Steaming

Steaming

I bought a steam cleaner this week. I had it brought to my attention that I seem to have a bit of confusion differentiating indoors and out of doors when it comes to muddy boots and clothing. I’d blame it on the dogs but they don’t come into the main part of the house, they have their own grimy chairs in my office space.  Anyway, this steam cleaner has totally changed the way I wash floors and clean furniture (the steamer converts from a floor cleaner to a hand held device with the click of a button)  I didn’t even know they existed until  a few days ago, apparently everyone else knows about them though and they have been around for years. 

Barge

Something else that’s been around for a long time is the canal barge that my mate Paul (The Mulcher) is buying for himself and his girlfriend to live on.  They have decided to forego convention and rent a space on the waterways where they can live in a straight line on their narrow boat.  The children have gone and they are just rattling around their house and don’t really need the space.  One thing Paul will miss though is his garden.  I’ve been taking inspiration from my new toy and after watching the steamer hover over the wooden floor it gave me an idea.  How about if Paul builds himself a floating garden? 

Rafts

It sounds a bit farfetched but here me out.  In some countries the only way to grow vegetables is to build them on rafts. They vary in size but some basic ones are made out of nothing more than lashed together bamboo, some lilies for a base and then on top of that a layer of soil is added to keep the plants from getting too wet. Just think of the design Paul could use. He could get old water bottles out of the bins, tie them together, put some soil on top, tie them around the barge and there you have it. A self-watering garden that will always be at your fingertips, all you need do is open a window anywhere on the barge and grab a handful of lettuce and herbs. 

There is a prototype large scale version of this idea being built that could produce over 40 tonnes of produce a day and it might reduce the amount of plastic bottles floating around the ocean as they are tied together and used for ballast. (pic:Wayne J. Lutz)

Which is Best?

Staying on the subject of water…  Do plants prefer tap water or rain water?  That’s a question I have asked myself often and I tend to go for the rainwater. Rainwater seems softer and I know when I used to grow a lot of two litre pot plants, they always seemed to perk up after a downpour, far more that the tap watering system I had.  There could be a lot of factors besides the softness, it might be something to do with moisture in the air or any number of other things.  It’s not clear cut though because some people have chlorinated water, wells, fluoride in the water and other impurities.

Using  recycled rainwater we collect is not only great to use because it is free, but there is a science behind the benefits it has on your plants too other than softness.

• It’s free from chlorine and any other treatments added by the water companies.
• Rainwater has a better PH for the soil than mains water, as it has a very low alkalinity
• Nitrogen found in rainwater helps foliage grow lush and green because it is the basis of photosynthesis.  Plus it is an essential component of each stage of plant growth and development.
• It’s healthier for plants because it is relatively free of impurities and hard water minerals.
• According to the University of Edinburgh's Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, rainwater is a rich source of nitrogen that is soluble through the biological processes of plants and soil

Negatives of watering plants with mains water

• Tap water contains ingredients added as softeners, such as sodium, which can prevents the roots from absorbing water
• Additives included in mains water for human health, such as fluoride, can injure plants especially those with long slender leaves
• Chlorine in mains water is harmful to plants and kills beneficial microorganisms in the soil
• Hard water also negatively affects root growth and development. Rainwater does not contain these minerals, and it helps wash them out of the soil as it soaks in.

If you do have any reservations about additives in tap water, let it site for an hour or two, this gets rid of a few cleaning agents.

One thing I do know is that my plants prefer rain water to tap water, but they also prefer tap water to NO water, so don’t be too fussy!

Painting with Colours

Painting with plants

Flowers are the new paint. There’s a growing recognition for the skills involved in getting a garden design scheme to fit perfectly into its surroundings. This could be by complimenting the landscape or being in total contrast to it-and all of the variables in between.  It’s a vast subject and as varied and individual as the person designing the schemes for a garden.

Combining colours

Before planning your garden scheme, makes notes of items of clothing, furniture or any other factors in the day that catch your eye because of the colour contrasts. These can help you plant a colour scheme when looking for plants.

Colour theory

Colour theory is based on the colour wheel, which is basically the spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet) bent into a circle. Particular relationships between colours give certain results. The wheel is a great help for planning the garden scheme.

Harmonious colours are next to each other on the colour wheel and have a soothing effect. These softer colour combinations include blue and violet, orange and red, and orange and yellow. Using harmonious colours unifies a garden.

Complementary colours. Colours that are opposite on the colour wheel are described as complementary. High in contrast, complementary colours add creative energy and vitality to a garden. Examples of complementary colours include yellow and violet, orange and blue, and green and red.

A monochromatic colour scheme is composed of plants of the same colour. You may have an all-white garden or a garden that is "in the pink." Create extra interest in a monochromatic garden by using a mix of tones or shades of the same colour in addition to various textures, shapes and sizes.

Foliage colour should be considered in any scheme. Foliage with green and white or green and yellow variegated leaves adds interest to the garden. There are also plants with chartreuse, lime green, bronze or reddish/purple leaves that add a bold element to your garden. Bearing in mind that most foliage is green, and that, on a good day, the sky is blue, it is difficult to be strict about this theory, because the majority of colours in the garden go well with blue and green. However, it is undeniable that blue and orange do combine very well, and that yellow and purple create a pleasing match.

Pastels and muted colours set a peaceful and tranquil mood Soft pink, powder blue, lavender, and peach -- these gentle colours set a mood of tranquillity. They are familiar colours of cottage gardens, those English-style gardens that contain a carefully designed hodgepodge of old-fashioned flowers. Pastel colours look best when viewed from relatively close up, and they can look washed out in the harsh mid-day sun, which can be attractive in itself.

Bright or primary colours include red, orange, magenta and bright yellow. These colours are guaranteed to energize the garden. The colour will show well in the bright sunshine and also attract your eye from a great distance. Limit planting bright colours with less intensely coloured plants as the brighter ones will steal the show.

White flowers are in a class by themselves. They blend well with every colour and can also be used as a transition between colours that do not normally work well together.

Warm colours include red, orange and yellow. They tend to make flowers appear closer than they really are.

Cool colours such as blue, violet, silver and white lend a calming effect and make plants appear farther away in the garden.

Adjacent colours

 Use two or three adjacent colours to create a harmonious effect. For example, red and orange (and yellow) Adjoining colours, which sit side-by-side on the colour wheel, create more subtle combinations. The most striking combinations are complementary colours that lie directly opposite each other: red and green, purple and yellow. You can use complementary pairs as great accent colour, for example, a single purple-flowered plant in a bed of yellow.

Based on colours spaced at equal distances around the colour wheel, contrasts work best in groups of three, for example, red, blue and yellow, or purple, green and orange.

It’s up to personal taste but as a rule of thumb up to five colours can be contrasted before it gets too much for the eye. But this needs careful planning - use a dominant ‘theme colour’ and work the rest round it.

Position

The colour combinations might depend on the gardens position. Does it get full sun; is it shaded, wet or dry?  All of these factors can be taken into consideration when choosing permanent shrubs, perennial or annuals for the scheme. 

Once you know the effect you wish to create and you have chosen your anchor colour, it's time to head to the garden centre or friends house for plants that fall within your colour scheme. If you are unsure about combinations, let them sit side by side in pots for a few days to see how you like the effect. 

The wonderful thing about a garden is that it is always a work in progress. Move and play with colours until you find the effect that makes you smile. That's what gardening is really all about.

Cats... Again

Plastic forks please... put the stainless steel away!

Apparently Bob Flowedew, the seasoned presenter on BBC Gardeners’ Question Time seems to think that it’s really difficult to grow parsley from seed. Although I bow down to his years of horticultural experience and wisdom, I must say in this particular case, I have to disagree.  I grow parsley every year from seed and have never had an issue with them germinating. I do think you need fresh seeds annually but I have even grown ones that I found stuffed away in the corner of a drawer with a “use by” date of 2009. Maybe it’s my unflinching self-confidence when I scatter the seeds, the fact that I might unwittingly give them just the right amount of light, heat, and soil for them to thrive.  It’s nothing I do any differently to other seeds, some of which I do find really difficult to propagate I might add before you think that I am sitting here blowing my own trumpet so loudly I can be heard in Dublin. Sweetcorn, how on earth do people grow sweetcorn from seed? Now there’s a difficult one to germinate. 

Pulling them up

I’ve been pulling up the broccoli and kale this week. These plants have been in the ground for so long that I had to under plant them with this year’s crops of peas and beans. (I’m trying to do a bit of crop rotation) I might have to just chop off the plants at ground level so I don’t disturb the roots of the new plants that are coming up. It’s the challenges of growing vegetables in a garden with limited space, there always something needs pulling out to make room for a new crop. The spinach has started to go to seed too so it won’t be long before that’s pulled up. It’s seems a waste as there is so much greenery but as the leaves start to get pointy and the stems elongate, the plants starts go get a bitter taste and it’s not very palatable.  It does rot down well in the compost bin so all is not lost.

Cats

Someone asked a question this week about how to keep cats off their garden.  They are digging up the flower beds and new veggie seedlings, which is bad enough, but it’s their “deposits” that can be the worst thing, especially if you aren’t wearing gloves.

We have come up with solutions before about keeping the pests off the soil and a lot of the ideas were great.  A blast from the hosepipe or a spray bottle sometimes works or planting herbs like lavender, geranium, absinthe, and lemon-thyme might help.  There are loads of ideas that we didn’t mention. Some of them sound a bit drastic, so if you are a cat lover, please look away now.

Cats Be Gone

Pine cones scattered around the soil. The cats don’t like the feel of them when they scratch

Netting. Put fine netting onto the plants to keep the cats off the beds all together.

Citrus skins from oranges and lemons might make them think twice.

Sprinkle cayenne pepper. This has very mixed feelings. As the cats lick their paws they get a hot sensation. The pepper doesn’t harm the plants but it might make your cat a bit crazy. Best avoided I think.

 Plastic take away forks.  This idea is growing in popularity. Put the forks in the ground point end up into the soil.

Lay boards down until the seedlings have grown in the soil, this eliminates their toilet space.

Plant the cat his own garden. Cat mint, cat nip and cat grass. It will go to that and leave everything else alone. (I think the cat will just play in it and then go to another place to use the loo)

Tape strips around the borders, sticky side up. Anywhere you don't want cats touching. They can't stand the feel of anything sticky and will remember where they got tape stuck to their paws. They are able to remove the tape by tugging at it a while so there is no harm to the cat other than the temporary issue of having to work at getting the tape off their paws

 Buy the plastic mats that go under desks, they have small spikes underneath. Cut them any way you want and put in the garden, cats won't step on the spikes.

Old coffee grounds sprinkled over beds should keep them off.

As you can see (If you are still reading and haven’t looked away) that there are a lot of things you can do to keep cats from ruining your garden.  As the problem persists we come up with more and more innovative solutions. I still like the story my friend told of putting one on a train to Scotland (from Nottingham) so it “could have a holiday”

BBC Gardeners' Question Time at the Antrim Garden Show

The BBC Radio 4 Gardeners’Question Time Team l-r – James Wong, Matthew Biggs and Bob Flowerdew.

“When is the best time to take cuttings?” When no-one’s looking. (Bob Flowerdew)

 I’m at the annual Garden Show Ireland at Antrim Castle this week. The event outgrew its old site at Hillsborough and moved to this lovely site last year.  I arrived early as the BBC radio 4 are doing a Gardeners’ Question Time in the grand marquee and I didn’t want the curtain closing without me being inside to hear James Wong, Matthew Biggs and Bob Flowerdew give us the benefit of their wisdom when the public get answers to their gardening issues. 

Eric Robson was in the chair to move things along and the gardeners with questions to ask are all sitting on the front row so the big fluffy microphone on a stick can be put in their face to get the best sound quality.

After a few light hearted jokes such as “why don’t hedgehogs just share the hedge” and being prompted to clap, the questions begin.

Question Time

First with the ‘fluffy mike in face’ was Rachel. “Should I put my potted lemon tree outside?”

Organic gardener Bob Flowerdew is the first to reply “Yes, but you’ll have to buy another one next year if the frost gets it.” 

Edible garden expert James Wong steps in and tells us that you can eat the leaves from the tree and they are usually very expensive to buy.

Gardener Matthew Biggs then advises turning the pot to get an even growth.

Jenny asks the second question  

“We have a lovely Hawthorne hedge but the farmer cuts it so we never see the lovely flowers. What can we plant underneath that will give colour?” 

All three panellists have a long list of suggestions. Honeysuckle or clematis is attractive. If you have a good relationship with the farmer then blackberries will be colourful, give you fruit and a hiding place for wildlife. The rambling rose is suggested, but they can get a bit unruly the panellists agree.

Gerry from the audience asks about potatoes. 

“I get a poor yield every year he tells us.  That’s because of a few factors. Bob Flowerdew knows his spuds. They are 95% water. He says, so will need at least an inch or two every few days. The soil needs to be warm for planting too, and feed well. They suggest Sharp Express or HomeGuard for disease resistance and the ability to grow in tubs.

Jane asks about curly leaves on her tomato plants.  

“Will they ever recover?”

The answers are favourable. Bob has great advice for growing strong plants “Take the side shoots and growing tip from the plant and root those. They produce stronger plants, better yields, flowering lower down their stems and are hardier out of doors.  The main reason is that the plant cuttings think they are going to die so make the most of things.

James starts to humorously fidget a bit in his seat when he tells us that this is a great way to save money when buying F1 seeds as you can increase the stock for no money. “Also feed the plants half an aspirin in half a litre of water as they are growing. This will help them tolerate the extremes of heat and cold, give the plants better disease resistance and we will see a 5% increase in yield” A top tip indeed.

Rosemary asks what will grow well in tubs outside the front door. 

James, who is all about edibles suggests Morello cherry trees and even under planted with salad.

Matthew likes topiary and a more formal look to the doorways so he suggests something formal like Box. He is also suggesting the post be brightly coloured which doesn’t seem to go down well with most people. “The main thing” adds Bob “is that the drainage is good and even put the post on small blocks”. His planting suggestion is for holly bushes pruned to a geometric shape.

As they are on the topic of Box plants, their next question has fitted in nicely. 

Annie asks how she can stop passing dogs from “relieving themselves” on her hedge and killing the lower leaves. 

“Box isn’t very tough” says Matthew, you would be better with privet or hawthorne. There is usually a gap at the bottom of these hedges so the dog wouldn’t cock its leg up high enough to reach the leaves. Bob mentions pepper dust and reminds the listening radio audience that we are being broadcast in Ireland so it will need to be redone a lot because of the amount of rain we get.

There are more questions. You can listen to those- edited to cut out the planes flying overhead occasionally from the International airport- by going onto the BBC Radio 4 Gardeners Question Time On Demand iPlayer and look for ‘Antrim Castle’ Airing date 16th May 15