Sylvia’s Thoughts and Pick of the Week Plant Supports

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plant supports, recycle works

The weather, like the post office has been doing all sorts of things! The silent drama in the garden has been wonderful! Plants have grown like Topsy. They get showier and more beautiful every day. Pollinated fruit are swelling and the potential is there for a good harvest – so far! I cannot wait for the smellies which will be the next big thing in my garden. Herbs are so inviting and if you don’t know what to do with some of them Pasta with olive oil, butter and herbs is usually a good test bed.

Plant Supports are the pick of the week, especially with the recent wind. We also have a whole lot of those fashionable rusty hoops that look so natural and make your hands dirty when you put them in! The pain we endure for beauty knows no bounds, but I must say that they look like you have owned them for 10 years which give out the message of experience.

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Test Your Soil – Do You Know Your pH?

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balance, kits ph, recycle works, soil, soil testing

The majority of domestic soil testing kits are very simple and rely on colour rather than a numerical scale so you can check the pH of your soil using these simple kit . The solution turns yellow-orange for acid soil, green for neutral and dark green for alkaline.

Most plants prefer a pH of 6.5 to 7 – the point where nutrients are most easily available.

Some plants are ericaceous meaning they need acid soil, for example most rhododendrons. Others grow better in an alkaline soil, for example lilacs so it’s a good idea to know which plant varieties will prosper in the soil type that you have.

An easy way of determining which type you have is by picking up some damp soil, examining it and rubbing it between your fingers. Use the descriptions of soil types below to see which one you have in your garden. Alternatively, you can use a Soil Testing Kit which will make the job much easier!

Ponds and Boatmen

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Compost Magic, garden ponds, Pond Magic, Sylvia Hopwood, tadpoles

Have you noticed how very active the tadpoles are this year? They seem to be full of energy! One of our Pond Life customers was ordering his Pond magic and this is what he told us. Pond Magic is a brilliant product! I have used it for years. We put it in the pond all year using just a little in winter. It lasts me so long too. It must be two years since I bought the last bottle and I would not dream of going anywhere else”. Thank you David for those kind words!

By the way have you tried any of our other Magic Products? They all work just as well though we have to admit that the Pond Magic and the Compost Magic are the best sellers from the Family of Magics.

Thoughts From Next Door………Herb Butter Anyone?

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herb butter, preserving herbs, recycle works, recycleworks, Sylvia Hopwood

Next door are having their kitchen done. It’s nothing to do with me really. Just the use of a couple of shelves in my ‘fridge’ for a couple of weeks. The first week the tightly packed shelves looked a bit unloved so when the time came to roast the roast in my kitchen some of the vegetables were, shall we say, neglected. There will have to be a lot of veg today they are all very close to the sell by, I was warned.

Together with some Sprouted Purple Broccoli (yes) from the garden I was abandoned with a message – text us when you need any help. It was then I got the inspiration to use some of the butters from my freezer. The sage butter, made last summer, was a great flavour saver stirred into the tops of the P/S Broccoli. The Spinach was melted in a slice of Garlic Butter and some mint butter dressed the plain boiled new potatoes. Packs of supermarket herbs were rescued for another day by making them into small tarragon and oregano butter rolls to be stored in a box in the freezer. It set my resolution to maximize the herbs in the garden this summer with a dedicated herb butter box. It’s much quicker and fail-safe than other forms of preservation.  It is also available instantly without defrosting or getting soaked in a rainy garden.

Yes, you can do Herb Ice Cubes and, if butter does not arouse you try packing the herbs tightly into small bottles of oil. Be a Mastercook in an instant!! All these was retain colour and aroma brilliantly.