Take Advantage of Your Garden Condition

Take advantage of your garden assets. Every garden has some strong points or the other. But most of the time people complain about what they are missing. There is no harm in improving your garden conditions, but it is also important and sometimes more fulfilling to utilize the prevailing conditions and use them to their full effect.

In this article we want to emphasize these points. Here are some of these garden conditions which bother people, and just how you can use them to your benefit.

1. Too much sunlight:
   If your garden receives bright sunlight most of the time, you should consider yourself lucky. There are very few plants in this world which dont like bright sunlight. Most of the vegetables and fruit growing plants require at least six hours of direct sunlight ( check out Sun or No Sun for more information). Many bright-coloured flowers grow fantastically well under bright sunlight. You can choose variety of colours and combinations.
2.  Lack of sunlight:
   If your garden conditions are just the opposite of the previous one i.e, you rarely receive bright sunlight; you dont need to worry. Consider this as an opportunity to create cool and soothing environment around. One of the major benefits of having a darker garden is that you dont need to worry about wilting of plants. It will provide a fresher look to your garden. Not every plant requires 6 hours of direct sunlight; grow leafy vegetables. Many flowers actually prefer dark environment and not the direct sunlight. More details about shade gardening is here in this article.
3. Dry conditions:
   If your garden soil and surroundings are too dry, and you think it is not possible to grow anything; think again. These days, there are so many options available with growers that you dont even need to think about watering most of the time. Start from cacti and the option is endless. You might think this as a blessing in disguise. You can start with the nursery shops and ask for their help in selecting the plants; or you can use the Internet to research about this.
4. Wet or soggy condition:
   Dont neglect these parts of the garden just because they are soggy and damp. Grow plants that love damp environments. This might look a little unconventional but it will help to redecorate your landscape. Skunk cabbage can be a good option for this type of environments. You can check this article for a detailed list of various plants for this kind of environment.
5. Acidic soil:
   A soil pH lower than 6.5 is called acidic soil. Acidic soil is actually good for many plants. Potatoes, Strawberries, Radishes etc love acidic soil. You can also turn your empty acidic patch of land into a rose garden in case the soil is slightly acidic. Different types of fern also grows well in acidic soil.
6. Alkaline soil:
   In contrast to the above, here the soil pH is 7.5 or more. Other than lowering the pH (which is always an option), you can also use the conditions to grow plants that are more suitable to grow in alkaline soil. Plants such as Sunflowers, Daisies, Leeks, Oranges are ideal for alkaline soil. You can also opt for plants like Maple is you have the required space.

These are just some of the examples. You can always use your creativity and gardening knowledge to create more such solutions.

What do you think about the article? Give your feedback using the comment box below. We would like to hear from you.

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My Little Garden

I often get asked about my own garden, as opposed to the allotment, and so I thought I would share a few pictures and talk a little bit about what goes on in the patch outside my back door.
The garden is tiny and is part of a larger space that is shared with the house upstairs, so our garden is basically the patio area outside the back door and is delineated by the step down to the main garden. The main space is very wild and occassionally I go and hack some of it back but its not my space and so I shall concentrate on what is mine to play in.
Firstly I have no soil so the entire garden is in pots and raised beds which were here when we arrived. When we first arrived the whole space was over run by brambles which we are still fighting, and with the ivy which still adorns the wall and which, now we are in control of it, lends a lush background to the space.
The gardens main issue is its lack of biodiversity, which is an ongoing issue and will continue to be so. Being in the centre of a city means that the naturalised birds are seagulls and pigeons and there is not a hedgehog to be found for miles around. We are starting to see smaller birds by introducing feeders and with the wilder area at the back offering seclusion there have been a few nests in the garden this year but the thrushes and blackbirds we so desperately need to control the mollusc problem are not to be seen. And the mollusc problem is huge!! Twice daily patrols, organic pellets and now the introduction of a copper band around a lupin, many thanks to STV Peat Control, and we are beginning to win a few battles but in the rain last week that was so torrential I forgot about slug patrols, we lost 24 kale plants, 48 lettuces and my Monarda was eaten down to its roots. But more on Sluggmagedon in a future post!! In the meantime the fight to increase numbers of birds goes on along with the hope that we might be able to introduce a small pond into the wilder area which might bring with it some amphibians.....

The large banana plant came from the south east with me and will need to be repotted into a far larger pot next spring. I left it outside over the winter and it was perfectly fine-one of the joys of being in the city centre!

That empty pot needs filling desperately as well as being moved to a different point in the space. I think it may soon have the banana in it!!

A corner of the garden that has a large raised bed at the back and pots at the front full of echinacea, fuchsias, agapanthis and more. Ive spent all summer moving pots around until they worked and there is still more moving to do.

There are two benches in the garden, both of which are full of plants and seedlings!! This is a great sunny spot for the chillies which are ripening nicely. The really great thing about the garden is not only is it really secluded and has its own microclimate but it also is south facing.

This corner is still continually having to have brambles cut back in it but they are starting to get the message I hope.

The area under the stairs from the upstairs is really useful for propagation but at the moment there are more chillies ripening there.

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Stropharia aka Garden Giant Mycelium spawned to garden bed

My buddy Brian gave me some Stropharia spawn a few months back that I have been running out onto fermented woodchips.  The woodchips are finally fully colonized, and I spread them throughout the mulch around my garden.  Hopefully it will outcompete the Alcohol Inky Cap mushrooms in the garden, and Ill have some Garden Giant mushrooms in the Spring!  Heres some photos:

The woodchips colonizing in the burlap sack, buried in a small hole.

The mycelium is exploding with life!

So good!

Im hoping that the Stropharia will out-compete these inky cap mushrooms, which are edible, but toxic when eaten within 3 days of consuming alcohol.  Thats no fun...

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Wild Foods Garden Things and Music at the Gandhi Garden

Recently I took a bike ride to collect some wild yarrow and blackberries.  Yarrow is an herb with lots of uses and benefits. The blackberries were about 20-30% ripe, so I was able to collect about a cup. Theyre really tart, but also really tasty!

I also recently got an email from a Wild Foodies group in Philadelphia about the plant of the week, Rose of Sharon.  I hadnt heard of it, and when I saw a picture, I recognized it as a plant that my landlord has growing up and down the edges of his property.  I found a recipe to stuff the violet, pink, and white flowers in goat cheese and bread and fry them.  That seems tasty, but I also want to find a recipe that doesnt completely hide the taste of the flower.  I believe the leaves are edible as well.  Theres food all around us!

I found this praying mantis hanging out in my Kale a couple days in a row.  Good luck or something, right?

Then I found these melting, drippy mushrooms growing on my straw bale garden next to some watermelon and pumpkin seedlings.  It was a hot day, but Ive never seen that before.  Trippy!

At work the other day, I was playing with a little butterfly or moth.  It looked a bit like a monarch on the top of its wings, but with the wings up, it looks more moth-like.  What do you think?  He wanted to eat my finger.  Silly guy!

A few nights ago, some friends of mine with the SAGE Coallition threw a cookout/concert in downtown Trenton at the Gandhi Garden (219 East Hanover St Trenton, NJ).  Vita and the Woolf played an awesome set, and Ruff House brought the funk!  It was a great time!

Vita and the Woolf

Ruff House

I also recently harvested a bunch of Queen Annes Lace (wild carrot) flowers to make a jam.  I need to collect a bit more, but Ill post pictures when thats finished.  Its suppossed to be very tasty, so Im excited to see how it turns out.

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Some Nature Videos

Some koi fish at Shofuso Japanese House in West Philly.  Theyre hungry!

This caterpillar is munching my dill!

Jewelweed Seeds exploding!

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Home and Garden Projects update 6 22

I recently fenced in my garden area to keep the neighborhood cats out. I ran out of straw, but luckily a local tree removal device is going to drop off 2 cubic yards of wood chips this week for free. I have some Stropharia (aka Wine Cap, aka Garden Giant, aka Portabello) mushroom spawn to mix into the wood chips. Im also getting 2 bales of straw next weekend for a couple straw bale gardens I want to play with.

Hey, put me down, Im not done eating!

Exploding with life!

So far Ive harvested:

Swiss Chard, Lettuce, Lambs Quarter, Radishes, and Beets

Some yard mushrooms.

Burdock in the yard.

Orange spots on the backyard apple tree. My landlord hasnt taken good care of it, so Im hoping to do some trimming and try to bring it back to health. Branches crossing, its a mess. Already, there are lots of apples forming, though!

Heres a short video showing the IBC Tote Aquaponic System that Im contructing at my parents house in Delaware.  Its finally just about ready for fish and plants.

While at work, I realized that the trees outside the cafeteria are Juneberries! They were ripe and delicious.

I got about 3.5 cups of Juneberries (aka Service berry, aka Shadbush, aka Shadberry.

My girlfriend baked them into a Juneberry crisp dessert for my family reunion.

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Herb Spiral in West Philly Community Garden

Over the past two weekends I spent some time building an herb spiral at a community garden at 37th and Brown St in West Philadelphia.  All the bricks were found in the surrounding neighborhood, and the soil from the Philadelphia Horticultural Society Community Garden next door.  This little garden is maintained by Growing Home, a non-profit organization trying to empower communities to grow their own food on the unused land in their neighborhoods.  This herb spiral was built entirly for free with reclaimed or donated materials.  Everything besides the corn was seeded, since we didnt have transplants available.  Hopefully in a few weeks Ill stop back and see how its doing.  Check out the photos!

After the first day.

Alex and Elissa from Growing Home

Corn Planted!

Heres the seeds that we planted

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WTF and the smallest forest garden in the land!

So the last year or so has been quite amazing. First the lovely Kristi talked me into starting The Physic Garden. Then I joined Twitter and started to talk to the very wonderful @EmmmaB of Bath Garden Design fame, who I have subsequently met several times and has become a true friend.
Between us we have decided that there appear to be an awful lot of folk about who take gardening so seriously that they seem to have forgotten to enjoy it. Its ok to be serious about plants and about good design, but life is short enough and along side that seriousness we would like to see people having some fun. So we have decided to do something about all this but starting the WTF Gardening blog and Twitter page with the idea that if people are having problems, want help or information, they can tweet us and we will blog the answer. Eventually the blog will end up being a sensible yet fun and down to earth guide to how to garden, along with some things that will make you(hopefully)laugh!!
 The blog can be found at thewtfofgardening.wordpress.com and we will tweet all new posts. I really hope you look forward to reading it and that it makes you laugh. Our theory is that gardening should make you smile all year round.

For Christmas I received Martin Crawfords book on creating a forest garden. This is something that makes me smile and so I thought, seeing as how The Physic Garden is concentrating on growing perennial veg and herbs and fruit, that it was really time for me to overhaul the garden. Now my garden is tiny- literally 3m by 3m, and I have had to remove a whole load of stuff, and in doing so accidentally removed half a wall, and there is still more removal to go, but I have worked out that in that space I can get at least 4 espaliers, some step-overs and some dwarf fruit as well as loads of herbs and some vegetables. But watch this space as I shall blog about it regularly(!). The above photo of an espalier was taken at Rousham last summer, a garden which I could, and probably will, go on about at length. However that is for another time.
And while were talking about WTF, why are there daffodils flowering in my garden already. Lord help us if we have a bad frost!!

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Some Paintings

Ive recently taken an interest in watercolor painting, and have done some nature-related paintings.  The herb paintings are practice for an herb shelf that my girlfriend and I are painting together.  Enjoy!

Juneberries

Maple Leaf

Chives

Rosemary

Mint

Basil

Wild Carrot

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Nematode problem in the garden

For a successful gardening nematode control is very essential. Now what is a nematode? A nematode refers to small microscopic, small round worms. They live in the soil and can cause a great damage to the roots of the plants. They interrupt plants normal process of taking water and other nutrients through the roots by burrowing into them. As a result various knobs are formed in the roots of the plant.

The most common of all the nematodes is root knot nematode (as it causes knots to the roots of many vegetables). Root knot nematodes affect a vast range of plants including Potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, roses etc.

  

The nematode infection is more common in sandy soil. Check out more on soil classification here. The nematodes cause shunted and low or no yielding plants.

How to battle this problem? As they say prevention is better than cure. There is hardly anything you can do to treat the infected plants. The best methods are preventive in nature.

There can be several ways you can fight this problem

Experts suggest that crop rotation is the best way to combat. Once you have used a place to grow vegetables in the next step use non-susceptible plant like grass in that area. Without the host the nematodes will starve and the population will reduce. Other than grass you can also use some resistant varieties of the vegetables to reduce nematode population.

If you are purchasing transplant, go for the nematode free variety only.

After harvesting crops, till the soil, and expose the roots in the sun. The effect of direct sunlight is fatal to the nematodes.

Planting marigold plants as companion along with other vegetables can help reducing nematode population. They release some chemical from their roots which are toxic to the nematodes.

A healthy soil itself acts as a buffer to nematode problems. In a healthy soil, nematodes as well as their parasites (various microorganisms) are present. So this will keep the nematode population to a check. You can keep your soil healthy by regularly adding compost, manures and mulch.

Solarization is also a very good way to reduce nematode and various weeds.

Having said that; not all nematodes present in the soil are bad for plants. There are several beneficial nematodes are present in the soil which helps in checking other pest problems for the plant. Nematodes can rarely move a long distances. In most of cases diseases spread by human interference. So the more hygiene you maintain in your garden lesser the chances of spreading.

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The Valhalla Project has some great ideas!

I was browsing kickstarter a few days ago and came across this fundraiser for "The Farm of the Future."  The group behind the project calls themselves Valhalla.

"We are Valhalla -- a group of people dedicated to making sustainable communal living mainstream and inspiring people to help create the beautiful world our hearts tell us is possible."
I like their mission statement and in particular, I thought their idea of combining an earthship structure with a greenhouse was really cool.  Check them out!

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Raised Garden Beds How To Build A Bed in 4 Simple Steps

Raised garden beds are always a good option for Gardening. Though it might sound pretty troublesome to prepare garden bed it is not that tough. This article will put some light on Garden bed preparation.

The first thing you need to do to make a raised garden bed is to kill the weeds in the area you have planned your bed. The best way to do this is to first till the area with a tiller or plough it (in case the area is larger).

Next add a thick layer of compost and till again. You can also add layers of newspaper or cardboard to cover the area before tilling the soil.

It will kill most of the weeds in the first place. Weeds which have deep roots or runners can be killed easily by this process.

After covering the area with compost add some water to the soil and till it a bit. This will make the weed seed (which are present in the soil) to germinate. Once they germinate, till it once more.

This total process of watering and tilling you need to follow quite a few times. After making sure that there are no more weed seeds present in the soil, you can use your vegetable or other plants. Try not to use seeds at first and go for transplanting in the first year. After that you can use seeds as per your likings.

Another way to get instant garden bed is to cover the whole area with the topsoil bags which are readily available in any garden store. Try not to use cheap quality product but go for the company which is known for their product quality.

Cut one or two areas of each bag and plant your seedling or seeds there. After covering the whole area with topsoil bags, cover the exposed plastic area of the

bag with thick layer of Mulch. Now you have it, your own garden bed.

This type of permanent raised bed gardening is always helpful and it also makes the surrounding soil much more fertile and healthier. Raised beds warm up faster than normal soil. The best part about garden beds is you can make it any size you want. Keep enough space for walking, beside the garden beds and never walk on the beds.

Keep adding composts at regular intervals. It will keep the beds fertile. First year it is recommended to add 4 to 6 inches of compost. In the subsequent years ½ inch of compost will be enough to provide the required nutrition to the plants.


Have you prepared you garden beds yet? Share your experiences with us.

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Snowdrops at The Chelsea Physic Garden and an engagement too!!

So this week has been just a little stressful! Firstly I have more seedlings around the house than anyone would think possible and its taking me about an hour a day to keep them all well and watered, on top of a full days work, looking after family and home and keeping the secret of the year from Kristi!
So the secret. About 3 weeks ago her boyfriend, Bruce. contacted me asking me to book her Monday 14th off as he was going to take her on a long weekend city break to Brussels and propose. Oh and could I find out her ring size!!So by the end of last week I was bursting to tell her and she knew something was going on and so kept probing-I am very impressed that the cat stayed in the bag. Anyway, I can announce that all has gone well and they will return on Monday betrothed!!!!!!
So yesterday, whilst on tenterhooks about the outcome, although I was quite sure it would be positive, I took myself off to The Chelsea Physic Garden to see the snowdrops and winter gardens. It always feels magical to go through the gate in the wall and find such a beautiful, well kept garden in the middle of Chelsea and yesterday was extra special as the sun came out as I arrived and all the colours of the winter flowers shone. Although the snowdrops were stunning my absolute favourite was the winter aconites in the woodland area next to the monocot beds, each of which looked like a little orb of sunlight. It was also lovely to see the beautiful trees in their naked state as they are such amazing shapes and even with no leaf offer a wonderful structure to the garden. It was a lovely afternoon and a place I would heartily recommend to anyone.
This week I have been reading Deni Moores Herbal, a fantastic dictionary type book about herbs and their uses, medicinal, culinary, cultural etc and their places in history. Its a great read for anyone interested in herbs and I am sure is going to influence our range at The Physic Garden.
So with that in mind today I have pottd on I know not how many Salvias and sown Nicandra, teasels,more chillies more Salvia(this time transylvatica) as well as some Coleus which I like as summer bedding. And have cleaned out and sorted my greenhouse and done some work in the garden.
And next week-well hopefully we will fill Kristis new greenhouse with plants and seedlings so we can sow more next weekend!! Busy,busy,busy.....

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