Weeding the Web

Putting your back into it (safely)

It’s that early spring moment. The birds sing, the sun shines. Small furry animals scamper at your feet (no, wait, that’s a Disney cartoon).

You think, if you pull your finger out, you can clear the weeds, plant potatoes, hack down a bush and sow some seeds, all before lunch. Then, ninety minutes later, it’s not your finger that’s out, it’s your back. And you spend the next few weeks hobbling around, moaning gently, and falling behind for the rest of the year.

Even if you can shift half a ton of topsoil with nary a twinge (me, jealous?), it makes sense to think about ways to reduce strain. Let’s face it, if we’re kind to our joints, chances are that they’ll serve us better for longer.

For all those who tend, like me, to cripple themselves in the first enthusiastic frenzy, Safe Gardening has a specific sections on avoiding back pain, not to mention RSI and CTD (repetitive strain injury and cumulative trauma disorder, respectively).

They certainly made me think about my working methods; I feel positively sheepish not to have thought to move a heavy pot by loading it on to a shovel and dragging it into place!

Is your lawnmower up to the job?

With Spring definitely on the way, the air will soon be reverberating to the whiz and rumble of lawnmowers.

Is yours suitable for the job?

If you have a large area to mow, or you have to cope with a slope, making the right choice of machinery can mean that mowing the lawn is an enjoyable task, rather than a laborious chore.

Find experienced advice on the right equipment for your type of lawn at Landscape Juice, where Phil Voice gives the lowdown.

You might also enjoy this Garden Giggle about lawncare.

What happens when you plant tulips (too) late?

How many of you have just rifled through the shed and found the bulbs that you meant to plant last autumn?

If you’re wondering what will happen if you put them in now, here’s what happened to me last year, when I found a pristine packet of tulips that I’d bought at Wisley the previous autumn.

Heck, I thought, I’ll put them in now (it was March) and I’ll just get late tulips. Well, no. Instead of emerging much later, they shot into action. Leaves emerged within a couple of weeks.

One bulb proudly displayed a full grown flower. The rest just couldn’t muster the energy to grow any bigger and I had a collection of miniature blooms.

Let’s hope they’ve recovered for a better display this year.

DIY Garden Projects in the Greenwood

NB I've left this post on for interest's sake, but sadly the Allotment Forestry website has disappeared and I haven't been able to track it down at a different address.

As Spring tickles our fancies, you’re probably itching to get out into the garden and do something, not just clearing and digging and sowing, but A Project. And there are certainly plenty of ideas on the web.

One site offering interesting ideas is Allotment Forestry a term originally coined to describe the small-scale growing of beanpoles, but which now encompasses the growing, management and use of 'micro' woodlands—individual trees, hedges and small woodlands—to produce all types of wood products. As the site says:

"A sad fact of gardening in Britain today is that it is easier to buy a Chinese ‘twig’, in the form of bamboo, than a locally grown hazel ‘twig’ to support runner beans. Our individual actions as gardeners may seem small and insignificant but cumulatively they have a massive power to do good or harm."

It also points out that we have, in our consumer culture, overcome any shame we felt in not being able to do simple tasks and have become increasingly dependent on the garden centre, instead of using what is growing around us.

Allotment growers emerge blinking into spring

As activity at the allotment cranks up, have you seen these characters?

“The species allotment growers and its two sub groups: allyearroundi (seen every month of the year, harvesting in any weather),and hibernatei (finishes in October,clears the ground and reappears the next year).

"Spring is close because hibernatei has been sighted,wearing the Christmas present of new gloves. (What else do you give an allotment holder?)

"Contemplating the patch that had been left clean but is now growing weeds and covered with leaves,hibernatei faces its first big decision of the year. Which essential tool to use first – spade, fork, hoe or thermos flask? That initial decision determines the remainder of your season. It is imperative to make the right choice as a stewed thermos of tea or coffee can ruin everything.”

Well, it certainly made me giggle. Over at the Horsell Allotments, Chairman David Inns writes the allotment blog for the Woking News and Mail. It’s well worth following, not just for his wit. He’s currently conducting an experiment to see whether fresh chicken manure will help in combating club root in his brassicas. (Note: follow David's blog at a new address from March 2010)

Presents for Gardeners whose family can never find them

As the days get longer, and we spend more time in the garden, does your family have difficulty tracking you down? If you’re lucky, you’ve got a house that you can get lost in and a garden to match.

To maintain communication, you could invest in some walkie-talkies – my husband and I have found them very useful in supermarkets, although you do attract some strange looks (saying, “I’m by the frozen peas, over,” just makes you feel silly).

On the other hand, here’s a charming, lower tech, quieter solution from Pipany. Hang it on the back door knob, and at least they’ll know not to trawl the upper floors for you.

Saving our heritage apples

Last month I posted my startling discovery (startling to me, anyway) that cooking apples are virtually unknown in the States. To find out why this might be, I emailed Bill Spencer who runs Windrose Farm in California. Certified Organic and becoming Biodynamic, it’s one place that does grow them. Could it be that Bramleys are not to American tastes?

Bill replied, “The short answer is that we know of over five or six thousand varieties of apple that once grew in the US and now the ‘corporate Industrial Agricultural System’ that is pervading the planet sells fewer and fewer, maybe six or eight varieties.”

Bramleys, he says, do very well there and are, indeed, greatly sought after, but like most ‘heirloom’ varieties they don’t fit the ‘corporate’ needs, not being uniform or ready all at once and having different management needs from all the commercial apples.

Sadly, we can’t hold our heads any higher in Britain, even if we have preserved our national taste for ‘cookers’.

Skipping the Allotments means a fight for Fortis Green

The Government is so keen for us to Grow Our Own that we are to be encouraged to grow vegetables in skips, according to an article by Louise Gray in the Daily Telegraph yesterday.

The idea is that the Government will set up a national “land bank” so that you and I can find the nearest piece of public or private land available to start sowing and reaping. Land would be available at hospitals, car parks, schools and on development sites where food could be grown in skips and moved about, presumably as the housing estates go up around them.

Am I the only one that thinks there’s something odd going on? Anyone would think there was a war on. Are we expecting one? Indeed, John Denham, the Communities Secretary, likened the plans to the wartime Dig for Victory campaign. Does the Government know something we don’t?