Last week I came by a lovely bucketful of wood ash. This is a wonderful fertilizer containing potassium... if you think about it... potash..... anyway you can save any wood ash from bonfires or log fires to put on the fruit trees in your garden. Please don't use just any old bonfire ashes, it must be wood ash.
While I'm on the subject of soft fruit, this time of year you can do a simple piece of maintenance on your goosberry bushes. Just scrape the top inch of soil away around the surface of the soil under your gooseberry bush (if you are really lucky you might find a baby boy or girl there) this exposes the soil in which the
gooseberry sawfly has laid its eggs and larvae will hatch soon and demolish your foliage. This time of year, the hungry birds will soon peck away at the exposed soil and eat all the eggs and larvae - this really worked for me last year - saves having to use a pesticide spray later in the year.
Soft fruit will benefit from this potash feed early in the season, strawberries..
blueberries...
Loganberries, raspberries, and particularly your apple trees! Give your apple trees a helpful start to the season!
The latest report from under the black dustbin reveals that my
forced rhubarb has nearly doubled in size in just 4 days! (see previous post). Finally, just to let you know that Matron is giving up shopping in supermarkets for Lent!! Had my last visit to Sainsbury's today!
While I'm on the subject of soft fruit, this time of year you can do a simple piece of maintenance on your goosberry bushes. Just scrape the top inch of soil away around the surface of the soil under your gooseberry bush (if you are really lucky you might find a baby boy or girl there) this exposes the soil in which the gooseberry sawfly has laid its eggs and larvae will hatch soon and demolish your foliage. This time of year, the hungry birds will soon peck away at the exposed soil and eat all the eggs and larvae - this really worked for me last year - saves having to use a pesticide spray later in the year.
Soft fruit will benefit from this potash feed early in the season, strawberries..
blueberries...
Loganberries, raspberries, and particularly your apple trees! Give your apple trees a helpful start to the season!
The latest report from under the black dustbin reveals that my forced rhubarb has nearly doubled in size in just 4 days! (see previous post). Finally, just to let you know that Matron is giving up shopping in supermarkets for Lent!! Had my last visit to Sainsbury's today!