MyGreen Fingers

garden 002 The Cordless Leaf Blower from Bosch takes away the painful task of clearing up the leaves that have settled in under your plants and in every nook and cranny in the garden. The Bosh Leaf Blower makes light work of the job, tidying everthing up in the garden as you go. Leaves need time to decompose before they are of value to the soil, so it’s a good idea to clear them up into sacks and leave them for a year at least before depositing them into your composter, unless you have a rotating composting system. Leaves add a great source of goodness to the soil, it makes sense to ‘recycle’ them if you can, what better, easier way to round them all up.

Carbon Gold gets the seal of approval from the Soil Association

Carbon Gold’s Soil Association approved GroChar is a concentrated biochar based soil improver. Biochar is a form of porous charcoal produced by heating woody plant matter using a clean technology. When mixed with the soil it acts as a host to a multitude of beneficial micro organisms which naturally boost soil health and fertility. The biochar is enhanced with mycorrhizal fungi, seaweed and wormcast. This combination of ingredients encourages healthy living soil and fertility.

THE PRO’S AND CON’S OF USING PEAT

Peat is partially decomposed plant debris and is located in bogs and moors. These are basically cool, water-logged environments. Taking thousands of years to form, peat is arguably the best growing medium for cultivating seedlings of a wide range of plants. It is stable, long lasting, well aerated, moisture retentive and an extremely popular choice in the greenhouse or shed as potting compost. However, the peat industry for horticultural purposes has been responsible for the destruction of 94% of British peat lands in the latter half of the 20^th century.

The Organic Gardener’s Handbook – Michael Littlewood

Michael Littlewood’s book shows what is a fairly complex method of gardening, in a straight-forward and easy to follow order.

Littlewood’s knowledge of this subject is inspiring. He starts with the foundations of gardening, from the climate, the soil, the composting, to the harvesting of the crops. His highly detailed growing and planning charts, beautifully illustrated, are simple to follow showing how to sow and yeild at the right time. This is enhanced by using planning rotation charts, and vegetable growing guides charted on a simple month by month basis.

The book looks at the flowers needed to encourage natural pollenaters and one of the things I love about this book is the reference to both common and botanical names for vegetable and flowers. Close to my heart is biological pest and weed control – one of my main reasons for ‘turning organic’.

In summary, this reference manual is all you need from start to finish to shape your garden into an organic one.

The Organic Gardener’s Handbook – Michael Littlewood.

The Crowward Press - £16.99.

You can purchase gardening charts and perpetual gardening calendars from Michael’s website:

www.ecodesignscape.co.uk