Crop and Energy Production Merge in Iowa Project

Little is more discouraging than discovering healthy and recently-planted spring borders and developing vegetable crops damaged or eaten by rabbits; it’s enough to bring the Elmer Fudd out in the mildest of gardeners. Annoyingly rabbits are most active feeders early in morning and at dusk, and so often hard to spot; they also seem attracted to newly-planted areas. But by employing a range of tactics it is possible to reduce problems. 

Happy 2024! We’re back and ready for another great year of growing fruit and veggies! We hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year.

Care for your Nerve Plants effortlessly! Maintain humidity with a humidifier or water tray, and find the right sunlight balance. Feed with diluted liquid fertilizer every 3-4 weeks, prune for bushiness when it's 4-6 inches tall, and enhance CO2 levels occasionally. Amp up leaf vibrancy by using a weak tea solution every 2 months. These simple steps guarantee colorful, bushier, and lush Nerve Plants!

This year, when gardeners look at plant and seed catalogs, I think they will be inclined to go for the safe and familiar. After all,  even optimists need a sense of security. It will probably be a banner year for roses of all kinds, with reds selling well. The ongoing vogue for cottage flowers will probably continue to be strong. In fact, the wildest thing many people will invest in come spring will be a few of the more bizarre coleus cultivars.

Tender climbing perennial plants which are free flowering and suitable for growing in pots in the greenhouse, or for planting out of doors. They are closely related to the Snapdragon (Antirrhinum), to whose family, Scrophulariaceae, they belong.

How to Grow and Care for Ironweed (Vernonia) Vernonia spp.

Some people get their kicks from designer labels, others from rummaging through flea shops, or collecting obscure Japanese comics, vintage tractors, handbags, dolls, beer-mats, Star Wars merchandise or whatever else. Me, I get mine from ordering seeds.

Lottie and Dottie have been very clever and set up their own Etsy page. They had to ask for a little bit of help with all the technical stuff from a lovely young lady called Emski. She was very patient and kind as she knew all about that sort of stuff.

I am pleased to report that Victoria our new chicken and Big Bird or BB as we now call her, are now getting along very well together. There’s the odd angry look, but BB isn’t scared of her new buddy anymore. They’re still in their separate areas, even in the big brassica cage, but when I’m out in the garden, I let them play on the grass together. The grass is like no man’s land so no one feels they have the upper hand, except me that is. I think next week end they’ll live quite happily in their shed and attached run, but baby steps for them both is needed.

It’s the last Bank Holiday until August (that’s in England anyway), so as the sun was shining I wasn’t going to waste any of it.

Courtesy of White Flower Farm

Last September my husband and I fulfilled a long-held dream of visiting Australia, when we decided to take a road trip from Brisbane to Sydney. When you look at the map, our trip marks only a tiny slice of this massive country, but we knew we wanted to take it slowly and really soak up the countryside and enjoy the places we did have time to see.