Locally adapted varieties, UK-grown seed, and a company owned by growers and gardeners: a new venture aims to future-proof our seed supply by bringing it all back home. Itās always struck me how smaller seed companies, often those with the most colourful and engaging tales to tell, have the dourest of seed packets. Iām not […]
Okay I admit of all glasshouse and conservatory plants Ficus benjamina might be considered one of the less flamboyant. Indeed this is just a foliage plant, mind you what lovely clean glossy foliage and on such delightfully neat shrubs. Tough and reliable benjaminas have long proved popular with gardeners and indoor decorators just because they […]
The Best Beloved has made a declaration. Apparently I have 91 named snowdrops that need planting and 30 of these are bedded into part of the vegetable bed, his vegetable bed, and āthey will need planting firstā he intones with great authority. I have acquired these treasures in the last few months, from various sources, […]
Press ReleaseĀ For Immediate Release RHS ENDORSES HARTLEY BOTANICāS ENTIRE PRODUCT PORTFOLIO HARTLEY BOTANIC, MANUFACTURER OF HANDMADE, BRITISH GREENHOUSES, ANNOUNCES PRESTIGIOUS RHS ENDORSEMENT As it approaches its 80th anniversary, Lancashire-based greenhouse and glasshouse manufacturer Hartley Botanic announces the endorsement of its entire product range by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). The British manufacturer founded in 1938 […]
March is the month of seed sowing, especially in the vegetable garden. Start preparing your seedbeds beforehand by raking the ground to a rough level and covering it with clear or black polythene to warm the soil. Clear polythene is preferable, as it encourages weed seeds to germinate which can be hoed off beforehand, so […]
Decorating a conservatory, garden or patio doesnāt begin and end with fussy plants and lawn chairs. And in this monthās article let me revisit my favorite trick ā decorating with light: for me, luminarias and Christmas twinkle lights (see Decemberās article) are just the tip of bulb. With this article, I hope to win even […]
Yes you can, they are easy to grow, something a little different and a great way to get the kids interested in gardening. Far from being a new super food, tiger nuts were actually a mainstay in the war and post war era, a slightly sweet treat that offered something a little different for the […]
Consider the global air pollution crisis alongside the desperate need to conserve resources and thereās only one possible conclusion: itās time to extinguish the tradition of the garden bonfire. As a boy, I was pretty whiffy. Out in the garden until dark, I would eventually come indoors, a noxious plume in my wake. A bath […]
At Hartley we always strive for perfection Whether creating a beautiful custom made greenhouse, handmade for a customer, or one of our team meeting someone for the first time, we want to express our passion for business and products. Even our business cards get the handmade treatment from the skilled and traditional workforce at Barnard […]
We share a commonality with bees and butterflies. We are all drawn to flowers. As gardeners we grow them, admire them, and arrange them, both outdoors and in the greenhouse. But, often, we tend to overlook what accompanies that panoply of colorsāthe foliage. Now Karen Chapman and Christina Salwitz have written an eye-opening new book, […]
If you have made good use of your greenhouse for starting off winter vegetables last spring and summer you will be feeling pretty smug about the so-called veg crisis right now. Even me saying āso calledā is pretty smug, but as all good gardeners know, this is not really a veg crisis at all but […]
āWhy are you growing houseleeks in your greenhouse?ā said a friend looking at some Echeverias I had around the base of a Bougainvillea. An easily made mistake for these are a fine example of parallel evolution. Houseleeks are temperate plants designed to survive conditions as harsh and impoverished as crevices of dirt on rock-piles or […]
