Figs really are the most curious of glasshouse fruits. These are very ancient crops developed from the wild form in western Asia where these were pollinated by a tiny Chalcid wasp that evolved to depend on the fig and vice versa. The way these wasps interact with the flowers, which are tiny and hidden inside […]
Before you go on holiday, it’s important to make arrangements for someone to look after your houseplants – ideally, someone who’s keen on gardening. If the draining board in your kitchen is not in shade, or you have a venetian blind to protect them from scorching sunshine (we live in hope!), group all your houseplants […]
I’ve just written an eco-friendly gardening book, The Living Jigsaw, and I got the chance to take part in the red-button Springwatch and was interviewed by a delightful man called Brett Westwood. I felt I already knew Brett. One of his books, Tweet of the Day, sits on my bedside table because in my youth […]
Jean Vernon turns the dilemma of ‘weeds’ on its head. The simple answer is to change your attitude to plants that you call ‘weeds’ and unless they are competing with your plants for food and water, or really taking over, learn to live with them. Most of the plants we regard as weeds are in […]
Build life into the structure of your garden – and create new, renewable habitat for its wildlife – by putting wood to work. Where would my garden be without the endless wonders of wood? While the solid framework of my terraced, edge-of-woodland patch relies on slate for its symmetry and stability, wood – in all […]
Inside the greenhouse or out in the garden, the tools you use will either make gardening a chore to be put off until tomorrow, or the pleasure that it truly is, luring you into the garden for your daily connection to nature. It’s an unwritten law that while the usefulness of a tool is in […]
Each month in this “Rooting for You” column, I seek out experts on some aspect of gardening. But this time I’m turning to a different authority—the plants themselves. Plants are good teachers. They give you quick feedback—are their needs met or not? They’re excellent storytellers—you can see the history of a tree by the scars […]
Always site your glasshouse in your sunniest spot, goes the gardening wisdom, and quite rightly too. There is little point going to all the trouble of buying and erecting a structure perfectly designed to capture every ray of sunlight and drop of warmth if you then plonk it in the lee of a building or […]
Whenever I see lawn grass start to go dormant in the summer I remember a guy I once met in a Chicago suburb who had replaced his front lawn with a carpet of prickly pear cactus. It kept kids and dogs out of his yard, he said, and he didn’t have to water it. Doing […]
Also known as Fringe flowers and Poor man’s orchids Schizanthus are a glorious way of filling a glasshouse with summer colour. Coming from S. America this small genus related to potatoes derives both common and scientific names from pretty pansy like blooms. These have split corollas and look much like orchids, and even more like […]
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Fresh tomatoes eaten straight from the plant, are one of the great pleasures of summer. So to get the best from your plants, keep them well shaded, ventilated, fed and watered throughout the growing season and ‘pinch out’ the stem just above the fourth truss to ensure that the fruits ripen. Feed with Epsom Salts […]
