И так. Рецепт прост: литровую банку заполнить шелухой лука (не набить, а довольно рыхло сложить), залить кипятком, накрыть крышкой и настаивать 3-4 часа. Затем процедить, разбавить дождевой или талой водой 1:5 и использовать для полива и опрыскивания рассады и растений. Этим же настоем стоит промыть листья комнатных растений, предварительно счистив пыль.
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Monday 24 March 2014
Пионы.
Садовое обозрение - ... и 3 корочки хлеба:
Размочите в ведре с теплой водой корочки хлеба, лучше если это будет дрожжевой и смесь пшеничного и ржаного. Хорошо, еслихлеб побудет в тепле сутки.
Затем размшайте его до состояния кашицы и вылейте под каждый куст пиона.
10-ти литрового ведра (на него 2-3 горсти сухарей) должно хватить на 5-6 кустов.
Делать такую подкормку нужно только в теплую погоду, а не накануне засморозков.
Ну а когда на пионах появятся бутоны еще в стадии горошины - время подкормить растения настоем золы и коровяка.
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Размочите в ведре с теплой водой корочки хлеба, лучше если это будет дрожжевой и смесь пшеничного и ржаного. Хорошо, еслихлеб побудет в тепле сутки.
Затем размшайте его до состояния кашицы и вылейте под каждый куст пиона.
10-ти литрового ведра (на него 2-3 горсти сухарей) должно хватить на 5-6 кустов.
Делать такую подкормку нужно только в теплую погоду, а не накануне засморозков.
Ну а когда на пионах появятся бутоны еще в стадии горошины - время подкормить растения настоем золы и коровяка.
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Sunday 23 March 2014
Which are the best rhubarb varieties to grow?
Which are the best rhubarb varieties to grow? - Telegraph:
1 ‘Valentine’ for good taste and looks
Where to buy: DT Brown
2 ‘The Sutton’ for best flavour
Where to buy: Ashridge Nurseries, Chris Bowers
Three good varieties
3 ‘Victoria’ best looking
4 ‘Timperley Early’ best for forcing
This is one of the earliest varieties and a good choice for forcing if you want tender rhubarb in March and April.
Where to buy: Crocus, Thompson & Morgan
‘5 'Livingstone’ an autumn cropper
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1 ‘Valentine’ for good taste and looks
Where to buy: DT Brown
2 ‘The Sutton’ for best flavour
Where to buy: Ashridge Nurseries, Chris Bowers
Three good varieties
3 ‘Victoria’ best looking
4 ‘Timperley Early’ best for forcing
This is one of the earliest varieties and a good choice for forcing if you want tender rhubarb in March and April.
Where to buy: Crocus, Thompson & Morgan
‘5 'Livingstone’ an autumn cropper
'via Blog this'
Friday 21 March 2014
Thursday 20 March 2014
Sarah Raven's 10 Tips for Growing a Kitchen Garden.
Ask The Expert: Sarah Raven's 10 Tips for Growing a Kitchen Garden: Gardenista:
Following are Sarah's top ten tips for bounty, ease, and good looks in your kitchen garden:
1. Grow as much of what you like as possible. Clear as big a space as you can and think about maximum productivity per square inch.
2. Skip the fancy frills. A vegetable patch divided by mini hedges, potager-style, means more work and less food. Rows of boxwood will encourage slugs and snails, and perennial weeds tangle themselves around the roots. Instead, try edible edging: rows of hardy alpine strawberries and nasturtiums will do the trick.
3. Combine ornamentals and edibles. In an unexpected partnership, Mustard 'Red Giant' mixes with Tulipa 'Compassion'. Bonus tip: green-flowered tulips are more perennial than the standard colored ones.
4. Layer. Sarah planted this area near the drive more than a decade ago, greatly reducing labor while keeping the bed full over a long period.
Perennial artichokes mix with bulbs and tubers in three layers: dahlias in trenches at the lowest level; Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation' (£8.50 for three plants) plus earlier and later allium varieties in the middle level; artichokes at the top level. The artichokes shown here are a mixture of 'Green Globe', Artichoke 'Violet de Provence' (£1.95 for 30 seeds), and Artichoke 'Gros Vert de Laon' (£1.95 for 30 seeds).
5. Grow edible flowers all year. The following can all be harvested in the UK in winter and early spring: Pot marigold (Calendula officinalis 'Indian Prince', Above, £1.95 for 125 seeds), viola, polyanthus and primula. Conversely, vegetables such as kale are not just for eating. Green and purple kale look great in flower arrangements and are a good foil for flowers in an ornamental border.
N.B.: For further tips on kale in flower arrangements, see Required Reading: The Surprising Life of Constance Spry.
6. Plant the unusual. Planting heirloom or heritage varieties in unusual colors—including the purpleFrench Bean 'Blauhilde' (£1.95 for 25 seeds) and the yellow 'Rocquencourt'—is proof to the world that you've grown them yourself. As is the size: greengrocers and supermarkets providing mainstream produce often sell vegetables harvested after they have grown too big. Beans taste better when they are younger and smaller and, it goes without saying, fresher.
7. Sow heavy croppers. Tomatoes, zucchini, and beans all produce abundantly. Salad leaves also crop more heavily if you cut and come again. Start cutting non-hearting lettuce such as Mizuna or Oak Leaf lettuce at one end of a row and by the time you get to the other end, you can start again. Harvest by twisting off leaves around the edges: don't bulldoze the whole plant.
8. Avoid gluts. Too much, then too little, leaves bald patches in the garden. Successional sowing of salad leaves every few weeks, for instance, will ease this pattern of feast or famine. Succession planting can also be applied to beans and peas.
9. Build good bones. Raise your vegetable patch to another level in the middle as well as around the edges. Teepees, arches, and walkways in Sarah's small (and private) kitchen garden at Sissinghurst greatly increase the growing space in a smallish area. They can be covered in sweetpeas followed by the cup and saucer vine (Cobaea scandens) or morning glory. A sturdy arch will support squashes and zucchini.
10. Don't grow everything. Tricky plants such as celery are best bought, as are mainstream vegetables including cabbage, parsnips, and main crop potatoes. This still leaves plenty to choose from as Sarah Raven demonstrates.
'via Blog this'
Following are Sarah's top ten tips for bounty, ease, and good looks in your kitchen garden:
1. Grow as much of what you like as possible. Clear as big a space as you can and think about maximum productivity per square inch.
2. Skip the fancy frills. A vegetable patch divided by mini hedges, potager-style, means more work and less food. Rows of boxwood will encourage slugs and snails, and perennial weeds tangle themselves around the roots. Instead, try edible edging: rows of hardy alpine strawberries and nasturtiums will do the trick.
3. Combine ornamentals and edibles. In an unexpected partnership, Mustard 'Red Giant' mixes with Tulipa 'Compassion'. Bonus tip: green-flowered tulips are more perennial than the standard colored ones.
4. Layer. Sarah planted this area near the drive more than a decade ago, greatly reducing labor while keeping the bed full over a long period.
Perennial artichokes mix with bulbs and tubers in three layers: dahlias in trenches at the lowest level; Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation' (£8.50 for three plants) plus earlier and later allium varieties in the middle level; artichokes at the top level. The artichokes shown here are a mixture of 'Green Globe', Artichoke 'Violet de Provence' (£1.95 for 30 seeds), and Artichoke 'Gros Vert de Laon' (£1.95 for 30 seeds).
5. Grow edible flowers all year. The following can all be harvested in the UK in winter and early spring: Pot marigold (Calendula officinalis 'Indian Prince', Above, £1.95 for 125 seeds), viola, polyanthus and primula. Conversely, vegetables such as kale are not just for eating. Green and purple kale look great in flower arrangements and are a good foil for flowers in an ornamental border.
N.B.: For further tips on kale in flower arrangements, see Required Reading: The Surprising Life of Constance Spry.
6. Plant the unusual. Planting heirloom or heritage varieties in unusual colors—including the purpleFrench Bean 'Blauhilde' (£1.95 for 25 seeds) and the yellow 'Rocquencourt'—is proof to the world that you've grown them yourself. As is the size: greengrocers and supermarkets providing mainstream produce often sell vegetables harvested after they have grown too big. Beans taste better when they are younger and smaller and, it goes without saying, fresher.
7. Sow heavy croppers. Tomatoes, zucchini, and beans all produce abundantly. Salad leaves also crop more heavily if you cut and come again. Start cutting non-hearting lettuce such as Mizuna or Oak Leaf lettuce at one end of a row and by the time you get to the other end, you can start again. Harvest by twisting off leaves around the edges: don't bulldoze the whole plant.
8. Avoid gluts. Too much, then too little, leaves bald patches in the garden. Successional sowing of salad leaves every few weeks, for instance, will ease this pattern of feast or famine. Succession planting can also be applied to beans and peas.
9. Build good bones. Raise your vegetable patch to another level in the middle as well as around the edges. Teepees, arches, and walkways in Sarah's small (and private) kitchen garden at Sissinghurst greatly increase the growing space in a smallish area. They can be covered in sweetpeas followed by the cup and saucer vine (Cobaea scandens) or morning glory. A sturdy arch will support squashes and zucchini.
10. Don't grow everything. Tricky plants such as celery are best bought, as are mainstream vegetables including cabbage, parsnips, and main crop potatoes. This still leaves plenty to choose from as Sarah Raven demonstrates.
'via Blog this'
Wednesday 19 March 2014
Spring/ sown.
sown - 19 March/
* Coriander confetti
* coriander calypso
* coriander
* Chervil, or French parsley
* Dill
* Marjoram - perennial
* Parsley - plain leaved2
* Florence fennel bulbs
* Lovage
* Basil— Genovese, sweet basil- 6-8 weeks from sowing.
* Nice 'N' Spicy
* Swiss chard ‘Bright Lights’ Harvest the leaves from 10 weeks
* Pea Seed 'Douce Provence' Early variety - 8 weeks
* Beetroot 'Cylindra'
* dwarf french bean - A Brief Guide to Growing French Beans
* Physalis - cape gooseberry
* chicorée radicchio
* onion - spring
* Spring Onion - Crimson Forest
* Coriander confetti
* coriander calypso
* coriander
* Chervil, or French parsley
* Dill
* Marjoram - perennial
* Parsley - plain leaved2
* Florence fennel bulbs
* Lovage
* Basil— Genovese, sweet basil- 6-8 weeks from sowing.
* Nice 'N' Spicy
* Swiss chard ‘Bright Lights’ Harvest the leaves from 10 weeks
* Pea Seed 'Douce Provence' Early variety - 8 weeks
* Beetroot 'Cylindra'
* dwarf french bean - A Brief Guide to Growing French Beans
* Physalis - cape gooseberry
* chicorée radicchio
* onion - spring
* Spring Onion - Crimson Forest
Monday 17 March 2014
Nice 'N' Spicy.
Herb Culinary Collection Nice 'N' Spicy Seeds by T and M - Crowders:
Salad Rocket, Red Giant Mustard, Green Wave Mustard, Miluna
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Salad Rocket, Red Giant Mustard, Green Wave Mustard, Miluna
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Basil 'Sweet' ('Sweet Genovese')
Basil 'Sweet':
1 Plant Genovese basil in a sunny location that receives six to eight hours of direct sunlight a day. Basil will tolerate less light but typically prefers at least six hours of direct sunlight.
No Matches Found. Please try your search again.
2 Space basil seedlings 10 to 12 inches apart in rows or group them for a mass planting. Some prefer to interplant basil with tomatoes.
3 Pinch out the growing tips on Genovese basil when the seedlings are 4 to 6 inches high. This forces the plant to send out new growth along the stem and creates a dense, compact plant. Continue to pinch the basil plant back every few weeks to prevent blooming. Otherwise, flavor will be reduced, as blooming robs the plant of the volatile oils responsible for flavor and fragrance.
4 Water deeply once or twice a week -- moistening the soil to the root level -- or whenever the soil feels dry 1 inch below the surface. Although basil tolerates dry soil, even moisture is preferred.
5 Apply water-soluble fertilizer designed for vegetables two or three times during the growing season. Once at planting time, again by early summer and a final application in mid- to late summer provides the nutrients basil needs. Overfertilization causes rapid plant growth but also reduces flavor.
6 Mulch around basil plants with a 2- to 4-inch layer of leaves or pine needles to conserve water, prevent weeds and keep the foliage clean.
7 Harvest Genovese basil as soon as the leaves are large enough to use.
'via Blog this'
1 Plant Genovese basil in a sunny location that receives six to eight hours of direct sunlight a day. Basil will tolerate less light but typically prefers at least six hours of direct sunlight.
No Matches Found. Please try your search again.
2 Space basil seedlings 10 to 12 inches apart in rows or group them for a mass planting. Some prefer to interplant basil with tomatoes.
3 Pinch out the growing tips on Genovese basil when the seedlings are 4 to 6 inches high. This forces the plant to send out new growth along the stem and creates a dense, compact plant. Continue to pinch the basil plant back every few weeks to prevent blooming. Otherwise, flavor will be reduced, as blooming robs the plant of the volatile oils responsible for flavor and fragrance.
4 Water deeply once or twice a week -- moistening the soil to the root level -- or whenever the soil feels dry 1 inch below the surface. Although basil tolerates dry soil, even moisture is preferred.
5 Apply water-soluble fertilizer designed for vegetables two or three times during the growing season. Once at planting time, again by early summer and a final application in mid- to late summer provides the nutrients basil needs. Overfertilization causes rapid plant growth but also reduces flavor.
6 Mulch around basil plants with a 2- to 4-inch layer of leaves or pine needles to conserve water, prevent weeds and keep the foliage clean.
7 Harvest Genovese basil as soon as the leaves are large enough to use.
'via Blog this'
How to grow beans in your garden.
Best of the beans: how to grow beans in your garden - Telegraph: "what's"
There are four secrets to success with beans.
- First, choose the best varieties. As with most vegetables, growing the most delicious varieties takes no more effort than the plainest, so take a moment to pick the most flavoursome.
- Secondly, start them off well. Beans like to throw down long roots, so rather than sow them in seed trays or regular modules, use root trainers. These long modules allow each seed to create a good root system while the first few leaves develop – this gives the plant the perfect engine room below and above ground to grow quickly and productively when planted out.
Root trainers are widely available, but we find cardboard loo-roll inners make fine substitutes. They work perfectly for peas too. You can sow direct into the soil, but I find seedlings more resilient to pests and drought.
- Thirdly, sow with consumption in mind. Success sowing is the key to a steady stream of delicious beans rather than a long weekend of chutney making. Sow them in small batches, three weeks apart, and as one batch begins to tire, the next will be ready to replace it.
For our family of three, I like a four metre double row of broad beans ready at a time, plus perhaps 20 plants each of runner beans and French beans. Borlottis are a little slower in their productivity and I generally only do an early sowing now and one in early June to give a staggered harvest. For spacing, whatever the variety of bean, follow the instructions on the packet and you can’t go wrong.
- Lastly, harvest your beans when they are at their best: for all but borlottis, this is small, sweet and tender. Picked at this stage, they produce more the more you harvest them, but don’t kid yourself that these are bean-making machines designed for your dining pleasure; the secret behind their productivity is sex. The pods you snap from the plant hold their next generation – the more of those seeds that mature and are capable of growing into new plants, the more quickly the plant slows down production, having served its function of procreation. So, picking the pods early not only ensures the sweetest harvest, it also gives the plant an incentive to keep producing. Don’t worry about yield – the beans may be smaller, but the finer flavour and the extra productivity more than makes up for the weight of each harvest.
'via Blog this'
There are four secrets to success with beans.
- First, choose the best varieties. As with most vegetables, growing the most delicious varieties takes no more effort than the plainest, so take a moment to pick the most flavoursome.
- Secondly, start them off well. Beans like to throw down long roots, so rather than sow them in seed trays or regular modules, use root trainers. These long modules allow each seed to create a good root system while the first few leaves develop – this gives the plant the perfect engine room below and above ground to grow quickly and productively when planted out.
Root trainers are widely available, but we find cardboard loo-roll inners make fine substitutes. They work perfectly for peas too. You can sow direct into the soil, but I find seedlings more resilient to pests and drought.
- Thirdly, sow with consumption in mind. Success sowing is the key to a steady stream of delicious beans rather than a long weekend of chutney making. Sow them in small batches, three weeks apart, and as one batch begins to tire, the next will be ready to replace it.
For our family of three, I like a four metre double row of broad beans ready at a time, plus perhaps 20 plants each of runner beans and French beans. Borlottis are a little slower in their productivity and I generally only do an early sowing now and one in early June to give a staggered harvest. For spacing, whatever the variety of bean, follow the instructions on the packet and you can’t go wrong.
- Lastly, harvest your beans when they are at their best: for all but borlottis, this is small, sweet and tender. Picked at this stage, they produce more the more you harvest them, but don’t kid yourself that these are bean-making machines designed for your dining pleasure; the secret behind their productivity is sex. The pods you snap from the plant hold their next generation – the more of those seeds that mature and are capable of growing into new plants, the more quickly the plant slows down production, having served its function of procreation. So, picking the pods early not only ensures the sweetest harvest, it also gives the plant an incentive to keep producing. Don’t worry about yield – the beans may be smaller, but the finer flavour and the extra productivity more than makes up for the weight of each harvest.
'via Blog this'
Pea Seed 'Douce Provence' (Pisum sativum)
Pea Seed 'Douce Provence' (Pisum sativum):
Originating from France, we think this is possibly the most versatile Pea variety there is!
Over the past few years these peas have given an exceptional performance and yield in our own vegetable gardens and we have a row or two 'on the go' virtually the whole year through. Due to its hardiness this variety can even be grown as an over-Winter pea.
Consistent and reliable in habit it produces large crops of sweet and succulent peas on compact plants growing to 30" (75 cm) in height.
Strictly speaking this is a First Early variety, but being so adaptable we would recommend repeat sowings through the year. Late Spring and Summer sowings can take as little as 8 weeks from sowing to cropping.
• For Early Cropping
• Sow under protection in trays or modules February to March.
• Set out when large enough to handle 5" (13 cm) apart in interspaced double rows 24" (60 cm) apart.
• Can also be direct sown as per 'main cropping' under cloches February - March.
• For Main Cropping
• Sow March to July 5" (13 cm) apart in rows 24" (60 cm) apart. Sow in 2" (5 cm) deep drills.
• For Over-Wintering
• Sow (either outside or under protection) October to November 5" (13 cm) apart in rows 18" (45 cm) apart. Sow in 2" (5 cm) deep drills.
• Top Tips
• Protect newly sown seeds from mice. Mice are notorious in 'sniffing out' seed of this nature!
• Pheasants love young pea plants and will dig up the plants to eat the sprouted seed so take precautions (especially with Autumn sowings) if you have pheasants in your area.
• Protect young plants from pigeons.
• Though not entirely essential, providing some support (pea sticks, netting or canes) will keep the crop tidier and make harvesting easier.
• A good precaution to prevent damage from Pea Moth or Pea Weevil is to spray the entire plant (flowers included) with our BioFriend Plant Defence periodically during the flowering period.
• Water well if the weather is dry when the pods are swelling.
• Regular picking will encourage further flowering and subsequent cropping. Peas freeze well so better to pick regularly and freeze any excess as this will keep the plants producing.
• After harvesting dig the plants into the ground to provide green manure and valuable nitrogen to the soil.
'via Blog this'
Originating from France, we think this is possibly the most versatile Pea variety there is!
Over the past few years these peas have given an exceptional performance and yield in our own vegetable gardens and we have a row or two 'on the go' virtually the whole year through. Due to its hardiness this variety can even be grown as an over-Winter pea.
Consistent and reliable in habit it produces large crops of sweet and succulent peas on compact plants growing to 30" (75 cm) in height.
Strictly speaking this is a First Early variety, but being so adaptable we would recommend repeat sowings through the year. Late Spring and Summer sowings can take as little as 8 weeks from sowing to cropping.
• For Early Cropping
• Sow under protection in trays or modules February to March.
• Set out when large enough to handle 5" (13 cm) apart in interspaced double rows 24" (60 cm) apart.
• Can also be direct sown as per 'main cropping' under cloches February - March.
• For Main Cropping
• Sow March to July 5" (13 cm) apart in rows 24" (60 cm) apart. Sow in 2" (5 cm) deep drills.
• For Over-Wintering
• Sow (either outside or under protection) October to November 5" (13 cm) apart in rows 18" (45 cm) apart. Sow in 2" (5 cm) deep drills.
• Top Tips
• Protect newly sown seeds from mice. Mice are notorious in 'sniffing out' seed of this nature!
• Pheasants love young pea plants and will dig up the plants to eat the sprouted seed so take precautions (especially with Autumn sowings) if you have pheasants in your area.
• Protect young plants from pigeons.
• Though not entirely essential, providing some support (pea sticks, netting or canes) will keep the crop tidier and make harvesting easier.
• A good precaution to prevent damage from Pea Moth or Pea Weevil is to spray the entire plant (flowers included) with our BioFriend Plant Defence periodically during the flowering period.
• Water well if the weather is dry when the pods are swelling.
• Regular picking will encourage further flowering and subsequent cropping. Peas freeze well so better to pick regularly and freeze any excess as this will keep the plants producing.
• After harvesting dig the plants into the ground to provide green manure and valuable nitrogen to the soil.
'via Blog this'
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