I love this stage of the greenhouse gardening year. Not, necessarily, because I am much enjoying being in the greenhouse right now, although I will admit that I love to be in there tending to the few overwintering seedling on the odd sunny day, the glass magnifying the heat and warming my back. But let’s […]
Gardeners beat to a different rhythm, so whilst most of the population were firmly focused on Christmas Day, turkey and Christmas pud, I was waiting for the shortest day on December 21st. Once that was over, the days would lengthen once again and the garden would revive like Sleeping Beauty freshly kissed by her Prince. […]
Not usually considered for a greenhouse Muscari are commonly spotted in early spring in an outdoor border for their reliable blue flowers, often mixed with daffodils and primroses. Known as Grape Hyacinths from the shape of each flower on their spikes of tiny blooms, these are both attractive and long lasting with a delightful perfume. […]
For the sake of animals, people and planet, it’s time to transition to manures we can grow. Every so often, I discover a project with the potential to turn the way we do gardening on its head – to make it fit for our rollercoaster future and, above all else, help it raise its ecological […]
When it comes to gardening, climate change means a revision of expectations and ideas. These days, an unheated greenhouse provides useful protection for tender crops for longer than ever before. When October frosts were the norm, you wouldn’t even consider leaving chillies to ripen in the greenhouse but now it is more commonplace. Keep checking […]
After years of trialing products for the Daily Telegraph I’ve had the pleasure and horror of trialing a huge variety of gardening tools, products and accessories for more than twenty years. Here are five of my all-time favourites Whether you are starting out gardening, or buying a gift for a garden-mad friend or relative for […]
I am leaf picking and it’s a very monotonous (and back-breaking) task and I’ve spent days getting muddy and I have tramp’s nails – no offence to men of the road intended here. My nails are ringed in black grime and impossible to clean! I wear them as a badge of honour though. It’s […]
The days are short and gloomy, and the greenhouse is packed with plants that are just huddled and sitting out the winter, passing time, nothing much doing. There is a time for everything and now is for exactly this sort of plant limbo, but…but…us gardeners do get itchy green fingers even in these darkened moments, […]
Celosias were first introduced from the Far East in the Sixteenth century before there were more than a handful of greenhouses so were not easy. Once the heated greenhouse became available then this relation of Amaranthus became immensely popular with over sixty species discovered and introduced from Africa, Asia and the Americas. Then they generally […]
It’s November and we’ve just had two weeks of what is known as anticyclonic gloom and it’s produced warm, still grey days that weigh down the soul. In fact, sun has been in short supply all year round here and the plants have definitely noticed. My nerines, for instance, have failed to put on their […]
With autumn in full swing, what’s the best thing to do with the leaves? Should you leave the leaves or something else? Jean Vernon explores. When we think of autumn leaves it either conjures the beauty of the fiery foliage fireworks as the trees shed their cloak and slip towards winter, or we envisage the […]
The potential for a grow-your-own revolution is already built into urban landscapes – all that is needed is the will and the vision to unleash it. After over 20 years of rural living, a fortnight spent in an urban, edge-of-town setting has reinforced my lifelong belief that gardening – in all its forms – is […]
