Horticulturaltag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-272842016-05-09T10:01:41+01:00Jane Perrone's organic gardening blogTypePadThis blog is no longer being updatedtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c914e53ef01b7c856be8d970b2016-05-09T10:01:41+01:002016-05-09T10:01:41+01:00Please head over to jane.perrone.com for my latest posts and contact information.Jane Perrone Hand care: tip-top products for gardeners' handstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c914e53ef01bb07e8281c970d2015-02-10T11:06:24+00:002015-02-09T20:54:04+00:00One of the things I always look at when I meet a gardener is their hands. I expect signs of hard work, the odd nick from a thorn, the thickened, even calloused skin that comes from wielding a trowel, fork or spade repeatedly, and certainly traces of dirt under their fingernails. Much as I admired Mish Stacey, competitor on last year's Big Allotment Challenge, I did wonder how they managed to do the heavier tasks with such long, manicured nails. I almost gave a manicurist a heart attack once by telling her that I was off to turn my compost...Jane Perrone Foraging books, apps and maps – a reviewtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c914e53ef015391cca108970b2015-02-03T11:04:00+00:002015-03-02T13:18:29+00:00There are lots of foraging books out there, but which one’s the best? Here’s my review some of the major titles. The Garden Forager by Adele Nozedar (£12.99, Square Peg) (Review added March 2 2015) A good foraging book will always throw up some new plants you've not thought of trying, and provide inspiration for using your regular repertoire of foraging materials in a different way in the kitchen. I didn't know, for instance, that the berries of Leycesteria formosa (pheasant berry) are edible. The detailed line drawings are informative as well as looking pretty. The book takes as a...Jane PerroneGlowing Wonder cactus: a lesson in why it's wrong to spraypaint plantstag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c914e53ef01b8d0cb6931970c2015-01-30T09:18:38+00:002015-01-30T09:19:56+00:00If I look up from my writing perch in the sun room right now, I can see a crust of snow on the glass roof. My position on winter in general, and snow in particular, is apathetic at best. In my darker moments, it's outright opposition. As American comedian Carl Reiner put it, A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.* This is a moment when I cherish anything green and alive as an antidote to the deadness of the garden, and for me that means houseplants. After Christmas, in the thin...Jane PerronePodcasting plants: the Serial effect and a festive audio bingetag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c914e53ef01b7c72f6ec0970b2015-01-12T11:31:20+00:002015-01-12T11:31:20+00:00Over Christmas, I was suffering from withdrawal symptoms - not from some kind of ill-advised pre-festive detox, but the aftermath of the conclusion of the Serial podcast. I came to this 12-part audio dissection of a 1999 Baltimore murder case late, and ended up binge-listening to the whole thing over a period of 10 days, catching up just in time for the final instalment. If you haven't already been drawn into Serial I warn you: it's addictive, so play part one at your own risk. I've never before been a fan of those "true crime" documentaries that lurk in the...Jane PerroneWinter squash: free and surprisingly easytag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c914e53ef019affd6f34e970d2013-10-07T22:22:15+01:002013-10-07T22:22:15+01:00Sometimes it's the things you slave over that fail, and the things you do carelessly, while sleepwalking, that come good. A single squash 'Sweet Dumpling' seedling, sown from a free packet that came with Grow Your Own magazine, filled out half of one of my big raised veg beds this summer and produced six of these beauties. I didn't water the plant or give it any special treatment, and it quietly got on with making fruit. That's the kind of growing I like. In line with my continuing obsession for weighing crops, I am pleased to say that the largest...Jane PerroneMy raised bed floweth over (if only)tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c914e53ef019aff683648970d2013-09-15T14:17:46+01:002013-09-15T14:17:46+01:00Ask me what I want for Christmas. Go on. I know it's early yet, and Santa's barely roused from his summer slumber (or so I keep telling my children), but I've already planned it out. I'd like a towering pile of well-rotted manure, a 20kg bag of biochar and as much Rockdust as the reindeer can haul. When I had an allotment, I took it as a given that the soil covering my modest five-pole plot the guts and structure for the job. Every year it produced fat pumpkins, trugfuls of beans and tall sunflowers, provided I kept the rampant...Jane PerroneSweet pea 'Blue Shift'tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c914e53ef01910423f350970c2013-07-08T22:48:23+01:002013-07-08T22:50:33+01:00Usually I plant sweet peas for the scent: this year, it was all about the colour scheme. This was a mistake: I really miss the perfume wafting in through the patio doors on a summer evening, and the planned colour scheme of dark blue and lime green hasn't come off yet as I am not sure if any of the 'Lemonade' have survived. If you don't want to repeat my error, sow 'Perfume Delight' this October. There have been some consolations, though. In addition to my October to December sowing, in late winter I impulse-sowed 'Blue Shift' direct into a...Jane PerroneFront gardens, reloadedtag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c914e53ef017eea6ce138970d2013-04-20T17:54:15+01:002013-04-20T17:54:15+01:00Front garden getting you down? Perhaps it's time for a redesign ...Jane PerroneThe HotBin: Aerobic hot composter review - part twotag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d8341c914e53ef017eea653e0f970d2013-04-19T17:39:10+01:002013-04-19T17:39:10+01:00I really wanted to like the HotBin, I did. It's been well over a year since I started to trial this new composter, and in my initial review, I was excited about the HotBin's claims to safely compost all kinds of food at a temperature of 60C. And yet ... a few months later, my HotBin was sitting forlorn, half-filled with semi-rotted stuff. The main problem was the hatch at the bottom: once I'd opened it once, I couldn't fix it back in place properly, and it kept falling out. The folks from HotBin sent me straps to hold the...Jane Perrone