Hartley Magazine

All the latest news, hints, tips and advice from our experts

Insulating your Greenhouse – Winter Tasks

This is the month when temperatures dip so you need to protect cold frames and cloches with insulation, winter crops like lambs lettuce are certainly hardy enough to survive but added protection will certainly increase their quality. Open the vents in your greenhouse as long as possible on mild sunny days, shutting them down before […]

Sprouts of Flavour – Part 26

Apart from a few hard frosts so far the temperature hasn’t plummeted too far in my greenhouse. That means that the salads and herbs that are languishing in the protected environment of the glasshouse are still producing new leaves to eat. As winter approaches every sprout and shoot grown inside the greenhouse becomes more and […]

Cacti, A Great First Plant for Children to Grow

I guess many of us started our interest in gardening with cacti. Despite their obvious drawback of really nasty spines they are so often given to children as first plants. I guess because it’s thought, quite rightly, that these don’t quickly die of neglect. However you can kill them with kindness- too much watering or […]

Hyacinths for Winter Flowers – Part 24

When you have a greenhouse you can use this protected environment to manipulate many spring flowering bulbs into early and later growth, simply by staggering the planting time and bringing the pots of planted bulbs in from the cold or taking them back out to flower. Visit the garden centre now where you will find […]