I’m always a fan of the display gardens at Seattle’s Northwest Flower and Garden Festival because they offer inspiration for creative ideas to take home and try. This year “Dreamscapes by the Sea” featured a Hartley Victorian glasshouse with double porticos that allowed showgoers to walk right through. It was nestled into a lush garden […]
For passing wild life, a garden made in nature offers a welcoming stopover – and for the gardener, there is the joy of myriad encounters with the creatures that share our world. A gang of long-tailed tits has just swept through my garden on a tepid February breeze, lit up by milky, spring-is-around-the-corner sunshine. Darting […]
It’s cold in Cold Aston and my two lovely daughters do a wonderful Stella Gibbons act in the same sort of northern accent you get on the Hovis advert – where the young lad pushes the bike up Gold Hill in Shaftesbury in Dorset. I have trouble propelling myself up that steep hill, let alone […]
Sowing seed is the triumph of hope over experience, especially when seasonal conditions are wildly variable: Getting started takes a knock on the head as spring’s promise turns back to dour winter on a random schedule. Yet, growlights, warming pads, warm sweaters and other scientific advances aimed at greenhouse growing encourages us to get on […]
Here in coastal Rhode Island, I live in the US Department of Agriculture’s Plant Hardiness Zone 7a. This zone has a medium-length growing season and winter temperatures that, at their coldest, can drop to between 0° and 5°F. This makes growing artichokes outdoors difficult. These plants prefer a more temperate climate because most set buds […]
Does a plant of Scarlet Pimpernel by your greenhouse door warn you of incoming bad weather? There was only one way to find out, by growing some and observing. In the trial Anagallis arvensis turned out such a pretty thing I grow a pot or two every year, hanging pots which suit the trailing habit, […]
It doesn’t matter how long you have been gardening there is always time to learn something new or change the way you do things. The greatest thing about gardening (for me anyway) is that there are a hundred and one ways to do the same thing. There may be lots of rules, but you learn […]
One of the exciting things that happens this month in my greenhouse is the blossoming of the nectarine. It always feels too early, blossoming while it feels so wintery out there, and is one of the first bits of blossom in my garden. It is a wonderful harbinger of spring. My ‘tree’ is actually a […]
From February onwards, it is time to sprout (or ‘chit’) new potatoes and the first big sign that the gardening year has started. Put your potatoes in a tray or egg box with the ‘rose’ end, where all the buds are, at the top, keep them at about 7C (45F), then, after four to five […]
