Garden Supplies News » Garden Ramblings

Garden Ramblings – March Issue Now Online

hughe — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 12:02:26 +0000

The March issue of Garden Ramblings is now online. This will be the last issue of the newsletter which has been published every month since 2004. Unfortunately the number of subscribers has reduced recently and this has been mainly the result of several changes in my autoresponder service.

As regular readers will know the newsletter has relied on guest authors for much of the content over the last year or so and I have tried to bring you useful articles on various gardening topics. Although this newsletter will no longer be published, I plan to increase posts to this blog to include guest authors whenever I find interesting articles. I have added a subscription form to the blog so you can sign up and receive an email each time there is a new post.

On to this month’s issue where I have included articles by four guest authors. First comes a warning from Abel Jones about the dangers of toxic mulch. This is clearly a significant problem and something you need to be aware of when buying chipped bark for mulch.

Our second guest is Jeffry Bullock who writes about “The Different Colours In Your Garden”. His article looks at the way that color can be used to create a mood in the landscape. He discusses the effect created by different colors and suggests plants that can be used for each.

Next Geoff Wolfenden gives us his ideas on “How To Keep Cats From Wrecking Your Garden”. This is a constant problem for many of us and Geoff has some useful tips.

Finally Mike Podlesny writes about “The Least Favorite Vegetables To Grow In The Garden”. This is the result of a poll he carried out with his subscribers and you may find the results surprising.

As usual we start with a video which is looking forward “Primavera – Spring is Coming”.

Here is the link to Garden Ramblings.

How To Grow New Vegetables In 2010

hughe — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:57:01 +0000

Yet another report confirms that growing your own vegetables is becoming ever more popular. “According to November’s Edible Gardening Trends Research Report sponsored by the Garden Writers Association, food gardening will continue to be big, with 37 percent of the households surveyed planning to expand their food garden this year. Many seed companies are paying attention to how this translates to sales of new offerings for 2010.”

After considering the technical difficulties of producing new crop varieties the article lists “Trendy seeds for 2010″. It’s an A to Z from ‘Agnes’ cucumber to ‘Zesty Blend’ microgreens. Read more..

If the above list has fired up your enthusiasm to have a go, but you’re not quite sure where to start, this article will point you in the right direction. Sarah Henning leads you through the process starting with how to pick your site, whether to use a raised bed or containers, what to grow and how to prepare your soil. Her 7 point check list ends with the final instruction: “Eat. Harvest your garden’s bounty and enjoy every last bit!” And there’s a handy planting timetable as well. Read more..

Finally the February issue of Garden Ramblings is now online. Do take a look.

Uphill Waterfalls, Talking Plants and 5 Myths

hughe — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 12:21:21 +0000

Scanning the headlines for topics to write about I have found three unusual items for today’s post. Water that flows uphill, plants that talk and five gardening myths.

Starting with the water this is a waterfall, or rather a water feature consisting of four waterfalls in which the liquid appears to travel uphill. Inspired by the drawings by M C Escher the water travels round the rectangle cascading down and then up the slope to the next cascade. To see how it works, read more..

Under the headline “Science confirms book’s tale: Plants talk” Jeff Ball talks about a book he read some forty years ago about the Findhorn Community. This was a group living in a remote part of Scotland who started a vegetable garden and were able to communicate with the garden plants through spirits they called devas. Crazy as this may sound it turns out that scientists have discovered that certain plants can communicate with each other. Read more..

The gardening myths are the second five of a series by Denny McKeown. Common mistakes that beginners often make include over watering, pruning and deer proof plants are just three of the topics he covers. Read more..

And finally the January issue of Garden Ramblings is now online so take a look and let me know what you think.

Forest Gardens And Talking Weeds

Garden Ramblings

hughe — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 17:38:58 +0000

This is just a short post to let you know that the December issue of Garden Ramblings has now been published and you can read it online by clicking HERE.

You will see that in the special offers section I said that there was no sale at Gardener’s Supply Company, but I have just received an email from the company advising that they are holding a Secret Santa Sale with savings of up to 73%. Click the banner to find out more.