The potential for a grow-your-own revolution is already built into urban landscapes â 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 â in all its forms â is […]
There can now be no pretence that anything else is going to ripen in the greenhouse this year. A greenhouse can do a lot but the clocks have changed, the dark is creeping in, and the weather has cooled, and we have to give up thinking that those final rays of low sunlight might turn […]
Okay, I was misled into getting seed for this greenhouse âdelightâ, from the advertisements I foolishly imagined the flavour would be delicious. From itâs parentage it looked promising; the Solanum family gives us many tasty fruits, so this âeasy annualâ Lychee / Litchi Tomato, S. sisymbrifolium could be an excellent crop. Coming from Brazil this […]
Clear autumn leaves from gutters as they start to fall. Prevent downpipes from clogging by putting a pan scourer in the hole at the top, then clearing the debris as it backs up, from time to time. Collect rainwater in a waterbutt, when it is full, water at the base of fences under the eaves […]
Unlike the costly high-tech carbon capture and storage strategies being proposed to mitigate climate change, tree-planting is free, simple, people-powered â and proven. Iâve beaten the redwings to it. The crowd has skirted along the edge of the wood and descended on my neighbourâs rowans, where theyâre now merrily stripping them of their dazzling orange […]
Winter is knocking on the door once again and thereâs lots to do in the garden in preparation. The trouble is you can never predict what winter will bring and I would like every gardener to be provided with their own personal crystal ball â particularly now that our climateâs so changeable. What will the […]
Whether you want to plant for wildlife or deter burglars, the humble bramble has many attributes I have a long and chequered history with the humble blackberry. As a child I lived on a crescent of houses and in the middle of the crescent was an allotment site, where we had a plot. We didnât […]
It is annoying when one of your great greenhouse successes of the year is not one you planted⊠or even particularly wanted, but so it has proved this year. Call me a party pooper but I am not a big fan of a giant pumpkin. I love Halloweâen and I love the pumpkinâs role in […]
So why on Earth would you want to grow this in your greenhouse? Well, because this is a living âpot pourriâ. A South American relative of Asters itâs delightful though as the disparaging quote from Paxtonâs Botanical Dictionary suggests itâs neither graceful, compact, neat nor colourful. Thus certainly not a centrepiece, nor a background foliage […]
I hope you have invested in at least one Hartley Botanic Water Butt to collect rain from the deluge that has poured down on our glasshouses over the past weeks. Use the tepid rainwater in the greenhouse on acidic loving plants like Citrus and if you have spare, water under the eaves over winter in […]
Quiet, non-polluting, kind to wildlife, people-powered, earth-friendly: scythes win over strimmers on every count â but sometimes you need to see to believe. Itâs the sound that pulls them in â the harsh, honing rip of stone against steel isnât an everyday sound here. As soon as I start sharpening, heads start to turn. âIs […]
Most gardeners love to inject their garden with a huge dose of colour, Whether thatâs flamboyant bedding schemes, flowers for cutting or the spring spectacular of flowering bulbs. Colour is the lifeblood of most gardens. But it doesnât have to be dramatic and lairy, it can be soft and calming too. Learning how to use […]
