There’s been a lot of publicity about the new Pokémon Go game recently and I have to admit I feel a bit torn. It’s just great that this game is getting people outside in the fresh air and maybe, just maybe getting more exercise, but I do think it is a little bit sad that […]

Early greenhouse frenzies of sowing tomatoes, pricking them out, and then balancing their increasingly contradictory needs for space and warmth seem a distant memory now. That was what it took to get them started, but now that they have found their feet my tomato gardening has taken a distinctly laissez faire (if not plain lazy) […]

From mid-summer until November, rhododendrons and camellias are forming flower buds for next year’s display, so it’s essential that the compost or soil around them doesn’t dry out at any point, if it does they simply won’t form buds or will demonstrate their disapproval by shedding the ones that have already formed. Check your plants […]

Apios is one of those forgotten greenhouse gems seldom come across nowadays. It was once very popular in late Victorian times for the violet scent from the small racemes of purplish flowers. However after the First World War the shortage of labour and its slight tenderness made this plant unattractive. Indeed in the UK it […]

It’s August and I feel as if I’m losing the battle. The plants definitely seem to have won this year, so I’m pulling out and cutting back lots of things that I don’t want to self seed quite as much as they did last year! I’m aiming to leave about 20% in situ for next […]

Wet, wet, wet is one way to describe June 2016. Thank goodness for the greenhouse. It shelters not just the plants nestled on the benches from the wind and rain, but also the adventurous gardener who chooses to ignore the weather and potter around under glass. Most gardeners become hooked on one plant group or […]

In the greenhouse in spring I sowed lots and lots of courgettes. Really plenty, at least twelve in the hope of planting out about ten. I see you tutting and shaking your head but I am no newbie to the horrors of the courgette glut. I had a plan, and that was to grow many […]

Could plants tagged ‘perfect for pollinators’ actually be poisoning them? A new crowdfunded project is aiming to find out. Dave Goulson, Professor of Biology at Sussex University, is a scientist on a mission. After a childhood spent chasing butterflies and collecting birds’ eggs, he went on to study biology, did a PhD in butterfly ecology, […]

Despite the damp dreary weather, you still need to water your hanging baskets and containers as most rainfall runs from the leaves onto the ground around the pot.  Petunias and pelargoniums are drought resistant, but if the compost gets dry, under watered fuchsias and lobelia can take weeks to recover. Feed your flowers weekly with […]

Polygala x Dalmaisiana is a superb choice for conservatories and cool greenhouses with beautiful purple pea like blooms throughout much of the year. These decorative flowers are produced almost continuously along the ends of lax stems of attractive grey green evergreen foliage. Not so much an impressive centre piece perhaps but excellent as the supporting […]

It may be the year of the referendum for you, but for me it’s the Year of the Pigeon, because I have had three permanent residents in my garden. I wouldn’t mind if it was a pigeon pair and a baby, that might be quite nice, but it’s one lady and her two warring suitors. They […]