Hints & Tips

A compendium of advice from across the globe.  We’ve divided this up into categories: caring for your soil, composting, companion planting, containers, fruit, gardening with children, growing from seed, flowers, pruning, vegetables, watering, weeds, pests & diseases, what to do when and wildlife. To go to the section you want, just click on the picture.

Anything you’d like to add to this page?  Please let us know – email us at website@growchiswick.org.

Caring for your soil

Garden Organic Factsheet – Function of plant nutrients

Garden Organic Factsheet – Testing soil and improving fertility

Garden Organic Factsheet – Surveying the soil on a growing site

Garden Organic Factsheet –A practical guide to green manures

Garden Organic Factsheet – Know your soil

Garden Organic Factsheet – Soil Health

Garden Organic Factsheet – Soil Improvers – what to apply and when to apply it

Garden Organic Factsheet – Managing your soil

 

Composting

Making your own compost is a great way of putting back into the soil what your produce takes out.  And it’s cheap and easy – as long as you follow a few simple rules.

My tip – when composting food waste, using the paper bags from sandwich shops is an easy way of getting the right balance between “greens” and “browns”.

If you haven’t got room in your garden for a compost bin, why not consider a wormery?  Less compost, but loads of liquid fertiliser.

Garden Organic Home Composting website

Making Compost – Wildlife Trusts

 

Companion planting

Certain plant combinations are nature’s way of attracting beneficial insects (eg planting poached egg plant to attract hover flies, whose larvae eat aphids) or repelling pests (eg interplanting carrots and onions to confuse carrot fly & onion fly).

Thompson & Morgan guide to companion planting

 

Containers

If you don’t have a garden, you can still garden.

RHS on growing your own in containers

 

Fruit

Garden Organic Fruit Growing Manual

RHS fruit A-Z

 

Gardening with children

eartheasy resources on gardening with children

BBC gardening resources & project ideas

HomeAdvisor on gardening with children

The Kids’ Garden  – helping kids enjoy creative gardening

Kids’ Gardening Toolbox

RHS on gardening for schools and families

 

Growing from seed

RHS vegetable seed sowing video

 

Pruning

RHS on winter pruning of wisteria

RHS on pruning roses

British Clematis society on pruning clematis

 

Vegetables

RHS vegetable A-Z
Robert Dyas Vegetable Growing Chart

 

Watering

All plants needs water to grow.  Reducing the need to water during dry periods is good for everyone – less hard work for us, better for our plants, as rainwater is better for them than tap.

Remember – frequent, shallow watering encourages shallow roots and increases dependence on regular watering.  Less frequent, thorough watering encourages deep roots, which strengthens plants’ ability to cope with dry periods.

In order to get water straight to the roots, plant a pot next to plants likely to need watering, and pour the water into it.  Mulching also helps, by preventing evaporation.

Allotment watering tips from Love 2 learn Allotmenting

Environment Agency – Water-efficient Gardening

advice on watering crops – dry season

 

Weeds, pests & diseases

The RHS on biological pest control

What to do when

RHS month by month guide – an invaluable checklist for both fruit & vegetables, covering sowing and planting, pruning & training and harvesting.

 

Wildlife

London Wildlife Trust wildlife gardening guides

Butterfly Conservation – gardening for butterflies

Butterfly Conservation – 100 best butterfly nectar plants

Natural England – wildlife on allotments

BBCT Bumblebee Factsheet

Wildflower Finder