Autumn 2022 – See our recent press ads
A selection of our latest adverts as seen in leading publications such as Gardens Illustrated, Country Life, The English Garden & many more. If you would like to request a brochure pleaseĀ click here.
Archives for 2022
Heat your Greenhouse efficiently
Ventilate the Greenhouse on warm days but reduce this when temperatures drop later in the month and the amount of shading, so crops ripen and to avoid problems with grey mould caused by damp air and cooler nights. Before bringing plants in for overwintering check them for pests and diseases, and treat accordingly. Red spider […]
Plastic is NOT Fantastic
Imagine if you went to a restaurant and were served plastic vegetables? And when you complained the chef said that they were less maintenance, didnāt need washing and would never go off. Would you eat them? Would you think, oh wow, thatās a great idea, another way to circumvent nature? I donāt think so. But […]
Emergency service
With the climate crisis escalating and evidence of ecological breakdown all around us, itās time to get serious about gardeningās 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 āIām-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 peopleās gardens (including mine) turned into a sea of brown. One evening I sat and watched as hummingbird-hawk moths […]
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 didnāt appear part of the āproperā 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 […]
Obtaining Plants for Free
You can use your greenhouse not just for growing existing plants but also for obtaining a great many new ones, all for free. One way to do this is by propagation using cuttings. Another way is by harvesting seeds. Hereās more on each of these methods. First, letās look at growing plants from cuttings. In […]
Tomato Season
We are finally into tomato season in the greenhouse. All of that preparation, nursing through the spring, staking, feeding, watering and general encouraging begins to finally pay off properly in August. Was it worth it? Well that depends. With a bit of luck you planted some beefsteak tomatoes. In a cool overcast summer you might […]
Chocolate Cosmos
I doubt anyone entering your glasshouse will gasp āWhat a gorgeous specimenā when their eyes glance upon Cosmos atrosanguineus Chocamocha. Admittedly this is an undistinguished leaved scantily flowering almost scruffy looking plant youād 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
Itās 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 ācut and come againā crops like mixed herbs, in pots, […]
Grow Citrus in the Greenhouse
With that glorious scent, and unusual habit of flowering and fruiting at the same time, itās 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 Iām turning to Sam Hubert, Nursery Manager for the West Coast mail-order company, One […]
The dome
With 40Ā° heatwaves and devastating wildfires now a routine part of a British summer, cool heads are needed on the plot. Surfing the clammy, 40Ā°-plus breeze, Lex freewheeled down the winding street, legs splayed. Even with sunglasses on, he was still forced to squint. Every building was white: white walls, white roofs, white drives. White […]