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Companion planting means growing plants which are beneficial to each other in close proximity. Examples of this are

French marigolds next to tomato plants will help deter aphids.

Leeks next to carrots will deter the pests that attack them.

Plant garlic as it’s scent will ward off many pests including vampires! Any flowering plants that are strongly scented will disguise the smell of vegetables. It’s the smell that attracts predators such as carrot fly to carrots. Disguise the smell and you can avoid the pests finding them.

It is seen by some as a method of distraction or hiding of the smells. This is important at times of thinning out things like carrots where the uprooting of tiny plants releases minute amounts of the carrot scent which then attracts the pests.

Chives are a pungent plant that can quickly disguise other plants smells.

Another aspect of putting flowers amongst the plants it to attract more bees into the garden. At the moment bees are very much under threat. Colonies of bees are dying and need all the help they can get. The more bee friendly flowers the better. Bees are your friends – they are essential for pollination.

I’ve read that basil is a great companion plant for tomatoes. I am trying this in my greenhouse this year and have got 6 pots of basil on the go. Even if it’s not entirely successful I’ll be able to use the basil on my tomatoes which will be utterly delicious.

Thomson and Morgan have an excellent range of herbs and flowers which can be used for companion planting.

You’d rightly assume that herbs have strong scents which can be useful, things like coriander, dill and mint all release essential oil scents as you brush past them. Planting them next to a path is a great idea so each time you move past you’ll find a delicious scent wafting about. You could also try lavender too – although more bulky, it’s an amazing plant that has a perfume scent all of it’s own. You can then use this and dry it for scenting your home.

Slugs can be a gardener’s nightmare; you can go to bed only to wake up the following morning to find seedlings destroyed and larger plants badly damaged

Hand picking

Your neighbours might think you are a bit strange, but you can go out at night with a torch in one hand and a pot of salt water in the other. As you spot the slugs, simply pick them up and drop them into the salt water.

If you can’t face picking them up, you can always create a spear from a broom handle and a nail and pick them up by stabbing them!

On a similar vein, you can lay out orange peel at night and come the morning turn it over. With any luck there will be a number of slugs hiding underneath, by removing their shelter you will expose them to the birds and other natural predators.

Broken eggshells / sharp sand

Slugs find it uncomfortable to move over sharp objects, so although not a perfect solution it is possible to make a slug barrier out of broken eggshells or sharp sand. Make a ring at least 2 inches wide around each of the seedlings you wish to protect and generally the slugs will not cross the barrier.

Copper strips

Slugs receive a shock when they come into contact with copper so you can use it as a barrier to stop the slugs from reaching your seedlings. Generally it is best used around the tops of pots or in areas you can be certain don’t contain any slugs already.

Beer trap

The beer trap or slug pub is probably the most enjoyable slug control method as you get to drink some beer! Take a small container, such as a jam jar or cut the bottom from a plastic bottle, submerge this in the ground leaving the top about half an inch proud. Open your beer and pour a little into the container – drink the rest! In the morning you should have a number of dead slugs in the beer. Unfortunately you now have to empty them out and clean the container before repeating again.

Slug pellets

Slug pellets are the traditional way of controlling slugs. These generally contain metaldehyde, which works by effectively dehydrating the slug. Although reasonably effective, the slugs need to ingest the pellets and therefore are only effective for slugs that are above ground. They also don’t work during and after heavy rain when you need the protection most. Metaldehyde also has another major drawback in that is its dangerous to animals, pets and children if ingested. Several dogs die each year having eaten slug pellets.

Salt

Everyone knows that salt kills slugs, but it does leave an awful mess, not to mention the fact that salt is toxic to plants, so really not the substance to be throwing around in your garden.

Nematodes

Nematodes (available under the name Nemaslug in the UK) are a relatively new addition to the market, but probably the most effective control available. A pack contains millions of naturally occurring nematodes (tiny parasitic worms) that prey on slugs. As the nematodes only target slugs they are entirely harmless to wild animals, pets and children.

February bought 10 days of insane snowy weather which kept us away from the allotment. We returned to find it looking surprisingly neat and we continuted to dig the beds. In March we cleaned the greenhouse out using Jeyes Fluid and a scrubbing brush.

It’d probably have been easier to take out the panes of glass and cleaned them that way. But it soon looked much better for a good scrub.

Have been scouring the seed catalogue pages at Thomson and Morgan – they have a huge range of vegetables including some wonderful potatoe varieties

Towards the end of March we noticed buds on the vine (This is after wondering whether we’d killed it somehow) – They’ve swollen and see, to be growing more each day.

The trees are budding and leaves opening on the large fruit trees. We were offered some blackcurrent bushes which I divided up as they were hulking great things.

I planted a couple of them on my fruit patch and bought the rest back here with me to be planted locally. Much better than throwing them away.

The rhubarb is looking amazing although we now have some very active ants in the greenhouse and in the corner of the rhubarb patch.

A faded yellow leaf on that bit of rhubarb too which I will keep an eye on.

We’ve had three lots of rhubarb already.

Bought some comfrey from a nursery – simple root cuttings and planted them today around the pond. (31st March)

These should provide an amazing form of composting material that can be used for making liquid fertiliser too.

I’ve got two root cuttings left which I planted in the front garden at home where the border is damp and clay. Should do well there.

I’ve purchased two tayberries too. Planted one in the middle of the empty raspberry row. They won’y fruit this year which is a shame, but I’ve read they can grow several meters across. I’ve got one to plant at home too although I’ve not decided where yet.

Nic’s made me a cold frame and the lettuce I’ve planted in there has come up.

PLanted carrot, parsnip, spinach beet, beetroot and peas today at the allotment. We’d planted the potatoes on the 22nd of March after a dry week and then it rained for several days. Hopefully they’ve enjoyed their soaking.

Frank grew some extra seeds so I’ve got broccoli, purple sprouting, caulis and cabbages now out in the greenhouse. It’ll be time to plant them out soon as I’ve noticed John has planted his out.

Frank also has some tomato seeds for me too and is going to lend me some big post as I have nothing nigh enough.

We’ve bought some asparagus too – but we can’t plant that out yet. We’re putting that in a bed next to the strawberries as it’s sheltered there with plenty of nice soil.

Nic’s almost finished the compost bin – good job as the plastic one is exploding due to the rain.

Nic’s also building some staging for the greenhouse! It’s all go for him!

We cycled over the other day. Took about 12 minutes – so its quite do-able early evenings in the summer when we need to go every day.

When it’s been sunny and windless the allotment is quite a suntrap. Very lovely. Can see it being boiling in summer!

Looking after your lawn can be really hard work. All that mowing and edge trimming can be quite a chore, but lawns are one of the very British features of our gardens. A well maintained lawn is a thing of beauty. Think of how smooth and flat those bowling green lawns are. How do they do it? They start with the right stuff! Good quality turf is easier to look after.

If your lawn is full of dandelions, daisys and other horrific looking plants and bare patches then you really need to look at your options. You can of course weed and feed your lawn. Manually removing dandelions is back breaking hard work that requires you to rmeove every bit of root to prevent it coming back.
Daisies are easier to dig out but leave large patches. Some of the other invasive weeds will defy all attempts to be removed, but out of them all dandelions are much worse.

Buying new turf and digging up your old stuff sounds like it is the best answer. It can be hard work though, removing your turf by hand is hard work, but you can huire turf strippers and do it quickly. Pile old turfs up and leave them to rot down in a quiet corner of the garden. Pointless sending them to the tip when they will break down into good soil for the borders soon enough!

Levelling the ground, perhaps removing the stones, and digging in some new top soil and feeding it up will give a great base for your new lawn.

Turf can be delivered by Rolawn Direct and then laid out on the prepared soil. Once it’s down it needs watering for a few days (If it doesn’t rain that is!) and then a little care and attention, only light mowing for a while and then after it’s settled in it’ll look fantastic!

Perfect lawns then need regular mowing, but all your neighbours will be envious of the smooth green lawn you have!