Employ Tools Minimally

Dear Family & Friends

My husband have a few garden tools stored in the barn.... the shovel, the fork, the pick ax  etc...and I notice it is expanding by the year too!

Every morning when I head to work (in the garden, of course!)...I just carry with me 3 things: my fashionable handbag, I mean a bucket...and inside - a hand trowel, an old pencil colour, and a scissor. Life is just that simple!

The bucket handbag can hold the pulled weeds to take to the compost bin...or to hold some collection of harvest to take back to the kitchen for the day's use. That's actually what I call my 'pay' but I don't need a wallet for that, nor a lips-stick in my handbag for the matter ;P

My girl's old pencil colour is a good recycled tool for poking holes and lifting seedlings out of pots. The hand trowel is useful for digging bigger holes for planting, so finger nails don't get damaged, and for picking bugs you don't like to touch etc...

The scissors is also handy for opening new seed packets, specially the foiled secured packets where no nails or teeth can tear, and for harvesting veggies and flowers...or just snipping old death plants to tidy up a bit. When feeling cruel, to snip slugs before they escape! (now that's gross!...better to just let the chickens do the job ;) so, use the hand trowel...scoop it and toss in the air... be sure to have it land inside the chicken pen!

What tools do you carry to work each day? Any powerful weapons for a powerful job?

Happy gardening day!

Yours

Vegetable Growing Cheat Sheet - Guide Reference

There's so much to get excited for the coming spring garden...First of all, the excitement of planning what to grow and the thoughts of harvesting homegrown good food for the family. 

Every year I want to do better than the last and I refer to my guides and notes of the past to aid me. 

Here is a concise vegetable growing cheat sheet than I find easy to follow at a glance and is keeping it for reference. The veggies listed are what we would grow, and I more or less adapt the vegetable sowing guide to suit our gardening conditions. I found it from this website: http://overgrowthesystem.com. 

http://overgrowthesystem.com/

Gardening in the Winter Season

Dear Family & Friends

There's not much you can do in the garden during winter time. Probably it's gardener's rest time, but I just have to do some growing even in the middle of winter! Even when our temperature can come down to as much as minus 20.

Five Rosemary cuttings propagation in a soda bottle cloche:)

In December, I did a few cuttings from our Rosemary plant in the garden. I filled soda bottles with compost and planted my cuttings in. My simple way of propagating this herb. I'm hoping to get more plants to use as garden hedging in Spring time. For the moment this bottle cloche sits by the kitchen window.

My first propagated scented geranium is doing well by the window sill.

Sometime ago, a lady in our village passed this plant stem with a few leaves. I did not know what plant that was, but the leaves are very aromatic. I was told to use them in my fruit compote making. Unfortunately, most of the fruits were eaten fresh by the two girls. So, I decided to place this plant stem in the water and determined to search it's identity on internet. It's scented geranium!! The stem took roots in the water, and I planted them in a yogurt pot afterwards. It's doing well by the kitchen window. I will plant them outside when weather warms up and would want to have more of this charming plant later on.

My DIY mini green house for seeds and seedlings.

We often have bright sunshine during winter. More soda bottle cloches were made, I filled them up with home made compost, and lined them by the window ledge to sunbathe. My intention is to warm up the soil and use them to sow some vegetable seeds. We have no greenhouse, so this is my DIY mini green house to get some head start for this year.

Gardening is fun:) Let's make garden.

Yours

Comfrey Tea Recipe For Garden Plants

Dear Family & Friends

Why buy liquid feeds when you can make your own? It's so easy, it is free, and you know it is organic. Here are a few tips for making liquid feeds for your garden plants.

Comfrey tea is the classic organic liquid feed. I brought with me a couple of comfrey plant roots all the way from England to Bulgaria . Our farmer friend thought I was going bonker to want to plant comfrey, for he considers them as weeds in his farm land. But I'm determined to have a ready supply in our garden for this use.

A young comfrey plant

To make comfrey tea for your plants, simply steep the comfrey leaves in a bucket of water (preferably rain water)for 10-14 days, when it starts to really stink, use the liquid. Dilute with water 15:1, to water the plants directly. As for the remaining sludge in bucket, I either add more water to brew some more, and wait another 10-14 days or use the comfrey sludge as a top dressing.

Many plants benefit from liquid feeds. It  gives them a boost during their growing period, particularly hungry crops such as; tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins and beans. The benefit of liquid feeds is that the nutrients are immediately available to the plants in soluble form, they are also easy to make and easy to apply regularly.

Let's make garden...and grow our own food with great success:)

Yours