At Hartley Botanic we have a good relationship with many knowledgeable garden writers both in the UK and USA – here you can enjoy reading their articles and gardening tips.
A greenhouse is wonderful full of gorgeous foliage and beautiful flowers with lovely scents but when needed can become a remarkably productive food machine. The extra warmth and shelter enables more outdoor crops, to get others off to a flying start and produces huge quantities of salads and fruits almost year round. Fortunately for us […]
There is nothing quite like a home-grown, sun-warmed tomato picked fresh from the greenhouse and a fair few of mine never reach the table when the grandchildren are sent out to hunter gather! We grow lots of different types from cherry, to plum, to beefsteak, to medium-sized and round and, although we major on reds, […]
Thinking of growing a few more veg for your menus this season? Give peas a grow, you might be surprised how versatile these plants are What comes to mind when you think of peas? Mushy peas with your supper, or podding peas at the kitchen sink? If you’ve grown peas before you might have discovered […]
An excellent architectural plant for a frost free greenhouse or conservatory is the Pony-tail, Bottle or Elephant’s Foot palm. A corky trunk with an emerging mane of strange linear leaves makes this most striking and even more so when you notice the exceptionally wide base. Slow growing this relation of the better known Cordyline palms […]
What a dreadfully wet winter we’re having. I hope that you aren’t suffering too much from the incessant rain from one of the wettest winter’s on record and your garden isn’t too waterlogged, either. Rather than letting the rainwater from the water butts on your greenhouse go to waste, water parts of your garden that […]
Amidst mounting evidence of climate chaos, how best to cultivate a planet-friendly garden? As the flood waters rise, so do new and troubling questions. I live and garden in a land of conundrums. The sheer power of our two most recent storms – Ciara and Dennis – has hit communities hard here in Snowdonia’s foothills. […]
As a young thing I used to wear incredibly short miniskirts, known as pelmets by friends and family. I trained as a teacher and when it came to getting a job I went for a fair few interviews. I emerged without one job offer, despite having done well on the course, mainly due to the […]
Whether you are vegan looking for homegrown plant protein, or want to get the kids interested in plants – Peanuts may be the answer I’ve always been fascinated by peanuts. And I’ve tried a few times to grow my own. The trouble has been getting viable seed, or basically peanuts that haven’t been roasted, irradiated […]
One of the first tasks of my greenhouse year is to start waking up those plants that have been tucked away in them all winter. Mine being an unheated greenhouse, my overwintering is only of plants that have some level of hardiness already, plants such as pelargoniums, aeoniums and other succulents that would even survive […]
Few flowers are so brilliant as greenhouse or florist’s Azaleas. Coming in a profusion of varieties these are especially welcome bursts of colour throughout late winter. Such vivid blooms come in whites through velvety pinks to extreme reds on neat compact, usually, evergreen plants. Of course just as with their outdoor cousins our indoor Azaleas […]
From early February onwards, it’s time to sprout (or ‘chit’) new potatoes. Put them in a tray or egg box with the ‘rose’ end, upwards (where all the buds or ‘eye’s’ are clustered), at about 7C (45F). After four to five weeks the shoots should be about 5cm (2”) long and they will be ready […]
Keeping honeybees to save the bees just won’t cut it and here’s why, says Jean Vernon. Bees, as we know, are in deep trouble. Dubbed the modern coalmine canary; their spiraling demise has scientists, naturalists and environmentalists running scared. Become a beekeeper?? The knee jerk reaction by many well-meaning bee supporters has been to take […]
