Horticultural
Sun Apr 24 04:40:28 EDT 2011
Home: http://perrone.blogs.com/horticultural/
Feed: http://perrone.blogs.com/horticultural/index.rdf

Jarvis Cocker, you may just have a point - "This is the true story of the weeds, the origin of the species, A story of exploitation, cultivation, civilisation Found flowering on wasteland unnoticed, unofficial, accidental" (Song lyrics from the song Weeds II by Pulp) Long-time readers of my blog may remember that I own a weed wand, but I haven't used it for over a year, for killing weeds or indeed making creme brulee. Truth is, I've become a bit of a weed obsessive. (Oh yes, and I've also had another baby, which does somewhat limit time for weeding.) Like many things in life, my weed fascination began in...

Planting up the green roof - Ever since the garden office was finished I've been panicking about planting up the green roof. What to put up there, will it grow, will it leak, will I fall off the roof? I set aside this morning as 'roof time' and offloaded the kids onto my other half so I could dedicate myself to the task without distraction. And I am delighted to say that I survived the experience without any broken bones and hey, I actually enjoyed it! When it came to what to plant, I'd originally plumped for a fairly dull sedum matting roof, but after consultations...

Crowdsourcing my beds - Just as there is no ideal time to have a baby, there’s no ideal time to get your garden revamped. In the past year, I’ve done both. In the summer, when I got the back of my garden sorted – new shed, raised beds, picket fence – I was itching to get growing but couldn’t do a huge amount because 'd just given birth. This winter, the bit of the garden closest to the house has been transformed, along with the knocking down of the garage and replacement with a garden office/guest room/bathroom/storage (visible on the left of the picture...

How much is a heritage, organically grown tomato worth? - Or, how do I save money in the garden? Gaby Hinsliff got me thinking about the costs and benefits of growing your own in this post on her blog Used To be Somebody. She been trying to grow some fruit and veg - lettuce, blueberries and the like - to save money and to show her son "that vegetables don't all come shrinkwrapped in plastic". She concludes that "apart from the salads and herbs, everything would have been cheaper at Waitrose". She's got a point. It really gets my goat when people - be they celeb gardeners, gardening hacks or...

Salad blue days: growing potatoes in containers - I don't know if it's because I am often on holiday in June, but my potato plants seem to be doing particularly well this year: possibly because I'm around to tend to their every need. I wrote a piece about the benefits of growing potatoes in pots earlier this year, and I've put my money where my mouth is and planted half a dozen sacks and junk shop pots with different varieties this season. It has been handy to be able to move them around the garden at a time when we've been revamping the plot. Through necessity rather than...

Shed chic - As may have become clear from my last shed post, I don't want a shed that's purely functional - it's got to be picturesque, not least because although in a corner it's not exactly tucked away in my garden, but also because I am planning to spend as much time as possible in and around it. Given that I can't do anything much about the colour of the exterior right now, I am thinking about how to make the interior work from a practical point of view, in terms of storage and easy access to tools etc, but also capture...

Foxgloves and other flowers from seed - I don't tend to grow many flowers from seed, partly because I haven't had the space or facilities up until now, and partly because as regular readers will know, I am a bit of a vegetable growing enthusiast - give me a choice of edible or ornamental and I'll opt for the plants that can end up in my gob! But I did sow these white foxgloves from a packet of seeds that came free on the front of Gardens Illustrated back in autumn 2008. And now they've finally flowered: it seems like they've taken forever to get to this...

A post in which I achieve a lifelong goal: becoming a sheddie - I have been promising pictures of my new shed for days now, and finally, here they are. It's a funny old time at Perrone Towers - I am due to give birth to child no 2 any time now, yet my mind is somewhat preoccupied with the changes taking place in the garden: no bad thing, I figure, as lots of heavily pregnant women drive themselves (and their families) crazy getting angsty about when they're going to pop, so this is a welcome distraction. In case my mother in law is reading this, yes, I am getting lots of rest...

Herons, sheds, and other works in progress - (Let me say, before we go any further, that the willow sculpture you see here is a heron. A HERON. Not a giraffe.) I made this chap at a willow sculpture workshop taught by Hazel Godfrey at Albion Arts in Harpenden a few weeks back. I don't know what you think of my efforts, but I was rather pleased with him. My friend Sarah also did the course at the same time and made a heron, which you can see below. It was interesting how everyone in the group followed exactly the same instructions, yet everyone's sculpture came out different....

Book review: How to Grow Fresh Air by BC Wolverton - I've been delaying and delaying getting a plant for my desk at work, but I am starting to regret that having started to read Dr BC Wolverton's book How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants That Purify Your Home or Office. The author carried out research for Nasa looking at air quality in spacecraft and for potential lunar bases, in the process discovering that certain houseplants are brilliant at filtering pollutants that are rife in modern homes, such as formaldehyde, xylene and benzene. A range of health complaints are attributed to exposure to these pollutants, found in everything from particleboard...