs, except perhaps for daffodils, are an easy target. Mike tried scattering peanuts to distract the squirrels, but the wily creatures stored the nuts and then ate their fill of his bulbs. He describes various ways that you can try to protect your bulbs some of which are more effective than others. Read more..

“Take time to watch ‘naked ladies’” is the title of this article in the Sun Herald. Lycoris radiata is the official name of these flowers whose common names include surprise lilies or spider lilies, even hurricane lilies as well as naked ladies. In fact naked is an apt description for the plant which has no leaves but just “gloriously red frilly flowers” on a bare stalk. Jack in the pulpit and Black-eyed Susans are two other common names discussed in this piece. Read more..

And now for the gadget spot. I was intrigued by the name of the “Koolatron Dog and Cat Repeller” hoping that someone had finally come up with an effective way of keeping these animals away from our gardens, but was disappointed to find that it is just a battery powered ultrasonic device of which there are already plenty on the market.

As gardeners we enjoy planting seeds and tending the plants as they grow, but all that you need is a container, compost and seeds. The people who make gadgets just seem to make life so complicated, or is it just the “fishing lure” trick to hook the angler rather than the fish. The “Self Sustaining Indoor Garden Gadget is perfect if you don’t have a garden, but you want to grow your own herbs, flowers or vegetables indoors”. I suppose it’s just a minature hydroponic setup, but I am not sure how many vegetables you can grow in a small pot.

On the same page you can find a link to the ultimate geeky gadget – the USB greenhouse. It reminds me of an easter egg in which you can plant three marigolds. You can watch them growing on your desk and you can monitor progress on your screen – Wow! Read more..

Conservation Gardening and Gadget Reviews

hughe — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:20:01 +0000

“Mowing your lawn for an hour produces as much pollution as driving a car 650 miles” is just one of the facts quoted by the Virginia Living Museum in its campaign for the creation of conservation gardens. While it’s a well known fact that gas mowers cause pollution, I have not seen it spelt out quite as starkly as this before.

But a conservation garden is not just about grass. “The new 7,000-square-foot Conservation Garden features environmentally friendly gardening with an emphasis on native plants and mulching and composting techniques to reduce the use of commercial fertilizers and pesticides that are potentially harmful to people and nature”. The article contains some helpful hints as to how you can adopt these priciples in your own backyard. Read more..

A few months ago I wrote about various garden gadgets that were new on the market. Now I’ve found a couple of articles by people who have bought some of these products and tell of their experiences. First is Larry McDermott writing in The Republican who is not too happy with his $12 watering wand. Read more..

“One of my favorite parts of writing this column is that it provides the perfect excuse for buying and trying gardening toys. Usually, I have three or four new tools or gadgets to play with, but the second one I purchased this year was such a whopper of an expense that I quit after two” says Linden Staciokas writing in the Daily News-Miner. The “whopper of an expense” he refers to is an indoor composter costing $400. When I read about this product earlier in the year I thought it sounded too good to be true and so it turns out. Read more..

And finally the September of my Garden Ramblings newsletter is now online with articles on spring bulbs and organic lawncare among others.

Lawns, Veggies and Gadgets

hughe — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 10:39:27 +0000

Combine the current enthusiasum for growing your own veggies with the concerns about the use of pesticides and you will see how Tressa Eaton can make such a persuasive case for turning your lawn into an edible garden. “When we put pesticides onto our lawns they run off into sewers, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Consequently, we end up drinking pesticides in our water, breathing them in our air…” and “more water is used on household lawns every year in the US than on corn or wheat crops”. So dig up your lawn and plant potatoes and cabbages instead. And don’t miss the comments below the article including details of some natural pesticide recipes using ingredients from your own garden. Read more..

If you are not too keen on seeing vegetables in front of your house, then why not grow them on the roof? For restaurant owners Mike and Helen Cameron the desire to use produce grown locally in their business was a major concern. A rooftop garden above their restaurant means that their food miles can be measured in feet. Read more..

Like fishing lures which are more often designed to catch the fisherman rather than his quarry, some garden gadgets turn out not to be such a good idea as they first seemed. I’ve found these two selections containing products of varying usefulness. The first list includes the Easy Bloom plant sensor. Plug it into the ground for 24 hours, then plug it into your computer and you will be given plant recommendations. The portable composter sounds interesting, if a little pricey, but Prepara Power Plant Mini seems to be an unecessarily complicated way of growing a few seedlings. Read more..

The second group comes from Shiny Shiny which just about sums up this collection. From fairy lights to a laser fountain by way of Darth Vader speakers and ending with a hot tub, what more could you want in your backyard? Read more..

And finally the July issue of my monthly newsletter Garden Ramblings is now online.

Peonies, Tablecloths And Tumbling Tomatoes

hughe — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:44:51 +0000

I planted this peony in my garden last year and it has just come into flower for the first time. But if you want to see some spectacular peony pictures take a look at this piece about Cricket Hill Garden and Peony Heaven. Cricket Hill in Thomaston, Ct is the nursery where the owners have spent over twenty years growing hundreds of different varieties many of which are displayed in their seven acre show garden which they call Peony Heaven. Read more..

It seems that we cannot escape the upside-down tomatoes this year. Here’s another view from Carol O’Meara. Does the method work? Yes it does she admits, but then lists a number of problems that can occur. After you’ve read this you may decide that growing tomatoes in the conventional way is not such a bad idea after all. Read more..

Too often garden gadgets turn out to be more trouble than they are worth. Either they are not strong enough and so break the first time you use them or so fiddly that it is easier to do the job in the conventional way. But here’s a gadget that is both simple and practical. If you like to use a tablecloth when eating outside, you will know the problems caused by a gust of wind. Attach these clip on tablecloth weights to the four corners and you can dine in peace. Read more..

“In Which Urban Beekeeping Looks Like A Religous Experience” Couldn’t resist including a link to this photo.