Crazy Courgette Time! And a way to treat for Mildew without Chemicals!

Courgette, Zucchini, summer squash, green squash.... it is a green (and sometimes yellow) delicious health bomb that comes with many names.

Courgettes are easily grown in pots or in beds. This makes them probably one of the most home grown veggies around the world.

How to make any old cheap withered wooden chair look like an expensive teak wood chair

As you might remember I refurbished an old teak wood chair back in April (If you missed it, click here). I was surprised for how little money you could make it look like a new chair. I was also surprised when I read on the label of the teak oil can, that teak oil was actually made on a base of linseed oil  and you could use it on any wood. There was still so much oil left in that can and no more teak wood furniture in this household so I thought of this very withered and old looking Ikea garden table and chairs set that I still had from my long passed student days.

refurbish that withered teak wood chair and give it a new look and safe a lot of money

I take it, you all have figured out by now that I can be a bit of a save the environment nutter! So here is my appeal to you to not kick your old withered looking teak wood garden chair into the land fill and make it grow even bigger! Rather, spruce it up! And if I can´t make you see the impact on the environment let me show you the economical impact it will have on your wallet!

My wee garden on the balcony - part 2

Hello guys, I just thought it is time for a gardening update.

Most of my seeds were doing well, and showing some more or less green through the soil, but then a hot hot weekend day hit them, and I wasn't there to water them...or to get those poor little babes into the shade...and there went my thyme, my salad...so far a tough tomato survived and all of the coriander and parlsley..., my chives (they came back up all by themselves in the pot where I had them last year) are doing really well, and in the mean time I bought some strawberries, and planted some of them in my hanging balcony baskets.

I am not sure how the rest will survive, as from coming friday we are gone for nearly 5 days, and no one around to water them. I just hope for my plants that this heat wave comes to an end in time...

Keep your fingers crossed for my little green oases..

Thank you

My little garden on our balcony - It's seeding time!!

This is the first place I ever lived in that does not have a garden. All I have to work with is a small ~3m² south-west faced balcony. But I have found a lot of things I can grow in pots on my balcony. Okay you will not feed yourself on your produce all season by this method, as you simply do not have the space to grow enough food, but you can at least add a little something self grown to every meal!

One of the things growing very well in pots are herbs. And fresh herbs in home cooking simply rock!

And for the very first time ever, I tried to save some seeds last year (Oregano) and I planted them this year, so I will see how that worked for me...

As I am one to use as little plastic as possible and I prefer to recycle I used old egg cartons for seeding (instead of the plastic pots, one usually takes). You can use them for all those seeds that don't need to be covered by more than a cm of soil.

Seeds that need to be covered by a little more soil, but don't need much space at the sides, you can grow in old toilet paper rolls. A tutorial how to make those pots you can find here. (BTW, look around that blog a little further, it is absolutely worth it!)

I tried 2 red oranges, 1 lemon, and 1 avocado. For the avocado, have often tried this thing with the toothpicks over a glass of water (is that actually a hoax cruising the internet??), but it has never worked. But this week I made some avocado for my wee man for lunch, and that organic avocado that I used, happened to have a tiny tiny root coming out of the seed. So I thought I just stick it into some soil and see what happens. But the lemons and oranges work pretty well, I have grown a couple last year. You can also try peppers in all colours & pumpkins.

I also planted some tomatoes and lots and lots of herbs.
Once the Temperatures have risen a little more, and nights do not bring as much frost, I will try some lucullus for the first time. Last year I had spinach, that btw worked great, too.