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20 Garden Tips by Peter Donegan

The following are a series of garden advice tips that I popped out on twitter last weekend.

It seems that they proved quite popular for the short stop/ time short and not owners of a million acres of land out there and it was suggested that I pop them a little more formally here.

As you will gather there is no particular order to them, there are 20 in total and none should take you more than a few minutes leading to about an hour.

Happy gardening and enjoy,
Peter

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Garden Pests: Lupin Aphid, Macrosiphum albifrons

lupin aphid (1)

pictured above: The Lupin aphid or, the Macrosiphum albifrons. 

When I was about 5 or 6, one of the first things I thought myself to do was to get Geraniums to produce roots by simply placing them in a saucer of water. My pocket money, far better spent on compost (and football stickers) once I’d figured that technique out and moved onto propagating Cacti, that in mind, could never afford me the luxury of purchasing rooting powder. Back to the geraniums, their biggest pest was the Aphid; better known to you may be as whitefly or, Trialeurodes vaporariorum to be exact. 

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10 [Wo]Man Chores For Your Garden

garden works in progress (8)

Before you get thinking or reading the very little that I have written under each heading below, please note, these were all tasks that were all done in almost all cases as one part of a much bigger picture.

And though some may wonder the whole point of this post [?], well, it might just get you outside, in the garden, improving or removing something that for so long has got on your nerves or could look so much prettier. And that might just make you smile. And that’s a good thing. And then you might bake me a cake. And now we’re all smiling. And that’s even better.

Also it’s the little things that matter, or some such cliché. Also, of note there is a comment box thingy below should you have any Q’s. Go forth and make your garden better looking. You’ll thank me for it. Or maybe you won’t. Either or, enjoy 😉

donegan landscaping

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Garden Drainage

garden drainage (2)

When I was in college we had one lecturer who wasn’t a pure academic. He was. But he wasn’t. But he was a total legend of a horticultural brain. In that, what I’m getting is if you are gonna teach me business studies, I’d like to think that you failed as well as succeeded in the business you started and then decided you’d like to take up a teaching post.

As versus being top of your class and morphing from a life time of A1 studentry direct to teaching.

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Phototropism

phototropism

Image above of my Chilli seedlings growing on my kitchen window ledge taken yesterday. At present I turn them full circle square every 24 hours. To the science bit…

Phototropism is most simply defined as:

the growth of plants towards a source of light

source Collins English Dictionary 2009

In more detail it is defined as:

The growth or movement of a fixed organism toward or away from light. In plants, phototropism is a response to blue wavelengths of light and is caused by a redistribution of auxin from the illuminated side to the darker side of the shoot, resulting in quicker growth on the darker side and bending of the shoot toward the source of light. Certain sessile invertebrates also exhibit phototropism.source: The American

Heritage® Science Dictionary 2002

Wikepedia explains it further, but unless you’re a total plant geek like me, you might not wish to read another not Peter definition. Moving swiftly onwards…