Your greenhouse can become a powerhouse for winter crops – and that’s with the lights out and the heating off. The lights flickered, hesitated, flickered some more, and then finally went out here over Christmas. Our ‘big’ power cut lasted the best part of a single daytime’s feebly lit hours. Compared to others, we got […]
My under-cover empire is expanding. At the end of the garden I have the rickety greenhouse bought from a neighbour for £100. On my deck just outside the back door I have my beautiful and not even vaguely rickety Hartley Botanic mini greenhouse. And soon, within the next few weeks (energy and enthusiasm willing) I […]
January might seem a funny time to be writing about ladybirds, but the gardeners’ best friends are very much alive and well in a garden and greenhouse near you, right now. On the odd sunny day that entices you out into the garden, you won’t be far from a ladybug, a small red beetle with […]
Any cool greenhouse or conservatory will be enhanced with a pot or two of Sarracenia Pitcher plants. Exotic and strange looking, the fantastically wrought tubular vases of their leaves out perform most flowers with striations, netting and mottling in purples, reds, greens and yellows. Added to their striking coloration these lidded pitchers appear almost alien […]
As I write, tall trees are swaying alarmingly, bent into contorted shapes by the gale force winds that are ripping through the garden, grey clouds dull the sky above and lashing rain rushes in fast flowing rivulets down the windows. Yet another day of ‘hard core’ weather that sums up the winter so far! The […]
Ask not what your garden can do for you; the question is what you, as an earth-friendly gardener, could be doing for the planet. What can I do? The thought tugs at my conscience each time I slide open the doors of my greenhouse or gaze out across my garden. It tugs when I’m buying […]
You may call it fluke, or happening-to-have-been-at-the-garden-centre-at-just-the-right-time, but I’m going to call it meticulous planning and green fingers. Yes, for the first time ever, I have a hippeastrum in flower for Christmas, and even some other forced bulbs in flower in the greenhouse too, just like you are meant to have. I’m never entirely sure […]
Look around at this time of year and you’d be forgiven for believing the world has gone mad. Adverts on the television extolling expensive high tech cameras, diamond clad watches and perfumes named after ‘celebrities’ I’ve never even heard of. Either I’m getting old fast, and maybe I am, or the essence of Christmas has […]
Is your purchase really necessary? Making gardening easy is one thing, but broad bean seedlings by post is surely a convenience too far.
More than just a greenhouse specimen this is a seasonal decoration, the Poinsettia with its striking colour is a lovely plant. But one seldom seen other than during the run up to Christmas. Few house plants are easier to keep alive, yet few others are harder to get to perform as well again. The Poinsettia, […]
Some plants dislike the damp that characterises our winter weather, particularly plants like cushion alpines, as any leaves left on them, causes them to rot. Pick off fallen leaves regularly and cover with a pane of glass, polycarbonate or Perspex as protection. Helleborus niger, the ‘Christmas Rose’ needs covering too, so raindrops don’t splash soil […]
There’s something magical about the cold stark winter light inside the greenhouse. It’s lit up with a skeletal beauty that shines and glows whenever the sun shines. The recent mild weather and winter sun has been enhanced by the greenhouse glass and inside it has really pushed they spring flowering bulbs into growth. The greenhouse […]
