I’ve always been a bit of a fan of weird and wonderful food plants. I love to forage in the woodland and hedgerows for ingredients to transform our diet and am fascinated by the food plants still used by native civilisations. Quinoa, amaranth, maize, potatoes, tomatoes, chillies and many more valuable crops were brought to […]

It’s the beginning of March and according to Peter Gibbs, BBC weatherman and gardening enthusiast, the cold, grey weather will be with us for a little while. There is a great temptation to rush out and start seed sowing at the first signs of sunshine, which will surely come. After a cold wet winter, it […]

Now here’s a greenhouse plant that takes almost no effort whatsoever. Or rather here are a great number of species as this is a big family and the curious collector can amass a large and interesting selection. Mostly from southern Africa these are succulent plants which although slow growing at first soon become large specimens […]

I first noticed it about two weeks ago. Those dead-looking stems that had been sitting brownly on my potted nectarines suddenly looked – almost imperceptibly – alive. There were no leaves or flowers, no bells and whistles, but something had changed: there was a livelier gleam to the wood, perhaps, but above all the buds […]

Gardening can be a pleasure for 365 days of the year. Whatever the weather outdoors, a greenhouse is a year-round refuge where there’s always some activity to enjoy, whatever the season. But it’s not just the weather which can spoil our gardening activities. Growing plants involves not just our creative talents but also skill and […]

Most greenhouses are used to grow fruit, but usually it’s tomatoes. I can’t think of many greenhouse growers that don’t have a few tomato plants growing and fruiting over the summer months, but that’s not really the fruit that I mean. I’m talking about the fruit that you eat with ice cream, custard or cream […]

For sheer colour in the greenhouse there is little to compare with Coleus or Painted Nettles as they are so accurately described. Indeed these not only closely resemble Dead Nettles but are in fact closely related to them. Now many have been renamed Plectranthus or Solenostemon though these have not caught on. The commonest, Coleus […]

Now February is here, spring is a step closer, what a welcome thought that is, after last month’s snow which put a stop to doing anything in the garden! Plants like peppers, chillies and aubergines needing up to five months to mature, should be sown this month, to make sure that they have enough time […]

Allotments are a vital, living part of our gardening heritage – and when they are threatened, it’s time to draw a line.

Another year in the greenhouse calendar and the greenhouse owner, me included, starts to plan, plot and plant for the year ahead. If not in practice just yet, then in the mind’s eye at least. Despite the greenhouse being a haven from the prevailing weather, the very presence of inclement climes can restrict greenhouse activity […]

In the deep midwinter…you can still sow broad beans and peas. The great thing about the greenhouse is that it provides an opportunity for the most out-of-season seed sowing. It isn’t actually out of season, it just severely feels it. I sowed my broad beans the day before midwinter’s day. The day had been dull, […]

Where are the weather forecasters who suggested that this was a going to be a long, cold winter? Some of the borders are waterlogged, as the saturated clay soil can absorb no more rain. It certainly limits gardening activities, other than spiking the lawn with a garden fork in a futile attempt to improve the […]