The winter months, when apart from popping into the garden to enjoy the winter flowers and harvest vegetables are one time of year when you really appreciate the pleasures of having a greenhouse to potter in. It’s not the busiest period of the year but you can still weed the benches, continue to sow ‘Cut […]
It is just about time for the dahlias that I planted in pots in the greenhouse in spring to come in for the winter, or else to be prepared for a winter outside. The latter is a bit of a risky game, particularly if we have a winter like last year’s. It chilled many dahlia […]
As the seasonal tide of merchandise threatens to engulf us, have we reached a tipping point? It’s time to start saying no to stuff. It didn’t make much of a thud, it didn’t shatter into a thousand gratifying pieces, and it hasn’t done anything for my faith in gardening being a force for good in […]
One of the first things I did when I moved to Cold Aston, some fourteen years ago, was to plant five fruit trees. I chose three apples and two pears, but I’ve had far more success with apples than pears. You see, apples cope well with my chilly conditions and we’ve been eating ‘Pitmaston Pine-apple’ […]
Until plastic started washing up on our beaches and hitting the television screens with heart wrenching scenes of wildlife entangled in rubbish, plastic was fantastic. In many ways it still is fantastic, it’s not really the plastic that’s the problem, its what we do with it and how we dispose of it. For such a […]
Stevia rebaudiana is a tender greenhouse herbaceous perennial that hardly stands out. A foot or two high with neat green leaves and small white flowers in summer (if not trimmed off) this is just a ‘nice looking’ plant. However growing this is right on trend as it’s one of the new ‘super food’ sweeteners. The […]
As the nights draw in and temperatures drop there is still plenty to do in the greenhouse. Sow sweet peas in a cool greenhouse for an early display next year. For more details, see October’s diary. Continue to sow batches of winter salads weekly in an unheated greenhouse (See September diary). As temperatures are lower […]
The news is full of stories of invading ladybirds riddled with sexually transmitted disease, spiders with venomous bites and robotic bees. Is it time we just managed without insects asks Jean Vernon? What is the point of insects? What do they do? They bite or sting. They spread diseases. They eat our food. Can’t we […]
Close the loop: a modest, well-mannered shredder can convert tough green ‘waste’ into mulching magic, and let you keep all of your garden’s fertility on site. I’ve just been absorbed in a day of magical, hands-on fun in balmy autumn sunshine. Serenaded by a gentle clatter of falling oak leaves, and by the sudden, startling […]
We have an evictee from the greenhouse. This is chilli ‘Lemon Drop’, who was sown too late to ever really amount to anything, and so – fair enough – went on to do little. You can see that chillies are now starting to form, but this is not exactly a bumper crop. However it could […]
There’s no question about it. I have too many hellebores in my garden. I know this is true because the famous nurseryman, Bob Brown, once came to my garden and exclaimed in basso profundo “too many hellebores Val.” The late Christopher Lloyd, of Great Dixter, went even further and called people like me helle-bores. Fortunately […]
A tub of Coral Drops can add one of the very brightest splashes of colour to your greenhouse or conservatory from late summer till early winter. Very easy to bring into flower and then continuing over weeks even months this was introduced from Mexico in 1850 and soon became popular in great gardens. Then as […]
