Top tips for a terrific tree
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| Friday, 10th December 2010 |
| Follow our advice to keep your tree beautiful all Christmas long! |
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Small is beautiful!
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| Friday, 30th October 2009 |
| Most gardeners know that this is the season for planting daffodils and tulips. In fact to my mind there is nothing really as good at heralding the spring as the nodding yellow blooms of early daffodils. |
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Berried treasure!
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| Wednesday, 21st October 2009 |
| I actually adore autumn. Why? Well, there’s a certain kind of warmth and ‘cosiness’ to it. |
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Yuccas aren’t yucky, and ’ave an agave, too!
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| Friday, 18th September 2009 |
Think of ‘exotic’ plants in the garden and you will conjure images of palm trees and perhaps tropical bananas. Then maybe there are some cannas, those wonderfully hot, exotic-looking plants known as ‘Indian shot’ – goodness knows why they’re called that!
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Make your greenhouse a clean house!
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| Wednesday, 1st April 2009 |
I would always recommend that a gardener has greenhouse. The extra heat and warmth a good greenhouse can provide will revolutionise your gardening. You can propagate plants. You can overwinter tender plants.
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Late veg sowings
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| Monday, 15th September 2008 |
| Whoever thinks that with the onset of summer the seed sowing season is over, has got it completely wrong! |
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Autumn v. spring planting
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| Thursday, 11th September 2008 |
As one of my favourite comedians, Harry Hill, might say on his show TV Burp, “Autumn planting or spring planting – which is best? There is only one way to find out. Fight!”
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A host of golden daffodils…
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| Thursday, 4th September 2008 |
Wordsworth knew a thing or two about poetry, and daffodils as well, of course. Ask anyone to name ‘spring flowers’, and most will come up with the daffodil within the first two or three suggestions.
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Feeling fruity – for months to come!
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| Thursday, 28th August 2008 |
Technically summer still has three more weeks (until September 21st), and then we are supposed to start the autumn season.
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It’s a jungle out there!
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| Thursday, 21st August 2008 |
We all aspire to warmer climes and a touch of the exotic. Foreign travel has broadened our outlook with so many new and glamorous locations having opened up.
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Herb your enthusiasm!
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| Thursday, 14th August 2008 |
I have a real soft spot for herbs. And it’s right next to my back door – hah!
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Sniffing whiffs and pretty pongs!
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| Thursday, 7th August 2008 |
Do you like the fragrances of certain flowers? The musky rose? The ever-so-sweet sweet pea? The heady gardenia? The delicate yet powerful mock orange blossom?
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Don’t make a mockery of your rockery!
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| Thursday, 31st July 2008 |
If you have a lovely rockery – either built yourself, or perhaps it was already there when you moved in – you owe it to yourself to make it look good. And once you start looking for a few choice plants…there is a good chance you’ll get hooked!
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The birds and the bees (and the badgers!)
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| Thursday, 24th July 2008 |
You know the delight some gardeners have of opening their gardens for charity? It’s a great thing. Much of it comes under the auspices of the National Gardens Scheme (which produces the annual Yellow Book of gardens that open).
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The absentee gardener!
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| Thursday, 17th July 2008 |
| The summer of 2006 was the hottest on record. Many of us were melting in the heat, and there was a national shortage of water butts. The summer of 2007 however was the wettest on record. |
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Topiary, or not topiary, that is the question!
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| Thursday, 10th July 2008 |
| If you visit the garden centre you’ll see many different shaped items of ‘topiary’ – that is, potted shrubby plants trained and trimmed into three-dimensional sculptures. |
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Days of wine and shrub roses!
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| Thursday, 3rd July 2008 |
It’s Hampton Court Palace Flower Show time again, and one part of it I always enjoy is the rose marquee. This is where many of the country’s rose breeders and nurseries put together displays of some of their newest and best varieties.
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Swell pels serve me well!
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| Thursday, 26th June 2008 |
| When one looks at the Plant Centre during the course of the year there are several times when it is in full, glorious colour. |
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Food glorious food…
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| Thursday, 19th June 2008 |
Getting one’s own diet right can be tricky enough (less carbs and fats, more vitamins and proteins, controlled sugars, etc), but we should be just as careful with how we feed our plants!
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Goosegogs and currant affairs…
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| Thursday, 12th June 2008 |
| Soft fruits are distinguished from top fruits (apples, pears, plums, cherries, etc) because, well, they’re soft! The cane fruits (raspberries, blackberries, etc) and the strawberries are looking after themselves pretty well right now, but the gooseberries |
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Pesky pests and debilitating diseases…
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| Thursday, 5th June 2008 |
If there is one thing in gardening that is guaranteed to get my nostrils flaring and my hackles (whatever they are) rising, it’s the dreaded ‘P & D’ phenomenon. Pests and diseases!
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How to grow border irises!
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| Thursday, 29th May 2008 |
| How good are you at Greek Mythology? Me? I’m rubbish, but I do know that Iris was the name given to the most dazzling figure in it. |
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Don’t be a meany – plant a peony!
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| Thursday, 22nd May 2008 |
Every day customers come in to the garden centre and ask us to recommend plants for specific situations or with certain attributes.
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Change the bedding!
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| Thursday, 15th May 2008 |
Red, white and blue – the colours of the Union Jack – were the most frequently seen shades in summer flowerbeds when I was a mere tot.
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Strawberry fayre
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| Thursday, 8th May 2008 |
Here’s a question for you. Which is the only fruit to have its seeds on the ‘outside’? The strawberry of course.
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The zing and tang of green salads
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| Thursday, 1st May 2008 |
| What do you like in your salads? There are the colourful types of salad veg such as tomatoes, sweet corn, chopped carrot, sliced beetroot and radish, red and yellow peppers…and even strawberries. |
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Let ’em hang!
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| Thursday, 24th April 2008 |
I love this time of year. The garden centre is choc-a-bloc, filled with planted up containers. Customers come along and can pick from hundreds of ready-planted tubs, pots and hanging baskets. And for me, it means that the better weather is finally here.
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Spikes and spires!
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| Thursday, 17th April 2008 |
| Last week I talked about cottage gardens, and how the concept of a country garden with a mix of flowers is such an appealing thing: |
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Chocolate boxes and fairy tale cottages
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| Thursday, 10th April 2008 |
| If you live in a thatched property called 'Daisy Nook' or 'Plum Cottage', then you probably already have a garden that is quaintly referred to as a 'cottage garden'. |
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You say tomato, we say…fantastic!
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| Thursday, 3rd April 2008 |
Fancy a slice of love apple? This is the old English name for the humble tomato, given to it in the belief that it was an aphrodisiac. Whether it is or not – and I couldn’t possibly comment – it is certainly a favourite ingredient of mine.
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Looking to the fuchsia!
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| Thursday, 27th March 2008 |
A friend of mine used to be the editor of a national gardening magazine (Amateur Gardening, the weekly that started life in 1884 and is still going strong).
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Spring into action on the lawn
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| Thursday, 20th March 2008 |
We all love a weed-free, straight and striped lawn…but in order to achieve this we need to put some work in. And now is when you should start your yearly maintenance programme.
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Ponds, pools and water features
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| Thursday, 13th March 2008 |
| For me there is no doubt that one of the greatest joys in the garden is a pond. You just have to watch the fish, the frogs, and the other forms of wildlife to immediately feel that there is peace in this world. |
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Essential tool kits!
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| Thursday, 6th March 2008 |
My offering this week, I suppose, is really aimed at the beginner gardener who may be venturing into the great outdoors for the first time.
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A pot of ‘pot mums’ for mum!
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| Thursday, 28th February 2008 |
This Sunday is Mothering Sunday, and it’s the traditional time for offspring to give their mothers a token of gratitude and thanks for a lifetime of care.
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Pots of peas and tubs of toms!
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| Thursday, 21st February 2008 |
| There are many of us, sadly, who would love to grow our own vegetables at home – but the trouble is our homes (or more correctly our gardens) don't allow it. |
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Give your birds a Valentine treat!
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| Thursday, 14th February 2008 |
Today (Thursday) is St Valentine’s Day. It’s the time when couples express their love by offering anything from flowers (of course) to chocolates (oh yes!).
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Shrubs with winter colour – and scent
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| Thursday, 7th February 2008 |
Most people have plenty of summer-flowering shrubs, but they steadfastly ignore the garden in winter. It is in winter when we desperately need a bit of colour in our lives.
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Bonsai: small but perfectly formed!
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| Thursday, 31st January 2008 |
| A customer came up to me in the garden centre a few years ago and asked about bonsai trees. When I explained that the way to keep them small was to constrict the roots by growing them in small containers, she said: “Oh how cruel! |
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There’s no place like gnome!
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| Thursday, 24th January 2008 |
Going to an art gallery brings out the loving and loathing in people. Some just adore the art they see, whilst others detest it. Some, of course, are just indifferent.
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Bulbs to light the winter scene
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| Thursday, 17th January 2008 |
With apologies to Sir Michael Caine (who is actually a very keen and knowledgeable gardener himself): ‘Did you know… that bulbs can flower in winter? Oh yes they can. Not a lot of people know that’!
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Time for a makeover – extreme or otherwise…
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| Thursday, 10th January 2008 |
| I’m a black-and-white sort of person. I do understand, however, that there are many people at the opposite end of the spectrum. |
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The new gardening year starts here…
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| Thursday, 3rd January 2008 |
| As we push down the last crumbs from the Christmas cake, and the final mince pies of the year are consumed, many of us tend to sit back and start to regret that bloated feeling. |
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Winter wonderland of wildlife!
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| Thursday, 13th December 2007 |
| We may decide, quite understandably, to stay indoors more during winter, but the outdoor garden is home 365-days a year to animals, birds and all sorts of other creatures. |
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Christmas tree? Get real!
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| Thursday, 6th December 2007 |
| It’s that time of year again…the goose had gotten fat, town centres have fairy lights hanging off anything they can hang off, and postpeople everywhere are groaning under the weight of the Christmas cards. |
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House plant Heaven!
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| Thursday, 29th November 2007 |
| When the weather outside is uninviting, our indoor plants become all the more important to us. |
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Doing the winter wrap!
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| Thursday, 22nd November 2007 |
It’s that time of year when those of us with tender plants start to get a bit fidgety. The cold weather can play havoc with some of our less hardy plants.
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What’s on the menu for birds this winter?
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| Thursday, 15th November 2007 |
| In 2006 we had a long, hot dry summer (remember: droughts and a water butt shortage – how could I forget?). This year is a different story, however. |
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Winter treasures!
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| Thursday, 8th November 2007 |
| I asked a non-gardener: “What is the best thing about winter?” “They responded: “Sitting in front of a warm fire drinking hot chocolate!” |
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Being comfortable with conifers!
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| Thursday, 1st November 2007 |
| Conifers generally have a bad press! They are often regarded as ‘boring’ and ‘green’. |
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Hedges with edges!
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| Thursday, 25th October 2007 |
Last week I said that October and November were the best months for planting soft fruit. These are also the best months for planting a hedge.
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Soft, squidgy and full of goodness!
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| Thursday, 18th October 2007 |
| October and November are the best months for planting soft fruit. |
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Climate change and the impact on our gardens
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| Thursday, 11th October 2007 |
| How would I describe this year’s summer? Well, in all honesty, probably the greyest and gloomiest I’ve known! |
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Able tables and boxing clever!
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| Thursday, 4th October 2007 |
| I view garden birds at this time of year with mixed feelings. On the one hand it’s a delight to see our feathered friends, and it’s always nice to give them a helping hand. |
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The year of the wet lawn!
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| Thursday, 27th September 2007 |
Our lawns have really been hit hard this year. Last winter we had lower than expected rainfall, and back in April, when we had a warm spell, the grass was actually starting to turn brown.
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Gold leaf, as well as orange, red, purple…
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| Thursday, 20th September 2007 |
| There is far more beauty to the autumn garden than people realise. |
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Conversation about conservatories!
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| Thursday, 13th September 2007 |
| The last couple of decades have seen a massive increase in the number of conservatories that have been built. |
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Storage eaters!
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| Thursday, 6th September 2007 |
| I have a real love of autumn. Yes, it’s the long wind down to winter…but there’s something comforting about it. I love the evocative misty mornings and the dew-drenched cobwebs. |
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Bulbs to light the spring garden!
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| Thursday, 30th August 2007 |
For the next three months or so, you can plant bulbs for flowering in the spring. But don’t wait too long – not because it’ll be too late for the planting, but because all the best bulbs from the garden centre will be sold!
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Harvesting and storing veg
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| Thursday, 23rd August 2007 |
You will have heard a great many people say it this summer: “It’s been a strange year for the weather!” And they’re not wrong!
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Herbal verbal!
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| Thursday, 16th August 2007 |
| Herbs have changed the way we live. Culinary herbs enrich our foods; medicinal herbs help keep us well, and cosmetic herbs go into making us look good and feel better about ourselves. |
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A rose by any other name!
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| Thursday, 9th August 2007 |
| National sales of roses last year went up by almost 40 per cent. Suddenly they have come back into fashion after being in the doldrums since the mid-1980s. |
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There’s nothing as satisfying as proper-gation!
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| Thursday, 2nd August 2007 |
| It’s really satisfying to get something for nothing, and taking cuttings of shrubs is the cheapest way to garden. |
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When you’re away…the garden is absolutely fine, thank you!
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| Thursday, 19th July 2007 |
| Last year we many of us spent our holidays in Bognor, Benidorm or Bulawayo, right in the middle of the drought, only to return to discover that our green and pleasant lands had turned into cork matting. |
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Successful succulents
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| Thursday, 12th July 2007 |
All are, but not all are! What am I talking about? No, I’m not going mad. You see, all cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti!
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A rose by any other name!
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| Thursday, 5th July 2007 |
| This week it’s the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, and one of the key features of this annual horticultural extravaganza for me is the rose marquee. |
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Social climbers!
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| Thursday, 28th June 2007 |
| One of the first gardening-related jokes I ever heard was: How do you get Ivy to climb faster? Answer: Give her a leg up! |
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It’s a cover up!
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| Thursday, 21st June 2007 |
How low can a gardener get? The answer is ‘very low’ – especially if you’re talking about ground cover plants.
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Anyone for strawberries?
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| Thursday, 14th June 2007 |
It’ll be Wimbledon in a couple of weeks, and along with names like Ivanovic, Federer, Bartoli and Sharapova there is a name with which many of those visiting the tournament will not be familiar – ‘Elsanta’.
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Water, water everywhere…and we must not waste it!
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| Thursday, 7th June 2007 |
Once again the subject on every gardener’s lips at the moment is that of water, or rather the lack of it.
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The first cut is the deepest!
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| Thursday, 31st May 2007 |
| There are few subjects that fill a newcomer to gardening with dread as much as that of ‘pruning’. Why is it that different plants need pruning in different ways (and some don’t need pruning at all)? |
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This gardening music has been rotten and decomposed by me!
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| Thursday, 24th May 2007 |
Being ‘green’ is the buzzword these days. We have to minimize our ‘carbon footprints’, reduce our ‘food miles’, and we must all become ‘eco-warriors’!
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Pots of flavour and fragrance!
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| Thursday, 17th May 2007 |
| All of the gardening books about herbs will tell you that you should grow them near to the back door. |
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Be a complete basket case this summer!
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| Thursday, 10th May 2007 |
| More than once in the past few years local councils around the country have ‘outlawed’ hanging baskets in public places for fear of safety. |
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Full of beans … and peas!
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| Thursday, 3rd May 2007 |
| The ‘pod and seed’ vegetables are pretty enough to be grown for their decorative qualities alone, but they’re also full of vital vitamins and minerals. |
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Light the garden with summer bulbs!
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| Thursday, 26th April 2007 |
As you look out of your window what will you see…the late daffodils perhaps, or tulips? Certainly the other spring bulbs will have long finished – the crocuses, hyacinths and snowdrops are all but a distant memory.
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Plant food, glorious food….!
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| Thursday, 19th April 2007 |
| A trip to the garden centre is always a joy, but if you’re wanting to buy some plant fertiliser, and you don’t know exactly what you want – prepare to be baffled! |
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Salad days!
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| Thursday, 12th April 2007 |
| Whatever kind of gardener you are, you cannot endure a year without growing a few salad plants. They are so easy – and so necessary for summer eating (or eating at any time). |
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Give your grass a going over!
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| Thursday, 5th April 2007 |
We love our lawns, and this winter they’ve had a fair amount of bashing – by the rain. Last summer they had an equal amount of bashing – by the drought! What’s going on with this climate thing?
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I predict a riot…of colour this summer!
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| Thursday, 29th March 2007 |
| It was only a few years ago really when, if a gardener wanted some summer bedding plants – such as petunias, begonias, salvias, snapdragons, and so on – they had just two options. |
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Keep ’em clean!
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| Thursday, 22nd March 2007 |
My grandfather was my original gardening ‘inspiration’, and one of the first things he taught me, when I was just knee-high to a grasshopper, was always to use clean tools.
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Soil toil!
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| Thursday, 15th March 2007 |
It’s dirty. It’s mucky. And if you’re any sort of gardener, it gets right under your fingernails! The soil is singularly the most important part of a garden.
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Early spring bulbs to light your garden!
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| Thursday, 8th March 2007 |
| Miniature narcissus, crocuses and snowdrops have all been out for a while, and really brighten up a dull winter garden. But there is nothing really as good at heralding the spring as the nodding yellow blooms of early daffodils. |
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Pesticide-free veg!
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| Thursday, 1st March 2007 |
| It is a fact that nearly all gardeners ‘want’ to be organic, yet very few really are. |
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These plants are not helle-boring!
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| Thursday, 22nd February 2007 |
| There’s a bug going round and it’s really infectious! I’m no doctor, but even I can see it in many of the people that visit the garden centre. |
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Pondering a pond?
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| Thursday, 15th February 2007 |
| Customers at the garden centre frequently tell me that one of their greatest joys in the garden is their pond. |
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And sow – to the greenhouse!!
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| Thursday, 8th February 2007 |
| It hardly seems possible that spring is just around the corner. |
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Lucky heather!
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| Thursday, 1st February 2007 |
Heathers are delightful, tough little plants, and although they are not particularly in fashion at the moment, I think that’s a shame. They deserve to be grown more.
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Attract ‘visitors’ to your garden
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| Thursday, 25th January 2007 |
The garden in winter is dull, cold, boring and pointless! Wrong!
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Moulds, rots and rusts!
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| Thursday, 18th January 2007 |
| Words and their origins fascinate me. |
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The splendour of orchids!
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| Thursday, 11th January 2007 |
| Few plants suggest the exquisite and exotic more than the orchid. |
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Fungi to be with!
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| Thursday, 4th January 2007 |
I’m glad that the New Year is with us…Christmas was great but we had a house full of people, and although there were lots of fungi’s around, there wasn’t mushroom to move! Ha ha.
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Great plants with some Christmas spirit!
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| Thursday, 14th December 2006 |
| Last week in this column I wrote about Christmas trees, and as I was writing I was reminded of all the other plants that are associated with this time of year. |
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Christmas ain’t Christmas without a tree!
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| Thursday, 7th December 2006 |
| This Yuletide season up to six million real Christmas trees will be sold to gardeners and householders across the UK. |
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Give your garden a right old caning!
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| Thursday, 30th November 2006 |
| Here’s a statement that is sad but true: I’m as happy hidden in amongst a row of tall-growing raspberry plants with red berry juice all round my mouth and fingers, as I am practically anywhere else on earth. |
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How clean is your garden?
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| Thursday, 23rd November 2006 |
| A ‘spring clean’ of the house is how ladies used to manage their homes. I wonder how many of us these days give our homes a spring clean from top to bottom in the ways of our parents and grandparents. |
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See the light…with indoor plants!
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| Thursday, 16th November 2006 |
| The one defining thing about winter is that it is cold! |
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Trees Company!
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| Thursday, 9th November 2006 |
| Unfortunately the average sized garden these days is a mere fraction the size of the average garden of our forefathers. |
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Hedging your bets? Don’t sit on the fence!
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| Thursday, 2nd November 2006 |
| November is the best month to plant a hedge. |
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Hot colours for a cool winter!
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| Thursday, 26th October 2006 |
| Most people think of winter as the time of year when everything in the garden is dull, bleak and lifeless, but in reality this could not be further from the truth. |
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Getting Fruity!
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| Thursday, 19th October 2006 |
The body’s need for vitamin C cannot be understated. A lack of it will cause lethargy and anemia, and it will ultimately lead to scurvy. Lovely!
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Now’s the time to get your shrubs in!
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| Thursday, 12th October 2006 |
| There are many curious facets in our wonderful hobby of gardening. |
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Say ‘hello’ to Halloween!
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| Thursday, 5th October 2006 |
It’s coming up to the party season – by ‘witch’ I mean a string of parties including Bonfire Night, Christmas, New Year, St Valentine’s Day and, of course, starting with Halloween.
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Feed the birds, and save your plants from being ravaged
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| Thursday, 28th September 2006 |
One of the major joys of gardening for me is to watch the wildlife as it comes and goes.
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Pots of pleasure this winter
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| Thursday, 21st September 2006 |
| During my travels this summer I went to plenty of places where people had made great efforts to create and maintain fabulous containers of summer flowers. |
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Grass to be proud of!
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| Thursday, 14th September 2006 |
| I’ve said before that one of the things that sets a British garden apart from its foreign counterparts is the standard of its lawns. |
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Pick, pluck, pull and lift – it’s harvest time!
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| Thursday, 7th September 2006 |
| Whenever I see the word ‘harvest’, it conjures up images of harvest festivals in church. Apples, beans, cabbages and carrots… |
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What’s your garden waste measurement?
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| Thursday, 31st August 2006 |
This week, just for a change (she says), I’m going to talk rubbish!
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Bulbs to light the (spring) garden!
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| Thursday, 24th August 2006 |
So it’s summer and the garden is in full swing. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be thinking ahead. In fact, this is the time of year to be thinking about….next year!
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Autumn – season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!
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| Thursday, 17th August 2006 |
| After spring and summer, autumn is my favourite season! That sounds daft I know, but I’m sure you know what I mean…there’s a certain kind of warmth and ‘cosiness’ to autumn. |
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Herbs are my flavour-ites!
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| Thursday, 10th August 2006 |
Herbs are wonderful plants! Their aromatic scents, their pretty little flowers –and most of all the fine flavours they add to my cooking! Herbs are an essential part of my life – not just that of my garden!
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Watery haven – for you and the wildlife!
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| Thursday, 3rd August 2006 |
| A few years ago a national gardening magazine held a survey with its readers. They were asked to list their main reasons for having a pond. An overwhelming 85% listed the first reason as watching and encouraging wildlife. |
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Scent from Heaven!
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| Thursday, 27th July 2006 |
| For most of us, some of the best of the summer reasons for having a garden are the scents, fragrances and perfumes that come from the plants we grow. |
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Topiary or not topiary…that is the question!
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| Thursday, 20th July 2006 |
A couple of weeks ago I was writing about cacti, and I likened them to topiary plants, by saying that people either love them or hate them. There isn’t a great deal of middle ground with these plants!
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Cottage gardens and tea with the vicar!
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| Thursday, 13th July 2006 |
| I’m a real sucker for cottage gardens. |
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Watch out for the holiday preps!
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| Thursday, 6th July 2006 |
| It’s the holiday season! Hurrah! Get your buckets and spades. Pack your bags. Turn off the gas and double lock the doors! |
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Don’t be spineless – grow some cacti!
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| Thursday, 29th June 2006 |
| There are a few types of plant that people love or hate. |
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That Mediterranean touch!
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| Thursday, 22nd June 2006 |
| Recently on these pages I've talked about the drought (and of course the hosepipe bans and other restrictions forced upon us), and I’ve also talked about the so-called Global Warming and how it is affecting the gardener. |
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Global Warming and the gardener!
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| Thursday, 15th June 2006 |
A couple of years ago a customer at our plant centre asked me a really tough question. “With this Global Warming business,” he said, “does it mean they’ll be able to grow mangoes in Manchester and bananas in Burnley?”
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Ponds, pools and havens for wildlife!
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| Thursday, 8th June 2006 |
| With all the talk about the drought and hosepipe bans, it may seem rather incongruous to discuss ponds and water features. |
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Water, water everywhere…but none to use on the garden!
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| Thursday, 1st June 2006 |
| The subject on every gardener’s lips at the moment is that of water, or rather the lack of it. We in the south are being particularly hard hit at the moment – on two counts. |
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Roses, roses, all the way!
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| Thursday, 25th May 2006 |
The rose is the archetypal English flower. It has numerous associations with English history, not least in the cases of the famous rose motifs of the Royal Houses of York and Lancaster.
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Be proud of your pots!
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| Thursday, 18th May 2006 |
Most people like to have a few containers around the garden. They can decorate the area around a front door to make it welcoming to visitors, and they can liven up a patio that will otherwise be basic cold, stark paving slabs!
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The Queen of Climbers!
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| Thursday, 11th May 2006 |
Last week I wrote about hanging baskets, and the fact that gardens today are
getting so much smaller, that gardeners are finding themselves growing plants in an upwards direction – with hanging baskets, windowboxes and climbing plants.
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Gardens' ghoulish growths
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| Thursday, 20th October 2005 |
| Halloween is nearly upon us, so we turn our attentions to all that is spooky, scary and a little strange in the garden. Plants have a long history with the occult, witches’ potions and spells were reportedly made from poisonous plants and flowers, and ma |
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Pruning to reap the fruits of your labour
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| Thursday, 13th October 2005 |
| There are few more satisfying experiences than picking fruits that have ripened to perfection from trees that have been carefully chosen and tended. The beauty of their spring blossom and the bright colours of the fruits at harvest time are added bonuses |
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Use Autumn hues by planting shrubs
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| Thursday, 6th October 2005 |
| September is a good month for re-organising the garden. If you welcome the sight of leaves turning through all shades of green, gold and red to deep bronze and brown, then some thought needs to be given to which shrubs you could plant to maximise this ef |
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Planning a new garden to blossom next year
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| Thursday, 29th September 2005 |
| Autumn/Winter is the perfect time for planning what you’re going to do with your garden over the following year. Maybe there is a patch of your garden that needs a feature adding to it or perhaps you’ve decided that it’s time for a complete re-design. |
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Learn the laws of Autumn lawn care
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| Thursday, 22nd September 2005 |
| September is the month for carrying out work on your lawn as it will allow treatment before soil temperatures fall too low and the ground gets too hard or waterlogged. |
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Planting Vegetables for Winter Harvest
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| Thursday, 15th September 2005 |
| It may seem as though at this time of year there is very little that can be done in the garden, especially in the way of planting. However, there are a surprising number of vegetable seeds that can be sown now in time for a Winter harvest. |
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Harvesting and Storing
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| Thursday, 8th September 2005 |
| As Winter approaches we turn our attentions to harvesting and storing the fruit, vegetables, seeds and flowers that we have spent the year sowing, planting and tending. |
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Planning and planting your pots
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| Thursday, 1st September 2005 |
| Growing plants in containers can solve many problems for gardeners. They are versatile, portable and can be made into a feature on their own or popped amongst other plants to fill a gap. |
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Preserve your herbs
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| Thursday, 25th August 2005 |
| Preserving herbs through drying has a number of different benefits. They can be used in cooking all year round, their scent can be made 3 - 4 times more powerful, |
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Gardening for the birds
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| Thursday, 18th August 2005 |
| It is always an enjoyable experience to sit back and watch an array of birds visit your garden. Not only can they be fascinating to see, |
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Holiday Survival tips for Gardens
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| Thursday, 11th August 2005 |
| At this time of year the holiday season is in full swing and while we all head off to our choice destinations, we can’t help but worry what our gardens will look like on our return. |
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Love the look of Lavendar
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| Thursday, 4th August 2005 |
| Lavender has long been adored by many for its beauty and elegance, as well as its many uses including fragrance, therapy, decoration and even cookery. |
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Water Way to help prevent hose bans
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| Thursday, 28th July 2005 |
| Many areas of Britain are now facing a hosepipe ban, so here are some suggestions for saving water in your garden. |
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Get fruity in the garden with berries
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| Thursday, 21st July 2005 |
| With summer here, don't you sometimes think how lovely and satisfying it would be to enjoy some fresh home-grown fruit on those hotter days? |
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Create a butterfly garden
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| Thursday, 14th July 2005 |
| Britain has over 50 varieties of beautiful butterflies but, unfortunately, they are becoming increasingly rare as a result of global warming and climate change. |
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Climbing up the Top 10
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| Wednesday, 29th June 2005 |
| One of the best ways to introduce fragrance and colour into your summer is to grow climbers. They are great for draping over a pergola, covering an unsightly wall or just for adding another dimension to your garden. But with so many to choose from, which |
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The colours of cacti
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| Tuesday, 21st June 2005 |
| Cacti and succulents are well-known for their bizarre shapes and sizes, but what is not so well-known is the fact that if you choose the right sorts, they are also very free-flowering. |
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Hardly any fuss with hardy fuchsias
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| Thursday, 16th June 2005 |
| There are thousands of varieties of fuchsia - from pinks, purples, whites and reds to multicoloured mixtures. Some of the most popular types of fuchsia are the hardy ones, as they are relatively easy to grow and flower from summer to late autumn. |
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It's fine to keep colour in the shade
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| Thursday, 9th June 2005 |
| Shady areas of the garden need not be dull, as there are plenty of plants that thrive in low light conditions, some with quite spectacular results. Having shade in the garden is not the problem it may seem, as it gives you a wonderful opportunity to grow |
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It's all coming up roses
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| Thursday, 2nd June 2005 |
| Since earliest times, the rose has been one of the most cherished and commonly cultivated flowers. Archaeologists are said to have found roses in fossilised remains that are over 30 million years old, and we still love them today for surely they are among |
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Pots of colour with baskets and tubs
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| Thursday, 26th May 2005 |
| It is remarkable what can be grown in tiny gardens and back yards where there is no space for conventional flower beds - and the secret is containers; whether hanging baskets, tubs, pots or window boxes. Of course, they are also attractive in large garden |
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In the mood for the Mediterranean?
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| Thursday, 19th May 2005 |
| Continuing the "bold and bright" theme that we have been following in the run up to summer, this week we will look at another interesting and fashionable way of presenting your garden. Imagine this for a minute: a warm evening spent on a terrace taking in |
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