Sow What?

If you have been prepared for your bonfire today, you will have kept aside your perennial and pernicious weeds that you could not compost due to the likelihood of them re-rooting.  Make sure that they are dry and old as the bonfire will smoke with any damp and green matter – alternatively add just a little at a time to an established fire. Read the rest of this entry →

Harvest time came early this year, so not too many scenes like this left by now

I don’t know about you but I think that we could all do with a little bit of extra inspiration to cheer us up as, so far, the summer has failed to live up to its promising early expectations.  Having said that, it hasn’t all been bad news has it?  You will not have arrived home from your summer holiday this year to find that your carefully tended vegetable plot looking like some post-apocalyptic desert with that courgette, which you foolishly overlooked before you left, now beginning to resemble an over-inflated barrage balloon as it eyes you menacingly from the back of the vegetable plot.  This year everything outside has been so well watered you’ll probably need a machete to forge a path through to the greenhouse to pick a few tomatoes! Read the rest of this entry →

Original Touch is shortly to announce a series of gardening advice road shows.  Buoyed by the positive feedback from recent public talks and a number of appearance requests from local gardening clubs plans are underway for a number of talks during the autumn of 2010.  Original Touch director, Samantha Ford, said “we are very excited about the plans we are making and they are all the result of the great feedback we have received following recent talks for the Co-Op and local gardening groups.  During the past couple of years so many people have taken up gardening and especially growing their own vegetables and the thirst for knowledge is immense.  We like to keep things fairly simple and fun so we concentrate on crop rotation, companion planting, natural pest control and new or unusual seed varieties.  We are planning to also talk about herbs and the many varieties we can all grow, mostly very easily.  We all have knowledge to learn and knowledge to give ”.

Talks are already confirmed such as with the Lincolnshire Organic Gardeners Association on October 25th in Lincoln (venue details) where, it will not be a surprise to learn, organic gardening is the topic.

The new dates are due to be announced by the end of August once final venue arrangements have been confirmed.

If you would like Original Touch to talk to your group or have an idea for a presentation then why not let us know.  You can call us on 01673 866677 or email us, or why not leave a comment here, and we’ll get back to you straight away.

In your spare time, it is a good month to visit other gardens for inspiration – did you know it is National Allotments Week from 9^th – 15^th August when many allotments are open to the public (or perhaps you could open your own plot to visitors!). Read the rest of this entry →