Hartley Magazine

All the latest news, hints, tips and advice from our experts

New, normal, now

A dystopian future of gardening at the mercy of climate chaos no longer needs to be imagined; it’s already happening, here and now. I’m spooked. Just over a month ago, I was imagining what gardening in the not-too-distant future might look like. My mind’s eye conjured devastating early summer frosts, 40°C summer heatwaves, and violent, plant-shredding […]

Hartley – The Magic Act

Pauline Quirke is a wonderful actress, and perhaps you saw her moving performance in Broadchurch playing Susan Wright, accompanied by her own Labrador Bailey. She’s more famous for Birds of a Feather and there’s a wonderful line about her missing husband, delivered with perfect comic timing, where she says that ‘Paul Daniels couldn’t put the […]

Written in United States

Greenhouse Cacti and Succulents

Cacti and succulents are plants with thick, fleshy stems and leaves that have evolved to store water in dry climates. In recent years, they have become enormously popular for house plants. You see them for sale everywhere, including most big-box stores. Some of the most common varieties are aloe plants, jade plants, sempervivum, kalanchoes, agaves, […]

Most vitamin packed crop you can grow?

I’ve been asked which greenhouse plant is top of the GYO essential list, practical, productive, with the most outstanding nutritional value? Unfortunately this would be trays of kale and watercress. However also high in the ranking is a little grown relative of tomatoes that I featured here a decade ago. Still not widely known the […]

Most vitamin packed crop you can grow?

I’ve been asked which greenhouse plant is top of the GYO essential list, practical, productive, with the most outstanding nutritional value? Unfortunately this would be trays of kale and watercress. However also high in the ranking is a little grown relative of tomatoes that I featured here a decade ago. Still not widely known the […]