Last year, I used Miracle Gro Pump & Feed on my indoor houseplants and had intended to do a review of it, but just didn't get around to it. In the meantime, I also used MiracleGro Performance Organics All Purpose Concentrate so I thought I'd just roll the two reviews together. Pump & Feed I… Continue reading Product review – MiracleGro Performance Organics
Spots on the Butterwort….
I had moved the two carnivorous Butterworts I obtained to control fungus gnats outside because the weather has been warmer. They also had not been catching so much dinner since I had moved my other plants outside and I felt that they needed a good feed. They had both been looking really lovely and yellow,… Continue reading Spots on the Butterwort….
Helix tosta
I have been trying for the last couple of years to control the number of slugs (and snails) in my garden, using various methods (https://wordpress.com/post/rhslevel2studies.home.blog/553.) They seem to have virtually no natural predators at all in this built-up suburban area and when they start eating supposedly slug-proof plants, you know you have a problem. The… Continue reading Helix tosta
Book review – Arabian Flavours
It's a lovely sunny day today, time for another book review. But wait! This isn't a gardening-related book. I just wanted to review this here because I enjoyed reading it and well, the author is a bit obsessed with courgettes. Salah Jamal moved to Spain as a student in the 1970s and remained there working… Continue reading Book review – Arabian Flavours
Mwahahahaha!!!
Following a couple of recommendations in the comments of the Fungus Gnat post, I got myself two butterworts or Pinguicula from Hampshire Carnivorous Plants I thought that perhaps they were still dormant as the leaves didn't seem that shiny or sticky but it's only taken a couple of days for them to prove me wrong.… Continue reading Mwahahahaha!!!
Box blight??
I glanced out of a window a week or so ago and noticed a brown patch in my box hedge. It looked just as if someone had put a hot saucepan on top of it - an almost perfectly round burn. On closer inspection, the leaves had turned brown and fallen off, with some of… Continue reading Box blight??
Finally – I passed!
It's taken a long time (longer than expected due to Covid) but I finally got my RHS level 2 certificates - yay!!! What's baffling though, is that there are 5 in total! There is a certificate for the practical part, and then one each for the two theory parts. Then, there is an additional certificate… Continue reading Finally – I passed!
Book review – The well-tended Perennial Garden
I have been meaning to write a review about this book for some time, as I had never heard of it (not in itself so surprising) and the way in which it came in to my life was interesting. I had just started at Wakehurst (the Royal Botanic Garden which is Kew's sister garden) and… Continue reading Book review – The well-tended Perennial Garden
Book review – Garden Alchemy
As the RHS has postponed the update to their qualifications until September 2022, the theory information on this blog should remain valid and useful for a bit longer, which is a good thing! But as I don't really have any updates on the theory side of things, I thought I would like to review some… Continue reading Book review – Garden Alchemy
DIY flypaper – experiment
In my last post, I might have mentioned the issues I've been having recently with fungus gnats or sciarid flies. As the yellow sticky traps have become covered with them, I thought I'd try making my own sticky traps to see whether they worked. I roughly followed the instructions here: https://www.thespruce.com/how-to-make-fly-paper-1389064, substituting golden syrup for… Continue reading DIY flypaper – experiment
Gardening studies 