This greenhouse family gives us surprisingly tough house and conservatory plants, also loved as outdoor summer bedding and happy in fairly cramped containers. These have gorgeous flowers and beautiful foliage year round in a bewildering range of colours. With different leaf shapes and patterns, even trailing varieties, many are scented and some can be used […]
The long range weather forecast for June suggests a typical British summer with continued unsettled weather, now that is mixed news for the gardener! My tropical border has finally been planted out and the sun and rain will help the plants to establish quickly, though higher temperatures would help – the plants might think that […]
One of my big hopes for this year is to have a fine cut flower patch. I want to be able to pick bunch after bunch of lovely flowers for myself, for birthday presents, for my mum when she’s looked after the kids. It’s an investment. A cut flower patch requires an awful lot of […]
Hartley Bean Feast May 2014 When you begin the greenhouse journey, even before you have even parted with any hard-earned cash there’s so much to consider and decide. Greenhouse gurus are generous with their advice regarding siting, ventilation and features, but the most vital consideration of all is its size. Most potential greenhouse gardeners are […]
It is the first time for years I have not been working away from home at this time of year or sneaking time to ‘garden in the gaps’ between work commitments and I’m loving it! Just great to enjoy the garden, and take my time – which is what gardening is all about! By the […]
The media buzz about bee conservation is having a real effect, but virtual gardening only goes so far – and there are more immediate ways of boosting bee populations. During the last year I seem to have spent a lot of time tapping my computer keyboard to help improve the lot of bees, large and […]
With a greenhouse or conservatory it is easy to enjoy fresh flowers every day of the year. However this can mean keeping a large number of very different plants as each will only bloom over a limited period. Very few plants can be persuaded into flower every week of the year and even fewer in […]
The greenhouse is filling up alarmingly, and this is before I’ve started on the potting on. Sown seeds are a small, highly folded piece of paper and potting on is the unfolding of it. The volume doubles, then doubles again, then again. Pots balance upon pots, everything is crammed in and teetering, fighting for space, […]
The greenhouse is bursting with germinating seeds, flourishing seedlings and rooting cuttings. The aroma of spring is saturating every breathful of air and it smells fantastic. Rich, warm and vibrant, spiced with plenty of freshly made oxygen from the thriving plants. Spring is such an animated season in the greenhouse. Every new plant emerging from […]
Even mild winters seem interminably long, so it is great when the first flowers and fresh new shoots appear. For some reason it reminds me of the nonsense rhyme which starts ‘Spring has sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the birdies iz’..? When the soil warms up in early spring it is time […]
Instead of giving any more time to the myths about sowing in peat-free composts, put them to the test. You’ll find they do the job as well as peat – without the ecological price-tag. Of all the myths that abound in gardening, the most pernicious are surely those that circle our inevitable but painfully slow […]
Since I last wrote here my seed sowing has switched from smugly-ahead-of-time to oh-my-what-have-I-been-doing-with-my-time. Outdoors was so cold and slow back then, all of four weeks ago, and sowing time seemed endless. What happened? Now it’s all green shoots, pink blossom and blue skies and I have moved from leisured to frenzied. I am getting […]
