Once rare glasshouse specimens Peperomias are now common house-plants everywhere you go. Coming mainly from Mexico, the West Indies and South America these have not long been in cultivation most of them being discovered only from the mid nineteenth century. The great Paxton in his Botanical Dictionary of 1868 listed four dozen species and subspecies; […]
Walls, terraces, paths, steps, soil, compost, wildlife habitats… second-hand and spoil heap slate can give you the makings of an entire garden. Bar the dreaming and hard graft, my garden owes its existence to an ancient and, given its dour demeanour, quite magical ingredient. It’s very tangible, and it’s very heavy. Its straight lines run […]
With autumn now on the way, Hartley Botanic is proud to announce that it has donated a brand new Tradition 8 Greenhouse to The Blue Coat School in Edgbaston, Birmingham. With such a beautiful school garden (known as The Hanging Gardens of Blue Coat), Hartley Botanic was more than happy to donate the greenhouse to […]
By anyone’s measuring, this has been a rubbish year for chillies, tomatoes, aubergines, and all things Mediterranean in temperament, even if you have had the luxury of a greenhouse in which to grow them. A greenhouse or polytunnel magnifies the warmth of summer, but if the summer doesn’t have much in the way of warmth […]
New to gardening? Don’t grow tomatoes, says Jean Vernon There I’ve said it. Don’t grow tomatoes if you are starting out. They are not for beginners. They might be one of the most popular seeds and plants to grow, as I keep being told by industry manufacturers and suppliers, but I honestly don’t think we […]
