Comments for Nicola Chatham

Comment on FREE Seed Give-Away!!! by Deb

Deb — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 03:26:44 +0000

Hi Nicola, your seeds arrived — thanks so much! I can’t wait till spring to get them going. At least it will give me time to build some sort of support tor them. Thanks again. xxx

Comment on How to Maximise Your Garden After Rain by Simone

Simone — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:35:18 +0000

I’m looking forward to putting this into practice but the rain won’t stop!!! I always learn something new from you Nicola — thanks for sharing your gardening wisdom

Comment on How to Maximise Your Garden After Rain by Katie

Katie — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:31:26 +0000

Yup, I’ve been out taking advantage of the softened grounds and weeding too. If the weeds are flowering/seeding I break them off & put the flowers/seeds in a plastic bag for disposal, with the remaining green matter is put in the compost.

Isn’t it muggy now the sun’s out?!

Safe travelling and I’m sure you’ll come back buzzing with ideas!

Comment on Q&A With Urban Organic Gardener Mike Lieberman by nicolachatham

nicolachatham — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:38:36 +0000

Thanks Debbie for your compliments. I practice a process called ‘Morning Pages’ that I learned from the book The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. It’s very useful to push past the internal censor. It’s a process of writing down your stream of consciousnesses without stopping or judging what you write. It’s best done for three pages of long-hand, early in the morning. I’ve found it a great way to practice my process of getting thoughts on the page.

I also set a deadline and know I have to publish to a schedule of once a week, because I’ve told my subscribers that I will! Nothing like social accountability to help push past internal blocks.

My advice would be to practice daily and don’t try to make the beginning perfect. Keep writing down the ONE idea that you want to get across to your reader, and you can then come back and tidy up the beginning. And importantly, have fun!

Comment on FREE Seed Give-Away!!! by nicolachatham

nicolachatham — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 23:35:19 +0000

Hi Carol! It sounds like you are in the States since you’re looking for hummingbird flower seeds. Good luck, maybe some Sprouters in the USA can help out

Comment on Q&A With Urban Organic Gardener Mike Lieberman by Debbie

Debbie — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:31:31 +0000

First off I want to say superb blog! I had a quick question that I’d like to ask if you don’t mind. I was interested to find out how you center yourself and clear your mind prior to writing. I have had a difficult time clearing my thoughts in getting my thoughts out. I do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally lost just trying to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or hints? Thank you!
Debbie recently posted..how to hypnotize someone fast

Comment on FREE Seed Give-Away!!! by Carol Gibbs

Carol Gibbs — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:37:21 +0000

Hello Does anybody have some seed they would like to give away for butterflyes and would anybody have any tomatoe seed and okra seed and any other seeds to give away and do you have any hummingbird flower seeds. If so e-mail me at carolg_75638@yahoo.com

Comment on The Truth About Pests in My Garden (and what I do about them) by Nicola

Nicola — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 20:51:08 +0000

Hi Barbara,

Moles! I remember seeing all their little mounds of dirt all over a garden when I visited England as a child. I’m actually in Australia, and no, we don’t have them. But we have plenty of other native marsupials that like to nibble or completely demolish vegetable gardens.

You may like to think about making a raised garden with some kind of flooring in it. You could use corrugated iron tanks and drill plenty of holes in the bottom, or I’ve even seen some ingenious designs with old bath-tubs that have been converted into planter containers. They work great!

You need some ‘bottom up’ thinking to stop them in their tracks and keep them away from your produce.
Nicola recently posted..The Truth About Pests in My Garden (and what I do about them)

Comment on The Truth About Pests in My Garden (and what I do about them) by Barbara Wilde

Barbara Wilde — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:14:30 +0000

Moles are a real problem here in the UK, do you even have them in America?!

Comment on The Truth About Pests in My Garden (and what I do about them) by Nicola

Nicola — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:55:38 +0000

Hi Marta!

Great to hear from you

I’ve read that about slugs and beer too; they are little alcoholics! I haven’t tried it either, but it apparently works.

You can also mix a cup of molasses in with water in a watering can and water that over the leaves. Many bugs, including grasshoppers don’t like the taste and stay away. With your little seedlings, if slugs are a real problem, you can put a collar made from the base of a clear plastic drink container around them until they are bit enough to fend for themselves.

A couple of other options are lots of crushed up eggshells or sawdust around the base (but not touching the stem) to keep the soft bellied slugs away. Too scratchy on their bellies! The rings needs to be thick and wide to be effective I believe.

Thanks for sharing and I love that you put the caterpillars on the wisteria. I think that image just made my night.
Nicola recently posted..The Truth About Pests in My Garden (and what I do about them)