Houseplants much at home in a warm greenhouse are the Christmas and Easter cactus, and for Americans, Thanksgiving cactus as well. Tough and long enduring these have been rightly popular since Victorian times. The Latin names have changed so often it’s now more sensible to revert to the common names most people are familiar with. […]

Sowing times on seed packets can largely be ignored in spring. One example is the instruction ‘direct sow from February onwards’ on parsnip seed packets. The key to successful germination are constant soil temperatures – that’s when a soil thermometer becomes invaluable. Sow when it is too cold and the seed simply sits in the […]

Like every man-made structure, a greenhouse has an embedded ecological cost – the inspiring difference being that with a greenhouse, you get the chance to clear the debt. These days nudging each side of the spring equinox – when day and night match each other in length – are for me among gardening’s headiest. March’s […]

Can someone please explain to me how a headline that states that one in two of us will get Cancer in our lifetime has apparently been swept under the carpet as if it’s acceptable? Is anyone paying attention? Are we allowed to ask why, or point a finger or question the huge increases in not […]

It’s March and I suddenly want to be in the greenhouse. Although it has looked like spring, it hasn’t felt like spring, but now the sun is out and even my rickety panes take a little of the remaining chill off of the wind. Step inside, close your eyes, turn your face to the sun […]

So come on March, are you coming in as a lion or lamb? With hemerocallis rapidly emerging, species tulips, Tulipa humilis already in flower and Sambucus ‘Black Lace’ coming slowly into bud, I am hoping for a lamb. Whatever March decides, it is going to take a while for the soil to warm, particularly on […]