Hartley Magazine

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

Tennessee gardener ‘regaining strength through gardening’

A gardener in Tennessee is using his love of gardening to improve his health following open-heart surgery. Dyersburg resident Terry Sipes divides his time between fishing in his boat and tending to his sizeable yard full of corn, watermelon, squash, cucumbers, eggplant, green beans, cabbage, okra, hot peppers and bell peppers, the State Gazette reports. […]

Community gardener retires after 35 years

A pioneering community gardener in Philadelphia will be "dearly missed" following her recent retirement from the allotment she created. Libby Goldstein has decided to call time on her involvement with the Southwark/Queen Village Community Garden at Third and Christian Streets, which she founded in 1976, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. She still plans to wander in […]

West Virginia gardeners create new community garden

Members of the West Virginia Master Gardeners are working on a new gardening project at Fairmont's Wishing Well Assisted Living Facility. Phyllis Griggs, John Griggs, Georgine Moore and Fran Warner are going to plant vegetables, herbs and flowers at the retirement community, which provides a mix of cultural, educational and social activities, West Virginia Media […]

Illinois students enjoying the fruits of their labours

Students at two schools in Illinois are enjoying the benefits of growing their own produce. Washington Elementary and Thomas Metcalf schools in Bloomington have both started their own fruit and vegetable gardens, Pantagraph reports. In May, Washington students and volunteers built 12 raised beds and filled them with tomatoes, watermelons, basil, apple and peach trees, […]

Written in United Kingdom

Growing potatoes in big pots inside a greenhouse

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 […]

Compost the key to healthy soil, expert says

Gardeners and greenhouse enthusiasts keen to give their outside space a boost can follow some simple steps to get real results, according to one expert. In an article for the Nashua Telegraph, gardening writer and creator of www.gardening-guy.com Henry Homeyer said adding compost or aged cow manure to soil will help anything grow. "If you […]

Gardeners should simplify as they get older, expert says

Making a garden simpler is one way for greenhouse enthusiasts to keep it manageable as they get older, an expert has suggested. Page Dickey, a garden designer and writer in North Salem, New York, told the Washington Post how she and her husband changed their garden once they got into their 70s. Shifting to beds […]

Millions of Americans ‘sticking with gardening’

Millions of people in the US who took up gardening in their outside space or a greenhouse are sticking with it during the recovery, it has been suggested. Bruce Butterfield, research director for the National Gardening Association, told the Press Association that the current increase in food prices means people are deciding to keep on […]

South Carolina gardeners sharing with the needy

A community garden in Hartsville, South Carolina, has nearly doubled in size after just one year in operation and is sharing its bounty with people in the the local area who need it. The Come Grow With Us scheme has 43 plots rented this year, compared with the 27 it started with last spring, SCNOW […]

Philadelphia gardeners providing food for all

A group of gardeners in Philadelphia is taking home less than half of its crop this year and giving the rest to local soup kitchens and food pantries. Volunteers at the Doylestown Mennonite Church turn up twice a week to tend their varieties of plants including tomatoes, peppers, carrots, potatoes, squash, beans, herbs and flowers, […]

High-rise growing ‘a gardening challenge’

Growing plants in a high-rise building can be a tricky proposition for even the most green-fingered of individuals, but getting it right can be very rewarding, an expert has suggested. In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Center City landscape architect Michael LoFurno said the exaggerated weather conditions at height can be difficult to deal […]