White moth orchids (Phaleanopsis spp) are an absolute favourite indoor plant for me. I love their clean simple elegance and long flowering time and, if you find the right spot for them, they will continue to reward you with flowers for years to come. I always wanted to have masses of them but they are so expensive to buy and there didn't seem to be any way to propagate them. I read that you could take leaf cuttings if you exposed the cut edge to steam to induce growth. Someone might have … [Read more...]
Growing Turmeric At Home
Turmeric is a cousin of ginger, a perennial plant that is native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Like ginger it is the rhizomes (roots) that are used for cooking and as a medicinal herb. Turmeric is known for giving curry its bright yellow colour. Having successfully grown ginger in my garden, I was very keen to try growing turmeric at home when I saw a plant at the garden centre. Although the plant is subtropical/tropical, it does grow in semi-shade and seems to do reasonably … [Read more...]
Growing Mushrooms at home
Ages ago I tried growing Oyster Mushrooms and found it quite easy and satisfying. I do prefer button mushrooms or brown 'flats' though so this year I decided to grow them instead. The kit was from the same company so I was quite surprised to find the process seemingly much more complicated and taking a much longer period of time - there were pages and pages of instructions that were a bit daunting. There are 2 separate incubation stages: firstly to get the mushroom spawn established in the … [Read more...]
Growing and Enjoying Globe Artichokes
Globe artichokes are basically a giant thistle that comes originally from the Mediterranean area. They are one of the oldest cultivated vegetables in the world and were eaten by the early Greeks and Romans - although why you would think to try eating a thistle I don't know. Still they must have been onto a good thing because artichokes have remained part of Mediterranean cuisine for thousands of years. The edible portion of the plant is the young flower buds before they open up to become … [Read more...]
Growing Asparagus at home
Growing asparagus at home has been a long time dream of mine but it needs a fair amount of space in a permanent home so I haven't previously been able to justify allocating precious space for it. However, now that I have expanded my edible garden somewhat, it is such a joy to be able to harvest my own asparagus. I grew mine from seedlings but you can buy dormant crowns in the winter or grow it from seed. It needs a nice sunny, well-drained spot with lots of organic matter like sheep pellets … [Read more...]
Growing Bananas at Home – Success!
Back in 2015 I first wrote about growing bananas at home and how I had got some ladyfinger banana suckers from my friend Michele. Three years on I have finally seen success: this year I have 3 bunches of bananas. I had been beginning to wonder whether I would ever see success with my bananas. I had taken care to provide water and nutrients. Soil moisture is apparently one of the most important factors: lack of water at any time may cause a reduction in fruit numbers and size. Even though … [Read more...]
Trying different tomato varieties
This year I experimented trying different tomato varieties from my usual tried and true varieties. Kings Plant Barn had some Epic Collection tomato varieties that I hadn't seen before so decided to try them out as they seemed to be a good mix of sizes and colours: Molly Jane Oxheart (new generation) Tomato Savour Sugar-gold I got them quite early season and was very pleased to be able to say "I have a greenhouse" when told that it was still to early to plant them outside. I … [Read more...]
How to tell when Rock Melons are ready to pick
This year I decided to try my hand at growing rock melons and faced the challenge of how to tell when rock melons are ready to pick. The descriptions I read were a bit confusing but then I ended up with 3 melons side by side at different stages and once I saw it, it was so obvious. So I thought I would share the pictures with you. I've never grown any melons previously because I didn't have enough space but having expanded my fruit and vegetable growing spaces, I thought it would be a good … [Read more...]
The Birds and My Berries
I have a love-hate relationship with the birds in my garden and have written previously about feeding the birds and stopping the birds from eating all the plums. This year I have been fighting a losing battle between the birds and my berries, particularly my blueberries. There must be something special about blueberries or maybe it is that blackbirds really like a challenge. I'm tending towards the challenge explanation and have evidence that they keep learning new tricks to get to the netted … [Read more...]
Growing Sweetcorn
Why would you bother growing sweetcorn yourself when you can buy sweetcorn very cheaply at the supermarket at the height of the season? For me there is nothing like picking a cob straight from the garden, popping it in the microwave and eating it 3 minutes later. I always put a few plants in my garden each summer just for this simple pleasure. Sweetcorn is easy to grow. I've never grown it from seed but seedlings from the garden centre seem to do well if you stop the birds from digging up the … [Read more...]
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