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The well known German firm Kettler produces great quality exterior furniture under the 'Royal Garden' banner is found in most of the larger garden centres. They now have a great range of chunky dining and 'lounge' furniture branded as Avante Garde. "It is a combination of innovative materials and revolutionary design - each piece is unique and exudes its own self confident style".
The Pet Plant lives in its own little greenhouse and needs nothing more than a bit of love and attention! Only £4.99
My Hostas White Feather have been under protection in the wall greenhouse overwinter and are now looking amazing. They are a real mixture of almost white and the palest of greens and are waiting to be planted in the shade under my large cantilevered deck.
http://yardz.typepad.co.uk/yardz/2007/11/worth-waiting-f.html
These are 5 of the best 'easy to grow' vegetables suitable for the micro-garden. All meet the criteria of being easy to grow, highly productive, quick growing and happy to grow in containers. The varieties have been chosen because they mainly have been bred to meet this criteria and also give great returns in flavour.
1. PEA HALF PINT www.thompson-morgan.com
This 30-37cm high pea is compact and does not need staking. Ideal for container and windowbox growing. The peas are ready to pick in about 14 weeks and regular picking prolongs cropping. Sow now and make sure to water well in dry conditions.
2.COURGETTE BLACK FOREST F1 HYBRID www.thompson-morgan.com
Unique climbing courgette that saves space and is great in containers. Produces tasty dark green fruit in abundance, as the catalogues say! Besides producing great fruit, the courgette has large bright yellow flowers that are both decorative and edible.
3. LETTUCE BABY LEAF SALAD www.thompson-morgan.com
This is a spicy mix of spinach, mizuna and red mustard. Sow every 3-4 weeks to have continuous cropping through the summer. Much nicer to pick your own baby leaves than buy the supermarket chlorine treated bags. Make great windowbox plants - decorative and edible.
4. SPRING ONION WHITE LISBON www.suttons.co.uk
White Lisbon is on old variety of spring/salad onion but it fits micro-gardening conditions. It is very quick growing producing white skinned and mild flavoured onions.
Sow at regular intervals to have continuous supplies through the summer.
5. DWARF BEAN SPEEDY www.suttons.co.uk
Compact and high yielding. Crops just seven weeks from sowing. Harvest when beans are young for best flavour.
Just one of the many varieties of veg for small gardens in the Suttons 'Speedy' range.
EUPHORBIA BLACKBIRD
An amazing spring plant that looks great with spring bulbs and bedding. Compact in growth with deep maroon foliage. Flowers are lime green and held on blood red stems. A real dream of a plant. Contrast it with spiky Festuca Intense Blue in low rounded containers.
In the past garden lighting has meant going to the trouble of laying wires through the garden with the risks of damage when cultivating and finding somewhere for transformers and an electrical supply from the house. This without doubt has put people off. The introduction of solar lighting helped to a degree, with the lack of wiring enabling lights to be easily positioned where required and moved if necessary. But early solar models with halogen bulbs did not give long periods of lighting on a normal days charge and bulbs did not last for very long period.
The new solar lights now have LED bulbs that give intense white light and use far less energy. This gives the advantage of the light staying on for prolonged periods even under day time overcast conditions. Most garden & DIY outlets now stock a range of LED solar lights, some better than others. The best for micro garden use are the small black spot lights that can be positioned under plants and light hard landscape features such as waterfeatures, walls etc. These lights cost from as little as £12.99 for a pack of two.
They can be great fun - move them about as you wish and create your own night time magic theatre.
www.livingsalads.co.uk produce trays of baby salad leaves ready to be freshly harvested at home. You pick the leaves as and when you need them, so they are as fresh as they could possibly be.They are available from main supermarkets including Asda, Morrisons, Sainsburys, Tesco and Waitrose.
You could though easily grow your own baby leaf salad in small trays on a windowsill using a salad leaves seed mixture sown in a multipurpose compost. They should only take two to three weeks before harvesting. Try the Easy Salad Leaves seed collection from www.mr-fothergills.co.uk , these contain a mix of leaves including Mizuna, Mustard, Rocket and Salad Bowl Lettuce.
Though these are designed for indoor use they are great for brightening up garden furniture, wall tops, etc. outside.
www.elho.com have produced for some time the Brussels range of rounded colourful plastic pot covers in up to 14 colours. This year they have launched their Brussels Fresh range. Four great new colours and a transparent finish. the colours are Kiwi, Plum, Raspberry and Apricot. They are available in 3 sizes, 14, 16 & 18cm diameter. Prices start at £1.99 and are available in all good garden centres as they say.
A lightweight 'Olympic Torch' that gives a fantastic real flame. Runs on 'blow torch cylinders' available from DIY stores that cost about £3 and give 7 hours of flame.
£59.99 inc free delivery
SUPERB WASH DAY STYLE. Gone are the boring green airer covers and peg bags, www.alfrasia.co.uk offer a great range in 'Minky Pebble' design.
The Rotary Airer Cover is suitable for most models. Has a full length zip, is water resistant and UV stable. £4.00
The Peg bag is water resistant to keep pegs clean and dry.
We could do with more of this type of thought put into the design of everday items.
