Strawberry Planter Project

At the start of the year I bought 30 bare root strawberry plants for the excellent price of £11.50! When they arrived I potted them  on into some small pots to grow on. They have soon out grown these and I have been in need of potting them on. For one of the varieties I had made a couple of window box type planters from old pallets, but for the rest I was short of something to put them in. I have looked at the various strawberry planters to buy but none of them really took my fancy and their cost outweighed their utility.

On hunting around the garden and shed I came across a length of 4 inch diameter waste pipe and decided that this would be perfect. This is what it turned out like....

So thats what it looks like as a finished item, and I have to say I was feeling pleased with myself. Its not beautiful but it certainly does the job, and the only thing  paid for were two large jubilee clips. On a design level what I was looking for was something portable, cheap and easy for propagating runners.

It was very simple to make, its just a pipe after all. But here is how I did it.

I got my 4 inch pipe, my drill and a 32mm drill bit to make the wholes.

The gaps between the wholes are roughly about 4 inches, I didn't measure at all and did it by eye. I did this all away along leaving roughly 4 inches at each end.

This took no time at all to do, it would take anyone with a better drill than me even less time. With all the wholes in it was time to think about how it was going to sit. Originally I wanted to hang it from the fence but decided against it. My other solution was one I made whilst drilling the wholes and this was what i came up with....

Simple really, the cut out from the pip screwed to 2x2 piece of wood made a perfect stand. As you can imagine I was patting myself on my back for sometime with this little bit of ingenuity. My partner did not share my delight in what I had done, so I showed my like minded neighbour who gave me the praise I thought I deserved!!!I made three of these and they hold the pipe perfectly.

Once all this was done I made the ends, I looked at getting real pipe end caps but the cost of these was to high even on ebay so some black polythene jubilee clipped on was the cheaper better option for me.

Well that's it really, it works. There is one thing that I will add when I replant in a year or so, a watering system of some kind that runs through the pipe. at the moment the water runs of alot. But it will do for now.

Garden Music

When I am out in the garden I do like to listen to music and I think take inspiration from it. Two bands come to my mind that I really feel influence my approach to the garden, as weird as that sounds. Certain songs really resonate and instantly make me think about my garden. I have never heard of a musically inspired garden but I hope there are some out there. I am sure there are. Well the first of the two bands that I feel influence and inspire me is, British Sea Power. If you have not come across them before...... They are amazing in my unbiased and not at all obsessive opinion. The entire aurora (for the lack of a better word) really touches me, not just the music, but the ideals they up hold, charisma...... well just everything about them really. I can not imagine who I would be with out coming across their single 'Carrion' in 2002/03. I met my partner through are mutual love of this band as she was the only other person I had met who knew who they are! This is a band that will write songs about the Larsen B ice cap, you won't see One Direction do that anytime ever! Anyway here is a selection of songs that I love to listen too in the garden. First up I must have 'Carrion' as this is were it all starts.



The next song speaks to the environmentalist in me, its very rare to here a song like this that tackles a subject like this and does not sound over the top and ridiculous. This is 'Childhood Memories'.  


This one is just so very sweet, 'Do You Wanna Be A Bird'.



I could go on and on and on and on and on and on................and on about BSP, but I will restrain myself and move on to the next band..... Grandaddy. Possibly the greatest band ever to come out of California IMO. I am no expert on bands from California that said. This is 'Broken Household Appliance National Forest'



and........ 'Now its On'



These are a very small selection of songs, I could go on, there are so many that really spark my imagination when I here them. These are some of mine I would love to here if anyone else has music that they listen too in the garden that is also part of their inspiration.

Blogging at Work on My Phone, How Modern!

I work in hospitality and its been a busy few weeks were I have had very little time to do anything else but work. The garden has taken some of my spare time, but its been mainly rushing around with the watering can in between shifts. I am at work right now writing this on my phone whilst all is quiet. 

Tomorrow I have a long awaited day off and time and good weather to get things done. A few things have happen out there on my "estate" which I hope to post about tomorrow. Although things have been crazy at work I have but to wait just seven days for nearly a whole two weeks of freedom and hardcore gardening! 

Garden Walk 29th May

It has been raining for two days straight here and I have not really been up the garden at all, we had a glorious bank holiday weekend but I was working most of it. So in between the showers today I finally went out and took a look. The mix of some good sunshine and now some rain has really done some good.

The Potatoes are going well, both the lates in the raised bed and the earlies in the tubs.

My Tomatoes have been out of the greenhouse about a month or so now and I am quite happy with them. The are Tumbling Tom bush cherry variety, which did really well for me last year.

Mean while in the flowery part of the garden........ Lupins, Digitalis and Forsythia are coming on strong.

 One of my two apple trees on blossom, the other looks like it is on deaths door, hardly any leaves and its blossom, what little of it there was has gone brown. I think its dead. 

Last year I bought some creeping Thyme which I have moved around a little some of them are doing better that others. I want a carpeted area of it so I can rub my hands amongst it.

In the shed bed, the Dog Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare) surrounding my tiny Kiwi Vine has taken well, to its left some Lily's of some kind and to its right the old rose bush that was in the bed when we moved in. All the earthy gaps I have filled with wild flowers and poppy's for this year.  

Lavander is slowly growing around my now dead looking Discovery apple tree.

My Shady plants are happy too, one of my astilbe's below.

And finally the ferns and Hosta's, which I am growing on in pots and buying more of until I get round to building my Shade Garden Planter some time this summer.

Gardening Reading, Reference, Help and Expanding Your Knowledge.

When I decided that Gardening was something I was going to do, alot, I thought I should read up a little before I even started. Grounding myself in some basic gardening knowledge through books and the internet has helped and made my first attempts more successful than if I had just jumped straight in. The purpose of this post then I guess is to share the books and websites that I found helpful and some that I use now. 

There are many many many books on gardening and it can be extremely hard to choose one that you think will help you. Though in my opinion most books convey the same information just some do it better and in a more interesting way. My top tip when looking for a gardening book is get yourself down to a second hand shop or jumble sale, nearly always there is some gardening book of some kind for sale for no money at all. Here you can have a look through and see if it is something that will help. The internet of course has shops like Amazon were you can get second hand books at a great price too and there is always a huge variety to choose from. 

The first book I bought from Amazon was John Harrison's Essential Allotment Guide.

This small paperback edition I found as a complete newcomer to growing, good. It gave me an idea (though a vague one) of what I needed and what I would be up against when I started out. I read it through several times and I am sure it retained some of the information contained within. I would say it is a good beginners book, I have since gone back to it and found that now it is a little to basic and lacking in the more complex information that I was looking for.

As the gardening bug took hold and my Family noticed this it was then inevitable that come Christmas I would get some Garden related presents. What I got from my loving mother was Alan Titchmarsh's Kitchen Gardener and Carol Klein's Grow Your Own Garden. 

Well both these books I have found extremely helpful, especially Carol Klein's Grow Your Own Garden. Propagation in all its forms can be complex and this book really breaks it down into all its forms and really explains the processes needed for results. Alan Titchmarsh's book I have to say it not one I would have bought with my own money. That said Kitchen Gardener is excellent with detailed information on fruit and vegetable growing, and I often use it as a reference book when I am planning out what I am going to grow. I would recommend both highly as books useful for the beginner but also as reference books later down the line,

Whilst trawling through the charity shops I came across The Vegetable and Herb Expert by Dr D. G. Hessayon. 

 As far as Vegetable growing books go, for me this is the ultimate reference. Any information you could possibly want to know is contained with in, from seed germination time to disease and pests. It is  utterly comprehensive. I think possibly the most valuable book I have acquired so far. 

As far as websites go, there are millions and there are few that I regularly go to. I tend hunt around them all and read what I find relevant. The one I go to most of all is the BBC Gardeners World site . I do love the TV Show and the website is a great add on to that. The What To Do Now section I have found very helpful. 

I am sure that I will probably pick up more books and find better websites as time goes on, I know at some point I will get one Of Monty Don's books as I am becoming slightly obsessed with him!!

Shade Garden Project

Ever since moving to this house I have been looking at what I can do with the yard area next to the house. It is a very decent sized space that has so far been neglected and left bare of plant life. The kitchen sink looks directly out on to it and to be honest it has looked terrible, its not what you want to see whilst scrubbing the Sunday roast pans. The flaked paint hanging off the concrete block wall and what is left of the white paint had turned to a manky magnolia colour.

I have had in my mind for a while the idea of a shade garden in this dark and cool corner of the yard. I have a real affinity for those plants that can flourish in these conditions, Ferns, Hosta etc. What I really want to create is a forest/jungle type area right outside my back door to bring some life and greenery to it. So yesterday stage one of the shade garden was completed, the painting of the horrid wall. This is what it was looking like.

Its not a very appealing scene is it, after a couple of ours of painting and tiding up it looks so much better.

The white walls really brighten it up on a dull day like to day, even this little lick of paint has made it a slightly better place to be. Next on the agenda is to clean up the paving which has a terrible build up of grime, with this done I can start to think about building a planter that runs the length of the wall. The trellising I have decided to leave up as I have seen a climbing fern on Ebay that would be perfect for it. Also the door I want to paint to, but not white maybe a heritage green of some kind. Plant wise lots of ferns large and small, astilibe, hosta, wild garlic and any other shade loving plant I can get my hands on .It is still early days on this project but I feel happy with what we have done and how it will be when we finish.

Waiting for Things to Happen.

Its been a few days since i put anything up on here, mostly because I have been waiting for things to happen in the garden. The weather has turned a bit wet and cold again and I am sure everything has decided to stop growing. 

At least the late potatoes have broken through finally, I always worry about them for some reason but they have never failed me. Most things I have to say are slowly coming along in the veg garden and giving the weeds a run for their money. The most exciting thing to happen this week was when I found a baby frog hopping around my lawn, possibly the most delicate and cute frog I have ever seen....

It was ting as you can see, smaller than my thumb nail, and I have to say my hands are big manly one so its even smaller than you think. I love seeing something like this in my garden and was over the moon about it. But then I was struck with horror at mowing the lawn in case Hugh (I named him Hugh) or or his siblings would be hopping around in it! So I have left that job for now but when I do I will be checking the lawn first. 

I don' have a pond so Hugh has travelled from a near by garden on his way somewhere were all the cool frogs hang out. Maybe its my garden, I have seen alot of adult frogs always in the same part of my garden and I like to think his parents met right here... Maybe it was them who I caught at it on my lawn a few months ago?