Hartley Magazine

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

Strawberries, Raspberries and Gooseberries

You need only an unheated greenhouse to enjoy these delicious health giving fruits weeks even months earlier than the outdoor crops. This is when they are most appreciated, and most expensive in the shops. Just bringing these under cover is sufficient incentive for them to leap into growth and then flower and fruit with little […]

Walking in the Footsteps of Bill Sowerbutts

BBC Gardeners Question Time, first broadcast in 1947 under the name of ‘How does your Garden Grow’ returned this week to the Broadoak Hotel in Ashton Under Lyne. This is where the very first broadcast was made by Bill Sowerbutts. Two members of the original audience, Betty Bennett and Peter Kinder were there to share […]

Claytonia / Montia perfoliata, Cuban Spinach, Miner’s Lettuce

Claytonia / Montia perfoliata, Cuban Spinach, Miner’s Lettuce Almost every greenhouse should have some of this low growing ground covering salad plant closely related to Purslane. Not as an ornamental feature necessarily but for it’s fantastic utility. You see this little grown annual, Claytonia perfoliata, Cuban spinach or Miner’s Lettuce hails from the central Americas […]