Comfrey tea, or comfrey fertiliser, is an all-organic, easy to make plant food that provides excellent nutrition, especially for flowering and fruiting plants.
When I make comfrey tea I use a method that was told to me by no-dig guru Charles Dowding and it goes something like this...
I have to admit, I can be a bit of a magpie when it comes to new growing methods, plants and products. Over the past few years I've sown or planted and attempted to grow all sorts of new and intriguing food crops (oca, yacon, Chinese artichoke, cucamelons, tomatilloes, goji berries, wonderberries, to name but a few...)
We've had a soggy old start to the month, but never mind. The ground could do with a soaking, and there's drier weather ahead, according to the forecast.
Here's our general action plan for May, once the weather sorts itself out a bit...
Blossom Time is one of my very favourite times of the year, when fruit trees and bushes are filled with the simple beauty of their un-fussy flowers and the promise of good, fruity things to come.
Here's a quick gallery of some of the fruit blossom I've been thoroughly enjoying of late.
April has started with a minor cold snap – nothing too drastic, but just enough to remind you that when the planting advice says “after all risk of frost has passed” we haven’t reached that point just yet, and might not until the end of the month. Hardier plants only for now, folks. Here’s a …
Now is the time of year when your over-wintered, potted mint plants will be waking up and starting to put on new growth. That means it’s a great time to check your plants for winter damage, re-pot them in fresh compost, and take stem cuttings for propagation in the process. Here’s a quick example of …
One thing Jo and I have definitely learned over the last 5 or so years of growing our own fruit and veg from seed: sowing too early rarely rewards you with the early crops you’re hoping for, unless you’re very lucky, or have a very good propagation setup. Yes, it’s tempting to get going just …
A few years ago, I saw Japanese Wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius) growing in the walled garden at Beningborough Hall. It was an incredible thing: a mass of thick, red, spiny stems, arcing out in all directions from a central crown. And they had a single specimen for sale in the plant shop: mine! It’s taken a …
After January’s appropriate chill, February threw us a curve-ball in the shape of a blast of warm air up from the Canary Islands. A few days of positively June-like warmth saw weed seedlings shooting up, pear and apple blossom buds almost breaking (hopefully they’ll have paused again now the weather has returned to grey, damp …
For Jo’s birthday the other week we both took the day off work and made a tram-and-bus trip down to the National Trust’s Dunham Massey to see their winter garden and maybe pick up a few tips and ideas for enhancing our own patch at this time of year. It was a glorious day, sun-drenched …
