Product testing for The Guardian continued

Recently I had the great pleasure of writing a blogspot for The Guardian about accessible garden tools and the availability of such products.

After alot of searching I was sent quite a few products from Active hands, SeedSava, and PETA-uk which were included in The Guardian blog, please follow this link to find out all about them:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/gardening-blog/2013/may/10/gardeners-disability-tools

However I was sent so many items, which truly was a great surprise, I did not have enough space to write about them all, so I have decided to write about them here and hopefully lots of you will give some of the great products a go. All the following products were not designed with disability in mind, yet with a little creative thinking and in my case "I will make it work" attitude they have all proved great accessible products for the garden .

Firstly I trialed a great set of cloches from http://www.poshcloche.co.uk/ I was sent four cloches in all, two were a great barn shape for those higher veggies like cabbage and caulies and two really useful seedling tent style cloches. The thing I liked most about these cloches was the lightweight quality. They were easy to lift onto my raised beds, and being made from sturdy acrylic they are almost unbreakable. I really loved the way they look and feel, no sharp edges, easy to see through so you can keep an eye on your plants without having to remove them and they are small enough to be lifted without damaging your crops. A great idea too is that you can place as many as you like together so you can cover as much or as little as necessary. Wheelchair users would be able to lift these easily with one hand which is excellent, and children will love to use them thus being encouraged out into the garden and grow there own seeds. An all round winner that I would highly recommend for any gardener, whether you have a disability, arthritis, back trouble or none of these then these cloches will make your veg garden a better place.

I then gave a superb organic plant food maker a go, available from Lakeland.co.uk

This is a brilliant way to use up those pesky dandelion leaves, grass clippings and any other green garden waste. You simply fill the basket inside the main body, clip it together, add four litres of rain water and off you go. every now and then, about 2 to 4 times a week pump the handle connected to the basket through the lid, this aerates the green waste and adds oxygen. After three weeks all the goodness has been extracted and you have plenty of organic and free plant food. Again this product was not designed with disability in mind but Lakeland were keen to know if it was and how I used it.

The first thing that struck me was the neat and compact design. It can be placed at the perfect height to suit the users needs, mine is on a low table that is just right for small people such as myself. it can be popped at wheelchair height quite easily too. One thing I found a bit tricky was clipping the basket together as it is quite stiff and I did need a bit of help with this and I am yet to open the basket so at this point am unsure if I can open it to refill it. However I am sure my husband James will be able to modify it for me. only having two fingers has made him quite used to adapting most things for me, he is getting ingenious. This said though I loved this product, it looks smart and the fact that you get plenty of plant food and it can used over and over again in ideal if you have thousands of hungry plants like me. The pump action was simple and very easy to pull up and down, I could even do it just with one hand and two fingers, so if I can do it then anyone can! I would definitely advise all you keen and organic gardeners to give this product a try. I have thoroughly enjoyed using it and will continue to do so for many years.

I hope these extra reviews have been helpful, don't forget the have a look at The Guardian gardening blogspot for the other products that I tested.

I have one more review to write up however I only received the goods a day or so ago so have to yet give them a thorough try out yet, but watch this space for a review of the garden dungarees designed by women for women at www.gardengirl.co.uk

Useful Tips revisited

Over the weekend I thought it would be a good idea to take some photographs of the garden tools that I use and show you all how I use them. Hopefully they might help and inspire you :)

These three tools I most definitely could not live without. I can not in any way use secateurs, for years and years I tried but all I could manage was daft cuts that left stems hanging off the plant! Not a good idea.

The small pink deadheaders are just great for snipping off heads and taking cuttings. They are very light and even I can use them one handed, very very unusual for me. The slightly larger pink by-pass snippers are equally useful for those stems that are a little thicker and need a bit more effort. I have to use two hands here but as the blades are nicely pointed I can get them in between the stems easily as I can not hold whatever it is that needs a snip. Trust me I have tried to do this with the cordless electric secateurs in the picture and only just managed to avoid chopping off my little finger, the secateurs went one way and I went the other. With only three fingers I really don't have any to spare! :)

here you can see me in action, one handed  happily snipping the dead heads from my violas :)

Tulips need a bit more force so here I use the by-pass snippers, brilliant 

These cordless secateurs work a treat on those pesky tough branches and I can now prune much bigger trees and shrubs. Something I have always wanted to be able to do but could never manage it until now. My husband, James's face was quite a picture after I had finished pruning for the first time, the whole garden had become me sized!

My newest invention that came into being over the weekend is my new  mobile watering system.

After spending quite some time wondering how I could water the garden without trying to drag a hospeipe round the garden and getting very wet into the bargain I came up with this handy idea after watching James use his fertiliser/weed killer sprayer.
This sprayer holds 10 litres of water and fits neatly inside the shopping trolley. Once filled with water I can wheel the trolley around the garden, even across the grass and water away to my hearts content. I can even reach my beloved hanging baskets that used to wilt in the summer waiting for a water thanks to the handy wand. No heavy lifting of watering cans, not actually possible for me anyway and it also beats the hosepipe ban so it doesn't matter if you have a disability or not, everyone can water their garden easily.


I hope you have found some of my ideas useful


Bye for now

From

The Potting Shed :)

Daily Mirror story 1972, me at 5 years old and my Mum

Lest We Forget

Poppies for Remembrance.

I have wondered for quite a while now why we have the poppy as the symbol of Remembrance. So I decided to do a bit research and this is what I discovered.

A young Canadian medical officer named John McRae was serving in a field hospital in the year 1915 near Ypres. While attending to the wounded and dying soldiers he would look from his window upon masses of Corn poppies growing over graves and through the trenches. These beautiful poppies made him remember a Greek legend that said the poppy was created by the god of sleep and so to McRae the poppy symbolised the everlasting rest of the fallen and he was inspired to right a paoem called "In Flanders Fields" with the final lines being.

"If ye break faith with those who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields"

One his death in 1918, McRae's need for Remembrance remained and he asked that his grave be strewn with poppies in Remembrance not only of his death but those of his fallen brothers.

To this day a poppy wreath is lain on his tombstone in France and in 1921 The British Legion adopted the poppy as the symbol of Remembrance.

We shall remember them.

Gardening Dog

I blame the dog!!

My only excuse for not posting for a while is my new puppy, Bailey. A gorgeous red and white Border Collie. He is now 4 months old and will become my assistance dog not only around the house but in the garden. Yes he will be the only other living thing allowed anywhere near the potting shed :) So far garden dog training consists of how many gloves can Bailey bury? Where have all my seedling pots gone? and who keeps eating my flowers? Seriously look at that face, how can I be mad that I have no gloves, pots or flowers. Oh yes he is also to blame for my lack of beans. All was going well until the blasted snails slithered into the raised bean pot, out came the crushed egg shells the snails began to slither off, but oh no who is this? Yes it is the egg shell eating puppy! Yay thanks Bailey said the snails, back they came and nommed all my beans!

The Weather, I blame that too!

Sitting here looking out into the drizzle I feel forlorn. This year ahs brought us garden fiends more trials and tribulations than ever before. My friend June has lost her beloved tomatoes to blight, I have lost my beans, but not weather related. Several other friends have had potato issues, including no signs of life whatsoever to total water logging!! How are we meant to cope? Roses are going mouldy, petunias are trying hard to survive, even my lobelia is no where near as floriferous as last year. Fuchsias though, now they are they stars of my garden and amazingly the Dahlias are just beginning to emerge with the biggest blooms they have ever had, how come with all the snails? hum not sure, I may have to do some research on that one.

Our pond though is positively ravishing, (if a pond can be ravishing) well it is if you are a frog or a newt as we have two frogs and three newts and the pond is only six months old! I am really happy with the results, not only for the new residents but also for the old ones as the larvae is keeping the bats well fed.

Well as it appears to still be raining I had better just carry on planning ahead for next years garden. I have already begun the seed collection, including Aquilegia, Dianthus and Sweet Williams. Collecting seeds has probably got to be one of my favourite things. There is no better feeling, in my opinion, of looking at your garden and thinking I grew all this from my own seeds, a practically free garden, what could be better?

Happy gardening my fellow gardeners

The Potting Shed

May......the fork be with you

         May…..the fork be with you

Stand by your beds, borders and pots the time to plant out has finally arrived, or has it? The weather just gets worse and wetter as we stand by with our trusty forks or trowels in hand desperately awaiting that sunny moment to un-stuff the poor over filled greenhouse, kitchen window sill and every other space that has been utilised for our precious seedlings. This time last year the heating had been turned off, the planting had begun in earnest and the greenhouse was empty. Rain rain go away bring us a drought another day.

Attracting wildlife into the garden

If like me you want to Bee friendly in your garden then there are a few plants you can consider to help you on your way.

Bees prefer their flowers in the sun, so if you have a gap in a sunny spot it’ll be perfect for the pollinators. Single, open flowers are best as they allow excellent access for the bees to get at the pollen and nectar. Scatter a few wildflower seeds, such as Knautia Aruensis (Field Scabious) or perhaps Meadow Clary. Not only will there be an amazing splash of colour, the bees will flock to it. I have managed to convince my husband; James to leave a small section of the lawn un-mown again this year for our tiny wildflower patch, meadow seems far too grand. Clover grows in great swathes here and in the border I shall be planting cosmos sea shell and single flower Asters amongst the wildflower seeds. Hopefully we’ll get all sorts of interesting insects.

Bumblebees love more pendula trumpet like flowers such as Foxgloves, I’m sure you have seen many a bumble bee backing out of the flowers bottom first only to dive straight into the next flower, buzzing with delight at the thought of more food. A bit like the May gardener really, bottoms up, face forward, searching for weeds, after the success of finding and removing some, it’s back out of the border, bottom first and off to find some more. Bumblebees also love Antirrhinum (Snapdragons) and Aconitum (Monkshood) as they are heavy enough to open the flower heads and find the treasure inside.

So May thus far has not been the month that it usually is. Many gardeners love May as it signifies the start to seeing the fruits of our labours over the winter months. Planning, buying, potting on and seed sowing has been going on in earnest. It’s time to get your garden clobber on and plant out the tender little babies that you have nurtured for so long. Sadly it is taking longer this year and every time the sun shines, eager gardeners head for door only to be turned back by hail, rain and wind before they have even had time to call out “I’ll be in the garden.”

Keep your chins up my fellow gardeners the time will come and it won’t be far away (hopefully) either that or we’ll just have to brave it, put the wet weather gear on and plant out or be damned.

A short list of to do’s……May has endless jobs but here’s a few to get you get started

• Hanging baskets can be planted up, I have several already up but they are in a settled area
• Regularly water newly planted trees (humm, with all this rain?)
• Finish off summer bulb planting
• Give your spring a liquid feed ready for next years flowers
• Dead head spent spring bulbs, although you are meant to leave the leaves for about six weeks I never do, they get all floppy and untidy, I'm afraid I chop mine down to a few inches, they always flower again next year though.

Fruit and Veg garden

• Earth up your sprouting tatties. Mine have grown to the top of the bag in two weeks!
• Seeds to sow directly…radish, spring onions, runner beans, winter broccoli and herbs including coriander, and parsley, maybe a few chives (leave some chives to flower, the bees love it)
• Strawberry runners need pinching off when you spot them, this helps the fruit growth

Greenhouse

• If you are lucky enough to have any sun, shade your greenhouse to avoid overheating and scorching
• Take a few leaf cuttings from your houseplants if you’d like a few freebies. African violets work well as do Cape primroses.
• If herbs are your thing then carry on sowing in the greenhouse
• Leave your door or vents open during the day, don’t forget to close again or you will be like me, rushing out in your nightie to do it at midnight

General garden

·        Search for those pesky perennial weeds, this rain has helped them grow quickly, couch grass is doing well and the ever present bind weed

·        Take soft shoot cuttings from fuchsias, penstomons, ceonothus, buddleja and honeysuckle to name but a few.

·        You may like to begin to feed houseplants now too

·        Clean out pond algae

Pruning

• Clematis Montana, after flowering. This will promote new base shoots for next year.
• Any spring flowering shrub including forsythia, kerria japonica and pyracantha

And lastly, don’t forget the wildlife

• Clean bird feeders to avoid nasty infestations and viruses for your birds
• Build a few bugitat for the insects, bees, ladybirds, hoverflies to move into. My husband, James had lots of fun drilling holes of different sizes into the branches of trees that we had chopped down; these are now nestling in pots all around the garden.

One of James’ bugitats behind the azalea.

weather!

 Well that's it my poor greenhouse is saying "no more seedlings in here, please"

Here are just a few photos of the greenhouse that I had hoped had elastic sides alas it clearly doesn't :)

This rain everyday has definitely put the brakes on any ideas I may have had about getting these little babies out into the lovely sunshine. Maybe we have been spoilt by last year's April weather and were expecting just                                  

too much!

Poor Alfie doesn't know what he wants to do, he has decided that all this rain must mean it's winter so he's back to eating all day and all night and hiding out in the veg trug or greenhouse cupboard, silly Alfie.

Even though I really don't have any more room left I am still sowing seeds but in my head herbs don't count as flowers so that's ok, I am sure I will find a spot for them somewhere. later today I hope to have some Basil "Dark Opal," Coriander and Dianthus "Sonata" under way. I know I know, Dianthus are most definitely not herbs but I just love these fragrant perennials and they will fit in really well with the new fragrant garden area that I am planning this year to go near the swing. Lovely summer evenings, glass of wine in hand, the sweet smell of Dianthus, Nemesia and Roses wafting over me. Heaven :)  

Well I will leave you, wishing the sun would come out :)

 Happy gardening, or looking through the window

The Potting Shed