Recycled Roots & Leaves

15/05/2026

This is from the US but is still relevant here in Australia. It has merit and gives you some idea of some of the practices that occurs in the horticultural industry

08/05/2026

Magnificent

The 3,300 Year Old Minoan Olive Tree of Kavousi

Tucked away near the village of Kavousi in eastern Crete, the Monumental Olive Tree of Azorias stands as a living bridge to the Bronze Age. Estimated to be over 3,300 years old, this massive specimen was likely planted during the Post-Palatial Minoan period, around 1350 to 1100 BC. Its gnarled, sculptural trunk tells a story of survival through three millennia of human history, outlasting the rise and fall of the Minoan civilization, the Roman Empire, and the Byzantine era. The tree remains a productive part of the landscape, still yielding olives today from its ancient, resilient branches.

The tree serves as a central landmark for the nearby archaeological sites of Azorias, Vrontas, and Kastro, where ancient oil presses and storage jars have been unearthed. Its cultural significance was highlighted during the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, when a branch was ceremoniously cut to weave the winner's wreath for the women's marathon. Standing at the foot of the Thripti Mountains, the tree has survived centuries of drought and war, becoming a symbol of Greek heritage and the enduring nature of the Mediterranean spirit.

08/05/2026

20/04/2026

These kitchen-waste fertilizers work. Used incorrectly, they damage plants instead of feeding them. Here are the most common mistakes and the correct method for each. 🌱

Coffee grounds: applied in a thick layer, they form an impermeable crust that repels water and encourages mold. The correct method: a thin layer no more than a quarter inch thick mixed into the compost, or one tablespoon diluted in a quart of water. Use sparingly around acid-sensitive plants such as lavender, geraniums, and succulents.

Banana peel: buried fresh in a pot or bed, it ferments rather than breaks down, which can encourage soil pathogens. Soak the peel in cold water for 24-48 hours, strain, and use only the liquid. The skins go to the compost pile.

Eggshells: in large fragments, they release almost no calcium — the surface area is too small and decomposition too slow. To be effective they must be ground to a fine powder in a blender or with a mortar and pestle before being mixed into the soil.

Cooking water: a single salted batch makes the water unusable. Sodium damages roots by osmotic effect. The rule is simple: if the water was salted or seasoned in any way, it goes down the sink. Only unsalted, cooled cooking water is suitable.

Used tea: applied every week, tannins accumulate and block the uptake of iron and zinc. The sign is interveinal yellowing on new leaves. Space applications to once every two to three weeks and avoid using around acid-sensitive plants.

Rice water: left at room temperature for more than 24 hours it ferments and develops harmful bacteria. Use it the same day or refrigerate and use the following day.

The ingredient is the same. The difference between feed and damage is the method. 🌿

10/04/2026

The pest doesn't need spraying. It needs a predator. The predator doesn't need buying. It needs a flower.

Plant the right flower and the predator shows up on its own, finds the pest, and does the work for free. The chain assembles itself.

🌱 Five chains that work:

- Aphids → ladybug larvae → plant yarrow. The larvae do the killing — hundreds of aphids each. The yarrow keeps the adults around to lay eggs near the colony

- Tomato hornworms → braconid wasps → let your dill bolt. The wasp lays eggs inside the hornworm. The flowers are the weapon, not the dill leaves

- Slugs → ground beetles → let cilantro flower. The beetles hunt at night while you sleep. The flowers give them daytime shelter

- Cabbage worms → paper wasps → plant fennel. The wasps catch caterpillars, chew them into paste, and feed them to their own larvae. One nest near your brassicas catches dozens a day

- Whiteflies → lacewing larvae → plant cosmos. The larvae have sickle-shaped jaws that drain whiteflies in seconds. The cosmos keeps adult lacewings fed and laying eggs nearby

One flower per pest. The predator does the rest 🌿

09/04/2026

The pile of branches at the bottom of your garden is not a problem to solve — it is twenty years of soil fertility waiting to be used.

Hugelkultur — burying woody material under a raised growing area — turns prunings and logs into a slow-release water reservoir and nutrient source. The wood acts as a sponge underground: it absorbs rainfall and releases moisture slowly to plant roots through dry periods. Fungi colonise the wood and extend into the surrounding soil, building mycorrhizal networks that feed plants directly. The process generates gentle warmth as it breaks down.

Burning that material is legal in England in many areas but increasingly frowned upon by neighbours and restricted by local councils under the Clean Air Act. Burying it takes the same ten minutes and the soil does the rest.

How to install a buried hugelkultur bed:

Dig a trench 30 to 50 cm deep where you want the bed. Lay the largest logs and thick branches at the base — hardwood (oak, beech) lasts longest, softwood (willow, birch) breaks down faster and releases nutrients sooner. Layer smaller branches, dead leaves, and garden compost on top. Mound the soil back over to create a naturally raised bed. Water normally in the first year. By the second season, the wood retains enough moisture to reduce watering by roughly half.

What grows well over buried wood:

Butternut squash — thrives on the decomposing organic matter and gentle warmth from below. Carrot — the deep channels left by decaying roots give long carrots room to develop cleanly. Tomato — the consistent moisture produces more regular cropping than in standard beds. Perpetual spinach and Swiss chard — abundant leaves from spring through to the first hard frosts.

The branches you were going to burn are a fertility reserve for the next two decades. 🌿🪵🍅

28/03/2026

Very true

A gentle reminder this International Day of Forests that what we protect now is what will sustain generations to come 💚

Plant trees, support restoration and care for the forests that support us 🌱🌳

Get involved in National Tree Day this 26 July https://nationaltreeday.org.au/.

28/03/2026

Moss is beautiful

Moss on the lawn is not a disease. It is a diagnosis — and treating it without addressing the underlying cause produces a temporary result at best.

Every spring, many British gardeners spread iron sulphate to eliminate moss. The product works — the moss blackens within days and the grass appears to recover. If the conditions that favour moss are not corrected, it returns within weeks and the cycle repeats.

The reason is that moss is not the problem — it is the symptom. Moss grows where grass struggles: soil too acidic, too compacted, too shaded, too wet, or too nutrient-poor. Killing the moss without correcting the cause leaves conditions that favour moss recolonisation.

WHAT MOSS DOES WELL WHEN YOU LEAVE IT:

Moss retains moisture effectively. On compacted soil where water runs off instead of soaking in, moss captures and releases it slowly — long enough for grass roots and earthworms to benefit.

Moss protects soil from erosion. On shaded, sloping, or heavily trafficked areas where grass cannot establish, moss stabilises the surface. Its rhizoids grip soil particles and hold them in place.

Moss shelters a considerable microfauna. A small cushion of moss houses hundreds of microscopic organisms — rotifers, tardigrades, nematodes, springtails, mites — which form the base of the soil food web.

THE FOUR CAUSES OF MOSS — AND THE CORRECTIONS THAT ACTUALLY WORK:

Acid soil (pH below 5.5): Grass prefers pH 6 to 7. Moss tolerates pH 4 to 5. Correction: apply 100 to 200 g of ground limestone or garden lime per square metre in autumn. pH rises gradually over two to three years and grass recovers naturally.

Compacted soil: Foot traffic and mowing close soil pores, waterlogging the surface. Correction: aerate in autumn with a garden fork pushed in every 15 cm and levered gently. For larger areas, a hollow-tine aerator extracts cores and leaves drainage channels. Fill the holes with coarse horticultural grit.

Shade: Grass needs four to six hours of direct sun to grow properly. Moss grows in full shade. Correction: in permanently shaded zones, consider accepting moss as the ground cover rather than maintaining a grass that will always struggle.

Poor soil: Thin, sandy, or exhausted soil weakens grass year after year. Correction: spread 1 to 2 cm of mature compost across the surface each autumn. Overseed bare patches with a shade-tolerant mix containing fine-leaved fescues.

THE MOSS GARDEN — THE OPTION WORTH CONSIDERING:

In permanently shaded zones where grass will never establish, an intentional moss carpet requires no mowing, no feeding, no watering, and stays green twelve months of the year. Traditional Japanese moss gardens are considered the summit of landscape garden design for exactly this reason.

Moss on the lawn signals that the soil has a condition grass cannot tolerate. Addressing that condition directly — through liming, aeration, and composting — produces lasting results alongside any treatment used for the moss itself. 🌿

28/03/2026

Have a look at this stunning arrangement

Created by Heather