Blossom End Rot, where the end of tomatoes becomes circular, black and flattened, occurs in peppers and aubergines, squashes and watermelons but is most often seen in tomatoes. It is caused by lack of calcium in the fruits. Plants in soil, growing bags and potting composts rarely lack a supply of calcium but what they […]
One of the great things about owning a Hartley greenhouse is the sense of escape in a modern world fraught with difficulty. It’s like your own miniature TARDIS and when you walk down the garden path and through the door you’re lost in another world. It doesn’t matter about the vagaries of the British climate […]
As global heating escalates, we can’t go on gardening as usual. It’s time for disruptive gardeners’ questions – and for some serious answers from our ‘experts’. ‘Thought I’d never make it!’ A middle-aged, tanned and fragrant woman slid in through the back door. ‘What’s going on out the front?’ She dabbed sweat from her forehead. ‘We’re […]
Every day now we are reaping the rewards of the greenhouse and having fresh and green summer veg for our lunch. The harvesting itself is not necessarily from the greenhouse right now – though there is a little of that as the pots of strawberries that we put in there to protect them from the […]
It’s time to fall in love with snails. Jean Vernon unravels some of the myths and magic regarding these creatures Snails? What good are they? I hear you ask? Well you might be very surprised what different roles these unassuming characters play not just in your garden but in the greater environment too. Food stuff […]
Indian Shot or Cannas are happiest in frost free greenhouses or a conservatory, they can even go outside all summer. But their lush foliage and incandescent blooms look better for longer under cover where their tropical appearance also seems more appropriate. Found in almost all frost free parts of the world the Cannas are possibly […]
July is a busy time in the greenhouse, not just for maintenance but sowing and harvesting, too. Maintain a regular regime of feeding and watering with tepid water. Find out if your containerised plants need watering by sticking your finger into the surface of the compost, if your finger is free of compost particles when […]
I like this time of year in the greenhouse. I find the rush of spring almost overwhelming and hate that feeling that I’m never quite keeping up with everything – that mad dash to get everything sown and into pots and then into the ground in time to take advantage of our always-too-short season keeps […]
The best thing about having a Hartley greenhouse, especially in the sort of summer we seem to be having, is that you can get away from the weather. This year my peonies were washed away in mid-June and then my roses took a real battering at the end of the month. In fact I’ve never […]
Forget complex, resource-hungry gadgetry, and soak up simplicity: earth-friendly mulches make greenhouse watering easy and guilt-free. Gardening – especially any-weather greenhouse gardening – is a just-steps-away activity that offers us sanctuary from our increasingly busy-busy, rushed, technology-driven lives. Plants don’t go ever-faster to keep up with the latest app, or to improve their efficiency; they just grow, chasing […]
If you want to do something that will make a big difference to the environment, plant trees says Jean Vernon Trees are the lungs of the planet. During the day they use carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in a process called photosynthesis that makes sugars to fuel their growth and produces oxygen. It’s a phenomenal […]
Devil’s Ivy is a robust variegated scrambling climber, not exactly exciting but so very useful. It’s one of those near bomb-proof plants essential in warm greenhouse, frost free conservatory, the home and many an office. A born survivor it puts up with shade and neglect only eventually dying from cold, prolonged drought or severe water-logging. […]
