In my last piece I described a greenhouse gem; the chocolate scented Cosmos, which I also noted was not exactly one of the neatest looking shrubs. Oddly, another powerfully chocolate scented flower, Berlandiera lyrata, also comes as an unruly small shrub. Thereâs little obvious similarity in these even though theyâre both in the family Asteraceae, […]
Ventilate the Greenhouse on warm days but reduce this when temperatures drop later in the month and the amount of shading, so crops ripen and to avoid problems with grey mould caused by damp air and cooler nights. Before bringing plants in for overwintering check them for pests and diseases, and treat accordingly. Red spider […]
Imagine if you went to a restaurant and were served plastic vegetables? And when you complained the chef said that they were less maintenance, didnât need washing and would never go off. Would you eat them? Would you think, oh wow, thatâs a great idea, another way to circumvent nature? I donât think so. But […]
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With the climate crisis escalating and evidence of ecological breakdown all around us, itâs time to get serious about gardeningâs restorative potential. What if gardening stopped being fun â and became serious fun? Emergencies are skidding at us from around every corner: social, political, economic, ecological⌠the list grows as we face crises near and far, in […]
Gardeners are used to battling the elements, but 2022 has been a catastrophic event. It began with an âIâm-not-going-to-grow-for-you-at-the-momentâ dry winter and cool spring. That was followed by extreme heat and strong Saharan winds, so most peopleâs gardens (including mine) turned into a sea of brown. One evening I sat and watched as hummingbird-hawk moths […]
Once I had a kitchen garden. It was a large space, surrounded by a trellis fence so that it didnât appear part of the âproperâ garden, because it was a hard-working space, with a small glasshouse in one corner, compost heaps in another, and two long parallel rows of four-foot-wide raised beds. These were not […]
You can use your greenhouse not just for growing existing plants but also for obtaining a great many new ones, all for free. One way to do this is by propagation using cuttings. Another way is by harvesting seeds. Hereâs more on each of these methods. First, letâs look at growing plants from cuttings. In […]
We are finally into tomato season in the greenhouse. All of that preparation, nursing through the spring, staking, feeding, watering and general encouraging begins to finally pay off properly in August. Was it worth it? Well that depends. With a bit of luck you planted some beefsteak tomatoes. In a cool overcast summer you might […]
I doubt anyone entering your glasshouse will gasp âWhat a gorgeous specimenâ when their eyes glance upon Cosmos atrosanguineus Chocamocha. Admittedly this is an undistinguished leaved scantily flowering almost scruffy looking plant youâd not look twice at. However once their noses catch the delicious vanilla and hot chocolate scent they will be entranced. Then as […]
With 40° heatwaves and devastating wildfires now a routine part of a British summer, cool heads are needed on the plot. Surfing the clammy, 40°-plus breeze, Lex freewheeled down the winding street, legs splayed. Even with sunglasses on, he was still forced to squint. Every building was white: white walls, white roofs, white drives. White […]
Itâs time to sow Fennel, oriental vegetables like mizuna greens and Pak Choi, rocket, coriander dill, spinach, claytonia and land cress in modules as soon as you can. These will germinate quickly and can be planted out by mid-August for cropping in autumn. Continue sowing âcut and come againâ crops like mixed herbs, in pots, […]
