Gardening with Essential Oils Essential oils can be, well, essential to promoting a healthy garden.There are a lot of essential oils, so I will mention some that have multiple purposes.Basil: We all know that tomatoes love basil, both in cooking and as companion plants, try using a few drops in the watering can, or as [Continue]
Author: Sharon
Aphids
Small numbers of aphids are not generally an issue and can be dealt with using method 1 or 2. However, large infestations will cause leaves to curl, wilt or yellow and stunted plant growth. Also as they feed, aphids secrete a sticky fluid which drips onto plants that can promote a black mold growth on [Continue]
Lasagna Gardening
We like to think rules are made to be broken, just the big child in us, I suppose. The garden is one of those places where this can be readily applied. For example, our style of Hugelkultur deviates from the norm and is more a combination of raised hugel mounds and lasagna layers. Anytime from [Continue]
Cauliflower Fritters
It would be great if all my cauliflower looked like this, unfortunately they don’t. Many do not form a tight head, some are more yellow than white, and some even look like sprouting broccoli. Most of this is caused by growing in too warm a climate, but today I want to give you a recipe [Continue]
Law of the minimum
Liebig’s law of the minimum. Baron Justus von Liebig, a German scientist in the mid 19th century, popularised the “law of the minimum,” which states that “plants will use essential elements only in proportion to each other, and the element that is in shortest supply—in proportion to the rest—will determine how well the plant uses [Continue]
Roast Vegetable Hot Pot
This is a useful recipe for winter vegetables using pumpkin as a stock. It does need some thinking ahead if you are using dried beans as they need to be soaked in water overnight. We use whatever beans we have from our Autumn harvest – borlotti, or kidney, emu beans etc. However, a 400 gm [Continue]
Comfrey
Comfrey An excellent perennial with many uses in your natural garden. It has a turnip-like root and large, hairy broad leaves that bear small bell-shaped flowers, usually blue. Comfrey is fast-growing and produces huge amounts of leaf during the growing season, therefore, it benefits from being mulched with grass clippings to supply the plants with [Continue]
Power Grain Salad
A handy grain based salad, serve as a refreshing lunch dish or as a substantial side for dinner. There are so many grains available to the home cook today: Farro Freekah Quinoa – White, Red, Black Buckwheat Spelt to name a few, use your grain of choice – I like Farro but it is difficult [Continue]
Companion Flowers
Companion planting has been around for years, you know, plant marigolds to deter aphids and attract hoverflies etc. Marigold roots also help deter eel-worm and nematodes which effects potatoes and tomatoes, they reputedly also keep white butterflies away from brassicas, and planted near your doors and windows they help deter flies and mosquitoes. So go [Continue]
Fertiliser Teas and more…
Comfrey is a perennial herb with a turnip-like root and large, hairy broad leaves that bear small bell-shaped flowers, usually blue. Comfrey is fast-growing and produces huge amounts of leaf during the growing season, therefore, it benefits from being mulched with grass clippings to supply the plants with extra nitrogen. Its prolific growing habit means it [Continue]