Уход за голубикой садовой.

Уход за голубикой садовой на даче: "Специальный выпуск журнала Толока «Садовод и огородник»."
На даче кусты голубики (Blueberry) лучше поливать 2 раза в неделю по одному ведру воды на один взрослый куст дважды в день (лучше вечером).
Обильный полив необходим в июле—августе, так как в это время голубика плодоносит, и одновременно закладываются цветковые почки, формирующие урожай будущего года.
Если влаги будет недостаточно, то вы значительно потеряете урожай не только в этом, но и в следующем году.

При мульчировании кустов голубики свежими опилками происходит интенсивное потребление азота из почвы, который так необходим голубики и из-за этого кусты голубики начинают плохо расти.
Поэтому в почву перед мульчированием нужно внести двойное количество азотного удобрения при мульчировании весной; при мульчировании на зиму нельзя вносить азотные удобрения.

В октябре-ноябре, качественные кусты приобретают красивый декоративный вид: листва красная.

Не вносите в почву и не подкармливайте садовую голубику органическими удобрениями (навозом, куриным пометом, даже компостом).

План ежегодной обрезки, начиная с 4-го года выращивания голубики:
- необходимо срезать низкие раскидистые ветви около земли, сохраняя только прямостоячие приросты;
- если середина куста загущена, то внутри него нужно вырезать слабые и очень старые ветви;
- большинство мелких тонких ветвей удаляют, оставляя крепкие скелетные ветви и побеги.
Из однолетних побегов желательно оставить 5 самых крепких.
Голубика плодоносит на приростах предыдущего года.


Vaccinium myrtillus - черника - "bilberry", "whortleberry" or European blueberry.
Vaccinium uliginosum - голубика - Blueberry - genus Vaccinium (a genus that also includes cranberries and bilberries).

Russian голубика ("blue berry") does not refer to blueberries, which are non-native and nearly unknown in Russia, but rather to their close relatives, bog bilberries (V. uliginosum).

Ягоды черники просто приплющеные, а ягоды голубики с "юбочкой".
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Опрыскивание растений.

Крыжовник - Сделайте настой золы (по тегу зола), опрыскайте по листьям, полейте под куст, а концы веток с тлей моднопросто нагнуть в ведрс с настоем и прополоскать.
Помидоры - опрыскайте по листьям слабым раствором зеленого удобрения, а еще лучше крапивного настоя. Слабым - значит 1:20.
Смородина - варить отраву из одуванчиков. О, их вокруг моего сада море! Так что денег на покупку средств защиты тратить не надо.
400 г мелко нарубленных листьев и корневищ заливаю 10 л теплой воды (40°C), ставлю на слабый огонь, накрываю и томлю часа 2.
Я ставлю рядом с кустом ведро с настоем и методично, минут на 10 окунаю макушку каждого заселенного тлей побега. Чтобы не утомняться, у меня есть петля из мягкой проволоки, которая и удерживает стебель, пока я занимаюсь другим делами. Потом уже куст опрыскиваю остатками настоя. Для этого даже не нужен опрыскиватель: элементарный веник справляется с этой работой.

Еще раз о пользе древесной золы.

Виноград в Сибири - Советы:
"- Поскольку в золе все питательные вещества находятся в легко растворимой в воде форме и легко усвояемой растениями, применяют внекорневую подкормку вытяжкой древесной золы, для этого четвертую часть золы заливают 3/4 частей воды и при помешивании выдерживают на солнце в течение нескольких дней.
Вытяжка готова.
Много полезных веществ остается и в сухом остатке, который тоже можно использовать."
И здесь!
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ЗОЛА, как ценность для садовода.

Садовое обозрение - ЗОЛА, как ценность для садовода:

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Rhubarb syrup.

reading my tea leaves: make your own: rhubarb syrup + a springtime cocktail.:
Rhubarb syrup.
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1.5 cups rhubarb stalks, washed and cut into 1-inch pieces (about 8 stalks)

Combine sugar, water, and rhubarb pieces into a heavy bottomed saucepan.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer until the fruit has broken down completely and the color from the stalks has leached into the syrup.
This takes about twenty minutes. Depending on the color of your stalks the syrup will range from light pink to a deeper magenta.
Strain your mixture over a fine mesh sieve.
If you'd like, you can save the rhubarb fruit for spooning over ice cream—but a fair warning: it will be a slightly unfortunate color of green.

Strawberry Rhubarb Smash
Adapted from Saveur.

Makes one drink.

juice from 1/2 a lemon
3-4 mint leaves
1 ounce rhubarb syrup
1 ounce bourbon
1-2 strawberries, washed and hulled
mint, strawberry, or lilac flower for garnish

(I mixed up a batch of four drinks in one go, but purists will likely want to do the mixing individually.)

Here's how:

Muddle together strawberries, lemon juice, & mint.
Top those off with rhubarb syrup and bourbon and shake or stir with ice.
Strain into a glass filled with ice (or, go ahead and let some of that strawberry pulp makes its way into the glass, too.)
Garnish with mint, strawberry, or tiny lilac flowers, as your heart desires.
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Chives: Planting today.

Chives: Planting, Growing, and Harvesting:
"Harvest/Storage
Harvest chives 30 days after you transplant or 60 days after seeding.
Be sure to cut the leaves down to the base when harvesting (within 1 to 2 inches of the soil).
Harvest 3 to 4 times during the first year. In subsequent years, cut plants back monthly.
The chive plant will flower in May or June. (The flowers are edible.)
Use chives when they're fresh or frozen (freeze the leaves in an airtight bag). Dried chives lose their flavor.
Store chives in a cool place in a reseable container.
Recommended Varieties
Garlic chives, to add a mild garlic flavor to any dish"

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Урожай!

5 Vegetables I’m Not Growing This Year.

5 Vegetables I’m Not Growing This Year | Real Men Sow:

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Pros and Cons of Homemade Weed Killer.

Landscaping 101: Pros and Cons of Homemade Weed Killer: Gardenista:

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Favourite roses for scent, for cutting.

Top 10 roses for scent | How to, Ornamental, Summer, Top tips | Amateur Gardening Amateur Gardening:
- ‘Louise Odier’
- ‘Madame Isaac Pereire’
- ‘De Resht’ 
- ‘Professeur Emile Perrot’ (syn. ‘Kazanlik’)
- ‘Jude the Obscure’
- ‘Quatre Saisons’
- ‘Great Maiden’s Blush’
- ‘Sir Frederick Ashton’
- ‘Gertrude Jekyll’
- ‘Madame Alfred Carrière’

Gardening: Top 10 roses for cutting - Sarah Raven:
- Princess Alexandra
- White Gold
- William Shakespeare 2000
- Golden Celebration
- Graham Thomas
- Susan
- Winchester Cathedral
- Gertrude Jekyll
- Buttercup
- ‘Louise Odier'

Some of the favourite roses mentioned on Gardener's World:
- Presenter's Monty Don favourite Roses - Chapeau de Napoleon
- Rachel de Thame - Roses in her garden included Graham Thomas, Evelyn, Golden Celebration and Penny Lane.
- Carol Kline - New Dawn
- Alan Titchmarsh - Jacques Cartier
- Sarah Raven - Charles de Mills
- Nick Biddle (Regents Park Head Gardener) - Stanwell Perpetual Sweet Dreams is the most successful British rose ever with sales of 4 1/2 million since 1998.

Gardener's World Favourite Rose Survey:
1. Gertrude Jekyll
2. Peace
3. Albertine (the Queen Mother's favourite rose)
4. Iceberg
5. Blue Moon

- Monty Don: Pergolas, arches, trees, even the side of the house will be enriched if you let roses ramble | Mail Online:
As a general rule, use climbers on walls, fences, pillars and pergolas and ramblers will grow into hedges, trees over large arches and may also be used on pillars and pergolas.

- Coming up roses: Bring that boring pergola to life by training masses of climbing roses over it - then letting them run riot | Mail Online:

- How to grow: best compact climbing roses - Telegraph:

- Organic gardening: Growing roses - Telegraph: "Top 10 disease-resistant roses"

- Top 10 climbers - By Rachel de Thame.:
1. Rosa 'Penny Lane'
I COULD dedicate the whole article to climbing roses, but I've chosen this one simply because it's such a good doer. It was awarded Rose of the Year in 1998. I grow it in my garden on a lowish, north-east-facing wall. It produces nicely shaped flowers, beautiful in bud and almost blowsy when fully open. The colour is particularly subtle, buff with a hint of pink when young, becoming Champagne with age. It has good disease resistance, is compact enough for the smallest garden and it repeats well. Since it went in, I have always been able to pick a posy for the house at Christmas.

- Which scented roses to plant in the garden - Saga:
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Making a Willow Wigwam.

- How to use willow in the garden - Telegraph:

Roses trained by weaving through pliable hazel domes.
Arne Maynard’s rose-covered domes at Chelsea.

- The English Gardener: Making a Willow Wigwam is Easier Than it Looks (Promise) Gardenista:

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Rose "Pink Peace".

Medium pink Hybrid Tea.
Registration name: MEIbil
Exhibition name: Pink Peace
Bred by Francis Meilland (France, 1958).
Introduced in France by URS (Universal Rose Selection)-Meilland as 'Pink Peace'.
Hybrid Tea.
Pink. Strong fragrance. 58 petals. Large bloom form. Blooms in flushes throughout the season.
Height of 3' to 5' (90 to 150 cm). Width of 28" to 4' (70 to 120 cm).

Stanwell Perpetual rose.

How to grow: Stanwell Perpetual rose - Telegraph:

"Growing tips
'Stanwell Perpetual' adapts to any soil, even thriving on chalk. It tolerates some shade and is so hardy that it grows well in Scandinavia. It can be grown as a specimen, a hedge, in a container or up a pillar.
Thorny 'Stanwell Perpetual' is best grown away from paths and steps. Dig a large enough hole to allow you to spread the roots out, shortening any really long ones, and mix in a handful of bone meal. Place the rose in the hole and cover with soil making sure the union - the bumpy part at the bottom of the stem - is an inch below the surface. Press down firmly, water if necessary, then cut the rose down hard, reducing each stem to 3in to 5in long at an outward-facing bud. This will prevent wind rock and make the plant stronger and less leggy.
If you grow it as single specimen try to preserve the arching shape. Remove any dying, diseased and damaged wood and shorten the thorny stems by up to a third during winter. You can cut it back hard in spring if you want a shorter rose, as it flowers on the new wood.
When planting a hedge, leave a 3ft gap between each rose and trim to the desired size in winter.
Feed sparingly; sprinkling an organic fertiliser round the roots at the beginning of the growing season will be plenty.
If you do get an attack of black spot gather the fallen leaves and destroy them - don't add them to the compost heap. This robust rose should shrug off the disease the following year. If it does return, gather the leaves again and water the plant and surrounding ground thoroughly with a strong tar-wash solution in winter.
Good companions
Its shell-pink flowers mix well with other old-fashioned varieties or shrub roses. These can be interspersed with violas or campanulas and edged with the silvery leaves of Stachys byzantina. 'Stanwell Perpetual' also suits a woodland planting."

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How to make a bug box.

How to make a bug box - Projects: Wildlife gardening - gardenersworld.com:
Thanks to Pinterest, I have discovered an amazing little “insect hotels”.

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RHS Grow for Flavour (Hardback): 9781845339364

RHS Grow for Flavour (Hardback): 9781845339364:

"By following his groundbreaking scientific tips and techniques, your fruit and veg yield will benefit from measurable improvements in flavour and supercharged quality and health value of all your home-grown harvests. Plus, you'll find 36 simple recipes for making the most of your new flavour-packed produce.

Published in association with the Royal Horticultural Society, James Wong's new book, Grow for Flavour, gives you the techniques to maximize flavour while minimizing the effort involved."
...no potatoes, cabbages, onions or cauliflowers but still plenty left to try your hand.

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Flowers. Dahlia. Peony.

I bought and ready to plant!
The dahlia is named after the 18th century Swedish botanist Anders Dahl, a student of Carl Linnaeus. Around the same time, in Germany, it was also named ‘Georgia’ after the Russian botanist Johann Gottlieb Georgi, and some still know it by this name.
This cultivar was so-named in 1924 to honour Joshua Pritchard Hughes who was the Bishop of Llandaff (a Diocese in South Wales) from 1905 to 1931.

How to grow dahlias:
- Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff' (P)
Genus Dahlia are tuberous rooted perennials with pinnately divided leaves and showy flower-heads, double in many cultivars, in summer and autumn. Tender Perennial Tuber.
Family Asteraceae / Asteraceae
Details 'Bishop of Llandaff' is an herbaceous perennial to 1m in height, with deep blackish-red foliage and semi-double brilliant red flowers 6cm in width.
Plant 30cm (12in) deep, 75cm (30in) apart.
Propagation Propagate by softwood cuttings taken in spring from shoots from stored tubers, or divide the tubers ensuring each division has a viable bud.
Cuttings should root within twenty days.
Pruning Deadhead to prolong flowering. Cut back to near ground level in the autumn, before lifting and storing for the winter.
Feed with a potash-rich plant food, either home-made comfrey tea or liquid tomato feed, once buds appear.

Monty Don: Call it a dahlia | Life and style | The Guardian:
Love them or loathe them - even the most fervent anti-dahlia gardener can't resist the Bishop of Llandaff.
The parent plants can be put outside in mid-May, when the risk of frost is past. If you are not going to take cuttings, plant the overwintered tubers out about 15 cm deep in early April, in rich soil in full sunlight. The new shoots appear above ground about a month later.
In most well-drained urban gardens I think it perfectly safe to leave them in the ground over the winter as long as they are cut back to the ground and mulched thickly. But if you are likely to get ground frosts of -5ºC or below, or if you have heavy soil – both of which we have here – I would strongly recommend lifting them after the first frost.
Slugs will graze a scar along the length of the stems as well as eating the foliage, while earwigs are very fond of eating the petals.
The best way to stop earwig damage is to place an empty flowerpot on a cane – ideally the one supporting the dahlia – and stuff it with some torn-up paper or straw; the earwigs will crawl inside during the day, when they can be found and taken away.
In the spring mulch them with some rich organic matter (eg well rotted compost or farmyard manure) and feed them with a general purpose fertiliser when growth begins.(Here!)
Growing Dahlias at the Villas - for the very first time! - Sow and So: How to PLANT dahlias (with pic!).

Companion Plants: Foeniculum vulgare 'purpureum' Fennel (bronze fennel-) or verbena bonariensis and Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff'.
The bronze or purple form of garden fennel (not to be confused with sweet or Florence fennel, an annual vegetable grown for its swollen bulbs) is a handsome and popular perennial, often planted on its own for impact or combined with bergamot in flower borders.

- Paeonia officinalis 'Rubra Plena' (d)

Other common names - peony 'Rubra Plena'
Genus- Paeonia may be herbaceous perennials or deciduous sub-shrubs with large, divided leaves and showy large bowl-shaped flowers, usually in early summer.
Family- Paeoniaceae / Paeoniaceae.
Details- 'Rubra Plena' is a robust herbaceous perennial to 75cm in height, with dark green, divided leaves and fully double rich crimson flowers 15-20cm across.
Planting depth - 3 cm.
Time to maturity: 5-10 years.

How to Grow Asparagus.

Just 100 grams of asparagus contains 2.2 grams of protein and at least 900 units of vitamin A and beta carotene, a component that many people feel has great potential as a cancer preventive.
I bought and ready to plant!

How to Grow Asparagus - Vegetable Gardener:
"Plant crowns early.
Crowns should be planted while they are dormant.
That can be as early as late winter.
They should be planted when the ground is workable, between frosts.
As long as the crowns are covered with about 2 in. of soil, they won’t suffer in hard freezes.
They can be planted as late as mid-spring, if plump, healthy roots are still available."

- Asparagus Cultivation:
White, Green and Purple Asparagus.

White asparagus is green asparagus which has been grown in the dark, usually by mounding the beds to cover the crowns with some eight to twelve inches (30.48 centimetres) of light sandy soil so as to exclude light from the developing spears.
It is highly esteemed in continental Europe.
White asparagus is generally peeled before being eaten as it has been grown underground, but with purple asparagus varieties this is not necessary.
Optimum planting density is a little lower for white asparagus than for green.

Purple asparagus is a variant of green which originated in Italy.
It turns green if boiled, but retains its colour if steamed.
Purple varieties of asparagus have a sweeter flavour and are less fibrous making them superior to green cultivars for eating raw.
The original purple variety gave low yields and was very susceptible to disease, but modern purple hybrids have gone some way towards addressing these problems.
It should be stressed that the lack of fibre in the stems means that purple asparagus is less weatherproof and should be avoided in exposed situations.
Purple asparagus is particularly suitable for eating raw.

Cropping Season.
The traditional season for UK asparagus starts on St George's Day, 23rd April, and ends on 21st June.
The season can be extended earlier by growing forcing varieties under protection, and later by planting suitable varieties.
Under cold glass, early asparagus varieties can be cropped from mid March.

- How to grow asparagus plants:

- How to grow Asparagus: A complete guide to growing Asparagus in beds, allotments and large containers:

- How to plant asparagus crowns - Projects: Video projects - gardenersworld.com: "Watch Monty Don's video demonstration of how to plant asparagus crowns, with advice on the soil preparation, aspect and aftercare."
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Marrows and Courgettes.

I bought plants and ready to plant!

Courgettes belong to the same family as cucumbers, squashes, pumpkins and marrows; in fact they are baby marrows.
Courgettes and zucchini are exactly the same plant but they acquired the different name from Italy from where it has found its way to America.
Although courgettes are small marrows the seed companies have been hard at work breeding plants that will only produce the smaller fruits that we want and not show bench monster marrows.
How to grow:
As the courgette plant grows it will produce a mass of white roots on the surface of the soil. Cover these with potting compost, garden compost or well-rotted manure. Keep covering the roots as they appear and gradually over the course of the summer the moat will disappear and the mound will spread outwards.
Jemmer F1 (AGM) - highly prolific on compact plants, bright yellow in colour.
El Greco – early cropping, excellent flavour, mid-green courgettes, RHS Award of Garden Merit.
Marrow Long Green Bush is the true traditional Marrow.
Has all the attributes of Green Trailing, but with a bush habit for more limited space.
Excellent flavour and highly productive.
Summer heading.

Handy Tip: Marrows and Courgettes prefer a deep humus rich soil for both the goodness and its water retention qualities.
Nutritional Value: A good source of pro-vitamin A, vitamins C and E.

Tomatoes.

I bought plants and ready to plant!

'Black Russian' - a large, dark skinned variety
‘Golden Crown’ - An early-maturing cherry tomato producing sweet, yellow fruit.
‘F1 Peardrops’ - Peardrops is a yellow fruited trailing variety with highly attractive pear shaped fruit and a delicious flavour. Peardrops is a traditional green shouldered variety that has a good flavour balance of sweetness and acidity. Plants are useful for planting in mixed baskets and containers or even hanging baskets.
F1 Peardrops - Tomato Trailing | Vegetalis:

How to grow cucamelons.

How to grow cucamelons:
I bought plants and ready to plant!
CUCAMELONS: GRAPE-SIZED CUKES

Doll’s house-sized ‘watermelons’ that taste of pure cucumber with a tinge of lime. These little guys are officially the cutest food known to man & oh-so-easy to grow even for real beginners. Let me show you how to get started…

HOW TO GROW CUCAMELONS:
Cucamelons can be grown in pretty much the exact same way as regular cucumbers, only they are far easier.
They don’t need the cover of a greenhouse, fancy pruning or training techniques and suffer from very few pests.
Sow the seed from April to May indoors and plant out when all risk of frost is over.
Give them a support the scramble over, keep well watered and that’s pretty much all you will need to do!
Harvest them when they are the size of a grape, but still nice and firm.
They make pretty, high-yielding vines that can be planted really close together to get the most out of a small space – as little as 15cm between plants around a trellis.
HOW TO EAT CUCAMELONS:
The fruit can be eaten straight off the plant, or tossed with olives, slivers of pepper and a dousing of olive oil. Perfect for a quirky snack with drinks – or even popped like an olive in a cheeky martini.

PICKLED CUCAMELONS WITH MINT & DILL (cm WEB)
—————————————
Melothria heterophylla (Lour.) Cogn.
The roots are edible!
Botanical name: Melothria heterophylla (Lour.) Cogn.
Synonmous name:Zehneria umbellata Thw.
Family name:Cucurbitaceae
Genus:
A large genus of annual or perennial climbers or herbs occurring in the tropics of the world. Leaves polymorphous. Flowers are small and yellow. Some species are medicinal and in some species the fruit is edible.

Species:
A herbaceous plant with tuberous root occurring throughout India.
The plant bears polymorphous leaves and small yellow flowers coloured unisexual flowers.
Fruit is brown coloured with many sub-spherical, smooth seeds.
The roots, leaves and fruits are edible.
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Pumpkins.

Pumpkins - James Wong | Official Site:
I bought the plant and is ready to put it outside!

Jack-o'-lantern pumpkins are a classic fall crop, providing a great opportunity for growers to extend their selling season.
How to Make Homemade Pumpkin Pie - from an Ordinary Jack 'O Lantern Pumpkin.

Those big pumpkins may not be as sweet as the smaller “sugar pumpkins” or “pie pumpkins”, but you can still use them for everything from roasted veggies to oatmeal, to soups, loaves and pies.
The typical "jack-o-lantern" or carving pumpkins tend to have little flesh for the size and are very stringy and flavorless.
Pumpkins are an excellent source of fiber, vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene, an important antioxidant), vitamin C and potassium.

Do nothing but wait, as squash only produce their very best flavour after a few weeks of storage.
The exact length of storage does vary noticeably between varieties.
Between one month for 'Crown Prince' to up to three months for 'Butternut' types.
The only important thing you need to remember is that they be kept cool and dry, in a well ventilated place.
A garage or a shed would be perfect.
And in just a few weeks you won't believe the difference.

Which are the best pumpkins? | Sarah Raven:

I'd probably grow pumpkins for their looks alone, but the right ones can make fantastic eating. I have some tried-and-tested favourites: 'Red Kuri' is a useful size, with waxy texture and excellent taste. It can climb (Teepee Trellis), which is handy in a smaller garden and is a good producer.
Another winner is 'Crown Prince', a hugely long storer with good texture and taste, while 'Munchkin' is pretty, small, abundant, with flesh reminiscent of sweet chestnut.

-‘Crown of Thorns'
Looks and ornamental longevity 7/10
Eating 2/10

Blueberries. By James Wong.

One trial found that lightly cooking blueberries (as happens when you bake a pie) can double their absorbable antioxidant content. Talk about having your pie and eating it.

The homegrown variety 'Rubel', for example, delivers three times the antioxidant payload of supermarket staples like 'Bluecrop'.

Tomatoes. By James Wong.

Tomatoes - James Wong | Official Site:
"Unbelievably, spraying a dilute solution of aspirin onto your tomato plants (we are talking half a soluble tablet per litre of water) is capable of causing their sugar content to soar one and a half times and boost their Vitamin C content 50%.

This treatment can even make your plants more resistant to cold, drought and (not that we'll ever need it in the UK) heat stress too. According to one trial this can even result in a 47% less incidence of late blight, the scourge of tomato growers,
This works as aspirin is a close chemical copy of the plant stress hormone, salicylic acid, which turns on the genes that regulate their defence systems.

The more stress a plant 'thinks' it is under, the more sugars are redirected to the developing fruit in a bid to make them irresistable to passing animals. Plants do this to ensure their seeds have the maximum chance of being dispersed to save the next generation, but it conveniently makes for tastier salad too."
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- Невероятно, опрыскивание раствором аспирина растений томата - помидора (растворить половину таблетки на литр воды) способно повысить содержание сахара в них в полтора раза и повысить содержание витамина С на 50%!

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Re-Order Strawberries. Received and planted!

Potatoes.

A Simple Way to Get High Yields of Potatoes:

"A Simple Way to Get High Yields of Potatoes"

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Order Strawberries today!

Re-Order Strawberries today from - Ken Muir!
- Strawberry 'Buddy'
- Strawberry 'Gariguette'
- The perpetual 'Mara des Bois'
cost = £40.16

How to grow Strawberry Spinach.

How to grow Strawberry Spinach - Know your Vegetables:
This easy to grow plant produces edibles leaves and fruit - Annual!

An old-fashioned plant that dates to 1600 in Europe.
This curious plant produces greens that are picked and cooked like spinach, but it also produces attractive, red berries that are bland in flavor.
These add a nice touch to fruit salads.
Easy-to-grow plants are similar to “Lamb’s Quarters”, a wild relative.
Found in a monastery garden.
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Homemade Fertilizers.

Lower Lovetts Farm :: Richards Homemade Fertilizers: "Richards Homemade Fertilizers"
Comfrey Liquid (1:50)
I pick the comfrey just before it flowers and cram it into a water butt.
This normally takes 6 to 8 weeks depending on how warm it is. Tip: If you put the tub in the sun it works quicker. You can start using it at this stage.
When you get a green sludge (even more vile smelling a month or so later) I bottle it in 75cl bottles, old screw cap wine bottles. One 75cl bottle will do four watering cans of 2 gallons per can - i..e. one litre to every 10.5 gallons of water (50 litres) or 1:50.
Stinging Nettles Liquid
Wood Ash Liquid
Fill the bucket nearly full with water and stir for three weeks.
With tomatoes I use it once or twice a week, but by August when the tomatoes are at their best I use it every day for a short period.
If you want to keep the plants after a prolonged period of watering with wood ash liquid, add some Epsom salts to the pots and the green will return.
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Most perfect fertilizer + pesticide is epsom salt.

the world's most perfect fertilizer + pesticide is epsom salt.
This is so true- every other week- 1 gallon of water,
1 TBSP of miracle grow and 3 TBSP of epsom salt.

Studies show that magnesium and sulfur, two major components of Epsom salt, may help plants grow greener with higher yields and more blooms.
Magnesium creates an environment conducive to growth by helping seeds to germinate, increasing chlorophyll production and improving phosphorus and nitrogen uptake.

Dilute a tablespoon of Epsom salt in a gallon of water will do fine.
You can use it a s foliar spray as well for blossom drop at the same dilution.

Some people just sprinkle a little in a ring around the plant.

I thinks as a spray its 2 oz per gallon. I weighted that out at the weekend and 2oz filled about 4 tablespoons - so I put 1 tablespoon in a litre of spray - and that was at least twice what I needed for everything I could think of spraying!

Epsom salts almost certainly cheaper at the Garden centre than the Chemist, but given how little one uses it may be a bit irrelevant

1/2oz of magnesium to 1 pint of water and use it as a foliar spray for magnesium deficient plants. I have used this on yellowing tomato leaves and they green up nicely.

Dissolved in hot water & then soak your feet in it.
Great for hardening up your soles before a walking holiday.

Also read:
35 Pest and Disease Remedies

Companion Planting Guides

- RHGS Outdoor & Gardening Blog: Companion Planting Guides:
Also: - Companion Planting.
- Companion Planting:
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Fertiliser.

Growing vegetables on Leeds allotments - Fertiliser Teas:
Basic Method for "Tea"

Cover material in water, and soak; most recipes "suggest" that you put a lid on the container - this is essential; also do not put the bin by your back door. It will stink.
After a couple of days you will have a weak but useful brew, usable undiluted.
After 2-4 weeks you'll have a stronger brew; this will require a lid and is not suitable for people with short arms!
Stir every couple of days to avoid the brew going stagnant.
Dilute to the colour of weak tea and water in as a plant food, every couple of weeks.
Or use as a spray on plant leaves (a foliar feed).
This process produces a concentrated plant food, and your brew will need to be diluted for use - 1 part tea to 10 parts water for watering in your feed; 1 part tea to 20 parts water to spray on leaves.
Dump the material waste in the compost heap!
Remember - this is only a short-term remedy for plants which need "a bit of a lift"; it won't solve any problems with your soil, as it will be washed away pretty quickly.

Specific Recipes for "tea" brews

Animal Manure
Fill a small sack or cloth bag and suspend this in a container full of water;
rich in nitrogen (especially poultry or pigeon manure) - good for brassicas, onions
Compost
fill a bag or sack, as for animal manure
Seaweed
rinse the seaweed first to get rid of salt
rich in potash (good for potatoes, tomatoes)
Comfrey
cut back the comfrey plants to about 2 inches three or four times a year
pack a dustbin with the cut leaves, and cover with water
rich in potash (good for potatoes, tomatoes), and minerals; good source of nitrogen (for just about anything!)
Nettles
you can make a couple of "harvests" a year from your nettle patch
pack a dustbin with the cut leaves, and cover with water
said to prevent disease, as well as promoting health plant growth
rich in potash (good for potatoes, tomatoes), and minerals; good source of nitrogen (for just about anything!)
Odd recipes
any combinations of the above!
basically anything nitrogen rich, such as fresh grass cuttings
the original cold tea from the teapot! Tea leaves are high in potash

These methods produce a much stronger concentrate, which should be diluted at

1 part potion to 10 or 20 parts water for watering in,
1 part potion to 40 parts water as a spray-on leaf feed.
They also have a couple of advantages, in that they smell less, and the concentrate can be stored (in dark glass bottles, in a cool, dark place.

Using a bucket
Use a plastic container with a hole in the bottom, and fill it with comfrey/nettle leaves. Put a weight on top of the leaves and leave.
After about three weeks a black, very smelly, liquid will drip from the hole.
Collect this in a bottle (shelter the hole and bottle from the rain!).
The concentrate can be stored in the dark for several months.
Using a wormery
The above method is popular among those people who have paid out £50 for a plastic wormery, got fed up with the work involved - and discovered it's perfectly designed for making comfrey concentrate!
Using a piece of drain-pipe!
Fix a drainpipe with wire and brackets to garage wall;
Wedge a 6-pint milk bottle and funnel underneath the drainpipe;
Stuff the drainpipe with comfrey or nettle leaves;
Put a plastic pop-bottle full of water in the top of the drainpipe (attached to a length of string); this will compress the leaves down the drainpipe;
and the concentrate will drip into the bottle, while the funnel keeps the leaves back.
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Окопник.

Садовое обозрение - Окопник – не сорняк, а друг садовода:

- настой травы окопника – это лучшее органическое калийное удобрение.
Как раз регулярное скашивание травы окопника и позволяет держать его заросли в рамках приличия.
А трава помогает эффективно поставлять калий для томатов, перцев, картофеля и прочих любителей этого элемента питания, без полноценного калийного удобрения трудно добиться хорошего завязывания и вызревания плодов.

Вот мой рецепт эффективного калийного удобрения:

- листья окопника порубить, сложить в бочку и залить дождевой водой (на 1 кг листьев 10 л воды).
Накрыть бочку крышкой и настаивать на солнечном месте неделю.
Поливать растения настоем, разбавленным водой в пропорции 1:10.
Особенно хороши такие подкормки для растений, выращиваемых в контейнерах или нуждающихся в калии.

Если окопника много, то можно скосить траву, порубить и использовать как мульчу для посадок томатов, фасоли и горошка.
Такая мульча отлично подходит для земляники и молодых плодовых деревьев.
Только обязательно кладите ее на влажную и рыхлую почву, а поверх слегка присыпайте сухой землей или торфом.
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Comfrey.

Comfrey (Symphytum species) is essential to organic gardening.:

Mulch
Use the leaves in layers about 5 cm thick over the surface of the soil.
The leaves break down rapidly and provide nutrients to the crops.
Comfrey is particularly good for fruiting crops because of the good levels of potash.
When planting potatoes, lay comfrey leaves in the bottom of the trench and place the potatoes on top.
Or plant clumps of comfrey in the orchard. The leaves are then regularly slashed or mown and left on the surface of the soil to break down.

Comfrey liquid manure
Fill a large container with comfrey leaves, cover with water and a lid and leave for four weeks.
Leaves readily de-compose making a very useful (if extremely malodorous) liquid manure.
This fast-acting liquid food can be used as it is on established plants or diluted about 5 to 1, and used for seedlings, pots, and ailing plants.

Alternatively, firmly pack comfrey leaves into a wide pipe, weight with a stone and suspend the pipe above a small container.
The pipe should be blocked at the bottom end with just a small hole in the middle.
The comfrey leaves rot down releasing a dark liquid that collects in the small container.
Dilute this by about 15 to 1 and use in the same way as liquid manure.

Compost activator
Comfrey added to the compost not only rots down quickly but also adds nutrients and speeds up the decomposition of other materials.
I grow one clump of comfrey near the compost to remind me to add a leaf every time I add other materials.
Other plants in the Boraginaceae family, like borage and forget-me-nots, also break down quickly in the compost.

Weed barrier
Comfrey is used as a weed barrier because it is able to stop running grasses from spreading.
It needs to be planted in a strip several plants wide and it’s important to use only non-seeding, non-spreading varieties otherwise you will only be replacing one weed problem with another.

Slug and snail trap
Comfrey growing in big tubs to keep it under control
Grow comfrey near the compost
Big comfrey leaves are attractive to slugs and, to a lesser extent, snails.
So try layering the leave around but some distance from young seedlings.
Each morning pick up the leaves and remove the slugs and snails that are sheltering and feeding there.
Drop these into soapy water and replace the leaves to trap more slugs.

A bank holiday on my allotment. Companion planting.

Companion Planting!
Asparagus-Kale.
Asparagus - Do not harvest for the first two years after planting.
This is our second year. We are patient and we will have it on next year!
Allow the foliage of your asparagus plants to yellow in autumn before cutting it down to soil level for the winter.

Companion planting - Asparagus: Tomatoes are a friend of asparagus. They help to protect asparagus from asparagus beetles by releasing solanine and attracting natural predators of the asparagus beetle. A chemical derived from asparagus juice has been found effective on tomato plants as a nematode killer,, including the root-knot sting, stubby root and meadow varieties.
Friends: Aster family flowers, dill ,coriander, carrots, tomatoes, parsley, basil, comfrey and marigolds.
Avoid: Onions, garlic and potatoes.

The Brassica plant family - Kale companions are beets, cabbage, celery, cucumbers, dill, marigolds, onions, nasturtiums and spinach.
Keep kale away from grapes, beans, strawberries, tomatoes and rue.


Chard_Rhubarb.
Companions Chard: Bean, cabbage family, tomato, onion and roses.
Don't overlook chard's value as an ornamental plant in flower beds or wherever you have room for it.
Don't grow chard near cucurbits, melons, corn or herbs.

Rhubarb - A good companion to all brassicas.
Try planting cabbage and broccoli plants your rhubarb patch watch them thrive.
Rhubarb protects beans against black fly.
Some other interesting companions for rhubarb are the beautiful columbine flowers, garlic, onion and roses!
It helps deter red spider mites from the columbines.
A spray made from boiled rhubarb leaves, which contain the poison oxalic acid may be used to prevent blackspot on roses and as an aphicide.


Comfrey-Thyme.
Thyme: Deters cabbage worms.
Wooly thyme makes a wonderful groundcover.
You may want to use the upright form of thyme in the garden rather than the groundcover types.
Thyme is easy to grow from seeds or cuttings. Older woody plants should be divided in spring.

Comfrey is one amazing plant.
Accumulates calcium, phosphorous and potassium.
Likes wet spots to grow in.
Comfrey is beneficial to avocado and most other fruit trees.
Traditional medicinal plant.
Good trap crop for slugs.
Excellent compost activator, foliage spray, nutrient miner.
Comfrey is truly essential to all gardens.
More on comfrey.


Honeyberry.


Lovage-Onions.
Lovage - Improves flavor and health of most plants.
Good habitat for ground beetles.
A large plant, use one planted as a backdrop.
Similar to celery in flavor.

Onions - Planting chamomile and summer savory with onions improves their flavor.
Other companions are carrot, leek, beets, kohlrabi, strawberries, brassicas, dill, lettuce and tomatoes.
Intercropping onions and leeks with your carrots confuses the carrot and onion flies!
Onions planted with strawberries help the berries fight disease.
Keep onions away from peas and asparagus.


Mint-French Tarragon.
French Tarragon is my favourite ever herb to eat with fish and chicken, and as a flavour in vinegar for the best ever salad dressing.


Onions-Pea.
Companion Planting with Peas-Just don't plant those precious little peas next to:
- Onion
- Garlic
- Leeks
- Shallots


Blueberries.


Strawberry-Raspberries.
When companion planting with the strawberry be sure to avoid cabbage and plants that are in the cabbage family.

Raspberries - Companions are rue, marigold and garlic which help repel insects from the berries.
The garlic accumulates sulfur which is a natural fungicide so when planted with raspberries, garlic will help prevent fungal diseases.
Turnips can be beneficial companions as they repel the Harlequin Beetle.
Foes: Blackberries, black raspberry, purple raspberry, tomato and potato.
Blackberries, black and purple raspberries should be planted at least 600 feet away from the red varieties because of virus disease susceptibility.
Raspberries grown with potatoes make the potato more susceptible to blight.


Blackcurrant-Redcurrant-Whitecurrant.
Plant a couple of tomatoes near the bushes. You will not believe: 2-3 years this neighborhood and moth in your garden will disappear! And aphids will be significantly less.


Radishes:
One of the workhorses for the garden.
Companions for radishes are: radish, beet, bush beans, pole beans, carrots, chervil, cucumber, lettuce, melons, nasturtium, parsnip, peas, spinach and members of the squash family.
Why plant radishes with your squash plants?
Radishes may protect them from squash borers.
Anything that will help keep them away is worth a try.
Radishes are a deterrent against cucumber beetles and rust flies.
Chervil and nasturtium improve radish growth and flavor.
Planting them around corn and letting them go to seed will also help fight corn borers.
Chinese Daikon and Snow Belle radishes are favorites of flea beetles.
Plant these at 6 to 12 inch intervals amongst broccoli.
In one trial, this measurably reduced damage to broccoli.
Radishes will lure leafminers away from spinach.
The damage the leafminers do to radish leaves does not stop the radish roots from growing, a win-win situation.
Keep radishes away from hyssop plants, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and turnips.
Radishes are a good indicator of calcium levels in the soil.
If you radish grows and only produces a stringy root you need calcium.
Organic calcium sources like dolomite lime and ground oyster shell are relatively cheap and readily available, but your kitchen generates free organic calcium you probably didn’t know about—eggshells.
Organic calcium sources include dolomite lime, calcite, ground oyster shell (oyster shell flour), and crushed eggshells.
Bone meal: A popular source of phosphorous (11 percent) and calcium (22 percent), bone meal is derived from animal or fish bones and commonly used in a powdered form on root crops and bulbs. It also contains 2 percent nitrogen and many micronutrients. It may attract rodents.

Мульчирование.

Садовое обозрение - Мульчирование: тонкости применения:
Земля не должны быть открытой весной и осенью, т.е. тогда, когда на ней не растут овощи. Убрали урожай, порыхлили почву и два варианта: сидераты или укрытие соломой. Перекопали сидераты – укрыли мульчей. Весной оттаяла почва, подготовили грядку и до посева закрыли мульчей. Не важно какой – картоном, пленкой или соломой. Псеяли, замульчирвали перегноем или уркыли пленкой - опять земля закрыта. Взошли растения, прикрыли землю своими листьями - опять закрыта. Да еще вы подсыпали мульчи...
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Зола

сколько золы нужно вносить под конкретные культуры.

Я нашла такие рекомендации внесения золы на один квадратный метр:

малина, смородина, земляника – 100 – 150 г;
картофель – 60 – 100 г;
горох – 15 – 200 г;
рассада овощных культур – 8 – 10 г в лунку;
огурцы, кабачки, патиссоны – 6 – 12 г лунку;
сладкий перец, баклажаны, томаты – 18 г лунку.

Как посчитать, сколько золы класть:

1 столовая ложка – примерно 6 г;
1 стакан – примерно 100 г;
банка 0.5 л – примерно 250 г;
банка 1 л – примерно 500 г.