Angelo’s food growing articles
When Angelo Eliades, from Preston, blogs about something, it is usually well worth reading. Here is a list of his posts which relate to food growing.
Planning
- How much of a difference does the thermal mass of a wall make for plants and trees in Winter?
- How much sun do vegetables and herbs need to grow?
- The fastest way to transplant volunteer seedlings with minimum root disturbance.
- How to sow seeds directly into the ground and into seedling trays.
- Selecting a location for a food garden.
- How to prepare the soil.
- When to sow seeds and plant seedlings.
- How to plant seedlings.
- Starting your permaculture garden.
- Weeding without chemicals or digging.
Growing media
- The do’s and don’ts of using sawdust for composting.
- Can coffee grounds be used as a fertiliser in the garden?
- Seven good reasons why you should mulch your garden!
- Three useful herbs which can be used as natural compost activators and much more.
- Selecting the right size pot or container for growing vegetables.
- The definitive guide on how to compost everything from the garden and kitchen.
- How to improve drainage in plant pots, the proper way to do it!
- Why you shouldn’t fertilise gardens in winter in cool and temperate climates.
- Manure application rate, how much should we use in the garden?
- What happens if you don’t turn your compost?
- How to change soil ph in organic gardening.
- Three simple soil tests to determine what type of soil you have.
- Is rabbit manure good to use in the garden?.
- Understanding soil pH and how it affects plant nutrient availability.
- What materials can you put into your compost bin and what not to compost.
- What are the best rocks to use for building wicking beds?
- Should you put gravel or rocks at the bottom of plant pots for drainage?.
- How far do large tree roots extend?.
- Chop and drop gardening (sheet composting).
- The difference between soft and hard mulches.
- Rooting edible plant cuttings in water.
- Seed raising mix – does it work?
- Understanding fertilisers – how and when to feed your garden.
- Bokashi soil generator – turn food waste into nutrient-rich soil.
- Bokashi composting – how to process waste that can’t go in your compost or worm farm.
- Biochar ancient origins, modern inspirations.
- Starting annual vegetable seedlings indoors
- Hot compost – composting in 18 days.
Growing structures
- A better way to stake up and support vegetables in pots.
- Garden arches, vertical gardening for more growing area in small spaces.
- A product review of a product called Urbipod Garden.
- Raised garden beds – what size is best?
- Hugelkultur bed construction for large and small spaces.
- Diy self-watering pots and mini wicking beds.
- Wicking bed construction.
- No dig gardening.
- Espalier support/trellis.
- Raised garden beds.
Fruit trees
- How to grow and prune passionfruit vines for maximum fruiting
- How long do fruit trees live?
- Why are citrus trees and other evergreens planted in Spring?
- How to prune, support and protect blackberries and their hybrids
- How to plant two or more trees in the same hole for high density tree planting
- How to prune a mulberry tree for multiple crops in a single season
- How to sterilise and disinfect pruning tools
- What age wood do fruit trees flower and fruit on?
- How to grow, prune and propagate raspberries.
- Formative pruning, central leader form – how to prune young fruit trees in the first three years.
- Grape vine trellis.
- Formative pruning, vase form – how to prune young fruit trees in the first three years.
- How to prune figs, persimmons and pomegranates.
- How to prune a fruit tree, step by step.
- How to prune grape vines – cane and spur pruning explained!
- How to prune tree branches.
- How to plant a fruit tree.
- The difference between seedling, grafted and cutting grown fruit trees.
- Permaculture edible hedges.
- Backyard orchard culture.
Specific plants
- Carrots growing guide.
- Beetroot growing guide.
- Preparing and preserving green olives.
- Harvesting olives, a guide on when and how to pick them.
- How to stop mint from spreading in the garden.
- The best ways to harvest and dry fresh herbs.
- Why are my tomatoes cracking and splitting?.
- How to harvest bananas and ripen them indoors in temperate climates.
- How to save tomato seeds for planting next year.
- Why are my tomatoes flowering but not setting fruit?
- Why are my cabbages not forming heads?
- The easiest way to dry and process turmeric root to make turmeric powder.
- How to plant, grow and harvest potatoes.
- Are woody galls on citrus tree trunks harmful?.
- Know and identify your chilli species.
- Which variety of grapevine has edible leaves for making dolmades?.
- Can you grow grapes from seed? Garden mythbusting!
- 15 herbs you can grow indoors.
- Growing turmeric in the ground in temperate climates.
- Growing turmeric in containers in temperate climates.
- Layering overgrown tomato plants.
- Small-space intensive tomato growing.
- Growing pistachio nut trees.
- Growing cranberries.
- Grafting eggplant onto devil plant.
Problems
- Spice up your rodent defense with potent chili capsaicin-based repellent sprays.
- Why do bean plants develop white spots on their leaves, and is it a problem?
- How to make horticultural oil spray for organic pest control.
- How to control snails and slugs without toxic chemicals.
- How to neutralise glyphosate (roundup) herbicide contamination in soil.
- How to identify and treat herbicide contamination of commercial soil, compost and manure.
- Citrus problems – leaves curling inwards along their length.
- Fruit tree problems – new leaves tightly curled and turning yellow on cherries and plums.
- When the lower leaves of a tomato plant turn yellow.
- White or tan spots on brassica leaves.
- Citrus fruit has thick peel and hollow core.
- How to control Queensland fruit fly in the home garden.
- Why citrus fruit drops and flowers fail to develop.
- Apple tree problems – sun scald.
- Horticultural glues and tree banding trees to controls ants and other pests.
- Apple tree diseases – crown gall.
- Citrus fruit splitting and prevention.
- Apple tree diseases and planting location.
- Citrus nutrient deficiency yellow leaf with green veins.
- Citrus yellow veins on green leaf in winter.
- Controlling citrus gall wasp.
- Netting fruit trees for pest control.
Other
- Why honey never spoils.
- Can honey be used for rooting plant cuttings?.
- The complete food additive code number list to decode food ingredients.
- How to protect plants from frost with seaweed extract.
- The best way to use pest animal scent repellents so they don’t wash away.
- Does watering plants on a hot sunny day scorch their leaves?.
- Should eucalyptus leaves be composted or used as garden mulch?.
- Companion planting with land cress for natural caterpillar control.
- What are the small flies in compost bins and are they a problem?.
- Seed saving – how long can you keep seeds?
- Your herb garden harvest – creative ways to use your herb bounty.
- The case for edible hedges.
- The chicken coop checklist.
Good morning Angelo,
I have clover in my vegetable garden and no matter how hard I try to dig them out they persist.
I am planning to leave a few plots empty over the winter and wonder if it is okay to spray with ‘slasher’. Is it safe to use ‘slasher’ in vegetable gardens?
Kind regards,
Nadia
Slasher is a natural herbicide. It’s really just geranium plant oil, and it works by dissolving the protective waxes on any leaf surface it touches, causing them to lose moisture and dry out very quickly.
I’m wondering if the plant in question is indeed clover and not oxalis. Here is an easy way to tell which is which. Oxalis has small yellow five-petalled simple flowers and three heart-shaped leaves. Clovers have three round shaped leaves with lighter markings closer to the leaf stem, and their flowers are tufted with various colours such as white, pink, red and sometimes yellow. Oxalis also usually produce underground storage structures such as bulbs or tubers which help them spread.
If the plants are indeed clover, I.m not sure why it would need to be removed, as it’s a nitrogen fixing plant that enriches the soil and provides a protective ground cover that keeps weeds out and reduces soil rainfall compaction/erosion.
Using slasher will on a dry day with no rain in the next day or two will cause either of these plants to dry out, but oxalis likely will grow back from the underground bulbs, whilst clover will die off. Oxalis can be prevented from growing back by laying mulch over the soil.
Hope this helps!