Articles written by Frances Laing in Home & Garden

Where Knowledge Rules

What is Helium

About me - Frances Laing

I'm a freelance writer, journalist and blogger. My focus is people and the environment.

I write challenging, investigative features and articles as well as the ones about people enjoying themselves with travel, tourism, nature and their gardens. I try to

+ more bio information

RSS Feed

Home & Garden > Vegetables & Herbs The advantages of growing your own vegetables: 1 of 7
Growing your own vegetables will change your life. Honestly! It's a journey. It's not just the freshness or the taste advantage of the end product that's important - it's what will happen to you and your family along the way. You can learn (and teach) almost anything with gardening - you'll find yourself enjoying the outdoor... More..
Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) The joys of gardening: 7 of 48
In a fast world, gardening is slow. Everything in a garden takes it's own sweet time. Better than medicine when it comes to safeguarding your mental health. Patience is a really lovely and important lesson for speedy people like me to learn. A garden is never JUST a garden - it's biology, history, botany, geography, food sci... More..
Home & Garden > Home Interior How to organize your household: 3 of 14
Deal with your papers at source Deal with your mail if you can as soon as it comes through the door. Or as soon as you pick it up from the mat when you return home. Use the 'only handle things once' principle. Know where you will be putting: 1. Junk mail (in the recycling bin which you've already set up). If you 'bin' this s... More..
Home & Garden > Vegetables & Herbs How to grow vegetables: 2 of 7
This is a 'how to' article, so let's assume you've never grown vegetables before. Here are some tips: 1. Focus on what you'd really like to eat What do you and your family really enjoy eating? This is going to be an important question for any beginner vegetable gardener. You're going to need something to sustain your interes... More..
Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) How to plant an organic garden: 1 of 3
First of all, spend some time with the elements of organic design. You can do this by getting hold of one of the excellent publications on Organic Gardening which are out there at the moment. The 'Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening' has whole sections devoted to the main pillars of organic design and lots of useful illustrati... More..
Home & Garden > Weeds & Pests Why bees are useful in the garden: 4 of 10
I'm going back to basics here. Bees are exactly that. Fundamental to a garden. Here's why: They are pollinators. Without pollinators certain types of plant will not thrive. Without bees it is said that one third of the fruit and vegetables we take for granted would simply not exist. Production depends on the pollination proc... More..
Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) How to attract wildlife in your garden: 7 of 17
Don't be too tidy! Depending on how much space you have - in the autumn, leave a pile or two of logs, twigs and leaves to provide shelter for overwintering creatures. You might be lucky to get a hedgehog spending the cold months there, or frogs, toads and ground beetles. Frogs and toads will help keep the slug and snail popu... More..
Home & Garden > Vegetables & Herbs Tips for a successful vegetable garden: 6 of 13
Look after your soil A successful vegetable garden begins and ends with the soil. Both sandy and clay soils can be improved cheaply by the addition of home made compost, so your compost heap should be a central focus of your vegetable patch. In fact you're going to need two different types of compost heaps. One for annual we... More..
Home & Garden > Gardening (Other) Considering the "no dig" method of gardening: 2 of 4
Despite recent media interest there's still a huge amount of scepticism 'on the ground' about the No-Dig approach to gardening. Some people are fond of digging. Some say you can't do without it on your fruit and vegetable patch and that it needs to be done every single year. To maintain drainage. To expose soil pests. I'm no... More..
Home & Garden > Weeds & Pests Environmental benefits of organic gardening.: 1 of 1
Ten benefits: 1. Bio-diversity Organic gardeners value bio-diversity in their environment. We're the ones who'll create hedgehog hide-aways, bat boxes, install bumble bee boxes, build wildlife ponds and tend meadows full of native species - we encourage predators like ladybirds and hoverflies. We'll also leave rotting piles ... More..