THE BEUATY OF SNOW AND SAVERE COLD

I must admit this weather we are having accross the country is not good for many reasons,I.E the elderly, people going to work. transport, and also airports. But the one good thing about it is ,it certainly kills a lot of nasties in the garden and it also washes all the salts that was accumilated in the last growing season when it thaws. For the growing season in 2009 i was inendated with terrible fungus on all my fruit trees (apples,pears) and they did not bare hardly any fruit at all. I can now say that because of the bad weather we had in late 2009 and early 2010 it ment that the fruit trees were dorment for a much longer period. When the warmer weather started to set in i noticed that the young shoots were groing much better and looked much more healthier than ever before and because of that i had a wonderful crop of fruit and certainly did not have any fungus or other deseases. so i am hoping this comming season will be the same. (YOU CANT BEAT A BIT OF HOME GROWN FRUIT) I am not a believer in using chemical sprays if i can avoid it as i do believe it does not do what ever you are growing any good, and that if i do use anything at all it will be only be washing up liquid which is diluted. The info that i am led to believe is that we are going to have bad weather for a few months to come so be on your gard with your young early plants.

What 5 different soils contain

There has always been disputable conversations at times over the condition of soils to use for planting.Now bare in mind there are 5 different types of soil and they all have a different colour and they differ in nutrients. The main people who were the experts were the farmers because they grew a lot of different types of vegetables and all will know that they also grow a tremendous amount of wheat, barley ,maize. It is a well known thing that farmers always use animal &cow manure and also very often manganese when they think it is required. It is not very often farmers have a bad crop unless there has been to much rain at the wrong time of the year. You might now be interested in the following info on what the 5 different soils contain.

BROWN SOIL
that is rich in organic matteris light to brown. Th organic matterin the soil causes suface layers to turn to dark colour.

ORANGE SOIL
Soil that is orange has a high level (iron)a direct effect from theironsoxidation in the soil. this soil has even been found on the moon.

RED SOIL
derives from iron rich sedimentary rock.Because of the lack of nutrients this soil is not good for growing plants or trees unless in a warm climate.

PURPLE SOIL
A high amount of manganese in soil causes it to turn a dark puplish-black colour. This soil is good for plant life because it is rich in nutrients.

YELLOW SOIL
Can be found in areas where acidic rock(like granite and schist) is plentifuf.Rainfall causes minerals to leave the ground leaving the soil lacking of nutrients.

I hope this info will be useful to every one that is involved in gardening. It is to be understood that if you are set in you own ways re to the way you grow and what you have achieved, you may not want to make changes . (This is what giving info is all about ye)

info& chrysanthemums

for many years i have grown a lot of flowers to suit the size and shape of my garden. why i have said that is because when you approach a garden from different angles you will always get a much better idea how to plant to give the best vision for your self to see from the window and also for people who are walikng by. this by the way goes a long way when you enter garden shows in some areas. I have already mentioned what i will be sowing in 2011 so i have decided to increase the flower section and grow 10 different chrysanthemums and see if i can get them good enough for showing. Mind you there are some excellent showers around so although i have quite a bit of exsperience it does meen that i will do any good, but it will be a challenge in which i will enjoy. I would like to say a thank you to ADAM GREATHEAD (baby face) because if i had not seen his blogg i most probably would not of thought about it I will give an update as time goes by.

ONIONS AND INFO

seeds sown for 2011.
12 seeds from 2009 ailsea bulb.
18 seeds from unwins exhibition
30 seeds alisa craig.
30 seeds russian. going to be very interesting to see the results.

The other tomatoe which i am growing when time is right will be shirley.

Athough this cold weather will help to kill a lot of horrible beasties i have also sprayed the toms green house with disinfectant, i am also making enquiries re to sulphur candles. Info will be appreciated on sulphur candles.

In the 11ft polytunnell i have turned the soil over and have covered it with news papper as i always do when the weather is freezing. Why i am saying that is because i have learnt over the years that the ground is still very cold up to the end of march and as most gardeners should know that young plants do nead a certain amount of heat in the ground. Now to watering plants, i have said many times to many gardeners if you can get water that has not got chloride in it use it because plants do not like chloride,i suppose i am lucky as there are a lot of mountain spings in the area where i live .One final thing , there is a lot more little issues in gardening that can benifit small gardeners wether they show or not and i will pass on everything i know in future post. ( dont want to upset the show boys)

my new blogg

because of the hash i made of my blog called (geoffo) i decided to delete it and start a new one . My new blogg will be (geoffs place of pleasure) It has taken me a while to work everything out so i am hoping i have succeeded this time. Mr smithyveg told me this technical buisness is a bit of a lark and the man is right especialy when you are at the age of seventy five. I used to have a brain but i dont know whare it has gone.

sowing of big onions

Now that the weather is a bit milder i decide to sow my onions for 2011. because of the cost of electricity these days i have decided to carry on in the old fashion way of keeping every thing warm by using newpaper and attic insulation meterial made into a blanket. I have done this for quite some years and have found it very good. as regards to light i am using a 40w bulb in the nights and natural light in the day time. Will give updates at a later stage with pictures.

info & list for 2011

This will be my new blogg showing pictures and giving info on how things are progressing in 2011. I hope there might be some infomation that some one might find interesting or on the other hand there might a reply with some some info that i could do with (you never know do you). In 2011 my list for growing will be,

1 big onions.
2 250 grm onions.
3 runner beans (white lady).
4 --------------(gallaxy)
5 tomatoes ( goldstar)
6 lettuce ( little gem)
7 carrots long ( red intermediate)
8 carrots stump (sweet candle )

now for the flower side of things.
1 asters
2 gadetia
3 dahlia
4 nepeta ( for hanging baskets)
5 small petunias
6 impatients
7 fuchias
8 begonias