The Garden Magazine

There's always something new going on in the garden, subcribe to our RSS feed to keep up with the news. Thanks for visiting!

I have a problem in my garden, and not a very nice one at that - Slugs. It has taken me years to get them under some sort of control. The previous owners of our house were not gardeners at all and pests ran rife which left us quite a legacy of hard work to bring them under control. The worst of the pests without doubt were the slugs. Now I realise it is perfectly possible to grow slug resistant plants but I don’t like being dictated to - and my husband loves Hostas - the result of that combination was all out war on slugs.

Some people like to use chemicals in their garden, and that is their choice, but I don’t if it can be avoided so traditional slug pellets were not an option. They also wreak havoc with birds and hedgehogs so they were out. We did, and still do, occasionally use the organic, bird and hedgehog friendly slug pellets but they are not always easy to get hold of, so we had to use other methods. I have a friend who is even more paranoid about slugs than I am but I haven’t resorted to her method of control yet.  At dead of night she dons Continue Reading »

Organic Gardening is the method of growing plants, fruit and vegetables  without  the use of chemicals or artifical additives.  It can be a very cost effective form of gardening as you don’t have to buy vast quantities of chemicals.  Many poeple worry about how to ensure the health of their garden if they don’t use these much advertised products.

For example, feeding your soil and keeping it productive.  You can easily make compost from kitchen scraps and garden waste. It takes very little time to put your green waste into a compost bin and puts your garbage to good use and also it is more ecologically sound.  Organic gardening is much kinder to the environment. Chemicals used in the garden can be washed into our waterways, causing damage and death to the animals, insects and fish often polluting their habitat.

Organic gardening uses methods that help prevent the loss of topsoil through erosion by planting more effectively and using nature itself to protect and preserve the fertilitiy of the soil such as raised beds and simple companion planting techniques.  It is estimated that over 30  billion tons of soil is eroded from farms in the USA alone each year.  Multiply that to global proportions and you can soon see that every little helps.

Pest Control is often cited as a problem for organic gardeners but there are many simple recipes for safe natural compounds that work effectively. A simple spray can be made by mixing  a tablespoon of liquid detergent and a cup of cooking oil which helps remove a lot of the bugs such as greenfly.  Three  tablespoons of this mixture in two pints of water and simply spray onto your plants, there is no need to worry about the effect on the fishin yourpond or the birds that visit the garden.  Companion planting alongside the main crop is an excellent deterrent to pests, for example   marigolds help to protect vegetables from aphids.  Or what about putting pistachio nuts shells round plants that are vulnerable to slugs and snails.   The sharp shells and the salty residue gets rid of them very effectively.

Rather than buying expensive peat which damages the enivronment dreadfully what about a simple mulch of pine needles will help to suppress the growth of weeds as well as keeping the moisture in.  You can shred or chip a lot of your heavy garden waste into mulches like this.  Out local Council offers a service where they will come and shred any trees or big garden waste and bag it up for you to use later.

Organic gardening is a simple and safe method of gardening, especially where food crops are concerned and helps to keep our planet safe for our children and grandchildren.