Creating gardening labels from a plastic milk bottle

How to make your own free gardening labels

I always remember my grandad collecting our lolly sticks when I was little to use in his potting shed, but we don't have enough lolly sticks now. So I've found my own way to create gardening labels by recycling a milk bottle container.

You need scissors to cut out the labels and a permanent marker to write on them.

This video shows you how to cut the bottle to create the gardening labels.

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Hot house in April

It's a glorious day to get sowing, managed a few seeds last weekend and now they are already peeping through. Now it's time to fill the shelves and pots with loads of tiny grains of life, providing the right conditions and hoping to see life spring from each one.
I've planted so many seeds, lots of different varieties, I think I may be selling my excess plants.
Lots of courgettes, squashes, pumpkins, marrows.

Each pot has either 2 or 3 seeds sown, I can then transplant when a bit bigger. Hoping I get loads of courgettes, time to put the spiralizer to good use.

The veg garden was also worked on, my daughter has taken on the heavy work, but not as heavy now we use the no dig method. All the edges needed clearing of grass that had grown through from the lawns, need to try and edge the plot a bit better to stop the couch grass growing through. Have got to try and remove some bamboo now, it spreads everywhere and is very difficult to remove.

Bonus, the black currant has layered itself, so we can dig and move those into the back fruit garden.

Need to start working in the polytunnel, the beds need remaking and building up, with some drip watering system to be installed. I need to buy and install a water butt behind it that captures the run off from the tunnel, I've already got a solar pump irrigation system that was a present. If this is installed, it will ensure that the plants are watered properly all summer. The butt can also be filled using the hose, which will ensure the plants grow to their full potential whilst we go on holiday in the summer.

Lots to do, food to grow, family to feed, relaxation to be earnt.

Putting your "Back" into the gardening

Well, the title of this blog post is a lovely phrase, but what does it mean to you, when you want to produce your own organic vegetables for the family.
For me, the thought of digging the garden is now daunting as I'm beginning to creak and any over exertion results in suffering from aches and pains that can impact my daily life, which isn't good. I've suffered from a bad back for the last few years and have been incapacitated simply from digging a small bit of the garden.
We have very sandy soil, so it isn't very heavy to dig, but does need masses of organic matter to keep the nutrients and water in the soil.
This year I decided to investigate the "No Dig" method of gardening and started researching on Charles Dowding's website.
Work started in the spring and I have had to battle with the family about whether this method would be any use, but luckily I had my mum on my side as apparently my grandad had started using this method many years ago, but I didn't know.
I've bought two books by Charles to help me with the planning this year and to try and improve the production of my veg plot.

Early summer mornings, the best time of the day

When the sun is shining and it is lovely and warm, early mornings are brilliant.

I have loads to do, sowing seeds in the greenhouse and the garden, but as the sun gets higher in the sky during the day, the greenhouse becomes too hot to work in. So the weather this morning was perfect for greenhouse planting.

I've managed to sow butternut squash, marrows, courgettes (I grow both types despite being able to leave courgettes on to mature), my Mum and Dad's favourite veg for lunch in the summer are runner beans and marrow, so I grow lots of both. We love the courgettes as they are great on the barbecue and also can be marinated in a salad dressing, a favourite for breakfast too as courgette fritters, and this year I'm planning on growing enough so that I can cook the flowers.

Also sown are some Russian sunflowers which are giants, they will produce and amazing display at the edge of the garden, attract the bees and also provide valuable food for the birds in the winter. I have changed to single flowered varieties of all daisy type flowers as the doubles aren't good for the bees.

The apple cucumbers are in, the seed may be a bit old, but it's worth a try. Apple cucumbers are lovely, they also grow happily up wigwams if you remember to tie them in, this is great as you can pick them without bending down.

The seeds sown on the first bank holiday are now beginning to show their leaves, so are the weeds, so I will be out with the hoe later and trying to prevent them getting a foothold.

Time to go through my seed basket and work out what I need to sow next.

A gardeners work never stops.

Many hands make light work!

I love Bank Holiday weekends, the extra day means we get so much more done together. All the jobs can be cleared on the Saturday leaving time to start 2 day jobs.

My veg plot is split into 3 areas, we've been clearing as we go. Plot one is destined to be a fruit plot, we cleared it during the Easter break and planted a Medlar in the middle, I also moved my strawberries that had scattered themselves over plot 2. Ok, I know shallots are fruit, but they needed somewhere to go in, they are planted where my other fruit bushes will end up, currently in fruit in plot 2. I do have a plan, but it needs to bend sometimes. We've also added some wigwams of sweet peas, to bring in the pollinators and for cut flowers.

Plot two is the worst of the plots, so that gets to be the final destiny.

Over the weekend, we've reworked plot three, the old parsnips vanished, all top and no bottom. The peas have survived in the middle and now there are 8 varieties of beans planted. The only way to compare them is, for me to keep a close eye on their production.

4 types of stringless runner beans on a set of double canes crossed low (they should be easier to pick).

4 types of climbing French beans on 4 wigwams.

Both sets of beans have been catch cropped with lettuce or radishes.

I've also companion planted with border sunflowers at the back of the plot, and calendulas.

At the front, cornflowers and larkspur for cutting and nasturtiums to attract the blackfly off my plants. Sweet peas have been dotted amongst the beans to encourage pollinators.

After watering in, I've resorted to the dreaded slug pellets as we seem to have snail hotels rather than snail bars, I not feeding the hoards on my lovely young seedlings, so they can push off.

Time to watch the fruits of our labour blossom and grown and fingers crossed we should be seeing some results in a fortnight.

Vermin versus seedlings

Time to get even, those horrid little varmits have met their match. Sorry, but my vegetables come first, feeding the family is paramount and I object to the rodents eating my seeds and seedlings, so battle has been waged. When you cost out the seed I've bought, I cannot afford to keep the rodent population supplied with top quality seed and seedlings.
So far we have got 6 mice, 1 rat and 1 rat foot (don't ask). That's 2 mice traps fully functioning for the last 3 nights.
We are wondering if we put in 10 traps, would we get 10 mice at a time. I'm tempted, as despite the traps, the remaining troublemakers have eaten all of my peas and pea shoots, plus my broad bean seeds.
I've implemented a well known deterrent today on my fresh batch of broad beans, holly branches, which mice are supposed to hate as they get their nose covered in prickles, fingers crossed that I will still have some bean seeds in their root trainers when I check tomorrow.
The polytunnel is now wonderfully warm, I've watered well and sown lots of salad leaves, mizuna, rocket, salad onions and spinach. Hopefully there will be so many seedlings that the mice won't manage to eat them all. If they do, we will have very healthy mice and a not so happy gardener.
There is so much to do, but very little time to do it. Hurting my back last Sunday hasn't helped, I've been out of action ever since, so the shallots are still in their nets and not in the soil. I hope that nature will help me and they will catch up. I've decided to grow shallots instead of onions, they are sweeter and more productive in the space we have.
The forecast for tomorrow is brilliant, so I'm hoping that I may manage to get more crops sown and maximise on the lovely warm days.
I feel the need to browse the seed catalogues.

February sunshine (finally)

The weather has been atrocious this year, so much rain and strong winds. Luckily my polytunnel is still in one piece and despite the bad weather has been very warm inside. I had tried my luck with sowing some pea shoots, broad beans and salad leaves at the end of January, but the mice or some other furry vermin has decided that they were very nice and have demolished them already, so time to try again.

This is the first day so far that we have had sun and I haven't been working. So I've made the most of it, been in the polytunnel since 10.30 clearing up the trail of destruction from the mice and sowing masses of seeds in pots. I've put covers over the seeds that they tend to steal and hope that I may have something growing in a couple of weeks.

It was so warm inside, I've had to work with the door open and just a t shirt as it was so hot, no fleece jacket needed. Taking the odd break outside sat on my bags of new compost in a sheltered spot feeling the warmth on my face, those freckles are going to be appearing very soon.

Now to research what I need to do to prepare the soil for my shallots, if we get another day of good weather this week during half-term, I'm not holding my breath though.

The planning starts here.