September, is traditionally the month of lawn maintenance. If you have a small lawn, rake out the ‘thatch’ or dead grass and moss that has accumulated over the mowing season, using a wire rake, if your lawn is larger, hire a scarifier and share the it among several of your friends to save money or […]
As I write this in my little suburban garden I am surrounded by a cloud of bees. They are upon closer inspection bees of all different shapes and sizes, honey bees, solitary bees, leaf cutters and busy bumblebees. The latter always look as if they shouldn’t be able to fly, but as a saying goes […]
It’s the summer holidays and a great time to get the kids interested in plants. You can’t force-feed anyone to love gardening like you do, but you can introduce children to a few of the joys to inspire them. Plants are perfect for this. The plant kingdom contains some amazing specimens that grow in extraordinary […]
I’ve been reading Joy Larkcom’s memoirs ‘Just Vegetating’, and they have been reminding me to get out into the greenhouse and keep on sowing, even though summer is at its height now. There can’t be many memoirs that send you hunting through your seed box and scuttling down to the end of the garden, but […]
No greenhouse fruit is sweeter or more luscious than a peach or nectarine plucked sun warmed and fully ripe. Indeed this should be a balloon full of nectar just waiting to burst on you. Now if you live in a warm sunny area you may just be able to win a crop of peaches outdoors […]
It’s time to take cover: after another grey, sodden summer, the future for serious food growers looks a lot brighter under glass or plastic.
If you watch television gardening programmes you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s a hobby that requires serious cash. If it’s not an unrealistically expensive two day garden makeover then it’s someone striding confidently over their neatly cultivated acres. Likewise with the industry showcasing big events like Chelsea and Hampton Court. They may offer […]
Moles are often seen as little more than pests by green-fingered enthusiasts – and there certainly are a wide range of reasons for this. The subterranean creatures burrow lawns and raise mole hills, which can undermine plant roots and inadvertently cause damage or death. However, gardening expert Roger Mercer has argued that mole populations are […]
For any Brit this summer, getting out in the garden is imperative to our plans and simply one of the must do things during the year. But how do you know that your garden is on both the cusp of this year’s style whilst being as perfectly vibrant as possible? The answer to that is […]
A greenhouse is not strictly necessary for growing grapes as a few varieties can do quite well outdoors. But by far the tastiest, more luscious and gorgeous varieties do have to be grown under cover and indeed there are few more rewarding crops. Now a large greenhouse used to be needed as grapevines are very […]
I heard someone say recently: ‘I don’t wish to sound like a farmer, but the weather has been dreadful this year’! Whatever your profession, it has more than justified being our favourite topic of conversation. Cold, drought, heat, flooding and incessant rain have all affected our gardens, plants and morale! High rainfall has encouraged masses […]
It might seem an odd topic for this month’s Bean Feast, but unless there’s a problem rain doesn’t actually fall inside a greenhouse. This means that despite the recent deluge, your greenhouse plants (and mine) still need some of the wet stuff to keep them growing and that’s the topical topic for this month’s Bean […]
