Privacy Notice


Privacy Notice

I'm committed to protecting and respecting the privacy of anyone reading or commenting on my blog.

This Privacy Notice explains how Veg Plotting collects and uses information when the blog is used.
If you require any more information or have any questions, please contact me at Vegplotting at gmail dot com.

Hosting of this blog (Veg Plotting)
This blog is hosted and the software provided by Blogger, which is owned by Google in the USA. Because the software is provided as a package, blogs like Veg Plotting using this software are limited in the extent to which they can add to or modify its functions. This includes not having the ability to add opt in/opt out facilities for blocking cookies, which you may have seen when viewing websites.

For Google's Privacy Policy click here.

What are cookies?
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that is downloaded onto your computer when you visit a blog or website. Once a cookie is saved on your computer, only the website or blog that created the cookie can read it. Cookies can do a number of things such as remembering who you are when you add a comment, collecting the information needed to manage blog subscriptions, and counting the number of people looking at a blog post.

Advertisements
Advertisements appearing on Veg Plotting are clearly marked under the Sponsors heading in the right hand sidebar. These are partnerships made directly between me as the blog owner and the advertiser. I currently don't use advertisement partnerships such as Adsense or automated affiliate linkages, so all my advertisements are cookie free. If you click on one of my advertisement links, then you will be taken away from my blog and enter a website which may operate a very different cookie policy. You should check that website's privacy policy if you have any concerns . 

Your implied consent
By continuing to use this blog you are giving your implied consent to the use of cookies according Google's Privacy Policy.

Collection of data by this blog
This blog does not collect or store any personal information, except where somebody fills in an email subscription form, or uses in-built Blogger features such as Comment boxes or Like and Share buttons at the bottom of posts and pages, to communicate with me as the blog owner. Data supplied is not stored in any other retrieval system and will never be sold or passed to third parties or used for marketing purposes, but purely to maintain communication with the person who initiated the enquiry.

Analytical data on this site
The Blogger software has a built in analytics facility which provides summary data about visitors. This data is purely presented as statistics and no individual can be identified, nor can data be cross-tabulated to create profiles. The data available at time of writing (November 2012) is:
  • Views by country
  • Top posts and pages
  • Referrers (e.g. search engine used to find the site)
  • Search engine terms (e.g. the actual words visitors typed into their search engine)
  • Clicks (links on this website that were clicked to go to external sites)
  • Totals, followers and shares
This data is very useful for establishing the volume of people using Veg Plotting, the most popular days of the week and the type of content people are most interested in, but as stated above, the data does not reveal any details about individuals and only gives summary data about the performance of the blog.

Blogger software does not enable the site owner the power to switch these analytics off, nor to provide users with opt in/opt out facilities. Blogger may change the analytic tools available at any time.

Statcounter is also used to provide independent site statistics. Statcounter's cookie information can be viewed here.

Links to external websites
Veg Plotting contains links to many external websites and social media sites designed to acknowledge information sources, useful sites and contacts (such as blogging friends) and to provide further information on the subjects under discussion. This blog will never contain links which are knowingly unsafe or malicious, though you should always check the cookies and privacy policies of external sites if you have any concerns. This site cannot be responsible for external content or sites. If you have any concerns there are some useful links at below which may help to answer your questions.

Useful information
  • Cookies – advice for members of the public (Information Commissioner’s Office). 
  • Allaboutcookies.org - includes information on how to remove cookies from your browser.
  • Your own browser(s). Browsers usually include information under the help section about allowing and blocking cookies and private or ‘incognito’ browsing.
Links to privacy policies of external websites used:
  • Google policies and principles. As well as Blogger and other Google branded products, Google also owns YouTube, which may be used to include videos on Veg Plotting; and Feedburner, which is used to manage email and RSS subscriptions.
  • Statcounter
  • Twitter privacy policy - NB Veg Plotting isn't currently connected to Twitter, except for the use of the Share button at the foot of each post.
  • Facebook Privacy policy –  NB Veg Plotting isn't currently connected to Facebook, except for the use of the Share button.

Your essential reads

That blue flower: A spring spotter's guide

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Spring is a prime time for blue flowers and my daily walks currently have several from the same plant family* lining the local footpaths. As I walked past the Donkey Field the other day, I overheard some children ask their parents** what the pictured blue flower was. It reminded me it's often mistaken for those other familial blues and this time was no different, as they said it was forget-me-not, instead of the green alkanet it actually is. As well as similar flowers, most of these plants are hairy in their nature, flower around the same time, and favour damp, shady places. Many of them are great for pollinators too, especially bees and this week's warm weather has certainly drawn them to these flowers. This makes it even more likely for these plants to be mistaken for each other and it's a great opportunity for me to put together a spotter's guide in case you find the same flowers on your outings. Staying with green alkanet, the key features which set it ...
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Jack Go To Bed At Noon

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Last year this rather exotic looking flower appeared on mine and several other allotments for the first time. Having been stumped (again) by Mr Allotment Warden as to its identity, I rushed home to find out what it was. It's salsify, aka the marvellous Jack Go To Bed At Noon - named as such because its flowers always close by midday. Here you can see both open and closed flowers - making it seem even more exotic and alien than in the first picture. I think this must be the cultivated version because the flower in my Francis Rose Wild Flower Key looks exactly the same in form, but is bright yellow in colour and called meadow salsify . Its other common name is Goatsbeard, which must be a nod to the fantastic dandelion-like clock which forms the seed head. With 'parachutes' like those shown above, who knows how far our plotted plants came from. I rather like the photographic dissection of the seedhead found in this link . Salsify is edible: its lateral shoots and fl...
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Red Nose Day - Gardening Jokes Anyone?

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The nation goes ever so slightly bonkers on Red Nose Day - hurrah! Previously, it's been very easy to join in - usually via a dress down day at work plus lots of people up to mad things at the station and in the office. Everyone smiling for once - it's a real feel good day and all in a good cause. This year's different - every day's a dress down day for me now - my friend L suggested yesterday that perhaps I could have a dress up day instead and whilst that's a good idea, I confess that ballgowns and tiaras don't really feature in my wardrobe: scruffy student's always been my favourite look. So my Red Nose Day contribution for this year is to compile a list of gardening related jokes. For each one (clean ones only please) you leave in the comments below, I'll make a donation of 50p to the cause. Here's a few for starters just to get you warmed up: Q Why do potatoes make good detectives? A Because they keep their eyes peeled. Q What did the grape...
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Salad Days: Mastering Lettuce

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I've decided one of my salad challenges for this year is to grow as many lettuce varieties as I can, ready for the publication of my planned Factsheet* later on. The idea is to grow as many of the Tried and Trusted lettuce varieties last year's Salad Challengers helped compile, then provide a visual guide and as many lettuce facts as I can muster. So far I've found around half of those listed**. Then naturally whilst I was out searching - because such is the way with seeds - a number of other varieties found their way home too ;) A couple of weeks ago I sowed 22 varieties***. Just the simple act of sowing them has me intrigued. Why are some lettuce seeds black and others white****? They split into about half white to half black in my sample and as far as I can tell it's nothing to do with whether they're a type of cos, iceberg, or whatever. I sowed them indoors and popped them into a propagator on the windowsill. The soil's too cold outside for sowing ...
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VPs VIPs: Derry Watkins of Special Plants

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Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Derry Watkins at her home, garden and nursery - the acclaimed Special Plants - just a few miles along the road from me. I first met Derry at one of her open garden days last year and was keen to find out more about her wonderful garden and running an independent nursery. She specialises in tender perennials and regularly goes on plant hunting trips to find new treasures, particularly in South Africa. As well as running Special Plants and opening her garden under the NGS scheme , Derry holds day courses at her nursery, hosts Special Tuesdays from April until September, lectures and has written a couple of books. How did you find your way from Connecticut to the UK? I'd started a biodynamic vegetable garden in Connecticut and we used to have people come along at weekends to help out. A particular young man turned up: he returned many times and at the end of the summer I married him. So it was all down to love? Isn't that the...
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#mygardenrightnow: heading into summer with the Chelsea Fringe

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Ahhhhhh, that's better! I love walking through dewy grass in bare feet, not that there's much in the way of grass on my back lawn this weekend. My wild and woolly lawn has morphed into meadow of sorts this month, which even NAH admits looks attractive*. It's also proved a great source for my Flowers for mum project so far, yielding self-sown perennial cornflowers, lamb's ears, and lemon balm in addition to the blooms you can see. These originated from elsewhere in the garden, the ox-eye daisies must have blown in from the A350 nearby. * = he got very stroppy about the weeds aka self-sown foxgloves in the lawn one year, so he's come along a bit since then. Skimble's demanding to say hello to you too. He does enjoy the patio when it warms up. If the embedded video doesn't work try this link instead. The Nectaroscordum are a revelation. I planted the bulbs around 2 years ago, but it's only this year they've bloomed properly. The bee...
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Make Use of Mildew

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On my garden patrol this morning I spotted some powdery mildew on a couple of my new Verbena bonariensis plants. I suppose it was almost inevitable as I prefer to grow my plants hard - this means no water for them unless they look absolutely desperate. This approach means plants root themselves more deeply and have a better chance of survival during spells of dry weather like we've had lately. However, it also means I run the risk of problems like today's, especially with any garden newbies planted late in the season. We've had a good drop of rain overnight, so this should help my plants survive. I'll mulch them later today to help lock in the moisture as it's water stress which encourages the mildew to take hold. I've also removed the infected leaves and sprayed the rest with a milky drink.* I'm also pleased to find there's a use for my infected leaves. Oliver Ellingham at Reading University has started a PhD - sponsored by the RHS - researchi...
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The Resilient Garden

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  Part of Tom Massey's Resilient Garden at RHS Hampton Court I've been pondering VP Gardens a lot lately. Last year's drought conditions set me off initially, then our harsher than usual winter combined with this summer's flip and flop weather means the thinking continues. It's a huge topic which I freely admit I'm struggling to get my head around. Tom Massey's Resilient Garden  at Hampton Court recently  tackled this topic brilliantly and was a timely interlude which gave me much food for thought. There he encapsulated the detailed research he'd found which informed both his show garden and book of the same name. I think it's one of the most important show gardens I've ever seen. It's clear the way I garden needs to change so that I have my own resilient garden. I haven't worked out the exact details yet, but Tom's book plus a couple of others (see below), alongside the rainwater management handout from the show garden's  sponso...
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Chelsea Fringe 2014: Shows of Hands - Episode I

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The gloves NAH used to build the raised bed . The effects are L to R, top to bottom:  Original photo, Warhol, HDR, Green tint, B&W, Posterize, Boost, Cross process and Sepia Welcome to Shows of Hands - my Chelsea Fringe project for 2014! As you can see I've been having a bit of a play around in Pic Monkey for my first contribution. You're welcome to join in between now and 8th June 2014. The idea behind this year's project is to highlight the tool most precious to a gardener: their hands. How do I take part? It's simple. All you need to do is take a photo of hand(s) in a gardening context and then share it via your blog or other social media (such as Twitter or Facebook), then make sure I know you've done so. I've set up Mr Linky below for your blog contributions. The Chelsea Fringe photo on the right sidebar links to this post, so you can easily find it again when you're ready to add your contribution. If you share your photo on Twitter, ...
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Testing Times: Tomatoes

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  I've run a couple of tomato trials this year. The first is a revisit of the biochar trial with Oxford University I attempted some years ago (with a different organisation this time), and the second is a trial of a water gadget called Plantsurge which I was given to try at Malvern Spring Show earlier this year. Most of you have probably heard of biochar already and the claim that this inert, carbon-rich material can help soil fertility and plant health. The RHS information in the above link says results can be mixed, with reduced effects found in alkaline soils. This may help to explain the lack of difference I found in my previous trial as VP Gardens is on a lime-rich soil. Plantsurge is a different beast altogether. It's a strong magnet which is attached to a hosepipe as shown in the photo above. It's claimed that it softens water, with the result more like watering with rainwater. The higher nitrogen found in rainwater is thought to be beneficial to plants. Gardener...
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