With the encroaching cold there is propagation to be done in unheated greenhouses or cold frames: hawthorns for hedges. Until recently I had a few hawthorn trees along the boundary with my neighbour, but we have chopped them right down to the base. The idea is to encourage them to sprout from the ground to […]
Often your glasshouse or conservatory collection will have a theme be it edible, scented or just all orange flowers. I have had several queries recently on plants typical of when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. An interesting question as if you want actual survivors from that period then the selection is rather limited and of course contains […]
Start clearing leaves as soon as they begin to fall. Leave a thick layer on the lawn and the grass below soon dies through lack of light – it encourages turf diseases, too. Choose a still day if you can or rake or blow them in the direction of the prevailing wind. After collection, rot […]
Whether you have a tiny garden, balcony or patio or a larger garden plot if you like eating blueberries you’d be mad not to grow them yourself. So in essence yes you can grow blueberries in your garden, regardless of the soil that you have. These plants are just wonderful to grow, perfect for pots […]
There are certain plants that announce the beginning of a new era as effectively as a clock striking midnight at Prince Charming’s ball. The first rose of summer for instance, or the parchment of a silver birch trunk glistening in low winter sun. When autumn is on the horizon there are two that pop up […]
What began as a cracking summer in the greenhouse fizzled out, as summers so often do, just as the kids broke up for the holidays. The days they had spent sitting in classrooms gazing out at blue skies and parched earth were swapped for sitting in their bedrooms looking out at the rain. The chillies […]
Provide landing pads for insect pollinators and predators and your garden will be first stop for their services. Storm Aileen has scooted through, the land is a sodden sponge, and I’m out photographing red admirals in a dry crack between September’s relentless downpours. A whole troupe of Vanessa atalanta seems to have blown in with Aileen: seven, […]
I can’t think of another glasshouse plant that suffered from such perverse name changes as this, one of the oldest of all our houseplants now known as the Jade plant. A tender succulent from Natal in South Africa this became popular way before the Victorian era. Probably because it’s remarkably tough and undemanding as a […]
Autumn is the season of lawn maintenance and this is what you do. Rake out the ‘thatch’ or dead grass and moss that has accumulated over the mowing season using a wire rake, powered lawn rake or scarifier that can be rented from the tool hire shop. To save money, you could hire one and […]
In the early 1970s I worked at a Research Station. Whilst there I carried out micropropagation by cutting the growing tips ( or meristems) from plants and transferring the tiny specks into a growing medium in a glass flask. A prime ingredient was coconut milk and I put the strong state of my gnashers down […]
As late as 2020, gardeners could just walk into a shop and buy neonicotinoids over the counter. A century on, we’re still paying the price. Zilla pressed the canister to her ear. ‘They’re barely buzzing – and it’s so hot again. You sure they’re OK?’ Inside the porous container, she could just make out the […]
