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and distinctive early spring flowers; each with a yellow spathe in the middle of a surrounding white spadix, later superceded by a stick […]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 […]
The unpredictability of the British summer has made me look at the greenhouse with fresh new eyes. First and foremost of course, it’s a protective space to grow, a place to sow and grow seedlings early and late in the season, extending the growing season so it joins at both ends. But it is also […]
July has arrived with the promise of sunshine for many, so there will be plenty to enjoy in the garden. Rain, warmth and long days encourage seedlings to grow rapidly, so continue sowing fast growing salad crops as part of your programme of successional sowing; they are more tender if harvested when small. There is […]
Not often considered a greenhouse plant, more one for the dappled shade garden or semi-wild rockery. Yet since Victorian times Lily of the valley has been grown in tubs under cover, both for it’s beauty in foliage, flower and perfume and for a cut flower for the house. You might grow Convallaria from seed, it […]
I was expecting the road to becoming a bonafide eco-friendly gardener to be bumpy, but not to zig-zag off into quagmires of confusions. Hard landscaping has led me to such boggy places for, unless you chip your own wood (by hand) or cycle down to your nearest shellfish processor to fill your panniers with discarded […]
Sometimes all that’s missing in the garden is someone to share it with – and social media could provide a spur-of-the-moment solution.
