Autumn is main seasons for lawn maintenance. Rake out the ‘thatch‘ or dead grass and moss that has accumulated over the mowing season using a wire rake or lawn rake from the tool hire shop. To save money, you could hire it and share the use and cost with several friends. Spike compacted areas with […]
It’s important to make arrangements for someone to look after your smaller houseplants while you‘re on holiday. Ideally ask a neighbour who’s keen on gardening. If your kitchen draining board is away from scorching sunshine, group all your houseplants there, write down the instructions clearly on a piece of paper or stick the instructions on […]
Lawn grasses are remarkable plants and their power of survival is never more obvious than during hot dry summers when there’s a hosepipe ban. It doesn’t take long before the lawn is brown, parched and seemingly dead, yet like grasslands worldwide from the Prairies to Africa, they always re-grow when the rains appear. So I’m […]
The cool spring, heavy rain and little sunshine over the past weeks has ensured that this years sowings in my vegetable plot were well behind schedule. There‘s no point in following the sowing dates on the seed packet if seeds only rot before germinating, sow when conditions are favourable and they soon catch up. Parsnips […]
Although it is May and the garden centre is awash with beautiful bedding, it‘s better to resist the temptation to buy until the last frost has past, so many gardeners buy early and regret later. It is, however a good time to plant up hanging backets, giving them a few weeks in the greenhouse to […]
Now‘s the time to repot or ‘top dress‘ houseplants, just before they start into growth and it‘s a good idea to give them a spring clean too. Check all of your plants annually, not all will need repotting as they can last for 2-3 years but being heavily congested with roots will cause most houseplant […]
Last year‘s carrot crop was reasonable, considering the soil, they prefer it light and free draining but my garden is clay. This year I‘m hoping for even greater success from my new raised beds filled with well rotted compost, fertiliser made from wormcasts and sieved loam that will improve the growing conditions all round. They […]
Few gardeners grow soft fruit these days, a few strawberries or a row or two of raspberries at the very most – Red or White currants are out of the question because gardeners assume that they take up a lot of space. I inherited a range of familiar and unusual red and white currants and […]
The biting chill of early snow and promises of a cold winter have made the shelter of a cosy greenhouse very welcome! This year I‘m really feeling the cold; until late November I was basking in tropical sunshine on a cruise through the Caribbean and Panama canal, a fact envied by several friends who had […]
All cacti are succulents but not all succulents are cacti! They combine to form a remarkable group that flourishes in deserts, one of the most hostile environments in the world. However, not all bask in hot dry conditions, a few prefer rainforest conditions, living in the upper branches of trees where high evaporation rates and […]
Madeira, a jewel in the Atlantic with a balmy, maritime climate, is known as the ‘Island of flowers‘ and every year, particularly in early spring, British gardeners arrive on its shores to savour the joys of landscapes awash with wild flowers and gardens burgeoning with blooms. The major town, Funchal, (so called because early Portugese […]
Growing vegetables in raised beds, a technique developed centuries ago in Asia, is the perfect way to make small domestic plots productive. There are many tempting advantages; the soil warms earlier in spring, extending the growing season, they are easier to maintain as you don‘t have to bend to ground level, crops are sown closer […]
