Vegetable Growing
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Growing Trends our new Radio Show
About three months ago, Ann ( my Co Host on Growing Trends) & I were given the opportunity to Host a radio show, we were basically given the chance to create our very own show, we wanted to be a little different, so after much thought and deliberations ‘Growing Trends’ was born, we would both love to hear what you think ? What we could include in the shows?
We’ve been having a ball talking to the most amazing folks in their spaces, they are in our midst and yet we hardly ever see them in this light, we all rush around in our daily lives, heads buried in smartphones or tablets, completely disconnected with the nature that is all around us.
Our guests are all connected by either their garden or the landscape where they work, some are keen gardeners, others technical experts in their field, all are in tune with nature, it’s as if it’s a constant healing process.
“A little oasis in the middle of suburbia.”
( Belinda & Terry’s Garden)
All find time to re connect almost daily with their space, we feel so privileged to be able to hear all their stories and bring them to you usually in their own homes.
Sometimes the recordings will be a little quirky, it’s because we are not in a studio. Some are far away, and we have to rely on the internet, which gives an odd echo from time to time, but talking to folks in Australia, England, South Africa, brings us all together.
“Chestnut growing down under!”
( John Stanley’s Australian outback)
We caught up with John in Australia early one morning.
“In my global work I see new trends in merchandising, display, social media marketing, general retailing, culinary eco-tourism and lifestyle retail”
we will catch up with John again shortly in the meantime.
“Finding happiness in a garden – how it’s done at the Kelly Gallery”
(Kelly Daniels – The Kelly Gallery)
Kelly was just inspirational , almost magical, her photography is enchanting.
You can find us on the internet at www.cravingtalkradio.com , or download the phone app Live365 or you can download Growing Trends as a podcast from the website.
Our upcoming schedule is both varied, fun and very different, here’s a few pictures taken on locations we visited..just wait till you hear the stories…
( half-pint McGee !)
“A simple stunning memorial garden”
” A sculpture park extraordinaire”
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Weekend Landscape & Garden Projects
if you need some inspiration for a small landscape or garden project read on….
We’ve been designing & building dream gardens for homeowners for 40 years now, winning awards, being creative and watching various trends come & go, customers desires and generally listening to clients wishes.
Some have been quite modest… as below.
others rather more ambitious..
Almost all the clients, wanted to complete some of the work themselves. The part they most wanted to do was the planting, either spring, summer or fall bedding, bulb planting, or perennial , shrub and herb planting. Recently we have seen an interest in vegetable growing.
Being folks that listen to our customers , it’s how we win awards, we also understood that we would have to make it much easier for folks, than a traditional planting plan we started out a few years ago to develop a new easy way to layout a planting scheme- we consulted other experts , eventually settling on one method with two products ( one a normal version the other an eco friendly version). inspired we then applied for a patent.( this in itself should be the subject of a blog all on its own)
Last week I am very happy to say we picked up our patent for the “Weekend Garden Kit”, which I have to confess was exciting, a big thank you for all who helped us, of which there were many.
Here’s how it works.
This simple to use system enables you to place the plants & features in the correct position without the need for time consuming setting out or measuring.
By using a grid system , we can add the position on the pot label, it makes the whole process much faster, and less likely for error. – they actually come as part of the kit.
so to set this out all you need is the special landscape fabric and where to plant or place the feature.
The result should then be this
To make this even easier we developed a free app called “PicaGardi” available on iTunes, Google play and Kindle to enable you to see ‘How ‘ an idea might look in your own project before you buy, take a look it’s fun and free and works on Phones and Tablets.
You can download it here www.terratemplates.com
You can either select a picture from your ‘Gallery’ or take a new one with the ‘Camera’ button, then press ‘Ideas’ to see and idea float across the screen, tap it, pinch, scale and place to see how it would look on your project.
If you would like to make some comments or suggestions or just receive more information please fill in the form..
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Edibles continued….
Continuing from our last blog, we move to a slightly larger herb and veggie garden. Using our newly patented Weekend Garden Kits.
We’ve also added some african marigolds to help keep pests away, our next one will include some nasturtiums to further help protect naturally.
This garden uses one of our recently patented Weekend Garden Kits, which helps save a huge amount of time, reduces significantly weed growth and helps preserve moisture levels.
By purchasing the kit early, you can use it to almost effortlessly remove weeds in your plot area – this is achieved quite simply by, marking out the area and then covering with a generous layer of old newspapers, place the weekend garden kit fabric over the newspaper and use the pegs provided to keep in position. After about 4- 6 weeks all the weed growth beneath will have been stopped and the earth should be almost clear.
Simply remove the newspapers, and any debris, reset the weekend garden kit, and plant as directed for the chosen layout.
The one above took less than 2 hours to plant you can see how here.
http://www.picagardi.com/index.php/how/new-weekend-garden-kit-video
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Edible Landscaping
Today there are many more who would like to grow their own Herbs & Vegetables, the desire is not just from homeowners with traditional gardens, but also those living in flats & apartments, using either a balcony or a kitchen window.
Those without any space are looking at allotments & community gardens when they catch the ‘bug’
Demand is ‘growing’ all the time, from all over the world.
Schools are finding that they need to include growing in the curriculum showing children how to grow edibles which leads to more interest in cooking, which then creates a much healthier lifestyle and a huge demand for fresh food.
So what are the best ways to grow?
This is an interesting question and I suspect the real answer is – It depends !
It depends where you are in the world
It depends on where you want to grow
It depends what you want to grow
It depends how much light, heat and water you have available.
It depends how much time you want to spend growing.
It also depends on what resources you may have to use.
Initially it depends how much skill you have, interestingly while you will quickly learn ‘How to’ , mother nature has a habit of throwing you a curve ball now and then, so somethings you expect to do will with will suddenly suffer and others will thrive.
So let’s take a look at the methods of growing first as we could spend simply ages trying to find the best places and times to grow.
Small :-
Can be as small as a pot , grow bag or individually planted between existing plants in a landscape.
Medium :-
Multi pots, planters, or raised vegetable garden
Large:-
Fenced in Garden, Roof garden, Commercial enterprise.
What would you like to start?
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