Hartley Magazine

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

Emergency service

With the climate crisis escalating and evidence of ecological breakdown all around us, itā€™s time to get serious about gardeningā€™s restorative potential. What if gardening stopped being fun ā€“ and becameĀ seriousĀ fun? Emergencies are skidding at us from around every corner: social, political, economic, ecologicalā€¦ the list grows as we face crises near and far, in […]

Earth, Wind and Fire ā€“ all in one year!

Gardeners are used to battling the elements, but 2022 has been a catastrophic event. It began with an ā€˜Iā€™m-not-going-to-grow-for-you-at-the-momentā€™ dry winter and cool spring. That was followed by extreme heat and strong Saharan winds, so most peopleā€™s gardens (including mine) turned into a sea of brown. One evening I sat and watched as hummingbird-hawk moths […]

Written in United States

Potager plots are decorative and productive

Once I had a kitchen garden. It was a large space, surrounded by a trellis fence so that it didnā€™t appear part of the ā€œproperā€ garden, because it was a hard-working space, with a small glasshouse in one corner, compost heaps in another, and two long parallel rows of four-foot-wide raised beds. These were not […]

Chocolate Cosmos

I doubt anyone entering your glasshouse will gasp ā€œWhat a gorgeous specimenā€ when their eyes glance upon Cosmos atrosanguineus Chocamocha. Admittedly this is an undistinguished leaved scantily flowering almost scruffy looking plant youā€™d not look twice at. However once their noses catch the delicious vanilla and hot chocolate scent they will be entranced. Then as […]

Lots to harvest and things to sow

Itā€™s time to sow Fennel, oriental vegetables like mizuna greens and Pak Choi, rocket, coriander dill, spinach, claytonia and land cress in modules as soon as you can. These will germinate quickly and can be planted out by mid-August for cropping in autumn. Continue sowing ā€˜cut and come againā€™ crops like mixed herbs, in pots, […]

Written in United States

Grow Citrus in the Greenhouse

With that glorious scent, and unusual habit of flowering and fruiting at the same time, itā€™s no surprise that citrus plants are often the first choice to grow in a home greenhouse. To discover the best tips for success, this month Iā€™m turning to Sam Hubert, Nursery Manager for the West Coast mail-order company, One […]