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Country Gardener.

fluff

By fluff

29 comments


When I go to my local garden centre/nursery I pick up a free magazine called Country Gardener. I get the Dorset version so does that mean you get it all over the country?
It’s got loads of interesting info about local gardens open, gardening events at famous houses & articles on just about everything.

There’s a piece about elm trees….a nationwide search is underway to find out how many disease resistant trees planted 30 years ago have survived…
How bindweed is the south west’s number 1 weed…with dandelion,ground elder,buttercups & couch as the other contenders…
How did last winter affect your plants? Apparently gardeners in the south west are growing more tropical & exotic plants such as palms & bananas as the winters become milder but last year was one of the coldest for 20 years….
There’s a new pest threat to gardens in the south west from S. Europe … a bug which favours beans, tomatoes,golden rod,amaranth & viburnum to name a few.

There’s a whole page on medicinal herbs, worm composting,planting trees & bulbs, looking after your ponds & how topiary is back in fashion!
Solar lights, caring for your mower, growing olives etc etc…sorry I’m boring you I know but it’s a little gold mine of tips & gardening knowledge.

At the end it turns to feeding the birds & then something about getting fit for your garden??? What’s that all about then…I thought gardening made you fitter!! Maybe not the kind I do which involves a bit of dead-heading & then a sit down with a glass of cider….;0)))))))

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Comments

 

I 'think' there are 4 or 5 editions each one covering a different county but all in the south west. The basic info is the same in each mag. just the gardens open and garden clubs etc. that changes. I send info to them on growing with the moon.

20 Sep, 2009

 

I've brought one or two of them home too Fluff.
In the back there are a lot of small nurseries advertising (amongst other places) , which is always useful to know.

20 Sep, 2009

 

Do you MG? I'll keep an eye out for your stuff then. I must say Goy has made me take more notice of different ways of gardening such as growing with the moon...didn't realise they were only a south west publication.

20 Sep, 2009

 

There's loads of adverts Louise,,,have you seen the one about composting even your cooked food? Might look into that. Thought we might go to Compton Acres too & take in Brownsea Island on the same day...haven't been to either for yonks.

20 Sep, 2009

 

I've not seen that composting article, sounds intriguing !

I think Compton Acres is somewhere that Spritz goes quite often, i've not been there before.

20 Sep, 2009

 

Pity its not up here too! I'll keep an eye out, & let you know if theres anything similar!

20 Sep, 2009

 

Fluff - we dont get any magazines here in Northern ireland, what a fabulous idea though.

20 Sep, 2009

 

Madperth - so far as I know it is only in that one area of England. They have to include a lot of adverts in order to cover the cost of production. We considered advertising the moon growing book but decided against as circulation was not big enough to justify their charges.

20 Sep, 2009

 

It rarely is, MG! Even our local paper charged the earth to advertise a CHARITY concert for us last year! It wasnt worth it!
But there might be something along the lines here, no harm in looking out for it! :~)))

20 Sep, 2009

 

The composting thing is an advert Louise for a compnay...www.smartsoil.co.uk...they say you can even compost meat & fish. They're £300 - £400 & have 2 compartments that rotate & rot food down without attracting rats etc...supposedly.

20 Sep, 2009

 

I don't think i'd like that rotting down in my garden but i quite understand that folks want to compost as much as possible.

20 Sep, 2009

 

Hum, I don't mind putting small amounts of cooked veg. in the compost but meat and fish? Anyway any left over meat and fish in our house gets turned into soup or another meal. Bones go in stock pot or pressure cooker and wonderful stock for more soup. Do folk really throw away cooked meat and fish?

20 Sep, 2009

 

Beats me Moongrower !

20 Sep, 2009

 

Yes they do Mg...tons of the stuff ,,,makes you wonder how they can afford to waste so much.

20 Sep, 2009

 

I was brought up not to waste any food, guess that being born a few years after WW2 ensured that everything was used one way or another. The total nonsense, in my opinion, of something like and apple having a sell by date just makes me laugh.

Our son grates any odd crusts of bread and freezes to use for stuffings and the like - must admit they go to the birds in our house.

One of my friends is so canny she folds her butter wrappers into four and freezes them in a box. When she is going to make a cake or buns she takes one out and uses it to grease the pan.

20 Sep, 2009

 

Yep my mum taught me to do that!

20 Sep, 2009

 

And mine !

20 Sep, 2009

 

The waste has escalated since some supermarket smarta**e had the idea of 'use by' dates - it's made them squillions in extra profit over the years.

20 Sep, 2009

 

Madperth - persuade your local paper to publish a short piece about your event instead of paying for an advert. You can get more info included and it's FREE. I find the best way is to ring them up and talk to one of their reporters and offer to send them a photo as well. They may not publish the photo but they usually write a piece and include it for you

20 Sep, 2009

 

I've not seen it up here either.

20 Sep, 2009

 

Thanks Andrew, I'll take note of that for our next event!

20 Sep, 2009

 

I haven't seen that mag Ffluff. Maybe it's only found in the English regions. It's a good idea and sounds interesting.

20 Sep, 2009

 

Normally on gardening magazines it says you can order them on yearly subscription. Type into the net for the web site. I only lost a fuchsia last year because of the snow, other than that I have lost nothing. I do buy plants that are low on watering now , as I am on a water metre. I only water when I see plants drooping as most plants will go down for water, its only top rooted plants, which I have few of get watered. Here is their site and phone number http://www.countrygardener.co.uk/

20 Sep, 2009

 

Morgana this is a free mag. so I doubt you can take out a subscription

21 Sep, 2009

 

Hi All, just checked and there are now eight editions of Country Gardner: Cornish, Cotswold, Devon, Dorset, Norfolk, Somerset, Suffolk and Wiltshire... so look for your free mag. in those areas :-)

21 Sep, 2009

 

Just want to add that the Cotswold Gardener - usually free @ garden centres - is great. But maybe that's a different kettle of fish altogether. I don't even live in the Cotswolds, but it's still a lovely read. No colour pics, just like a mini newspaper really.

21 Sep, 2009

 

I've seen sample copies of several of them and thought they were good too... As Weeding says not glossy and no colour pix. but lots of info. Weeding they al follow the same format, just have different local info.

21 Sep, 2009

 

Thanks for all your comments...& your research Moongrower...it's a fab little 'newspaper'!

21 Sep, 2009

 

Okay I reckon we could start our own little 'newspaper' on this site Ajay & Peter how about a way we can put up advice to a set page or pages... obviously it would need moderating to make sure some wakko wasn't posting garbage. We've been there done that very recently - sigh. I've some ideas so PM me.

21 Sep, 2009

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