It may be the depths of winter but it will not be very long at all until it is time to start sowing Brussels sprouts. This is how the year turns and surprises us: come February, just a few short weeks away, it will be time to sow. I realise I must get my early-sowing […]
High elevations and low waterfall mean gardening in the southwest depends a lot on what you might call “mechanical intervention”; glasshouses and tunnels for season extension and irrigation to compensate for shortages are the chief tools at the gardener’s disposal. Developed by the ancient Romans, adapted by the Moors in pre-Christian Spain, aqueducts fed water […]
Amongst the benefits a glasshouse offers can be year round flowers for cutting. Cut flowers are more expensive to purchase than most fruits and vegetables so really deserve some attention. And one of the best cut flowers for sheer endurance once cut is the Chincherinchee. Ornithogalum thyrsoides is a bulbous plant of the Lily family […]
We have twenty copies of Lia Leendertz’s latest book The Almanac to give away, plus one £50 National Garden Gift Voucher to be won. The Almanac revives the tradition of the rural almanac, connecting you with the months and seasons via moon-gazing, foraging, feast days, seasonal eating, meteor-spotting and gardening. Award-winning gardener and food writer […]
I love when I come across a new (to me) gardening term. I’d never heard the word fascine, until I talked with Vanessa Gardner Nagel, award-winning landscape designer and author. She mentioned she was building fascine to stabilize the slope in her Pacific Northwest ravine garden. A fascine, she explained, is a bundle of sticks […]
Mandevilla is a genus of flowering vines with showy, trumpet-shaped blossoms in various vibrant colors, making them highly popular for patios and decks. In cold climates, however, they must be brought indoors for winter. Fortunately, a greenhouse is an ideal winter haven for Mandevillas as long as the temperature there stays above 50˚F. Before bringing […]
‘If the soil sticks to your shoes it is too wet’ but if conditions allow, now’s a good time to lightly fork over your flower borders, avoiding the crowns of perennials and emerging bulbs mixing in a layer of leaf mould or compost you go. This will improve the soil and relive compaction at the […]
Apart from the few days of summer last month we spent most of last month in low light, constant rain and chilling winds, so the ground is still too cold and wet for sowing crops directly and will be for a while yet, so thank goodness there is plenty to do in the greenhouse. Seeds […]
THE ONLY ALUMINIUM GREENHOUSE & GLASSHOUSE MANUFACTURER ENDORSED BY THE RHS 80 YEARS MAKING THE FINEST GREENHOUSES MONEY CAN BUY LANCASHIRE-BASED COMPANY WITH EXPERIENCED TEAM This year, Lancashire-based greenhouse and glasshouse manufacturer Hartley Botanic is celebrating its 80th anniversary – marking 80 years of making its stunning handmade, made-to-order horticultural buildings, with its team still […]
