Hartley Magazine

All the latest news, hints, tips and advice from our experts

How can I use my winter greenhouse to help pollinators?

Helping pollinators is a bit of a buzz phrase at the moment, but even in the midst of winter you can find ways to use your greenhouse to help them. You might think that in the middle of winter there wasn’t much you can do to help pollinators, but you would be wrong. Our greenhouses […]

Fantastic foliage from a cocoyam?

Surprisingly there are several tropical root-crop plants well suited to frost free or better warm glasshouses. Probably the best value are Colocasias as many of the same family are already valued glasshouse specimens. Sold in Ethnic shops and some supermarkets these are known as Cocoyams in Africa, Taro in the Far East, Dasheen or Eddoes […]

The Laissez Faire Gardener

When I started gardening, in the 1960s, the first thing I did was a parks and gardens inspired rose border containing twelve leggy hybrid teas of different colours. These unhealthy beasts lost most of their foliage by midsummer and they all flowered at slightly different times and at slightly different heights. However, my biggest crime […]

Growing Tips for Beginners: Greenhouse Gardening 101

The Romans were recorded as the first to create greenhouses, specifically growing cucumbers for Emperor Tiberius. There are early Korean records of greenhouses being used to grow flowers and force vegetables by 1438, and the Chinese grew mandarin trees indoors – the first ‘greene’ houses. In 1663,  the Orangery was opened at Versailles. The Victorian […]

What to do in the glasshouse on Christmas day.

Damp, still air in the greenhouse causes grey mould, particularly on damp leaves or soft tissue like cyclamen flowers. It is less of a problem with good air circulation, so open greenhouse slightly vents on mild sunny days, shutting them before temperatures drop, early in the afternoon and avoid chilling draughts, (the lack of frost […]