I usually till three times a year--twice in the spring to prepare the beds, and then once in the fall to prepare them for winter (although I am less likely to do the fall tilling). I don't use mulch, and I just top dress with composted manure regularly. Yet I have tons of worms in my soil. I use wide beds and try to plant whatever I am growing as close together as possible. Yes, they say this increases disease and bugs, but IME, it has not done so. What it does do is conserve moisture and protect the soil. Then it is a cinch to hand hoe the few weeds that do appear. Thing is, I only till down about 3 inches max. I have never seen the necessity of going deeper. My neighbor is an old-school tiller, and he tills down to 8 inches(!) on a regular basis, at least once a week. He likes to till his grass clippings in, which he fertilizes with synthetics that include herbicides. He uses rows instead of beds, so a lot of the soil is tilled. His garden soil is completely dead. He likes it, though, because for him, a soft soil is a good soil, and it is most definitely soft. He does in fact raise good tomatoes. So do I, and he can't figure out how I do it.:) It takes all kinds to make a horse race.

If your African violets take too much of your time, then you are giving them way too much attention. Honestly, I barely acknowledge mine and they are gorgeous year round. I think too many people want African violets to seem like they need special care. They don't. I have dropped, crushed, over-watered, under-watered, drenched in hot sunlight, left in the dark, and failed to re-pot my African violets for years at a time. They still reward me with blooms whether or not I deserve it. I have heat intolerance from multiple sclerosis, so I keep my apartment cool (most would say COLD) year round. I drop everything, including the African violets. I might take the dust off their leaves once a year. In the winter I hardly ever turn on the heat, so it's normally at 45-55 degrees; I tell people I keep it warm enough in the winter so the African violets don't freeze. In the summer the temperature cannot go higher than 70 degrees or lose my right leg, right hand and most of my cognitive abilities; at times the air conditioner has the apartment down to 60 degrees all day. I don't provide them with any special lighting. I water them when I am physically able to lift the jug. I always add food to the water, because with my short-term memory loss can never worry about a feeding schedule. I have mine in pots with holes in the bottom sitting on top of a tray of aquarium stones. If the stones look dry, I water the stones. My African violets LOVE living here! They have healthy foliage and gorgeous flowers. In the wild, no one fusses over them. They get gnawed on and stepped on. African violets acclimate very well to many different conditions. They survived before people came along to take care of them. It's a shame to get rid of plants you have cared for. Just stick them somewhere and forget about them. If they look like they are wilted, water them.

Ornata, Hi there! I live in the Staffordshire Moorlands, about 4 miles across up hill and down dale from Alton Towers. (which I guess you may have heard of?) We are situated high up on a ridge overlooking the Churnet Valley and get lots of cold westerly winds. Heres a pic to give you an idea of our situation, A. Towers is on the skyline about 1/4 of the way in from the left of pic. Realise you can't actually see it in this pic, but it is there, you can see Oblivion/Corkscrew with the naked eye...on a clear day! I would agree your London climate is a lot less harsh than ours, and from what I've sen on the TV, gardens to many of the houses especially the town houses as us 'country bumpkins' call them are sheltered and have their own microclimate....something I could do with up here!! The C.C is kept outside mostly, it's in a large tub, and is dragged into the protection of the greenhouse for the winter. Unfortunately, although we have almost half an acre gardens, with every aspect possible, none of it has a wall that faces south that has/could have a border beside it for the C.C. to be planted outside permanently. I find it a spectacular shrub when in bloom and have had it for several years flowering regularly and as such it is a reminder of our recent holidays in Oz, although it was bought from our local Wilko store!!! No doubt it could be replaced with another relatively easily as they are being seen more and more as are lots of other 'tropicalesque' plants don't you find? Cheers! Gill.

Hi greenhousems- Cracked Pot Gardner's is a swap group. The hostesses for the group are micyrey/Michelle and myself, galium/Mariann. We trade plants, bulbs, cuttings, seeds and gardening items. We are an ongoing group and trade every month. We've just instated a new rule that a person doesn't have to swap every month. To read the rules and info for the group check out the July or August Cracked Pot Gardner's post. We are looking for new member's if you are interested. Mariann