What to do this week; GARDENING

[bar] As the displays in most rock gardens are past their peak, plant fill-in bedding to add colour to the scene. Trailing plants can look particularly effective.

Lift bulbs of Dutch and Spanish irises and store them in a warm, dry place to ripen until September.Order new lily bulbs. [bar] Feed pelargoniums grown in tubs, window boxes and hanging baskets regularly with a liquid tomato feed.[bar] Keep the base of hedges weed-free, feeding with a general purpose liquid fertiliser if the hedge looks undernourished. [bar] Plant out potted-up softwood cuttings of shrubs taken in May in their final planting position.Mow the lawn once or twice a week and raise the cutting height slightly in prolonged dry weather.Fill in the space of harvested early summer crops such as broad beans and shallots with follow-on crops such as endives or cabbages.

Fill in the space of harvested early summer crops such as broad beans and shallots with follow-on crops such as endives or cabbages.

Successful Raised Bed Gardening

Gardening is still a favorite hobby for families and singles alike, but smaller lots or no lots at all have peaked the interest in raised bed gardening. This popular gardening method makes it possible to grow fresh vegetables and fruits in small areas just a few square feet. As the awareness to eat locally grows, locavores are spreading the word; growing on a small scale in a raised bed puts delicious, fresh food on the table.

One of the biggest plusses of raised bed gardening is the option of choosing a soil mix for growing a successful garden. Choose a good quality top soil ammended with compost or peat moss or some other organic matter. The planting mix should drain well and be easy to work with. It is best to loosen the soil below the raised bed to a depth of six inches, mixing the amended soil in the top two inches. Install the framework and fill the bed. It is helpful to get a soil test to determine fertility before the seeds or transplants are planted.While some gardeners just mound up the soil in rows, most growers use some type of framework to contain the soil. Raised bed gardening has become so popular that many gardening suppliers sell kits all ready to snap together. Railroad ties, landscape timbers, rock, cement blocks or bricks are also useful in constructing a raised bed. Do not use lumber treated with CCA, a chemical used in the preservation of wood. Do not lay down a plastic material before building the bed as this will prevent drainage and cause plant loss due to waterlogged soils.The size of the raised bed depends on the gardener but keeping the bed just four feet wide permits an easy reach from both sides. A six to eight inch depth of the bed is recommended because most of the main feeder roots are at this depth. Locate the raised bed in full sun if at all possible, if not, at least a half day of sunlight is necessary for good plant growth. A water source should be located nearby because raised beds dry out sooner than conventional gardening.Soil extended above ground level warms up faster in the spring, allowing earlier seeding opportunities. Many gardeners are faced with challenging soil conditions. Heavy clay or light sandy soils present growing conditions that frustrate even the most experienced gardener. Raised bed gardening allows the grower to mix a recipe of the best ingredients for optimum growth. Top soil, compost, peat moss and nutrients permit healthy plants to grow in denser plantings that reduce weed infestation.Check out http://doityourselfgardening.blogspot.com/ for more tips to a successful garden season.Many rules of ordinary gardening don't apply to raised bed gardening. No need to think in long single file rows with wide spacing between rows. In fact, forget the rows. Plant intensively, in blocks, grouping the early vegetables together. When that harvest is complete, pull the plants and continue the season with green beans and squash. A trellis can be installed to grow vining crops up instead of sprawling out and taking up so much room. Straw mulch, leaves or grass clippings can be used to conserve moisture and keep the soil cool.

Check out http://doityourselfgardening.blogspot.com/ for more tips to a successful garden season.

Great Yorks green team

GREEN thinking youngsters won an award at The Great Yorkshire Show.

* PRIZEWINNERS: Above left, back row, from left Michelle Lewis, head of communications at Yorkshire Water, Nigel Pulling, chief executive of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and Paul Mashinter, deputy headteacher of Carr Green Primary School, with front row, the award winning pupils from Carr Green Primary School with their certificates and prizes. Picture, above right, the youngsters at work in the school's Brighouse garden (S)Pupils and teachers from the school received free tickets to this year's Great Yorkshire Show and pounds 200 towards gardening equipment for the school.The judges were also impressed by how the school had integrated all elements of outdoor learning into the curriculum. Each class in the school had a large raised allotment bed to look after with the help of a volunteer from the local community who provided them with knowledge on how to sow, grow and harvest fruit and vegetables.Pupils from Carr Green Primary School in Brighouse formed a 'green team' to take on their environmental responsibilities. Its band of 'Carbon Cops' also monitored the use of energy and resources, including water, and have visited other schools.CAPTION(S):Having heard of its efforts to create a sustainable school garden, judges from the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and Yorkshire Water chose the school as the Yorkshire Conservation School of the Year.

* PRIZEWINNERS: Above left, back row, from left Michelle Lewis, head of communications at Yorkshire Water, Nigel Pulling, chief executive of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and Paul Mashinter, deputy headteacher of Carr Green Primary School, with front row, the award winning pupils from Carr Green Primary School with their certificates and prizes. Picture, above right, the youngsters at work in the school's Brighouse garden (S)

What a cheeky lot! Rugby fan's calendar scoring for hospice

Byline: NEIL ATKINSON

She has set a target of pounds 7,500 which would be enough to buy a special bed for the hospice."Roy was in the hospice for three weeks and he could not have had better care. He kept asking me how much it was going to cost as he could not believe the treatmentwas free to us.The scheme saw a total of pounds 60,000 gifted to grass-roots environmental projects across Yorkshire, the North East and northern Cumbria. Now in its fourth year, the initiative attracted 90 entries with the award fund being shared by 17 stand-out entrants.HARD AT WORK: Colne Valley Tree Society volunteers planting shrubs at MelthamMrs Holmes, 63, has helped produce the cheeky calendar to raise funds in memory of her husband Roy, who died at Kirkwood in August."He said they would like to produce a calendar and it went from there. Everyone gave their services for nothing but we obviously have to cover the printing costs.He said: "I had a letter saying that the application didn't meet the criteria and when I rang up to find outwhy, Iwas told gardening isn't exercise.The calendar features players, officials and supporters of local rugby league clubs in West Yorkshire, notably Ossett Trinity.COMMUNITY groups were left stunned after being told their grant request for a gardening project had been turned down - because gardening "isn' t exercise."Copies are available at shops and clubs in Dewsbury and Batley, priced pounds 10."He was born at Odsal and followed Bradford Bulls all his life. When he was ill, one of my neighbours, Damian Platt, who plays for Ossett, came over and offered to help.Mrs Dutton, who works in the Hospice's fundraising department, said: "It's a great fun calendar and hopefully people will want to help the hospice".CAPTION(S):

A REAL EYEFUL: Pauline Holmes, left, with Jane Dutton peruse the rugby calendar published in memory of Pauline's husband Roy to raise funds for Kirkwood Hospice. Above: Two pages from the calendar (PC241110Dhospice-04)

'Gardening is not exercise' group told; Stunned reaction as grant is turned down

Byline: SAM CASEY

She said theTRAwas advised to apply for funding from a grant scheme called Eat Well for Life.WOULD you look at that? K i r k w o o d H o s p i c e fundraisers Pauline Holmes and Jane Dutton get an eyeful of the latest venture to help the Dalton centre.It was awarded pounds 5,000 to create a garden with raised beds, walkways and a large greenhouse."I referred to it as 'early heaven.' "It spurred me on to do all I can to help".Mr Holmes was a lorry driver for much of his working life but also had a spell as a policeman in West Yorkshire.Funding would have come from the council's reducing inequalities grant scheme."I couldn't believe it. I told him I thought they were a bunch of clowns.John O'Grady, Northern Gas Networks' communications director, said: "We set up the Northern Green Networks' grant scheme as a way of supporting these groups that are dedicated to improving their local communities. They are the ones that make things happen.The spokeswoman added: "The Netherton project was considered by a panel of experts including NHS Kirklees and would have been funded had the money been available.CAPTION(S):The spokeswoman added: "The panel's decisions were not easy to make and they acknowledged that a lot of good projects were not going to get funding because there simply wasn't enough money to go round all those who applied and met the criteria."CAPTION(S):Other groups to benefit in West Yorkshire were Bradford's Prism Youth Project, which was given pounds 5,000 for a nature trail, treasure trail and signage at the city farm.The Denby Dale Centre, based at Springfield Mill in Denby Dale, works with older and disabled people living in surrounding rural areas.

DISAPPOINTED: Stephen Knight, right, with vice-chairman Mike Gates, left, and representatives of the Rainbow and Brownie groups (AC201210Eneth)

Cash for green groups; pounds 20k awarded to local projects

Byline: EMMA DAVISON

A council spokeswoman said competition for the grants was "intense". Eighty-five organisations applied for a total of pounds 650,000 from a pot of only pounds 180,000. Only 21 were successful."As it was, the pressure of competition meant that the panel decided that other projects made more of a contribution to health than this one."Applicants had to prove their project fulfilled certain criteria including, among other things, improving education and tackling childhood obesity. But when TRA chairman Stephen Knight contacted the council to find out why they had been unsuccessful, he was shocked by the response.Colne Valley Tree Society was handed a pounds 2,000 grant.GREEN groups across West Yorkshire are celebrating after being given a cash boost. Five charity and community groups in the region - including two operating in the Huddersfield area - are sharing a slice of over pounds 20,000 worth of grants.Working in Saltaire, the Hirst Wood Generation Group has been awarded pounds 1,600 to help it reclaim derelict areas and transform them into well-maintained public spaces.The plan was to put it in the grounds of Netherton Infant and Nursery School for the benefit of schoolchildren as well as local community groups.Netherton Tenants' and Residents' Association (TRA) had applied for pounds 4,000 from Kirklees Council to install a 40ft poly-tunnel for plants, to build raised flower beds and buy specialist tools for children.Heavy rainfall and exposed land makes farming in the area difficult, and the money will help the group continue its work helping farmers create shelter by planting trees."It's our way of recognising the effort and dedication that they make and we hope it will enable them to go that extra mile."The group was established in 1964 and since then has planted more than 300,000 trees at sites across the Colne Valley."Roy was a rugby man all his life and would have loved it", said Mrs Holmes, of Woodkirk Gardens, Dewsbury."Of course gardening is a physical activity. I know of sheltered housing schemes and care homes that have introduced gardening for that very reason." Mr Knight said the decision had left a lot of people disappointed, but they were looking at alternative methods of funding.A REAL EYEFUL: Pauline Holmes, left, with Jane Dutton peruse the rugby calendar published in memory of Pauline's husband Roy to raise funds for Kirkwood Hospice. Above: Two pages from the calendar (PC241110Dhospice-04)

HARD AT WORK: Colne Valley Tree Society volunteers planting shrubs at Meltham

Hay Bale Gardening

Hay bale gardening technique is a low-cost and convenient way of growing flowers and vegetables. Growing vegetables in a hay bale garden is similar to the technique used to grow vegetables in a raised bed garden. If you are just getting your bales, give the bales a thorough soaking, and let them begin to break down before you plant your vegetables. Hay or straw bale gardening is another great way have your garden if you have limited space, terrible soil, a bad back or those who are confined to a wheel chair! So much time is saved by not having to weed or hoe or even water as often as well. This project was first researched by a Dr at the University of Minnesota Extension says, "Hay bales provide a well-aerated, disease free growing medium that is perfect for growing vegetables.

The first thing you need to do is make sure that you have all of the necessary tools and materials. You can make your beds out of rocks, concrete blocks, bricks, naturally rot-resistant wood (cypress is very slow to decompose), or wood treated with a safe preservative. It is important to make sure that treated wood does not have anything harmful in it that could leach into the soil and thus be absorbed by the plants. This is especially important if you plan to eat whatever you are growing in your raised bed. Other things that you will need include optional wood preservative (like sealant) or sheet plastic, spading fork, shovel, iron rake, hammer and nails, measuring tape, compost, and topsoil. All of things are necessary for creating a successful raised garden bed.

Bales first should be situated in a full sun formation, with twine and wire ties kept in tact. Since bales may be used two seasons, synthetic twine can be used to provide the most durable binding. For optimum root penetration and plant growth throughout gardening months, bales should be placed with strings wrapped horizontally and straws set vertically. The next step is hydration, the key to successful hay bale gardening. A form of hydroponics, the hay bale is like a sponge, and you can't let them dry out, or your crop just does not work. While watering the bales twice per day, fertilize them every other day for six days with one-half cup each of a high nitrogen fertilizer. Working with the bales is much easier than working on a traditional garden. You're putting your garden at eye level, you can see your progress, you can weed it a lot easier and harvest easier. (Posted by Denise in Creative Organic Gardening). Straw bale gardening is an interesting option for those who have either limited soil, limited space or have difficulty bending over. This is important if you intend to get two years possible out of each bale in your straw bale gardening efforts. Remember several things about placing your bales in your straw bale gardening layout. Straw bale gardening layouts can be placed end-to-end to create long gardens or grouped into traditional bed shapes or even set up as maze types of gardens. How crazy does it sound, growing tomatoes in bales of hay. I planted peppers, tomatoes, flowers and beans in the hay bales in different arrangements that were pleasing to the eye. Somehow I find it oddly interesting kind of like growing tomatoes upside down. In my garden adventures with hay bale and straw bale gardening I have tried several different gardening techniques. While I like growing melons and gourds in the bales both are heavy feeder so I created a hay bale/ straw bale square garden technique to use with these crops. Lay the bales out to form a square with an open section on the inside. Now it's time to prepare the bales for planting. Straw bale gardening has many positive aspects. Valerie Everett I prefer straw bales as they contain less seed and last longer but straw is more expensive so my choice for the garden depends on the best buy I can get or which crop I am growing. For squash plants and gourds I use hay bales. First get bales that still have the string tightly around the bale. And if you know where you want your garden position the bales. For more information and tips on gardening go to www.Teegoes.org

Author: Timothy Samuel

Old Rubber Tyres - Not A Recyclers Nightmare

In order to stay safe on the roads, you need to make sure that your car's tyres have good, deep tread. The risks of a blowout can be catastrophic. However, this constant demand for new car tyres means that the old ones have to come off. And then what do you do with them? You can re-tread a car tyre, but even this can only be done so many times before the structural integrity of the tyres is compromised. And then you have to decide what to do with the old tyre.

When planting your beds, whether permanent or temporary, you should begin by preparing the bed. Remove rocks, sticks, and debris from the beds and make sure that they are prepared for plantings. Be sure to allow for drainage. You can build your bed on a patio or on soil, but either way you should ensure that there are adequate pathways for excess moisture to escape. When using brick or concrete blocks, they can be stacked in a staggered fashion to allow water out of the bed. When building on top of soil, loosen the bottom soil with a shovel or spading fork. The bed should be filled from bottom to top with a compost and topsoil mixture. After this is done, rake the top of the bed so that it is smooth.Well, if you take another look at an old tyre, you realise that you have something that is very rot-resistant and is fire-resistant. These things just have to be assets.Once the bed is prepared, you can plant flowers, herbs, or vegetables inside the bed. Tall plants should be put in against a fence or wall, or on the bed�s northern side. Make sure that you take proper care of your plants in your bed, and remember that raised beds can dry out faster. They may need a little more water. Avoid stepping on the bed as much as possible to prevent soil compaction, and follow up your planting with a proper application of mulch.Around the home or in your local community, you can do your own recycling of old car tyres. Here is a list of possibilities:At first glance, a used tyre is an environmentalist's nightmare. Even though it's made mostly from a natural and renewable resource (rubber), tyres are not very biodegradable and they'll sit for millennia in landfills taking up valuable space, and if you burn the things, they release some very nasty smoke and pollution into the air. So what do you do with them?Temporary beds, unlike permanent beds, allow you to change the design every year. If you like the idea of being able to make small changes to your landscape each growing season, then temporary beds can help you achieve this. Additionally, they are easier and less expensive to remove if you decide that you would like to take them out. Wood is best for these types of beds, as the wood can easily be taken apart. Choosing attractive woods can add to the look of your landscape design. You can also decorate the wood with non-toxic paint if you would like to have a little different look. As with permanent beds, make sure that you build them at least with a foot of depth and not very wide.The popular method of hay bale gardening is getting more popular in town, a friend told him how to get prosperous crops using nothing but wheat straw, potting soil, a little fertilizer and some tomato plants "Every fall I get some bales and let them sit out all winter to get good and soggy, I plant a few every year and I've had real good luck. Another friend who was in the landscaping business showed him how to use wheat straw to garden "He had all kinds of crops including cucumber, squash and green beans, you can raise almost anything except corn, because it's too tall and the bale will fall over .2. Any sized tyre can be made into play equipment. The most basic type of play equipment possible with a tyre is to tie it to a stout tree branch and make it into a swing (it can be oriented so it lies horizontally or vertically - both orientations work and each has its individual challenges and limitations for play). Larger tyres from trucks or tractors make excellent sandpits that don't crack like commercial plastic ones and are often deeper. A 4x4 tyre by itself can have a lot of potential for play - children can roll it around like a large and heavy hoop, they can sit in it and pretend its a boat, they can turn it on its edge and try to ride it like a horse (which offers a challenge - it moves and you have to try to balance on it)... Smaller tyres can also be used as hoops or as targets. With a bit of imagination, it could be possible to create a whole playground out of old tyres. A playground this writer knew as a child had a pyramid (all right - cone, for those mathematicians out there!) made from tyres bolted securely together, with enormous tractor tyres at the bottom and car tyres up the top. You could climb up the outside of the stack or down the inside of it.

5. The tread on an old tyre is not enough to keep a tyre on the road, but it is still enough to keep a person's feet from slipping. It is possible to make your own very casual (!) thongs/flip-flops out of old tyres by cutting a piece of tyre to fit your feet and then adding holes for some rope to keep them on your feet. You may need to pad the top surface of the flip-flop to make them comfortable enough, and make sure you use soft rope so you don't get blisters. Alternatively, you can use old tyres to re-tread wellington boots or other footwear by gluing pieces of old tyre to appropriate places on the sole.

Author: Nick Vassilev

Building a Raised Garden Bed

You can save money by building your own raised garden bed. These can be used for flowers and even for vegetables. They are gaining in popularity because they are easy and inexpensive to build, making them practical parts of the landscape. Additionally, they are fairy easy to plant and maintain. They are even relatively easy to weed. In addition to being convenient and practical in maintenance, they also drain sooner as well as warm up faster. This means that you can plant earlier in the season, resulting in the possibility of multiple harvests if you use your raised gardens for vegetables. You can make your garden a temporary bed or a permanent bed, and reap the benefits of a simple way to enjoy your landscape more and even dress it up a little bit.

When making a permanent garden bed, you should make sure to use more permanent materials. If you plan to use your bed for flowers as a prominent part of your landscape, bricks make very nice beds, as they are attractive and often complement most traditional landscape designs and plants. The bed can be as long as you would like it to be, but it should be at least one foot deep and no more than four feet wide. Wider beds can make it difficult to reach the middle of the bed to take care of things like weeding and fertilizing. If you have the bed against a house or fence, wide beds make it difficult to reach the backside of the bed as well.Bales first should be situated in a full sun formation, with twine and wire ties kept in tact. Since bales may be used two seasons, synthetic twine can be used to provide the most durable binding. For optimum root penetration and plant growth throughout gardening months, bales should be placed with strings wrapped horizontally and straws set vertically. The next step is hydration, the key to successful hay bale gardening. A form of hydroponics, the hay bale is like a sponge, and you can't let them dry out, or your crop just does not work. While watering the bales twice per day, fertilize them every other day for six days with one-half cup each of a high nitrogen fertilizer. Working with the bales is much easier than working on a traditional garden. You're putting your garden at eye level, you can see your progress, you can weed it a lot easier and harvest easier. (Posted by Denise in Creative Organic Gardening). Straw bale gardening is an interesting option for those who have either limited soil, limited space or have difficulty bending over. This is important if you intend to get two years possible out of each bale in your straw bale gardening efforts. Remember several things about placing your bales in your straw bale gardening layout. Straw bale gardening layouts can be placed end-to-end to create long gardens or grouped into traditional bed shapes or even set up as maze types of gardens. How crazy does it sound, growing tomatoes in bales of hay. I planted peppers, tomatoes, flowers and beans in the hay bales in different arrangements that were pleasing to the eye. Somehow I find it oddly interesting kind of like growing tomatoes upside down. In my garden adventures with hay bale and straw bale gardening I have tried several different gardening techniques. While I like growing melons and gourds in the bales both are heavy feeder so I created a hay bale/ straw bale square garden technique to use with these crops. Lay the bales out to form a square with an open section on the inside. Now it's time to prepare the bales for planting. Straw bale gardening has many positive aspects. Valerie Everett I prefer straw bales as they contain less seed and last longer but straw is more expensive so my choice for the garden depends on the best buy I can get or which crop I am growing. For squash plants and gourds I use hay bales. First get bales that still have the string tightly around the bale. And if you know where you want your garden position the bales. For more information and tips on gardening go to www.Teegoes.org4. Still in the garden, tyres can be used to make compost bins. Just stack them up and pop in your garden waste. The warmth absorbed by the tyres means that the right temperature for beneficial bacteria will be maintained, but it may get too hot for a worm farm unless you ventilate the sides by cutting small holes in the tyres.Large scale recycling companies can recycle old tyres up to a point. Sometimes, shredded car tyres can be used as part of the substrate (basecourse) in making roads, which reduces the need for quarrying stones. Unlike other waste materials that have potential for this use (e.g. slag from refineries), shredded tyres do not create toxic leachates that can be washed out of the roads when it rains into the surrounding soils and waterways (other materials such as cullet (crushed glass) are also recycled into roads - one transport engineer once called roads "horizontal landfills"). Tyres can also be shredded and used as a soft surface beneath playground equipment - although this use can get children's clothes dirty (but the black from tyres doesn't stain).

Once the bed is prepared, you can plant flowers, herbs, or vegetables inside the bed. Tall plants should be put in against a fence or wall, or on the bed�s northern side. Make sure that you take proper care of your plants in your bed, and remember that raised beds can dry out faster. They may need a little more water. Avoid stepping on the bed as much as possible to prevent soil compaction, and follow up your planting with a proper application of mulch.

Author: Janeth Duque

Dean and Karen Northrop 3rd Holmfirth

WHEN Dean and Karen Northop took on their garden in Holmfirth, they were up for a challenge.

The garden has stunning views across to Holme Moss on one side and the wind farm on Ogden Moor on the other. It is not an easy place in which to garden but this couple seem to have their environment tamed.But together, Dean who is an industrial pipe fitter and Karen, a childminder, have created a real family garden.Raised beds are bursting with vegetables including parsnips, swede, onions, carrots, peas, runner beans, sprouts and salad crops. There are also healthy looking crops of strawberries, apples and pears.Having heard of its efforts to create a sustainable school garden, judges from the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and Yorkshire Water chose the school as the Yorkshire Conservation School of the Year.[bar] SPECTACULAR SETTING: Karen Northrop in her hillside garden at Holmfir th Purchase: www.examiner.co.uk/buyaphoto 01484 430000 ext 7778PW150711Bgarden-04.jpgAnd gardening at over 750 feet in the Pennine hills on a steep, windy hillside is certainly that.CAPTION(S):Pupils and teachers from the school received free tickets to this year's Great Yorkshire Show and pounds 200 towards gardening equipment for the school.[bar] Keep the base of hedges weed-free, feeding with a general purpose liquid fertiliser if the hedge looks undernourished. [bar] Plant out potted-up softwood cuttings of shrubs taken in May in their final planting position.

[bar] SPECTACULAR SETTING: Karen Northrop in her hillside garden at Holmfir th Purchase: www.examiner.co.uk/buyaphoto 01484 430000 ext 7778PW150711Bgarden-04.jpg

What to do this week; GARDENING

[bar] As the displays in most rock gardens are past their peak, plant fill-in bedding to add colour to the scene. Trailing plants can look particularly effective.

The couple have a daughter, Rachael, 17, and a son, Gareth, 20, who is in the army. Karen's mum is a keen gardener and has passed on her green-fingered skills.* PRIZEWINNERS: Above left, back row, from left Michelle Lewis, head of communications at Yorkshire Water, Nigel Pulling, chief executive of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and Paul Mashinter, deputy headteacher of Carr Green Primary School, with front row, the award winning pupils from Carr Green Primary School with their certificates and prizes. Picture, above right, the youngsters at work in the school's Brighouse garden (S)Order new lily bulbs. [bar] Feed pelargoniums grown in tubs, window boxes and hanging baskets regularly with a liquid tomato feed.Fill in the space of harvested early summer crops such as broad beans and shallots with follow-on crops such as endives or cabbages.Paul Mashinter, deputy head at Carr Green, said: "This award recognises the huge step we have made in outdoor learning in a very short space of time. The children, staff, parents and grandparents work extremely hard to use the fabulous space and facilities."

Fill in the space of harvested early summer crops such as broad beans and shallots with follow-on crops such as endives or cabbages.

Great Yorks green team

GREEN thinking youngsters won an award at The Great Yorkshire Show.

Mow the lawn once or twice a week and raise the cutting height slightly in prolonged dry weather.Lift bulbs of Dutch and Spanish irises and store them in a warm, dry place to ripen until September."Dean builds all the structures including the tree house, the decked areas, the pergolas and the picnic table. I'm left with the planting!"Ninety percent of what we have in the garden we have grown from seeds."CAPTION(S):Thin out water plants with secateurs or shears and remove excess growth from submerged oxygenating plants with a rake, if necessary.

* PRIZEWINNERS: Above left, back row, from left Michelle Lewis, head of communications at Yorkshire Water, Nigel Pulling, chief executive of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society and Paul Mashinter, deputy headteacher of Carr Green Primary School, with front row, the award winning pupils from Carr Green Primary School with their certificates and prizes. Picture, above right, the youngsters at work in the school's Brighouse garden (S)