I have been given a single plant of strawberry ‘Mieze Schindler’ – a strawberry in the woodland-berry vein of ‘Mara des Bois’, and with a hint of raspberry about its delicate flesh – and have been in the process of bulking it up in the greenhouse this summer. I love how active that sounds. I’m […]

We’re told that whether or not to use garden chemicals is a personal choice. That may be so, but it needs to be an informed choice – and we’re not being told the whole story. 

You need only an unheated greenhouse to enjoy these delicious health giving fruits weeks even months earlier than the outdoor crops. This is when they are most appreciated, and most expensive in the shops. Just bringing these under cover is sufficient incentive for them to leap into growth and then flower and fruit with little […]

Many gardeners have suffered poor fruit crops this season– especially apples; a complete contrast to last year when the cold winter and warm spring produced bumper yields. Poor cropping was caused primarily by wet weather affecting pollination and cool dull conditions for most of the year and we have and we have no control over […]

That’s it now, it’s been pending for a while, but the greenhouse is in for a shock, hopefully a pleasant shock, but nevertheless a surprise. It’s time, I think for a tidy up. After a summer like no other, I’m ashamed to say that it’s actually a struggle to get through the greenhouse door at […]

Autumn has come on fast this year, as if mocking our hopes for a morsel of late heat and sunlight to compensate for the shocking summer we’ve just endured (how many times have I heard people say ‘we are OWED an Indian summer…’? Nature, she don’t care…). Nights have turned quickly chill and I hear rumours of […]

At the end of an abysmal growing year, only one thing is certain: the familiar rhythms of gardening are gone for good.

Claytonia / Montia perfoliata, Cuban Spinach, Miner’s Lettuce Almost every greenhouse should have some of this low growing ground covering salad plant closely related to Purslane. Not as an ornamental feature necessarily but for it’s fantastic utility. You see this little grown annual, Claytonia perfoliata, Cuban spinach or Miner’s Lettuce hails from the central Americas […]

I have a strange weakness for searing pinks. Not in my wardrobe, necessarily (I’ve tried, believe me, but it’s a difficult look to pull off) but my garden is peppered with little shocks of the sort of pinks that would make Barbie blush. These are very much not little-girl pinks, there is nothing sweet or […]

September, is traditionally the month of lawn maintenance. If you have a small lawn, rake out the ‘thatch’ or dead grass and moss that has accumulated over the mowing season, using a wire rake, if your lawn is larger, hire a scarifier and share the it among several of your friends to save money or […]

It’s the summer holidays and a great time to get the kids interested in plants. You can’t force-feed anyone to love gardening like you do, but you can introduce children to a few of the joys to inspire them. Plants are perfect for this. The plant kingdom contains some amazing specimens that grow in extraordinary […]