Growing organically

mansars

Why not grow some columar fruit trees....only 6-8ft tall and very compact pous produce relatively large volumes of fruit.

I have just planted 4 in an 8ft ling by 1ft wide section as a divider/shade provider.

See how it goes.

alfsmum

mansars wrote: »

Why not grow some columar fruit trees....only 6-8ft tall and very compact pous produce relatively large volumes of fruit.

I have just planted 4 in an 8ft ling by 1ft wide section as a divider/shade provider.

See how it goes.

mansars , thanks for the suggestion. I'll see what I can find.

darkrain

Hi
The Telegraph readers offers had 3 mini fruit trees, 2m tall x 0.5m wide
1 red spur apple
1 gold spur apple and
1 Lilliput pear
for about £25 the lot
(EDIT They still have them for £25.99 but it was last months offer so you have to click on previous offers to see them)

Yougarden.com
has
' Braeburn' Apple
'Conference' Pear
'Victoria' Plum for
£19.99

I got mine through the post this week and they all look very healthy

darkrain

Oops, forgot
I am organic with paved garden and am growing in containers, well mostly, I do have a few sq ft not paved. I am disabled, so have to find easier ways to do things.

I find that cardboard works as well if not better than weed suppressing matting, or a thick layer of newspaper. If you haven't come across it before look up lasagne gardening, it takes the back breaking out of gardening.

Permaculture may also be of interest to you as you don't grow in rows but in patches mixed with wildflowers. This has by far the easiest composting in the world, chop and drop, compost and mulch in one easy action, no mixing, turning or bins.

The easiest worm bin
take a piece of wide (6 to 12 ins diameter) plastic pipe about 3ft long.
in approx the bottom third of the pipe, drill lots of holes about the size that you can poke your little finger in, leaving a couple of inches between holes so that the bottom third looks like a cylindrical colander.
Dig a hole, put the holey end in the ground just deep enough to cover all of the holes and firmly so that the pipe stays upright.
Drop a little something for the worms to cozy up in like damp coir or newspaper, and then give your pipe a hat, an upside down pot or bucket would do nicely.
Thats it, you just add all of the food scraps that would normally go into a worm bin, slowly at first until your worm population builds up a bit.

Its vermin proof, takes up very little space, the worms travel horizontally in the top few inches of soil, so they even deliver the finished compost to the surrounding plants.
You don't have to buy any worms, build it and they will come.

Carrots
grow in your tallest container or bed, or put a fine mesh wall around them, an old net curtain will do. Carrot flies fly close to the ground, if they hit an obstacle they fly around not over.

Planting onions or garlic with them helps.

if you do the chop and drop, drop the carrot tops far away from the carrots and the flies will spend all of their time looking in the wrong place.

Not only will the basil help your toms, your toms will also help your basil if grown together.

If you have room for a small pond it will attract frogs, goodbye slugs.

Hope this helps.

Edwardia

For those without a car to get to a garden centre or the space for composting..organic compost delivered..
http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/P~143444~Miracle-Gro-Organic-Choice-All-Purpose-Compost-8L

We're considering a deal with my mother whereby we bag garden waste and pay fuel for her to take it to her place + buy her another compost maker rather than pay £35 a year to local council for a wheelie bin we have no room to store and would use twice or three times a year !

For those with plenty of nettles..plant food maker..
http://www.burgonandball.com/shop/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=427

Anyone know of an organic alternatives to ant powder please ? Ants are a major major pest for me. They set up aphid farms in my figs and grapes I've thought of those sticky tree collars but have noo idea what they are made with

Question re basil + tomatoes.. I thought mixing the two was how basil got that virus most of it seems to have now ? Even basil seeds in fresh compost in new pot grown on concrete away from other basil ends up with it

Kirri

Pennyroyal is supposed to deter ants, though I've only tried it on an allotment with little success but might be better on a smaller area?

darkrain

Edwardia

£4.99 is horribly expensive for just 8 L
to buy 50 L at that price works out to £31.19

try this

creativegardenideas.co.uk/miracle-gro-fruit-and-veg-organic-compost-50l

£6.25 50ltr
and Buy 3 or more bags and SAVE £0.62 per bag
Buy 30 or more bags and SAVE £0.94 per bag
Buy 60 or more bags and SAVE £1.25 per bag

and its Free Delivery on orders over £30 rather than over £40

darkrain

Borax is a naturally concurring mineral, so it is organic

ANT TRAP
Mix a T spoon of icing sugar with a T spoon of borax (very cheap at a chemist), put the mixture in a little pile, on a piece of paper if you like as near as you can to where they run. It wont kill them straight away, they take it back to their nest and it kills the lot of them. Cover the pile with a saucer propped up a teeny bit with a matchstick or spoon handle so that only the ants can get to it. don't get the mixture wet or it wont work. Raise the trap slightly if set up outdoors so rain cannot trickle under it

The only way I know of to stop the greenfly going for crop plants is to grow them with nasturtiums, greenfly seem to prefer nasturtiums, so they are sacrificial.

If you are lucky and you get no ants at all, the flowers, leaves and seeds of the nasturtiums are all edible.
leaves..... peppery salad green
flowers.. milder peppery garnish
seeds... good free substitute for pricey capers

ALIBOBSY

Edwardia wrote: »

For those without a car to get to a garden centre or the space for composting..organic compost delivered..
http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/P~143444~Miracle-Gro-Organic-Choice-All-Purpose-Compost-8L

We're considering a deal with my mother whereby we bag garden waste and pay fuel for her to take it to her place + buy her another compost maker rather than pay £35 a year to local council for a wheelie bin we have no room to store and would use twice or three times a year !

For those with plenty of nettles..plant food maker..
http://www.burgonandball.com/shop/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=427

Anyone know of an organic alternatives to ant powder please ? Ants are a major major pest for me. They set up aphid farms in my figs and grapes I've thought of those sticky tree collars but have noo idea what they are made with

Question re basil + tomatoes.. I thought mixing the two was how basil got that virus most of it seems to have now ? Even basil seeds in fresh compost in new pot grown on concrete away from other basil ends up with it

I fancy the idea of this
http://www.lakeland.co.uk/51997/Plant-Food-Maker
Looks a neat way of making you own plant food, and being semi rural we can walk 30 secs out the door to trees/wildish areas full of nettle/comfrey etc. Plenty of foraging country within walking distance so we are lucky.

Just need to decide if its worth the money or if I should stick to the old bucket of slop method. The lakeland thing looks so much neater and easier, and probably alot less smelly lol.

Ali x

ALIBOBSY

Yeah we grow loads of nasturtiums, what a brilliant plant, pretty leaves, gorgeous flower with plenty of colour, tasty flowers and leaves and great companion plants for your beans. Seen the poor mans capers recipes but never tried it myself. Plus it is so easy to grow. I find it fits well on raised beds as you can plant it near the edge and let it droop over onto the paths, meaning it doesn't take up too much space. It also doesn't seem to mind getting trod on or cut back lol.

Ali x