This months meeting is at Angie’s (that’s me) in Upper Ventnor, sorry forgot to post about it, I knew where it was. 10:30 am - 12:30ish

I have several shrubs that are 2′ - 3′ too tall and one that needs a couple of foot off its width, so bring some secateurs. Need suggestions about further development of my garden and a few plants/shrubs identified. Hoping to persuade Ken to show us how to take a pallet that I have apart so that all the wood can be reused.

We meet once a month at one of our gardens and do a bit of work for each other, then the kettle goes on and we sit and have a chat about gardening/permaculture, swop seeds, plants etc

Anyone welcome. Please note: if you have never been to my place before please do not come wearing perfume/after-shave or any strong fragrances eg Bold, Aerial, scented fabric conditioners (if some one uses it on their washing 3 gardens away it is enough to drive me indoors), strong shampoos like head & shoulders, my daughter and I both have a severe allergy to them and do not wish to end up in hospital due to going into anaphylactic shock.

For address/directions please contact:
Email: ventnorpermaculture(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk
Mobile: 07766077336

Rainwater is far better for plants than tap water and cheaper, here on the Isle of Wight where water meters are compulsory for about 99% of residents.

We should all be doing our bit to save water regardless of water meters, it is one of the most wasted resources and one of the easiest to cut down your usage of. Also when you consider the amount of chemicals in tap water, sometimes the smell of chlorine is really strong, rain is so much better for the plants and almost an essential if you are growing blueberries or any other lime hating plants.

Photo: London Permaculture

There is now a huge range of water butts available, you can get slimline ones that bolt onto a wall from about £89, Moroccan Style Beehive ones from £59, Granite-Effect Rock Water butts from £139, Roman Water Column butts from £199 and many other types too. The ones I have listed above are all available from Waterbutts direct, delivery is between £5.95 - £7.95 (depending on where you live) per order, not per item.

Even though we put the plug in the bath to collect our shower water to bale out to use for the plants, I badly need another water butt. My present one only collects the water from a small single story extension, when it rains I can here it filling up a drip at a time when the water from the rest of the house is gushing down the drain. Trouble is I need a cheap water butt, I have a few friends who have large blue plastic barrels which obviously held something else at one time but have not been able to find any. I am quite capable of adding a tap & overflow pipe if anyone knows where I can get a plain barrel from. Or if out and about you see any water butts on sale please let me know. Here are some of the prices that I have found so far:

B& Q Newport
100L Slimline £19.98
120L water butt with stand and diverter £29.98
210L water butt £29.98

Toogoods Rookley
200L water butt £20.82
210L Water Butt £26.34

Honnor & Jeffrey - Apse Heath
136L Water butt £24.99

If you live near the sea here are a few tips on utilising a valuable free resource for your garden. Seaweed is almost good as farmyard manure, although it is lower in phosphates but richer in potash. It is loaded with vitamins and minerals

The best time to collect seaweed for use in the garden is right after a storm as the newly washed up seaweed has less salt in it than weed which has been lurking in a harbour for weeks. If it smells clean and fresh use it, if it pongs walk away. Only collect loose seaweed do not pull it off of rocks, by doing so you will be making numerous sea creatures homeless and damaging the eco system. Give it a quick swish in the sea and a shake to remove any residents. It is best to wash the seaweed with fresh water or leave in the rain for a couple of days to get more of the salt out, worms don’t like it and it kills them if strong enough, same principle as putting salt on slugs. Photo: Max Blinkhorn

Make your own Liquid Seaweed Feed
A well known brand of liquid seaweed extract or growth stimulant costs about £7 per litre, you could make your own for free. Get a 10 gallon plastic drum/container, half fill it with seaweed, top up the container with water and let it stand for 3 months, that is the optimum time, I do know people who have used it after a few weeks. Strain off the liquid and add about a cupful to 2 gallons of water, do not be tempted to make it any stronger or you could burn the roots of your plants. Think I might stitch up an old net curtain to make a bag and put the seaweed in that so I don’t have to strain it, then I can put the used seaweed residue on the compost heap. It is quicker and decomposes better if you chop the seaweed up first. You can of course make it in smaller amounts, just use any suitable container for the space you have available.

Compost it
Seaweed is an excellent compost activator, so adding it to you compost heap will add nutrients and more organic matter to your compost.

You can also use a 4″ - 6″ layer of seaweed as a mulch for shrubs and roses, although you might get a few complaints from near neighbours as it starts to rot down.

Seaweed improves the structure of clay soils, think it is the alginates in the seaweed helps break it up so it does not clump so much.

According to the book I am using ‘In Tune with the Moon’ this is what we are supposed to be doing this week. I will try and be organised and post every Sunday what the book suggests for the following week. My review of this book.

If you are planting by the moon for the first time have you had better results than normal or has it not made any difference? Please let us know by leaving comments below.

Sunday 13th from 11am right up to Tuesday 15th sow and cultivate leaves - basil, brussels sprout, cabbage, kohlrabi, sorrel, celery, chervil, chinese cabbage, cress, dandelion, curly endive, fennel, purslane, lamb’s lettuce, leek, lettuce, rocket, spinach, cardoon, parsley, swiss chard.

Wednesday 16th right through to Friday 18th until 1pm sow and cultivate fruits - all cereals, aubergine, broad bean, courgette, cucumber, gherkin, marrow, gourd, pumpkin, melon, pea, peppers, runner bean, sweetcorn, tomato.

Friday 18th from 1pm to Sunday 20th up to 4am sow and cultivate roots - All root veg, beetroot, carrot, celeriac, endive, garlic, Jerusalem artichoke, parsnip, potato, radish, salsify, shallot, turnip, onions.

Sunday 20th from 4am until 7pm is one of those red periods when it is not a good idea to sow or cultivate anything.

Sunday 20th from 7pm right through to Tuesday 22nd up until 5pm sow and cultivate flowers - All flowers, artichoke, broccoli & cauliflower.

Important! Please read this post if you are growing vegetables,  some bagged composts contain manure.

Most of you probably know about this - gardeners all over the UK have been affected by using manure contaminated with industrial weed-killer. It is not just people who have used manure on their gardens and allotments, some bags of compost bought from garden centres contain manure too.

The herbicide Aminopyralid is manufactured by Dow AgroSciences, for the control of ‘injurious’ weeds such as docks, thistles and nettles and it appears that residues of it have turned up in manure. Animals eating grass treated with the product excrete it in their manure as it travels through the body without breaking down, it seems that residues of aminopyralid may last several years in manure heaps. The product has a label warning farmers not to sell manure that may have residues in it. It is not licensed for use on food crops although some farmers might have used it if they did not read or ignored the small print.

Dow AgroSciences state:

It has long been known that it is possible for low levels of product to be found in manure and that the use of such manure as a fertiliser or compost may, in some circumstances, cause damage to sensitive crops.

Call me suspicious if you like but if this product is excreted in manure is it stored in the bodies of food animals or finding its way into milk?

If you have problems and don’t use manure or products containing it but use a lawn weed killer and compost your clipings or use them as a mulch that could be causing it. Clopyralid a lawn weed killer is a similar product which does leave a reside in compost. It has been de-registered for lawn use in the USA since 1999. It is still available for sale in the UK as a lawn weed killer in products such as ‘Verdone Extra’ made by Levington, there are probably others. It is also in products that are used on public grass and playing fields, treated grass may well end up in council made and sold compost.

In this insane world that we live in anyone can legally use products like Aminopyralid or Clopyralid but it is illegal for gardeners to make or use their own tried and tested fungicide from horsetail or insecticide from rhubarb leaves. Personally I think that whoever decides products like this deserve a licence should be strung up.

A lot of people, experienced gardeners and others growing this year for the first time are not only doing so because home-grown veg tastes better but so they may not have to make the stark choice during the winter of heating or eating. So not only have plants, time, effort and money been lost due to an ‘approved’ herbicide, all the crops from those plants have been lost as well!

If you have been affected by this it may still be possible for you to get a crop by growing in containers as there are still some seeds that you can sow see Vegetables to Sow in July, you could also get some autumn and winter potatoes by Growing Potatoes in Bin Bag.

Which plants are affected?
Mainly potatoes, tomatoes, beans, peas, but also other vegetable and salad crops. Some ornamental plants including roses.

What to look for?

RHS say typical symptoms include cupped leaves and fern-like growth on sensitive plants. The shoot tips become pale, narrow and distorted, with prominent veining on the foliage. Growth generally is stunted, leaving most crops unusable.

There are some photos of damage on the RHS site, click on the link above.

Can I eat the affected crops?

Dow AgroSciences (the manufacturer of the herbicide) state: If you are concerned about damage to your crops, or that any manure used on your food crops may have contained residues from products not designed for use on food crops, in our view it would be prudent not to harvest the crop and wait till next year before replanting in the affected area.

Any unused manure should be returned to the supplier so that it can be spread on land not used for food crops, it does not break down very well if stacked in heaps.

Read more about the problem via these links:
‘Home-grown veg ruined by toxic fertiliser’ in the Guardian.

Dow AgroSciences Notice for allotment holders and gardeners

Loads of people have comented on this post ‘Aminopyralid Herbicide Residue in Manure Killing Crops‘ on allotment.org, including someone who had bought organic compost that contained manure.

If you are one of the many people who are eagerly waiting for Ventnor council to provide some allotments you may be interested in this:

The Monday 14 July Ventnor Town Council, Planning and Winter Garden meetings start at 6.30 pm prompt as usual, under the Winter Gardens Stage.

Entry is at the rear of Winter Gardens through the car park. You need ideally to be there at 6.20 if you wish to speak in the public slot at the beginning, which lasts a maximum of 15 minutes, for everyone.

Remember the low archway when you go in!

The following are additional to the usual items on the agenda:

Allotments in Upper Ventnor at Havensbush and adjoining old council site.

If you want to see the list of other items to be discussed including Central Car Park and the proposed Children’s Play area on the Eastern Cliffs (Salisbury Gardens), please see this post on Ventnor Blog Forum

IW Permaculture
Monthly Meeting -
Saturday 12th June
10:30 -12:30ish
Do come along - its free and friendly.
We will be at Wendy’s allotment in Shanklin, we will helping her create a bog garden. If wet she said something about a cider press at her house.
You can come along offer encouragement and chat, the work is not compulsory!
If you need directions please contact:

Wendy: 07980601940
Email: ventnorpermaculture(at)yahoo(dot)co(dot)uk
Phone: 01983 854968

Photo: Frances Bell

For more events, car boot sales etc

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Rookley Village Show - Saturday 12th July
Sports Ground at Highwood Lane
12 noon - 5pm
Arena events, horticultural marquee, beer tent, barbecue, tea room, Children’s sports, side stalls
Admission £2, children free

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Animal SOS Fund Raising Day - Saturday 12th July
Brading Town Hall
12 noon - 4pm
Jumble, bric-a-brac, cakes, plants, tombola, raffle, refreshments.
20p entrance

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Beautiful Gardens of Bonchurch Weekend -
Saturday 12th  & Sunday 13th July
2pm - 5pm
Several gardens will be open for the first time as well as some old favourites.
Cream teas at the church hall.
Admission is by programme, Adults £3, accompanied children free, valid for all the gardens on both days.Please try and park in the car parks in Leeson Road and Shore Road as parking is very limited in the village and the roads are narrow. Maps available at the car parks, the Post Office, the church hall and each garden. No dogs please.

Photo: Auntie P

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Thorley Manor - Sun 13th July
Yarmouth PO41 0SJ
1m E of Yarmouth. From Bouldnor take Wilmingham Lane.
2.30 - 5pm
Garden open for charity as part of the National Gardens Scheme
Delightful informal gardens of over 3 acres surrounding Manor House. The long-neglected water garden has been fully restored. Charming walled garden for tea.
Admission: £2.50, children free
Teas, Plants
No dogs

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Little Pitt Place - Sunday 13th July
Brighstone. PO30 4DZ
Owned by photographers Oliver and Sheila Matthews, many of their plants have featured in glossy magazines, if you want a taster check out their website, some of the photos are taken in their own garden. Modern area with drought resistant plants, English garden, fruit and veg areas.
Admission: £2.50, all proceeds to IW Parkinson’s Disease Society. Plants for sale, teas.

Photo: Jim Hood

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Woolverton House - Sunday 13th July
St Lawrence
2pm - 5pm
Open Garden
Adults £2.50, children free
Dogs on leads please
Refreshments and raffle
Proceeds to the Peace Garden and the two churches.

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There are a couple of events coming up in St Lawrence that you might want to put on your calender or get involved with, Well Dressing starts on the 21st July, with the blessing taking place on the 26th July. The summer bazaar is also on the 26th, tables are £5 if you want to book one. Full details of these and other St Lawrence events can be found on their website.

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During the Week

Nunwell House and Gardens Now open every Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday until 3rd September
Coach Lane, Brading, Isle of Wight
1pm - 5pm
5-acres of beautifully set formal and shrub gardens with Cornus kousa and old-fashioned shrub roses prominent. Exceptional Solent views from the terraces. Small arboretum laid out by Vernon Russell Smith and walled garden with herbaceous borders.
Tours of the house at 2pm & 3:30pm

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If you are looking for some inexpensive plants and garden equipment it is worth checking out the car boot sales. Remember to reduce - reuse - recycle, whenever possible.

Every Week

Sandown Car Boot Sale
Every Sunday
Fort Street Car Park (Opposite Colonel Bogeys )
Set up not before 8am

Car Boot Sale Ryde
Every Sunday 10am
IOW Indoor Bowls Club
Drive between McDonalds & Saddlestone Garage, Brading Road, Ryde
Cars £5/Vans £8 from 9am
Tel: 0797 3906159

Bembridge Car Boot Sale - Steyne Park
Every Saturday 1pm - 4pm
Sellers 12 noon Cars £5/Vans£6
No dogs allowed

St Helens Car Boot - on the West Green
Every Sunday 7am (weather permitting)

Lushington Car Boot Sale
Lushington Hill
Every Saturday Cars £5, Vans £7, parking 20p

St George’s Park Newport
Saturdays 8am
Sundays 7am
No dogs allowed

Brickfields Outdoor Car boot sale
Every Monday 5pm
Tel: 01983 566801

Calbourne Car Boot Sale
Calbourne Recreation Field
5pm every Friday night
Strictly no admission before 4:30pm
£4 per pitch
Tel:01983 531523

Ryde Car Boot Sale
Quay Road, Next to LA Bowls
Every Sunday
Sellers may arrive from 10am but are not permitted to set up or sell until 11:45 or until instructed to do so by the organisers.
Cars £5, Vans £7
For further information phone 07960272726
Please note there is no need to book a space.
Dogs are allowed but must be kept on a lead at all times.

Taking cuttings is an easy way to increase your amount of plants and shrubs so you can keep a spare, fill a gap, give them to friends and family or sell at car boot sales to help fund your gardening habit.

This is especially useful for perennial plants as they do tend to look far better in groups of 3, 5, 7 etc, according to how much space you have. You can buy or scrounge a single plant and increase it by however many you want.

Propagation by Division
Many perennial plants can be increased this way and it is one of the easiest to do. For smaller plants it is a case of digging it up, and cutting it with a sharp knife in half, thirds or quarters depending on the size of the plant.  Cut off most of the foliage so you only have a few leaves on each new clump, if you don’t do this the amount of root won’t be able to keep all the leaves alive and the whole lot could die. Dig a hole where you want your new plant to grow and plant it at once, the longer it is out of the ground the more the roots will dry out, decreasing the chance of it growing. Water well and keep watering it in dry weather until it is producing new leaves and stems.  Some experts suggest washing as much soil off the roots as possible before cutting the plant up, I have never done this! To divide large plants you may need to insert two garden forks back to back in the centre of the plant and pull them apart to break it apart.

Propagation by Burial
Don’t laugh, I am being serious. Plants such as heathers (calluna, erica), dwarf and small leaved rhododendron and hebe get to the stage where they have long woody stems with just a few leaves on the last few inches, if you bury them apart from the last inch or so, each stem should produce a new rooted plant. There are two ways to do this, you can dig up the plant and enlarge the hole so that when you put the plant back in it only the last inch of foliage sticks up out of the earth. Or you can leave the plant where it is and cover it with soil or compost so just the tips are showing as above. Don’t let the soil dry out. This is normally done in the spring, leave the plant buried until the autumn and by then you should have lots of new rooted plants that you only have to cut off of the parent plant and find a new place for.

Softwood Cuttings
In the photo at the top of the page, the bottom tray has loads of escallonia cuttings that I took about 6 - 8 weeks ago. I cut back my escallonia (evergreen shrub with pink flowers that bees love) as it was getting in the way and I thought I would take a few cuttings before the rest of the bits went off to the dump. All the cuttings I took were like the one in this photo on the left, only a couple of inches long. I stripped the lower leaves off so there were only three or four ones left and stuck it in the compost. About 90% of them have taken. I don’t cover them, use rooting compound or do any of the other things that you are supposed to do. They have two choices - live or die, I don’t usually even put them in their own tray, they normally get stuck in a pot which has something else growing in it. Escallionia makes a very good hedge and cheap, if you do do your own cuttings.

Many perennial plants like pinks (Dianthus) do need to be divided or renewed every few years as they get tired, overgrown or woody with not many flowers. I had a couple of them that were living in a gap between walls and are were in dire need of regeneration. As you can see mine in the photo have lots of duff stems with good bits on the end.

With pinks you don’t actually ‘cut’ them, you just pull the good bit off the duff bit, strip off the lower leaves and put it in some compost. They take very easily, as all the ones did that I took about a month ago, pictured in the top tray in the photo at the top of the page. Once you are sure your cuttings have roots and are growing well you can chuck the old plant. In case you were wondering what the other cuttings were next to the pinks, they are clematis montana. I have an enormous one growing where I want to build a mini greenhouse and it has to go, it is too big to transplant so I am hoping at least one of the cuttings will take so I can get rid of the parent plant and grow a new one somewhere else.

You can also increase the amount of things like raspberries, blueberries, gooseberries and perennial vegetables too.

You have nothing to lose by taking cuttings, if I accidentally break off a bit of a plant I often just shove it in a pot, it is amazing how often they do grow. I often forget where I have put them and months later find a nice strong plant growing somewhere unexpected.

There are loads more ways to increase plants depending on the plant and the stage of its growth including hardwood cuttings, leaf cuttings, root cuttings, layering and grafting. As I have not used any of these ways and never take cuttings by the book, I think it best I direct you to a site that will show you how it should be done! The RHS is always my first port of call if there is something I need to know and their propagation section is excellent.
Royal Horticultural Society - Propagation Help & Advice

I went back to the post of my last ‘Growing Potatoes in Bin Bags’ update last night and though how small they looked so here is the latest photo I took of them today.

From the photo it is hard to tell just how big they are,  so I measured them, they are 42″ tall and probably as wide.

I have had to tie them to the fence as I was worried that they would be blown over in all this strong wind. I must admit I was not expecting them to be quite that big.

In August I will be planting some more, which I might try and keep until Christmas. Have already frozen some raspberries for Christmas day as we don’t like Christmas pudding or cake.

So far some of my runner beans (the ones in the storage containers on the top level of my garden ) have been quite disappointing.

They have not grown as fast as usual, nor do they have as many leaves and I am sure that it is not all down to the crickets. There are quite a lot of flowers but I am concerned that there are not enough leaves to support the amount of beans they are going to produce.

The tub on the left are purple french beans, the flowers are a lovely shade of pinky-lilac.



The ones that I am growing over the rose arch on the next level down do seem to be doing a bit better but are still a bit thin on the top. Perhaps that is just as well or I would have the whole thing on the ground, the wind here in Upper Ventnor has really given everything a battering in the last few days.

It is frustrating trying to dash out between showers to water all the pots. Yes, I am still watering everything that is growing in pots, only about half as much as usual though. A couple of years ago my beans nearly died during a week when it rained every day. They had so many leaves the rain was running down them and landing on the ground, the soil in the tubs was barely damp.

So far we have eaten 3 courgettes but there are sevral more nearly ready. Even these seem a bit slow this year and they do not look the healthiest  plants in the world. If you are treating mould or mosaic virus do remember (unlike me!) to put a note on the calendar that you have sprayed and a reminder of when the next one is due. It has reached the stage where I must decide where all the courgettes are going to live for the rest of the season as I need to get their canes/wigwams in place to grow them up. I might see how a couple of them get on growing up some netting against a fence.

According to the book I am using ‘In Tune with the Moon’ this is what we are supposed to be doing this week. I will try and be organised and post every Sunday what the book suggests for the following week. My review of this book.

If you are planting by the moon for the first time have you had better results than normal or has it not made any difference? Please let us know by leaving comments below.

Monday 7th to Tuesday 8th until 6am sow and cultivate fruits - all cereals, aubergine, broad bean, courgette, cucumber, gherkin, marrow, gourd, pumpkin, melon, pea, peppers, runner bean, sweetcorn, tomato.

Tuesday 8th from 6am right up to Friday 11th sow and cultivate roots - All root veg, beetroot, carrot, celeriac, endive, garlic, Jerusalem artichoke, parsnip, potato, radish, salsify, shallot, turnip, onions.

Saturday 12th to Sunday 13th up until 11am sow and cultivate flowers - All flowers, artichoke, broccoli & cauliflower.

Sunday 13th from 11am right up to Tuesday 15th sow and cultivate leaves - basil, brussels sprout, cabbage, kohlrabi, sorrel, celery, chervil, chinese cabbage, cress, dandelion, curly endive, fennel, purslane, lamb’s lettuce, leek, lettuce, rocket, spinach, cardoon, parsley, swiss chard.