September is often the most settled month of the year and after this year’s erratic weather, wouldn’t it be wonderful to welcome an ‘Indian Summer’, this month, with a month of still, sunny, days? During the unsettled weather in August, I gambled on planting a mixed border, with the help of my friend, Paul, using […]

I have just visited the National Plant Collection of Passiflora cultivars at Tynings in North Somerset, and come away with my very own Passiflora edulis. A great number of the passion flowers produce edible fruits, so says Jane Lindsay, who holds the collection, but edulis is the sweetest and tastiest. It ain’t the prettiest, not […]

Now here is something very beautiful and somewhat unusual for a warm greenhouse. Exacum affine has blue flowers with a scent, indeed a gorgeous perfume while almost all other blue flowers are scentless. (Bees are the usual pollinators for blue flowers as they can see ultra-violet / blue colours which are seldom noticed by butterflies […]

I’ve been visiting my nana’s house, which contains the greenhouse of my youth. My granddad always kept up the greenhouse, which was very much an all-tomato affair. I don’t recall seeing another plant in there, perhaps the odd chrysanthemum, on its way to be lined out in the garden, for cutting. All good old-school stuff. […]

Keeping a good airflow through the greenhouse is essential for healthy plant growth. It is especially important at the height of summer when temperatures outdoors can reach into the seventies and eighties (if we are lucky). To keep the air moving and to prevent extreme heat building up in the greenhouse you need good ventilation. […]

For the economic gardener and for one who simply enjoys propagating and potting up there can be few plants better suited than the Dianthus family. These are all easy to multiply, and require this regularly as left to grow old they become straggly and dead in the middle. Dianthus comprises Carnations, their humble but pretty […]

Watering becomes increasingly important during drought, which often occurs at this time of year, so here are a few tips, so your plants flourish. Check hanging baskets and containers three times a day, if possible; push your fingers into the compost, if is moist, compost crumbs stick to your fingers; if they are clean, give the […]

Gardeners learn by experience, so everyone says, and if that is the case then I should be an expert on brassicas. I have had such calamitous experiences with brassicas that I have now reached the conclusion that they cannot even venture outside without the full set of belt and braces. They are the vegetable that […]

The July Greenhouse is a hungry beast and to get the very best from your greenhouse and your plants it’s essential to keep up with feeding to ensure a prolific and healthy harvest. For precious plants and specialist plants, choose plant foods tailored to the particular type of plants that you are growing, as they […]