The secret to great tomatoes....

http://www.thearchersatthelarches.com

Next year, when you're planting your tomatoes into a pot with a healthy handful of Lou's Poo, Dried Alpaca Manure, don't forget to plant a used plastic bottle into the pot too, (pierced through with a few drainage holes.) When watering, fill the bottle with water or dilute Alpaca Tea and watch the difference this makes to your crops. http://www.thearchersatthelarches.com/products/lou-s-poo

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http://www.thearchersatthelarches.com/products/lou-s-poo

http://www.thearchersatthelarches.com/products/lou-s-poo

Lou's Poo to the rescue.....

And here is the result - the power of Poo. A little goes a long way.

Repatriated hydrangea cuttings, from our last Cornish holiday at the fantastic Trevella Holiday Park, are doing well. A beautiful array of colours.

This Geranium (name anyone????) is so gorgeous, with dark maroon foliage and crazy purple flowers.

I love the jungle approach. The only way to contend with mass grass invasion.

Looking neat in the walled garden after a haircut last night. The broad beans have been very delicious this year.

Helianthus, pepper and rhubarb all on track and performing well

Raspberries are taking over the world (yum) and the lupin and shasta combo might stay in pots this year in order to make monumental plants for next year. I'll need to put them in a cooler spot but far from the slugs and snails.

The strawberry pots, filled with Poo and very little soil, are giving us fruit for breakfast every day now

Splendid delphinium

Globe artichoke: I only grow them as ornamentals... too much fiddle as a veg!

Bit of weeding to do Mrs Archer!!! (... in my spare time then..!.)

More borrowed cuttings... I did ask, honest.

This antirrhinum loves living in the wall. 

We found a way to contend with Mr Mole: eye-catching planted squares in the lawn. 

The cornflowers have been insane. So tall. I cut a few for the house and they last so well.

This bed is looking far better since I banned the children from jumping out the downstairs windows!

I do love a lupin

The bees love all the flowers but particularly the knautia

The grass is as high as an elephant's alpaca's eye

Sleepy sheep. Being shaved next week. 

Our planted Christmas trees seem very happy. They have solar, blue twinkly lights in the night... 

The arum lily is just beginning to show off

Land of wellies

Lou's Poo...

For those who read the blog regularly, you'll know I'm obsessed with gardening. Sadly I am also obsessed with poo! Not only does the word rhyme with my name but the merest mention of the word makes me smile. #sillysenseofhumour. It may be because most of my day is filled with stepping over poo, picking it up or finding a use for it: Breeding sheep, chickens and alpaca, means there's always a plentiful supply.

Anyhoo, for the past 16 months I have been putting my chicken poo, and occasionally the sheep poo, on my compost heap for use in a year or so when it is well rotted. There is no need for delayed gratification with the alpaca poo; I have been using that directly on my shrubs, flowers and veg because it's not a 'hot' manure and doesn't scorch the plants.

Good Lordy! The results are amazing in my garden this year. The growth on the roses is stunning, even though they are planted in a poor bed, with precious little soil thanks to a new soak-away! The sweet pea are bedded into a trench filled with alpaca poo and they are already almost 5ft tall with tons of flowers appearing. In the veg garden I'm already deluged by courgettes; ratatouille here we come! With all this nutrition I'm hoping for good results in the local horticultural shows this year!

Coming soon TheArchersAtTheLarches.com

My hand picked, air dried, alpaca poo is a wonderful slow release nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium soil enhancer, It is sweet smelling... in my humble opinion it smells like mowed grass and muesli, probably down to my clean paddocks and the great camelid food I feed the herd. All you need is a small handful in any indoor or outdoor potted plants or you can, like me, administer direct to soil or into a planting trench.

If you fancy a boost for the garden you can purchase the 550g dried version of Lou's Poo, Alpaca Manure, at The Plant Centre in Ludlow, Shropshire, UK. Open every day 9.30 - 5.30 Tel: 01584 856873. It comes, as per the pic, in a resealable, compostable, lined brown bag and retails at £9.99. A Gardener's Advantage!

Alternatively, you might like to buy it online from my new website, [launching in early August] TheArchersAtTheLarches.com.

Happy Gardening!

Lou