In these days of credit crisis, what we grow to eat in our gardens and greenhouses plays a more and more important role in our lives. These days it’s not a lifestyle choice to grow your own, but a moral obligation and for many a commonsense solution to making ends meet. Greenhouse space is often […]

Step back, let live, and try a little gardening on the wild side. A laid-back approach has all sorts of benefits – starting with more time to enjoy it all.

You don’t need a greenhouse to grow Dahlias but having one is an immense help especially until the frosts are over. There are Dahlias in almost every colour save blue with an almost extravagant series of sizes and sorts such as Cactus, Pompon, Peony and Ball flowered. Many of these are great for cut flowers […]

And spike and scarify, for September is the traditional month for lawn maintenance, a job I find immensely satisfying. If you have a small lawn, rake out the ‘thatch’ or dead grass and moss that has accumulated over the mowing season with a wire rake or buy an electric scarifier. Hire a motorised scarifier if […]

This time last year I visited a Thai woman living in Dorset who grew the crops of her homeland in her greenhouse. On arriving in England, Nid had despaired of ever growing anything she knew, but she said: ‘I soon found out why everyone in England has a greenhouse’. She got one herself and set […]

When you grow your own fruit, vegetables and greenhouse crops you fully understand the time and effort that is invested into every mouthful. The Grow Your Own fanatic is not going to waste a morsel; every tomato, bean and cucumber will be devoured with relish, or simply pickled, jammed or chutneyed, or just eaten fresh […]

Though my raspberries have been a disappointment this year, there has been a remarkable crop of apples – a great compensation. Some of the cordons are overburdened, but one of the most surprising is a ‘Claygate Pearmain’, shown in the picture, it’s cropped poorly for several years but now definitely needs thinning! Early August is […]

You could use your greenhouse to force pots of our native Arum maculatum lilies, the wild Lords & ladies or Cuckoo-pints. These are known for their clumps of glossy hosta like leaves and distinctive early spring flowers; each with a yellow spathe in the middle of a surrounding white spadix, later superceded by a stick […]

A few days of sunshine and the greenhouse becomes a real summer hot house, just perfect for all your sun loving plants. And that’s of course why we have a greenhouse, to harness the energy of the sun and use it to boost plant growth and improve conditions for our hothouse flowers. While ventilation is […]

It’s time that the strimmer’s infernal whine, insidious pollution and indiscriminate destruction made way for some real cutting-edge technology.

The greenhouse may be nearly empty but the plot is full. Completely and utterly chock full, just as is right and proper in July. The plug plants that jostled for space on the greenhouse table and floor have slowly found their places in rows of varying degrees of straightness, and – with a great effort […]