Think outside the gift box when it comes to Christmas presents, says Jean Vernon. It’s that time of year when you can’t sit and watch the telly without adverts for extravagant gifts, ridiculously expensive toys, gadgets and perfume; all in the name of a religious festival. Somehow that just doesn’t compute for me. Even more […]

Being a writer does sometimes feel as though you’re under house arrest and I know I’m not alone. A rare lunch in Oxford, with a dozen or so other writers, was summed up by one as “stepping out of our usual writer’s isolation for a couple of hours.” Ours though is nothing as opposed to […]

Open the vents in your greenhouse on sunny December days, shutting them before temperatures drop early in the afternoon to retain the heat. Good air circulation is essential but chilling draughts should be avoided, so don’t leave the door open or open the vents too far. It is a matter of getting it just right! […]

You need a generous greenhouse to freely accommodate Yacon as this can easily grow two, three or more metres high. Fortunately it can also be cut back down so you can squeeze one into a smaller space. But be warned this has expansionist tendencies and in small houses is best confined in a large tub […]

We urgently need ambassadors for a different way of gardening. Could the Royal Horticultural Society’s appointment of a 10-year-old signal a sea change?

Gardening is the most sharing and caring hobby I can think of. We share plants and produce all year round, giving surplus plants to friends and family and sharing advice and expertise whenever asked. With social media playing its part now too, it is easier and easier to share information, ideas and tips from your […]

There has been a rather delicate new addition to my greenhouse this year. Not only delicate, but expensive. My new kaffir lime tree cost £30, and ‘tree’ is really stretching the trades descriptions act to its limit. It’s a stick with a few branches coming off of it, but it doesn’t need to be big, […]

Don’t be deceived by a mild October, the weather is so unpredictable these days that chilly days may be just around the corner; it’s time to get set for winter. Remember, remember that the fifth of November is an ideal opportunity to burn woody material that doesn’t compost readily or anything that is badly diseased. […]

Once rare glasshouse specimens Peperomias are now common house-plants everywhere you go. Coming mainly from Mexico, the West Indies and South America these have not long been in cultivation most of them being discovered only from the mid nineteenth century. The great Paxton in his Botanical Dictionary of 1868 listed four dozen species and subspecies; […]

Walls, terraces, paths, steps, soil, compost, wildlife habitats… second-hand and spoil heap slate can give you the makings of an entire garden. Bar the dreaming and hard graft, my garden owes its existence to an ancient and, given its dour demeanour, quite magical ingredient. It’s very tangible, and it’s very heavy. Its straight lines run […]

By anyone’s measuring, this has been a rubbish year for chillies, tomatoes, aubergines, and all things Mediterranean in temperament, even if you have had the luxury of a greenhouse in which to grow them. A greenhouse or polytunnel magnifies the warmth of summer, but if the summer doesn’t have much in the way of warmth […]