Tag lifestyle

Why connecting with nature is important.

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If you are able to spare a few coins a month joining your local wildlife trust is very beneficial, I recently joined the Sussex wildlife trust and by becoming a member you are helping the charity educate the public and protect our wildlife conservation.

A lot of people live a fast paced lifestyle meaning more and more of us are spending less time out in nature, which in fact is very unnatural for us and has impacted the environment and ecosystem massively.

We all seem to be stuck in the digital world disconnecting us from the impact of what is really happening around us.

If anyone is best to explain this it would be Sir David Attenborough.

Sometimes we need reminding that we are indeed animals too, we have needs like your pet does and when those enrichments are taken away a lot of us suffer mentally. I’m not saying we are like cats or dogs but just reminding you we are not robots and living in a digital world can disconnect us from our senses.

Not only that nature needs us to help restore the damage we have caused e.g Deforestation, polluting our oceans and check out our animal endangered list it is happening in the uk and all around the world.

The house sparrow I pictured above from my garden is a species in decline. Most of the time this happens because of the effects of humans.

I have always been connected with nature it’s drummed in to me, I understand not everyone has that and it’s fine.

So I want to help those who are not connected to understand why nature is so important.

It won’t hurt I promise 🤣

Now I don’t expect everyone to be the next bear grylls but one small change can still impact your local wildlife conservation.

So I’m going to make a few articles explaining what changes we can make to help nature and how we can slow our lifestyle down.

Thank you for reading Laylasgardendiaries.

5 easy garden vegetables to grow for beginners.

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5 Easy garden vegetables to grow for beginners.

I am a complete novice with gardening but I have learnt a lot from making mistakes, like anything you remember how to do things the right way by learning from mistakes. With that said there are a lot of plants to grow that are easy for beginners and mistakes are hard to make.

Of course it is good to take into consideration your environment and surroundings as these vegetables thrive with a sunny spot,feeding, good soil conditions and watering, we will cover this in another article. once established these vegetables will keep giving when harvest season comes round!

Runner beans

Last year I grew my runner beans in containers, they were producing right into the end of September, this year they are growing in my vegetable beds. A sunny spot, some adequate soil and some bamboo sticks and you are done. A part from feeding your runner beans and watering they can be left to their own devices.

Of course every plant is prone to pests, so it is bound to happen as long as you check your plants regularly you will catch them early. From my experience runner beans are easy to grow.

harvest tip: Make sure to pick the beans when they are medium sized, runner beans can grow pretty big when eaten they can taste pretty chewy, also if a bean is left to grow on the vine to a big size the plant will not send off new flowers to produce beans as all the energy is going into the big runner bean.

Tomatoes

If you have a small area to garden in you may consider getting the determinate variety, the plant will grow to a mature size after a short period then set off fruit. This makes it easier for you to manage and avoid so much pruning!

My black opal tomatoes tasted delicious, there is no going back to supermarket tomatoes after you taste your own. The INDETERMINATE Tomatoes do need pruning for adequate air flow this will help prevent pests and diseases, they like a good feed and watering when the fruits appear (remember to always water your plant at the base either late evening or early morning this prevents sunburn). Place them in a sunny spot and support them with tomato cages.

Beetroot

Beetroot are great for beginners, I plant them in fours they like to stick together. They need adequate watering on sunny days to avoid their skin becoming cracked. But they are still perfectly edible if that isn’t achieved, you can also use the tops for salads. defiantly give these guys a go.

strawberries

So strawberries aren’t vegetables they are a fruit, but they are so easy, hardy and tasty. They produce runners that root into any surrounding soil giving you free plants for next year!

Onions

If you love onions in your house its worth a try, although mine weren’t very big they were edible, they are hardy and you can grow them through the winter ready to harvest in spring. they make great cover crops, to keep the weeds away fill the space with onions.

We did laugh at the size of my onions.