Blog

12
Feb, 2019 By Sally Osgerby

How to Grow Rhubarb

Rhubarb is a perennial, coming up year after year.  Rhubarb provides a large crop from a small space, and is harvested from May to August. Biologically, rhubarb is an interesting plant: • the fleshy stalks provide the food that we eat • the leaves are poisonous, but have several uses • the crown, rootstock, is actually an underground stem called a rhizome • the
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09
Feb, 2019 By Sally Osgerby

Preparing Raspberry Supports

The new summer fruiting raspberry canes have arrived & we are still preparing the supports. Raspberries become very heavy when they are in full leaf & covered in rain, so the supports have to be firmly fixed in the ground. They say that there should be one third of the post below ground and two thirds above – so a big hole is necessary!
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08
Feb, 2019 By Sally Osgerby

How to Sow Seeds

Preparing the soil To help seeds grow in the vegetable garden the soil has to be worked on, to make a seedbed. A seedbed should provide the best possible conditions for the seeds, which help them to germinate and provide the things they need to grow. A vegetable seedbed should be: • Level • Made up of fine particles • Even – the same
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08
Feb, 2019 By Sally Osgerby

How to Plant Vegetable Plants or Plugs

Buying young vegetable plants, to grow on in the vegetable garden, is a shortcut. It is a safer bet than sowing seeds and, because the plants are well established, every plant will deliver. Also, harvest from purchased plants will be a few weeks earlier than from plants grown from seed, so: • There is no time to lose interest. • Harvest comes before the
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08
Feb, 2019 By Sally Osgerby

Use Grow Sacks for Growing Your Own

Grow Sacks  are containers made of a breathable material which are filled with soil and compost.  They are ideal for growing potatoes. Advantages of Grow Sacks: Water drains out easily. The sacks can be put anywhere, as long as it is light, and you don’t even have to have a garden. If you do, the sacks can be placed on garden soil, but they
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06
Feb, 2019 By Sally Osgerby

How to Make Raised Beds in 5 easy steps

Raised Beds are boxes full of soil mixed with compost. Any vegetable can be grown in a raised bed, as long as the soil is deep enough for the roots. Raised beds are easier to manage because the depth of soil retains moisture and watering is not so critical. Also, raised beds don’t have drainage problems which means they have a big advantage in
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04
Feb, 2019 By Sally Osgerby

How to Grow Chilli Peppers

Chilli Peppers are fun to grow.  They like to be kept warm and are very happy on a warm window sill if you haven’t got a greenhouse. If you are growing them from seed sow them early in the year. February or March.  Otherwise buy young plants in May, from a garden centre or an online supplier. How to Sow Chilli Seeds: Pots –
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17
Jan, 2019 By Sally Osgerby

THE ART OF THE ALLOTMENT

An art exhibition including  ‘Art on the Allotment’ opens at the Dean Clough Art Gallery in Halifax this weekend. Carole Thornton pictured above with her portrait of an old man, one of a series of three pictures, for the exhibition at Dean Clough Art Gallery in Halifax. 19th of January to February 3rd 2019. In the main Crossley Gallery. The picture above is a recent
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