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An
Alternative Farm Crop. Fields
full of purple lavender might more normally be associated with the
Provence region of France, rather than Hitchin in Hertfordshire, but it
seems that there is a long history of it’s cultivation in the area
since the 1500’s. Lavender was in great countrywide demand then, for
the well to do to carry on their person, as a posy, around the smelly
town streets and it was also used to make scented Lavender water. Demand
for cut Lavender dwindled over the years as did the demand for Lavender
water which was gradually replaced by Eau De Cologne.
As
with most plants there are numerous different varieties of It is well known that bees like
lavender and the flowering fields are always covered with swarms of
them, so in an attempt to increase the product range, the family have
just installed two beehives. The idea is to bottle their own Lavender
scented honey in future years to sell in their on site shop. The
Lavender farm shop on the site is open 6 days a week to which the
Hydro Culture On A Massive Scale. The
following Is An Abridged Version Of An Article In A Daily Paper;-
In
the Hydro culture system no soil is used at all as plants are suspended
and their roots take up water which has measured doses of nutrients and
plant food fed into it regularly. Many years ago I did experiment with
hydro culture for house plants, but some didn’t like it and it was a
terrible fiddle measuring such small quantities of fertilizer. Of course
everything in the project will be done mechanically, except pollination
of the flowers, and bees will be introduced to the projects vast
greenhouses, as they couldn’t get in to do their job otherwise.
Predatory wasps will also be introduced to eat aphids and other mites. Some
locals do not like the idea of having the huge glasshouses as they say
they will be a blot on the landscape, but the project will create many
hundreds of jobs. Personally
I don’t see how there will be much taste in the crops produced so
artificially and I think they will probably be like some of the
tasteless vegetables sold in the supermarkets now, unless they grow some
extra special varieties. Hope
this is of interest. Frances
Hartley.
A Seed Bank For The World This is only a diluted version of a newspaper article, but it is about plants and I thought it interesting;- Underneath the lawns in an Elizabethan stately home in Sussex called Wakehurst Place, is an unusual egg bank. It is an armour plated vault 20 feet below ground that contains seeds. The vault is designed to stand any bombs except a direct hit from a nuclear bomb. The temperature of the vault is kept at 20 degrees below zero. The main room leads off to four storage rooms each as big as a house. Inside each room are shelves holding rows and rows of Kilner jars which are like the old fashioned glass sweet jars. There
is a team consisting of 64 boffins working down there and they are doing
for the Flora what Noah did for the Fauna. The Lottery stumped up 8
million pounds to enable this to be done. It
would be difficult to say how many seeds are in each jar as seeds vary
in size, some seeds are as big as the old Gobstoppers we used to have
and some are like sand with varying sizes in between. It would be no
good using plastic jars as the plastic would sweat to start with and
then there would be ice in the jars when frozen. (Incidentally
if you want to save a few seeds yourself do not store then in plastic
bags, use paper. I sometimes keep a few seeds for the following year
using envelopes or small glass jars that are then kept in a biscuit tin
with the lid on tightly closed in the garage.)
Seeds
are not collected cheaply and come from different countries all around
the World. When they are sent in they remain that countries property as
this Country is only custodian for them. Every week Wahehurst receives
around 80 new species of plant seeds from all over the world. The seeds
go straight to a drying and cleaning room ready for storage. Every few
years a small sample of each type of seeds are taken out and tried for
germination, as not all seeds will stay viable forever and if there are
signs of them failing a new batch is obtained and they are replaced. Wakehurst
is not the only seed bank in the World as many countries have small
ones. America has Fort Collins and Norway has one built into the
Permafrost of Spitzbegen, but they are built to store different strains
of crops. Wakehurst stores a wider variety of plants for the future and
to keep working and expand the seed bank Wakehurst are hoping the
Lottery will stump up again. That’s
All for now Frances
Hartley Garden
Products With The Environment In Mind. Plant Pots And Such
However,
there is a small move away from everything plastic and attempts are
being made to establish a range of Eco friendly plant pots made from 100
% biodegradable material as an alternative to plastic pots.
The pots are tough enough to be used repeatedly as long as they
are cleaned and dried immediately after emptying before they are stored.
Planted directly into the ground the pots will gradually decompose over
a period of a few months and of course this means that the roots of the
plants aren’t disturbed. Small plants such as Bedding
Geraniums have often been sold in the past in an open mesh type of
plastic pot so that they could be transplanted without removing the pots
and disturbing the roots, but some bedding plants are now sold in small
pots made from a type of cardboard with a display label printed on the
side of the pot. You still have to discard the pot, but at least it is
made from waxed card and not plastic. Hanging basket liners can be
bought that are made out of what looks like brown pappier mache and
others from “Choir” or cocoa fibre. They might not look very
attractive when first planted up, but after the plants have grown you
won’t see them and they can be reused again and again, but if
discarded will eventually rot. Solar Power
Other
Gadgets.
High tech gadgets often fascinate people and with a relatively cheap Nature Camera you can view your garden through your TV while you sit in your favourite armchair. With skilful positioning of the small camera in the garden, you can sit and watch any part of the garden that is of interest. If a youngster is daring enough the camera could even be installed in a tree and directed at a bird nesting box like they do on TV. Unfortunately the camera does need mains power, but it does transmit the picture inside the house, to a receiver, by radio.
Gardening Hints On Recycling Tips On Saving Water
I am sure that in the olden days every country cottage used to have a rainwater tub at the corner of the house to collect the water from the gutters. Nowadays this plentiful supply of clean free water just goes down the drain, but many different types of downspout diverters can be bought and fitted onto almost any house which will divert the rain into a large water tub. In long dry spells you will probably use all of the water in your tub, but we often have dry spells followed by a Summer storm which I know this year have frequently filled my mothers two tubs in about 15 minutes of rain and they are 25 gallons each. If you do fit a diverter to a water tub you must make sure that there is an overflow on the tub back down into the drain so that when the tub is full the water does not flood everywhere. Not only will water tubs give you water in the garden when there is a dry spell with a hosepipe ban, but with most people going onto water metres they may save you money in the long run.
Weeds can go on to be composted, but do not add Twitch, Brambles, Dandelions or other perennial weeds because they are very difficult to rot properly. If you have a garden shredder all of the shrub prunings in the Autumn can be shredded and added. Of course you could use these as mulch in your garden anyway to suppress the weeds. When you remove all of your old bedding plants from your borders in the Autumn they can be roughly broken up with your hands and added as well.
By Alan Hartley (Son of Mrs. FM Hartley) General Re-cycling In The Garden Different types of
packaging found in the supermarkets can often be put to good use with a
little thought. The string bags that oranges usually come in can be saved
to hang up your onions when you harvest them in the Autumn. They are
strong and will let the air circulate round the onions to ripen them and
help keep them over winter in your garage or outhouse without letting them
rot. As the Autumn is coming
many people will be thinking about what seeds to buy for next year to sow
in the spring. Some such as Sweet Pea, Beans and Tomatoes will get away
quicker if they are started in old cardboard toilet roll inners. The plant
can be grown in them just as if it were in a small pot, but when it is
ready to be planted out the whole cardboard roll with plant in can be
planted. The cardboard will rot in the ground without disturbing the roots
of the young plant ensuring a better start.
Also with regard to
planting beans in the spring, the planting trench will benefit from a
thickish layer of old newspapers in the bottom. Fluff and dust out of the
vacuum cleaner can also be put into the trench. This will all help to
reduce water loss in the row and encourage root growth.
When you buy vegetables from a shop
they often come in a clear plastic bag and a small number of these could
be used to germinate pots of seeds or propagate cuttings in the same way
as pop bottles. Simply place the damp pot of seeds into the upside down
bag and tie the bag round the bottom of the pot. Other vegetables such as tomatoes
come from the shops in small plastic trays which can be used as little
seed trays as long as you remember to puncture the bottom to allow some
drainage.
By Alan Hartley (Son of Mrs. FM Hartley)
The following is not really about gardening but is about an event that was based on all things to do with nature;- The Summer Festival At Wolseley Bridge Wildlife Centre Saturday 5/8/06
Because
of the weather the day got off to a slow start but the afternoon saw a
good attendance. Throughout
the day Paul Walker, Mike Kingham and friends entertained visitors by
performing many easy listening types songs. Also performing was an Irish
folk group who did a short session. Other
entertainment included a circus skills workshop and a fencing display put
on by Stafford Rapier Society. There was of course face painting and the
obligatory bouncey castle, but under a large tent shaped like an Indian
Teepee, there were also lots of craft workshops for the children to get
involved with and I ended up doing my bit as well. While I was sitting at
my son’s book stall a lady came up and saw me knitting. She was from
another stall and we got talking about the lack of old fashioned crafts
and skills taught at schools these days. After a few minutes chatting she
asked me if I could teach her young daughter the basics of knitting as she
did not knit herself. I agreed and a little while later the girl came up
to our stall and I spent some time with an oddment of wool showing her
simple stitches. Hopefully the girl remembered enough when she got home to
try making squares for a simple cushion cover that I showed her. Then
perhaps she will go on to make other things and I will have helped create
a new knitter from the young generation.
Several
nature groups were represented including Stafford Barn Owl Action Group
and another one that caused some interest, Stafford Bat Group, who
actually had live bats on the stand!!! For
those that wanted a snack there were several food stalls selling mini
doughnuts, ice cream and hot food as well as a small stall selling
specialist chocolate and old fashioned toffee apples. In
the Wildlife Centre itself there is a gift shop that sells a wide range of
products to do with nature and is open most days. Of course it was open
today and the staff were kept very busy by all accounts.
The
Summer Festival is held annually at the centre as is a 2 day Christmas
gift fair later in the year. There are other regular fund raising events
organised at the Wildlife Centre throughout the seasons covering many
different things. A Report By Frances Hartley.
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Back
in the year 2000 an arable farmer decided to plant up 12 acres of his
farm with Lavender as an alternative green crop. After several
successful harvests he persuaded his two grown up sons to join him in
the “Growing” venture. The farming of such a crop is very labour
intensive, but not in the same way as in olden times. Then women and
children would cut bundles of Lavender all day long for a few pennies
pay and then the stalks would be separated from the flowers by hand as
well. Nowadays, the Lavender is cut by machine and separated at the same
time. The flowers are then taken away by lorry, (a 30 ton grain lorry
only holds 4 tons of Lavender because it is so light) and then steamed
to release the valuable oil which can be used in all sorts of products.
Weeding between the rows of plants that cover many miles, still has to
be done by hand and it is these labour costs that mean there is much
competition from abroad in places like China where labour is obviously
much cheaper.
family
get up to 400 visitors a day, where they stock Lavender oil, Lavender
water, body lotions, soap and Pot Pourri amongst other things. The Tea
Shop also adds to the attractions that the farm has to offer, as do the
guided tours, at £3 a head, run by one of the sons.
Around
the world trees such as the African Bamboo are rapidly disappearing due
to plundering. The wood from these trees is used to build houses and
furniture. These trees only produce seed every 7 years. Another plant,
one from south African called the Hottentots Fig only grow in one place
and there are only 6 plants left. There are many more species of plants
in the world in the same situation and others are disappearing due to
forests being felled for various reasons, but due to the Wakehurst seed
bank some species may be saved. A lot of our medicines come from plants
so it is essential to keep them going and scientists keep discovering
new cures all the time from un-researched plants. 
Tomato
ring culture pots have traditionally been made from a roofing-felt like
material called “Whale-hide,” as did the deep “Sweet Pea Pots.”
When they were thrown away they would rot given enough time, but
nowadays many of these pots are made from plastic, although, the old
style are still available if you look hard enough for them. Many years
ago garden centres often sold fruit trees and the like with their roots
Not
so many years ago there were only one or two fish pond pumps and lights
on the market that were Solar Powered, but as the technology has
improved there now seem to be a plethora of pumps and garden lights. Of
course electricity in the garden has always been a source of danger, but
with Solar Power there are no mains cables carrying high voltage, so
garden lighting and other electrical things can be installed almost 100
% risk free. Solar fish pond pumps might not interest many, but, lights
in the garden are always a good thing for those that like a midnight
stroll, or a smoke in the garden, and of course, for those who’s sight
might not be so good they are a very good safety idea to mark out the
edges of paths and fishponds. The batteries in the Solar lights charge
up in the day and most of them actually have daylight sensors that
automatically turn the lights on when the daylight disappears and off
again at dawn, so they are always on if you need them at night.
Many
people have the annual problem of clearing up fallen leaves in the
Autumn and invest in some sort of leaf blower or vacuum, but the problem
still remains of how to dispose of the enormous pile of leaves that you
have collected. You can always fill up your wheelie bin as most people
do, but of course the “Green” alternative is to compost them and
leaves do make excellent compost, however they do need a long time to
compost properly unless they are shredded. Some leaf vacuums now come
with a built in shredder that chops the leaves up into a fine pulp that
is ideal to mix into your compost heap. If you don’t want to go the
expense of buying such a tool you probably already have one in the shape
of a lawnmower. You might have to empty the collection box a bit more
often when you run the mower over a lot of leaves, but it will do an
excellent job of picking them up and shredding them at the same time.
The most important subject for re-cycling with
global warming and the drier Summers with their water shortages is
re-using waste water. Bath water is always included in this topic as it
can be drained off with a hose to water the garden but there are several
other less obvious ways of re-using water from the house. All sorts of
washing water ie; when the plates are washed, can be used in the garden.
However it is not a good idea to use dirty washing water on vegetables
as it might make them taste. The soapy water will not prove a problem
with other plants though, in fact, if it is splashed over them it will
kill some aphids and other pests. Often when you turn on the hot tap to
wash, it is usually a few seconds before it runs hot enough to use.
Normally this water just runs down the sink, but there is no reason why
the bowl can’t be put under the tap to save it to pour into your
watering can.
Most
of us have council green waste re-cycling bins, but why let the council
benefit and have all the fun of turning your garden waste into valuable
compost. It is quite simple to build a compost bin in an unused corner
of your garden and if looked after it won’t smell one little bit. All
you need is a few dozen house bricks stacked Lego fashion into a square
with a small gap between each brick to let the air in. If you are
careful their own weight will hold them in place as it does not need to
be very high, 18 inches or so should be plenty. As you add to the heap
you can add a few more bricks until the heap starts to sink as it rots
and then you can just as easily remove them to get at it. Obviously
grass cuttings can be added to the heap, but don’t just pile layer
after layer of cuttings on to it because they will not rot properly and
they will smell. In between each layer of grass put a layer of something
else such as leaves that will be available in the Autumn. Even a thin
layer of poor soil from the garden will help. 
Another
type of waste that can be added to good benefit is shredded paper if you
have a paper shredder for your bank statements etc. Torn up newspapers
can also be included, but not in thick layers or they will not rot very
quickly. Do not be tempted to add leftovers from meals or old bones
because they will smell, attract rats and will not rot very well.
Vegetable trimmings from when you are preparing potatoes, carrots and
the like are fine though. A bag of horse manure added to your compost
heap will work wonders with it. A sprinkle of garden lime over a fresh
layer occasionally will benefit the compost heap, especially if grass
cuttings are frequently added. Prevent the heap from getting too dry by
giving it a can full of water regularly in any dry spells and turn it
occassionally. This will
encourage the worms and bacteria to get busy as they like moist
conditions. The secret of making a good compost heap is to add many
different types of material in thin layers and give it at least one year
to rot. After that time dig into it and examine it to see if it is nice
and crumbly. If not leave it a little longer to rot but if you have
treated it well you should have some very good compost for use in your
garden to enrich the borders. You may find the odd twiggy bit that has
not rotted, but this can either be discarded in your bin or put onto
next years heap.
Large
plastic pop bottles can be used in different ways in the garden. The tops
can be cut off several inches down the bottle with a stout pair of
scissors, and then they can be up ended and used as mini propagators over
pots of cuttings and seeds either in the house or garden in the spring to
give a little added protection. Another use for them next year is to cut
off the bottoms and partially bury the bottle, top down, (minus its screw
top) next to a valuable plant that needs regular watering in the garden.
Then a quantity of water can be poured into the cut open end of the bottle
which will go straight out of the buried top, down to the plants roots
without puddling the ground round the plant. This will discourage the
plant from making shallow roots that will suffer in a dry spell and
encourage deeper rooting. The plant will also get a measured amount of
water each time. 
The
last things that I can think of for re-cycling in the garden are perhaps
the most obvious and those are old plant pots and labels. Labels can be
washed and cleaned with a small piece of wire wool quite effectively. It
takes a little bit of elbow grease to remove the old names on them, but
packets of labels are very expensive for what they are these days. Lots of
people keep old pots from when they buy new plants at the garden centres,
but a lot more could be re-cycled instead of simply throwing them away.
They should be washed before they are re-used to prevent any disease or
other problems from spreading. You may not have a use for them but you may
know of a friend who grows plants for other people who could use them
Alternatively you may come across a local gardening guild or other
organisation that could make use of them. To people that need them and
have not got them, plant pots are very expensive to buy. 
The
day started miserably as it was drizzling steadily for the first hour or
two. Everybody had obviously been hoping for a fine day and not come
prepared, so there was a last minute rush to erect numerous gazebos to
shelter the many stalls. However the Wildlife centre had plenty of willing
helpers from the Stafford Youth Service and volunteers from the centre
itself so everybody was ready more or less on time.
Other
activities were run around the centre including Mini Beast Hunts that
involved looking for all manner of creepy crawlies and pond dipping.
Organised walks took small
Many
other stalls sold plants, home made cards, paintings by a local artist,
aloe vera products, walking sticks and there were several book stalls
including one run by a local author (my son Alan) who was selling his own
books that he had written. All of the stalls contributed part of their
takings to the Wildlife Centre and there was an entrance fee for visitors.