Watering becomes increasingly important during drought, which often occurs at this time of year, so here are a few tips, so your plants flourish. Check hanging baskets and containers three times a day, if possible; push your fingers into the compost, if is moist, compost crumbs stick to your fingers; if they are clean, give the […]
Gardeners learn by experience, so everyone says, and if that is the case then I should be an expert on brassicas. I have had such calamitous experiences with brassicas that I have now reached the conclusion that they cannot even venture outside without the full set of belt and braces. They are the vegetable that […]
The July Greenhouse is a hungry beast and to get the very best from your greenhouse and your plants it’s essential to keep up with feeding to ensure a prolific and healthy harvest. For precious plants and specialist plants, choose plant foods tailored to the particular type of plants that you are growing, as they […]
Chillies: we Brits love ‘em! Over the past decade the English palette has become used to an increasing amount of tastes and flavours from around the world. This is down to a wide range of influences including emigration, TV celebrities, cheaper air travel; allowing more and more people to fly to far away destinations and […]
eBay vendor realises 100% profit on 32-year old Hartley 10 A Hartley Botanic greenhouse has just been sold on eBay for twice as much as it cost new, 32 years ago. The entirely original Hartley 10, measuring 3.1m x 5.2m and described as being in excellent order apart from one cracked pane of glass, attracted […]
St Edward’s Royal Free Ecumenical Middle School, Windsor, has been presented with a state-of-the-art Patio Glasshouse from Hartley Botanic, following its participation in the Royal Horticultural Society’s annual ‘Get your Grown-ups Growing’ event. A thousand schools across the country took part in the 2010 event, all of which were entered into a free prize draw […]
I started mine off reasonably early in the year, and moved them to the greenhouse at the right time, but they just haven’t come to much. They are very definitely alive but not particularly thriving and certainly not looking like they are going to produce any fruit any time soon. On holiday a couple of […]
Now anyone with a greenhouse really must have a pot or two of Lippia species. The nomenclatural botanists have fiddled with this genus, so some are also known as Aloysia, and others as Phyla, the names keep changing. However they are all closely related, mostly South American plants. Members of the verbena family they tend […]
Diary – July 2011 Now’s your last chance to sow biennials. ‘Brompton Stocks’ and ‘Forget me Nots’ are fast growing and can be sown later and slow growing ‘Canterbury Bells’ should be planted in late spring but the remainder need sowing now. Space them out well to reduced thinning and transplant to their flowering position […]
A while ago I wrote here about planting potatoes in big pots in the greenhouse. Well they grew like the wind, seven (or so) times faster than those in the ground, filling the greenhouse with big, leafy growth. I decided the other day it was time to try eating some, and I plundered the container […]
The fascinating heliquarium, or butterfly house, in the lobby of England’s newest luxury hotel prepares the visitor for the unexpected. London Syon Park, a Waldorf Astoria hotel set in the two hundred acre Syon House estate which has been home to the Duke of Northumberland for over 400 years, is no ordinary five star experience: […]
Owning a glasshouse is likely to feature at the top of any gardener’s wish list. Whatever the structure, from simple aluminium frame to the most luxuriously crafted designs, most of us would love the opportunity to garden under glass. It promises a world of new and exciting horticultural opportunties, where you can try out new […]
