Hartley Magazine

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

Introducing Roger Marshall

Roger Marshall’s journey Gardening came to me naturally, while growing up in England in the 1950s. At that time, with war time shortages still distressing the UK economy, commercial fertilizers were hard to come by, so we made compost and used natural organic materials to fertilize our gardens, practices that I continue using today. English […]

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The swinging times of Spring – temps 65 degrees F to 27 degrees F

On April’s Fool’s Day, it was a balmy 65 in Chicago—with a forecast for 27 two nights later.That kind of grim joke is why it’s handy to have a greenhouse or a cold frame to even out the crazy temperature swings of springtime. One task that makes a greenhouse useful is starting bare-root plants. Perennials, […]

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Robin Stockwell and Debra Lee Baldwin Offer Great Advice for Succulent Success

Succulents’ time has come. This group of plants, which includes cactus, requires only one-third to one-fifth the water of other ornamentals. With long-term drought in the western U.S., interest has never been higher. Even in other parts of the country, succulents’ easy care and strong architectural presence make them eye catchers. There’s a succulent for […]