Colour photographs of the Duke of Windsor, gardening | HOW TO BE A RETRONAUT

This is how we should dress for gardening.......

Colour photographs of the Duke of Windsor, gardening | HOW TO BE A RETRONAUT:

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Slug Pellets

Opened my diary today to be reminded to put down some slug pellets - a note for myself on 15th of every month from February to November.  Not a lot of use as I am now a few thousand miles away but I will be hurling them around when we get back in December.  The more slugs we can kill this side of the winter the better, less to breed next spring.  So I thought I'd remind you.  I use these:




Wildlife Safe Slug Pellets


If you are not fully convinced of the safety of metaldehyde based slug pellets and many people are not, then you can use pellets based on Ferrous Phosphate, also known as Ferramol, which are approved in organic systems and will only kill slugs and snails, and will not harm children, pets, birds, animals or wildlife etc. if used as directed.


The slugs and snails are attracted to the bait in the pellets which they then ingest and then crawl away to die, leaving no dead slugs or snails around and no unsightly slime. Any bait not eaten breaks down rapidly to iron and phosphate nutrients as part of garden soil.

Garden Tours for 2012

I've just had an email newsletter from the NGS advertising some NGS garden tour holidays next year.  I don't know how to pass that one to you here????   If you want to see the email just send me your email address and I'll forward it on to you.  (my email address is:  mormson@gmail.com).  The company who are organising the tours are Brightwater Holidays.  Click on the name if you want a look.  They also have a blog which I've added to the favourite blogs list.  Check it out. 

Jefferson and Susan's garden

Something for you to check out..........

Jefferson and Susan's wonderful garden which we went to this summer (and last year) is being featured in the October issue of Lancashire Life magazine.

Back end of Summer

I am absolutely creased from half a day of putting my garden to bed before we decamp for six months for the winter elsewhere. I've emptied pots and hay rack and hanging baskets and added bonemeal to the lawns and borders.  I've scattered slug pellets to, hopefully, knock down the overwintering population - probably too soon to do any good - end of October would be better.  I've only planted two boxes of bulbs this year as I don't ever get back in time to see them! I did plant a few (white) Thalia narcissi in hopes of seeing them - and smelling them as they have a lovely perfume.   Even the general tidying up of pots and plant stands and trolleys takes loads of lifting and carrying.  Finally Ken and I put the furniture away and now everywhere looks like someone else's garden. 


I've potted on a peony my sister gave me when we visited a couple of weeks ago so  I hope the weather stays mild for a bit to let that settle in.  Fortunately (!) when I'd done all that (and more) I'd managed to (over) fill the brown bin so I wasn't able to chop down all the roses as I'd planned to do.  One job I've escaped from.  That major task will have to be done as soon as I get back in April.


I could do with a piece of advice...  one of the heaving and carting tasks is pulling down the bean plants.  I cut them off at the base as you are supposed to leave the roots in the ground over winter, but it is a heck of a job disentangling  seven eight foot poles all lashed together and twined around with jack and the Beanstalk beans.  Does anyone leave them in for the winter and are they then easier to sort out when they've all died back?  Please let me know here or email me.  Thanks.

Five-a-day

28th August and we are still picking great stuff from our little veggie patch.  As I've said a zillion times before we are in such a cold spot that we run at least a month behind the South. Sadly for us it always means we miss quite a bit of our crops as we decamp for warmer climes at the end of September and a lot of our stuff is still going for another month after that.  I am leaving a tub of King Edwards on the go for when we come home for Christmas - I'll let you know if they are edible in December!  I've frozen the usual gluts of rhubarb and  runner beans but that's OK as they always come back just fine.  I use them both from frozen - chucking the beans into a small amount of boiling water for a few minutes and usually sticking the rhubarb under a crumble mix and into the oven before it has a chance to go 'sad'.  I've never yet had a crop of (outdoor) tomatoes ripen in time and I've pretty much given up on them this year.  Now I have my little greenhouse I might have another go next year though.  Watch this space.  The strawberries are wonderful but they are a rare treat and I always say they are too much work and effort (watering and feeding) for what we get; but then we get those couple of puddings from them and it all becomes worth while.  Pretty much like the rest of the garden really!

Rethink on photos

 I recently decided in all my blogs to add links to individual photo albums in the left hand column.  In a short space of time I've come to realise that's going to be a bit unwieldy as there will be a ridiculously long list very soon; so I've put individual links back into the text of the post.  Don't forget to click on the highlighted text to look at the pictures.  As soon as I can I will remove the links I have on the left and attach them to the appropriate places in the blogs.  I'll just put a link to my main site (containing the individual albums) there instead.  Apologies in advance if that doesn't happen immediately - too many things to do and too little time right now.