Gardening

A healthy and productive garden can’t help but be beautiful!

I try to recycle and re-use as much as I can in the garden – to be as self-sufficient as possible and I don’t use any harmful sprays or chemical fertilizers.  This is the basis of organic gardening – Nature’s way.  I hope that by sharing my experience and knowledge you too will become a better gardener.

If you want to find information about any of the topics listed below just click on it but I suggest you start here; My Top Ten Tips for Starting a Food Garden.

UNDERSTANDING PLANT FAMILIES

• Vegetable Families – who is related to whom?

ALL ABOUT SOILS

• Earthworms (In Praise of the Humble Earthworm)
• Fertilizers (Soil Nutrition)
• Green Manures
• Grow Your own Mulch
• Marigolds – do they prevent soil pests? (Soil: Nematodes and pH problems)
• Nematodes (unwelcome soil organisms)
• Nitrogen Fixers
• pH: Why understanding pH will make you a better gardener
• The Power of Lightning – all about the atmospheric nitrogen cycle
  Soil: Nematodes and pH Problems
• Soil Nutrition: When, How, What to Feed the Soil
• Soils: Tropical soils and fertility
• Understanding Soils

PESTS AND PEST CONTROL

• Anthracnose and Black Spot of Papaya
• Cabbage White Butterfly (Pest Control and Companion Planting)
• Fruit Fly Baits: Home Pest Control
• Oil Spray-for controlling sap sucking insects
• Organic Gardening: Why Pesticides are Harmful
• Papaya:  What is Wrong with my Papaya? (Anthracnose and Black Spot)
• Pest Control and Companion Planting
• Powdery Mildew – Control with Milk
• Sooty Mould

TOP FOOD PLANTS FOR THE SUBTROPICS

• Amaranth.
• Bananas: Care and Maintenance
• Betel Leaf.
• Butter Beans/Madagascar Bean
• Finger Lime
• Lemon Grass.
• Parsley.
• Purslane.
• Rhubarb
• Snake Beans.
• Tamarillo
• Tomatoes – my top tips for success
• Turmeric.
• Yacon 
• Seasonal Planting Guide for subtropical ANNUAL and PERENNIAL food plants.

CITRUS

• Australian Finger Lime
• Citrus: HOW and WHEN to Prune them
• Citrus: Planting, Feeding, Mulching
• Citrus: Pests and Diseases (aphids, scale, mealy bug, sooty mould)
• Citrus: Pest and Diseases (caterpillars and crickets)

COMPOSTING AND FERTILIZERS

• Backyard Composting
• Comfrey: The Gardeners Friend
• Compost Activators (see Compost and Comfrey)
• Compost Tea: Put a Bit of Magic in you Garden!
• Hot Composting

GARDEN DESIGN

• April in the Garden: Autumn Planting Guide
• August garden – what to pick and what to plant in the winter garden
• Be a rebel – start a Food Garden!
• Climbing Plants for the sub-tropics
• Companion Planting and Crop Rotation
• Edible Hedges
• Green Walls
• Herbs: How to Grow them in old Containers
• Meadows – Why everyone should have one
• No-Dig Garden Beds
• Top Ten Tips for Starting a Food Garden
• Topiary: Taking it to another level
• Trees:  Troubleshooting, Care and Maintenance
• White Flowers: The Fragrant Garden

PROPAGATION

• Cuttings: How to make new plants from old
• Seeds Sowing
• Seed Saving

BEAUTIFUL PLANTS

• Bat Flower Tacca integrifolia
• Bridal Veil Clerodendrum walichii
• Camellia japonica ‘Prince Frederick William’
• Desert Rose Adenium obesum
• Eucharis Lily
• Gardenias – Which one to chose and how to care for them
• Golden Penda
• Hippeastrum 
• Matchstick Bromeliad
• Snail Vine
• Tibouchinas – which one to chose and how to care for them
• White Flowers

GREAT GARDENS

• Blickling Hall, Norfolk, UK
• Chelsea Flower Show, UK
• Helmingham Hall, Suffolk, UK
• Great Dixter, East Sussex UK
• Lullingstone Castle ‘World Garden’, Kent, UK
• Singapore Botanic Gardens
• Sissinghurst, Kent UK
   

BIRDS and the BEES

• Banded Finches
• Bees:  Attracting Bees to your Garden
• Birds in the Garden – Pheasant coucal
• Sawflies – Spitfires
• Birds at the Beach – Rainbow Bee-Eater