Back to school and an education for us all in the garden!

Let’s face it; we all dread the end of summer and the sound of the school bell summoning us back to the classroom, or if you are like me and most of the UK, back to an air conditioned office!. However, I think this is a good time to soak up the remainder of the ‘summer’ we have had and get out in our gardens pronto before it is too late!

I have learnt this summer how the majority of my friends (aged in their 20’s) have no desire to work on and improve their gardens, simply because they don’t know what to do. I know this feeling more than most, August 13^th 2007 to be exact. It was a warm summer’s day and I had decided that I was going to help my mum out with weeding the garden. Unfortunately I didn’t know the difference between a weed and a plant, therefore ending my will to do any gardening EVER again. I had just destroyed years of my mum nurturing plants from seed. Oops. Thankfully I’m still alive to tell the tale and it has made me want to question everyone I know ‘do you know the difference between a weed and a plant?’. Armed with their answers and a bit of my own research, I have come up with the following guide:

• Take your time in determining whether the plant really is a weed or not. Especially if you have just moved into a new garden.
• Allow the plant to develop its true leaves before you consider pulling it out. The first set of leaves a plant develops are often very different to their adult leaves and you may mistake the identity of the plant!
• Take a close look at the area the suspected weed is growing - does it appear more than once within this area? If it does and its leaves do not match any of the other plants in the border (which may have self seeded) then it is more than likely a weed.
• Use a reference guide to identify the leaf and flower to make informed decisions. Here are a couple of good resources I stumbled across during my research:

http://www.downgardenservices.org.uk/weedlf.htm  (identification by leaf)

http://www.downgardenservices.org.uk/weedflower.htm (identification by flower)

• Some of these weeds can be pretty and nice to have in the garden - there is a fine line between a weed and a wild flower! As long as you keep it under control it may be nice to leave some of them growing in the garden. 
• Tools Needed:
• Trowel (we recommend the Burgon and Ball Trowel)
• Gloves - Standard or Gauntlet
• Hoe
• Bucket or storage bag to transport weeds into compost heap

I feel I have now educated those of you who are not so confident in the garden, however, for those of us who are, please make sure you teach your children/friends and family and keep up the knowledge and joy gardening can bring. It looks set to be an Indian summer this September so make sure you enjoy the remainder of your summer garden (weed free)

Enjoying the heat with home grown Chilli's

The rain has eased off and you can start enjoying the garden. If you've been working at your garden all year, now is the time to sit out and enjoy the fruits of your labour. Why not eat outdoors in the sunshine, let’s look at what is good to eat in August...

Think hot weather, think spice and chillies! Whether you’re cooking hot meals or making lunchtime salads, what a great time to be using chillies to give your food a more exotic twist. I don’t know about you but there’s nothing I like better than to sit out in the garden on a nice summer’s day.

Don’t rule out using home-grown products in your food because you’re put off by the difficulty of growing it. What’s great about having a grow-your-own chilli kit is that its so simple. And unlike a lot of products in the garden, you can grow them at any time of the year indoors.

Now is a great time to get started...look at what I managed to grow by following the straightforward instructions on the box. I managed to get 100% success rate and all my seeds took so now my greenhouse is overloaded with Chilli plants. It became a bit of an obsession seeing how they were growing every day, just ask my family!

It's certainly livened up my cooking. I sat out in the garden and had hot chilli con carne with a glass of red wine yesterday...it doesn't get much better than that on a warm summer evening.

So check out the products below and buy yours today

 South Devon Chilli Farm Growing Kit....£14.99

South Devon Chilli Farm One Pot Grow Kit....£6.00

South Devon Chilli Farm Chilli Chocolate...£3.50

South Devon Chilli Farm 3 Bottle Gift Pack...£11.00 

South Devon Chilli Farm 3 Jar Gift Pack...£11.00

Top 10 Gifts for Mother's Day

Mother's day is fast approaching and here at Garden Secret Gifts we have selected the top 10 gifts for your Mum to enjoy in the garden. From decorative garden items to garden essentials there is plenty to choose from, plus there is now free delivery on all items. So with the present taken care of all you need to do now is relax and enjoy the day spoiling your Mum.

1.   Burgon and Ball Seed Packet Organiser

2.   Garden Basket Gift Set

3.   Ladies Pink Folding Secateurs

4.   Insect Hotel

5.   Sophie Conran Potting Sieve

6.   Burgon and Ball Compost Bin

7.   Outdoor Garden Clocks

8.   Ceramic Frog Planter

9.   Decorative Mushroom Bird House

10. Greenhouse Caddy

Don't forget order by Tuesday 13th March 2012 to guarantee delivery in  time for Sunday 18th March 2012

www.gardensecretgifts.co.uk

Wearing it pink for breast cancer

It was national wear it pink day for breast cancer on 29th October so we thought we better dress up and collect money for a good cause. As you can see I was out-trumped by Amandas effort (on the right) as I'm not much of a pink loving girly girl! We made pink fairy cakes and went around our trading estate managing to raise £250, which I thought was pretty good for an hours work. Our medium wicker trugs only cost £11.99, look great and were useful fundraising. Check them out at our website http://www.gardensecretgifts.co.uk/