As you might have gathered April has been a very busy month for Mister Compost and the Field Compost team and as such the monthly gardening tips update has rather shamefully slipped to the last week of the month. So here are some handy hints for getting the most from your garden in what’s left of April and the whole of May. 🙂
It won’t have escaped your attention that the garden is now well and truly growing. The daffodils are nearly finished and it’s now the turn of the late spring bulbs and emerging herbaceous perennials to have their turn on the dance floor – that’s if they can elbow their way past the now rampant ground elder and vine weed that seems to inhabit my small patch of this green and pleasant land. A bit of “little and often” weeding is definitely a good tip this time of year as it stops things getting out of hand. This combined with the addition of some mulch over the weeded areas will help to turn the battle in your favour as the season marches on.
Field Compost supply a range of “mulch” products ranging from the ever versatile Field 1 soil conditioner to the Field 9 pine play bark which can be used just as effectively around the geraniums as it can under the children’s play slide. A useful general purpose mulch is the Field 8 contract ornamental which is a mixed conifer bark screened to less than 40mm; it has lovely dark colour that sets off the surrounding plants nicely and its long life means it only needs topping up once a season.
The beginning of May is always synonymous with a nice long bank holiday weekend, but also the arrival of summer bedding plants in the garden centres. Field 3 multipurpose potting compost is ideal for use in creating the perfect bedding plant display for the warmer months ahead. Simply fill your hanging baskets and planters with Field 3 and plant the bedding plants of your choice – it’s that easy!
We have extended our spring offer on the supply of a free 40L “Handy bag” of Field 3 with every bulk bag purchased until the 31st May 2015. So why not visit one of our many retail outlets to pick up some bedding plants and look out for our Bulk Bag Sales Board where you can order up 1m3 bags or loose loads of mulch for your borders and get a free bag of Field 3 delivered with it for your bedding plants?
Another rewarding project for this time of year is growing your own vegetables. With the rise of the supermarkets and convenience foods this practice has become largely forgotten but go back 40 years or more and pretty much every garden would have had a small plot growing a selection of crops for the kitchen table. With thanks to television programmes such as Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s excellent River Cottage series and the ever popular BBC Gardeners World the “Grow your own” community has once again expanded over the last two decades and believe me it couldn’t be easier to get involved yourself. 
Field Compost has developed a number of products specifically aimed at growing food crops. The easiest way to start is by purchasing a Field 2 growbag from one of our retail outlets. These can be filled with a whole range of easy to grow crops from salads to peppers and tomatoes. I’ve found that cucumbers, courgettes and squashes do particularly well in Field 2 grow bags and what could be better than cutting a nice young courgette form the vine, slicing it down the middle, adding a bit of olive oil and seasoning and then straight onto to the BBQ and then on to your plate all within 5 minutes!
If you want to get a bit more advanced the Field 15 vegetable planting compost is specifically designed for use in raised beds and planters where edible crops are to be grown. The mix of high quality sandy loam, soil conditioner and composted bark fines offers the perfect media for the quick establishment of crops, and the natural supply of nutrients should appeal to those of you who prefer the organic approach. Field 15 also has an open, friable structure and contains plenty of potash meaning potatoes and root crops thrive!
Field Compost prides itself in offering helpful, friendly advice so why not give us a ring to talk through your requirements for the 2015 growing season?