Top lottie tips from some of my fav gardening gurus - What I'm watching with my cuppa
It's the busy time for us lottiers when we are sowing, pricking out, potting on and planting out. So I've been watching YouTube and found my top tips from the last couple of weeks so you don't have to! Well not quite but here are some vids I've found really useful and I hope you might find something new.
Are you feeling behind this year - it's not too late there is still plenty of food to grow.
Small garden - no room for compost bin? - Use your paths
How to prick out seedlings and pick lettuce
String theory for growing tomatoes, cucumbers and aubergines - it's not astrophysics!
How to make the most of your compost Yorkshire style.
What I really like about this video is his approach to container gardening - so if you know anyone who is growing food in small spaces there are some great tips here. Like a lot of growers I've been talking to (and myself included) Mothin is feeling a bit behind this year - not helped by his chickens rampaging in his greenhouse - I feel for him. But for anyone who is feeling a bit behind, or has had setbacks - I've been slugged! there are great tips here for getting back on track and reassurance that there is time. Top tips about companion planting, utilising every bit of space and using compost sparingly but effectively.
Also check out his video at the end of this blog for super top tips on using less compost for containers.
Great advice here for people with small growing spaces with paths but no room for compost bins. Think I might try this on some of my paths anyway. Top tip as ever from Huw Richards.
New approach from Charles Dowding with really quick advice videos. I enjoyed these three top tips - and did these last year and they all worked.
I was speaking to a fellow gardener at the lottie the other day and she said when she used jute string it broke. I used it ok last year. But perhaps stay on the safe side and use plastic string which you can recycle year after year.
Another great video from Mothin from My Family Garden. As a fellow Yorkshire person I love the way he makes compost go further. In this video he covers using compost that isn't fully broken down - and with great results.
I have used his mulching idea this year and have really noticed moisture retention, less weeds and more water absorption. I have also used this technique in the pollytunnel for all the reasons - constant feed for hungry tomatoes, easier to get water into them without running off a compacted surface, encouraging t'worms to do their thing in creating spaces for air, water and of course their black gold plant feed!
Also in his video above (and as a Yorkshire lass really appreciate this new tip for me) on using less compost for containers - cardboarding (still a verb) the bottom of pots for water 'sponge' retention (genius), using the food scraps that you don't put it traditional compost (50%) and it then acts as a longer term feed. The remaining 50% is made up of 20% soil and 30% compost - seriously making your compost go further and still providing nutrition. And whilst waxing lyrical about how impressed I am also using the same container for a first light feeding crop followed by another crop. I also like the way he chose dwarf beans as that puts back in nitrogen too!
So that's what I've discovered on the internet over the last couple of weeks. Hope you find them useful.
Links to the channels:
Happy lottie plotting and planting people.
love
Auntie G
Previous: My May Lottie Tour plus what's going on in the Germination Station and Propagation Palaces.
Next: Possibly Pollytunnel update - check back!
Comments