There’s something magical about the cold stark winter light inside the greenhouse. It’s lit up with a skeletal beauty that shines and glows whenever the sun shines. The recent mild weather and winter sun has been enhanced by the greenhouse glass and inside it has really pushed they spring flowering bulbs into growth. The greenhouse […]
A little while ago I wrote here of having grown ginger, tumicini and turmeric roots in my glasshouse among other similarly exotic things, as an experiment. I bought the roots from a Thai super market, very much inspired by a Thai grower I met last year who told me that as the British weather didn’t […]
Christmas is getting closer by the day, so it’s time to start planning those presents so you don’t have the familiar panic on Christmas Eve having realised that you have forgotten to buy a gift (like I traditionally do). If there is someone in your family or circle of friends who is a keen gardener […]
Winter pruning of apple and pear trees is important so that they remain attractive, easy to manage, healthy and crop prolifically. You can prune anytime between leaf fall and bud burst, providing the weather is not cold and frosty; the aim is to create an open goblet shape. First, remove any shoots or branches that […]
As gardening is reinvented as just another form of retail therapy, will one man’s quest to get some dirt between our toes inspire us to shop less and garden more? The socks are off…
One in ten people are going home to warm and relaxing hot tubs in their own garden these days, and there is no reason you shouldn’t be one of those people. Hot tubs add a real touch of luxury to a home that is hard to achieve from anything else. However for most people in […]
You need a frost free greenhouse, warm conservatory or very sunny window sill for this gem, which is a guaranteed conversation piece. In fact this is not so much a gem as a god, for it is a venerated plant deity. Lophophora williamsii, mescal, peyote, peyote, and other variations, is the famous magic cactus worshipped […]
Hartley Botanic Glasshouses teamed up with RHS Hyde Hall Garden Curator Ian Le Gros and his team to host an RHS /Hartley members evening for nearly 70 people on October 3rd.
Over the past few days I have passed two specimens of Prunus sargentii in a garden while taking the children to school; this lovely small tree, renowned for its early autumn colour, never lets me down. It bookends the growing season, with masses of pink flowers in spring and is one of the earliest trees […]
Many moons ago I wrote a dissertation on crop plants for the future, sadly it was pre computers and I doubt wethter I could lay my hands on a copy of it now. It was back in the days when the quest to save the world’s food crisis was all about feeding the starving rather […]
It is a well-known fact that during winter, incidents of burglary are more common throughout the country. As the nights draw in, burglars and thieves are able to use the cover of darkness to extend the hours of their ‘work’. Thankfully however, there are steps that we can take to help secure our gardens from […]
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