A few thoughts on container grown herbs

Almost all herbs are hardy plants, however the savoriness and flavour of the herb will depend on sunshine.

If you do not have a big plot you can grow most types of herbs in pots that are placed on a outside window-sill. 

A window-box is better however because you can fit more plants in along the ledge.

If you are going to go for growing your herbs in containers you will need a growing a better class of soil mixture then your normal run of the mill potting mixtures that you buy in the local store.

The best mixture is John Innes Seed mixtures which is sandier and much more suitable for herbs. Before you put it into your container ,water it and mix the water right through so that no part of it is dry and dusty.

For drainage, I always put a two inch layer of small gravel type stones at the bottom of the pot/trough.

Lemon balm, sage, marjoram, and thyme will all spread out to six-to-eight square of window box space.

Chives and mint are much more powerful growing plants and do not like other herbs near them. 

On no account put mint straight into the ground because over time it will spread and take over every thing and you will find it a very hard plant to get rid off.

Where to find animal manure;

One of the great difficulties of making compost is getting hold of some sort of animal manure. You might think that this is almost impossible to do if you do not live near a farm, but that is not so.

I live in Oxford UK and my method of collecting compost is to go where animals are and collect it off the fields. Of course, you cannot go onto private land and do this; I go onto common ground and collect horse manure.

There are laws about this in the UK and they might well be where you are.

The law states that you may pick up animal manure provide the manure is cold and not affixed to the earth!

In other words: if it is fresh, it belongs to the owner of the beast and if it is attached to the ground, it belongs to the ground.

In realty, this means in the winter you have about two weeks before it becomes part of the ground and in the summer about four days.

I do find, in life that if you want something you will find a way through.

Go out and about; look for manure; talk manure/horses and you will be surprised at what you will find.

Composting notes

There are many methods that experts advise on the subject of composting. All of these have certain points in common. The main thing to remember is that it is simple and not buried in mystery or magic.

There are six main points to keep in mind:

The layers of the vegetable waste should be about 8 inches in depth and should be compacted by treading down firmly. After each layer of plant martial add a layer of animal manure, 2 inches should be enough.

A shelter should be provided to protect the heap from the sun and rain. The idea is to stop the heap drying out and to keep heat in. An old carpet would be fine.

The plant material should be fresh and still green. Material such as cabbages stalks should be crushed. This will help with the break down of the stalks. Try to intermingle with grass cutting or some such. Do not put woody material such as apple prunings. The will take too long to break down.

It is better to have two or three little heaps, rather then one big one. 4 feet by 4 feet /10 feet to 10 feet and not higher then 7 feet.

If your are on acid soil it is a good idea to include 1oz of hydrated lime per square foot of your heap.

The best accelerator for use in your composting heap is; seaweed failing that fish waste, or chicken droppings.

Home composting made easy:

Home composting made easy:

It is obvious that the ideal way to make compost from vegetable waste is to stick with the way that nature does it.

In the woods, for instance, there are layers of decaying leaves and most of them have some manure on them, from birds, beast, or insects.

These are under trees and are often piled up season after season. Being under trees, the marital is protected from rain and wind. 

This enables the fungi and bacteria to get to work.

The fungi, helped by a great army of ‘bugs’, mainly do the rotting.

In the early stages there is quite a bit of heat that is generated and the temperature may well rise to 180f.

The speed of all this rotting greatly depends on the type of material, moisture content, and the degree of aeration.

Just to re-cap the way nature makes compost.

· Use plant waste

· Mix with animal manure

· Protect from hard weather

Three simple little that is quite easy to follow, giving you the best way to make cheap compost

Bugs need air too!

For those of us that work outdoor, there is no shortage of fresh air. However, it is very imperative that your compost heap has fresh air too.

The reason is that the accommodating bacteria and other bugs in your compost are aerobic organisms and need air to live. Because of this, it is very important to make sure that you use the right material to build your heap with.

The reason for wanting to make compost is because of the disastrous results that can be seen all over the world of not adding organic matter to the soil regularly.

The wealth of soil feeding materials that is found in the unwanted vegetables and of other plants such as weeds, leaves and grass mowing, should be conserved and used in the compost heap.

Is it Time to Re-learn

Is it time to re-learn!

People have always gardened. For hundreds of years farm life was the backbone of the western world; the family meal was right there in the back yard.

Slowly, however people moved into cities and urbanized life where packaged produce became a way of life for most people.

It took a national emergency of the two world wars to bring people back to the earth; so called “Victory Gardens” shot up all over the nations. After these wars, people settled back into ‘buying food from the shops’.

However, another national emergency event came along in the form of energy crisis of the 1970s, once again this made people rethink their priorities. The need for self-sufficiency once again become apparent.

Now we have the “economic cities” which has focused our minds on growing our own food.

To grow our own we must re-learn the lessons of nature to make a healthy soil in which to grow our vegetables.

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