If your greenhouse is like mine at the moment, it’s full of tubs of French beans, pots of tomatoes, planters with cucumbers, courgettes and masses of salads. I’ve even been sowing a new batch of seeds late in the season to keep everything growing. If you read gardening books and seed packets you always get […]
In this series of monthly articles Bob explores the incredible range of plants you can grow in a greenhouse, conservatory or plastic tunnel. Not just the purely decorative but the scented and edible also, and maybe those plants that are just downright interesting. This month Bob nominates More–than-Ornamental grasses. Ornamental grasses have been quite the […]
In The Greenhouse with Lila Das Gupta I can’t remember the wit who said it: “you know you’re becoming middle aged when you contemplate elasticated waistbands…” Personally, I’ve always felt that an interest in indoor flowering plants was the beginning of the end. My mother in law used to have a whole conservatory full of […]
In a departure from my usual diary this month, I’d like to use the space to announce that I’m creating a feature garden at this year’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show. A phone call three weeks ago offered me the opportunity to create a small garden based on fruit and vegetables. Am I a landscaper? […]
In The Greenhouse with Lila Das Gupta I only ask because I am growing cucumbers in the greenhouse and am suffering from performance anxiety. Last month I acquired a cucumber straightener. I’ve been hankering after one since the RHS show at Inner Temple last year when Pennard Plants put on a marvelous display of Victorian […]
In this series of monthly articles Bob explores the incredible range of plants you can grow in a greenhouse, conservatory or plastic tunnel. Not just the purely decorative but the scented and edible also, and maybe those plants that are just downright interesting. This month Bob nominates Guavas. Now Guavas, Psidium Guajava, are not one […]
Spring has been one of the best for years, after several mild winters when plants couldn’t decide whether to be dormant or grow, they’ve responded to a cold rest and sunshine by blooming beautifully, so our spring has been filled with flowers. One interesting feature has been the constant cold winds, which have been present […]
Should you stab your grow-bag before you plant tomatoes or is it better to do nothing? I’ve been grappling with this issue since I saw Gardener’s World presenter, Alys Fowler, first stab hers along the sides a few weeks ago. She was at it again last Friday, this time on the under-side. She maintains she […]
One of the best things about having a garden and a greenhouse is that when you have been away for a few days you know that there is something fresh to eat when you get home. It’s amazing how much the plants grow in just a short space of time. You can go away one […]
If there is one thing I absolutely hate about my greenhouse in the summer, it is the buzzing flies that accumulate in the apex of the roof in hot weather. I hate the noise that they make; that incessant buzzing sound as they flit around above my head and interrupt my silent thoughts. I hate […]
This is the year of the vegetable garden—from the White House to local front lawns—everyone is planting crops. However, even seasoned gardeners can have disappointments with veggies. So I asked my friend, Rose Marie Nichols McGee, owner/ president of Nichols Garden Nursery in Albany, Oregon, what to do about the most common edible errors. Rose […]
Everyone loves the smell and the taste of strawberries. But when a small bowlful can cost the earth, isn’t it time you grew your own? The flavour of these home-grown fruit far outweighs anything you can buy in the supermarket and even if you only pick a handful of fruit for the first year, you […]
