If you’re one of those people who loves scavenging for useful things, or has a pile of interesting odds and ends stashed away for future projects, then you could think about recycling them into a 5 star wildlife hotel.
21.08.2023 - 11:53 / theunconventionalgardener.com / Emma Doughty
When I interviewed for my last job, the panel asked me how I would cope in a situation where there was more work on my desk than I had time to do. The theoretical answers to that question are easy – prioritise, ask for help, get stuck in. When you’re faced with an overwhelming situation then it’s easy to forget the theory and to spend more time worrying about how you’re going to get everything done than doing anything useful.
Spring is the time of year when gardeners go from being frustrated that the weather isn’t good enough for gardening to being overwhelmed at the amount of work that needs to be done – which can happen in about 15 seconds. It’s easy to feel that you’ve lost control of the garden and that you won’t get it back until nature starts to slow down again in the autumn.
Spring is such a busy time, there will always be as much work to be done in the garden as you can find time for. So how do you deal with garden overwhelm? Here are some suggestions – if you’re struggling to keep up then use the ones that work for you and compost the rest!
Although I didn’t write that list in any kind of order, I think the most important one came out on top. My garden is important to me, but it’s only one of the things that makes demands on my time, and I very rarely feel that I can make it my top priority.
And so, as I said recently, my new garden is designed with overwhelm in mind – the hard landscaping cuts down on the amount of ‘work’ the garden needs, and I can easily shut down some of the garden if it’s getting too much. The garden isn’t finished, but the design is already doing its job and allowing me to concentrate on the things that are important and which I enjoy, with the ultimate goal of having a beautiful and
If you’re one of those people who loves scavenging for useful things, or has a pile of interesting odds and ends stashed away for future projects, then you could think about recycling them into a 5 star wildlife hotel.
Fungus gnats are tiny little black flies that love living in damp organic matter (i.e. compost). They thrive in warmer weather, so at this time of year – with all the seedlings indoors – the house is full of them.
Whether you made a New Year’s resolution to cut your carbon footprint, or the credit crunch is putting pressure on your food budget, now is the perfect time to try growing some of your own vegetables. You don’t need a lot of space, or expensive kit, to get started – and it doesn’t need to take up a lot of your time.
Mould (mold) spores are everywhere, they’re inescapable, and moulds love growing in the warm, damp and humid conditions that seedlings need to thrive. If you have biodegradable pots then moulds can rapidly colonize those; but they will happily grow on the surface of compost as well. A lot of the moulds we see won’t do much damage to the seedlings, but some of them will and having mould on the windowsill isn’t much good for us either.
If there’s one thing that makes gardeners gnash their teeth with frustration, it’s watching their favourite plants being eaten by pests. We’ve moved on from the ‘any bug is a bad bug’ mentality, and many chemical controls are being removed from sale amid safety fears, but this doesn’t mean that we have to abandon hope of an attractive and productive garden.
Plastic bottles are everywhere these days, even floating around in the oceans. Fortunately for the environment, recycling facilities are improving (here in the UK at least) but a lot of plastic bottles still end up in landfill, where they just don’t break down. If you would like to give your plastic bottles a new lease of life once they’re empty, and save money too, then try recycling them into something useful for the garden.
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault (also called the Doomsday vault) in Norway was officially opened in February 2008. During the 3 months prior to the grand opening, engineers pumped refrigerated air into the vault to bring its temperature down from a chilly -5°C to an arctic -18°C.
Now that the days are longer and the first flush of spring is over, gardeners all over the country have a chance to step back from frantic seed sowing, transplanting, digging and weeding and carry on gardening at a slower pace over the summer.
It is one of the big ironies of gardening that the pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers we use to keep our lawns green make them one of the least ‘green’ areas of the garden. Many gardeners put a lot of effort into maintaining their lawns, and this diligence can be a real asset if you want to go green, because it requires a fair amount of work to keep your lawn in top-notch condition using organic methods. The good news is that a more relaxed approach rewards you with a beautiful, wildlife-friendly lawn.
Organic gardeners aim to feed the soil, and let a healthy soil take care of the plants. The best way to add fertility to your garden is to make compost, but in most gardens there is never enough compost to go around and there will be times when supplementary feeding is needed.
Climb the cast-iron steps to the roof garden at the Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC) and you can almost forget that you’re in the heart of the city. Just 30 by 6 metres, the garden manages to fill every vista and the breeze through the trees drowns out all but the loudest city noises.
There’s nothing quite as British as a nice cup of tea, and sitting down for a good cuppa can certainly brighten up your day. A tea bush is unlikely to thrive in most UK gardens (although there are a couple of tea plantations) because of the climate, but there are plenty of herbs that are easy to grow and make a refreshing brew. They’ll even grow well in containers – so they make ideal plants for a windowbox or a patio. Having them close at hand means you can harvest leaves as and when you need them.