I have always believed that you should only write or talk about what you know
Every year, hundreds of new plants are introduced. It is impossible to keep up with them all. Most are variations on a well-known theme and I sometimes feel despair when a new petunia claims to be the best, biggest, brightest or bluest! Surely there are enough petunias! And, by the way, there are now transgenic,…
Well that was an interesting week of weather! With luck the next week will be a bit less extreme. Last week I discussed the advantages of growing apple at home. Although you can grow apples in a very small garden, if you are really stuck for space, or you want something that you can’t buy…
If you need some respite from tinsel and twinkly lights, it is good to know that it is possibly the best time of year to plant an apple tree. Apples are probably the most popular home-grown tree fruit and they can be grown in most gardens. You can even grow them in a pot if…
If you like to propagate plants and take cuttings there are few months when you can’t keep busy. Different plants have to be treated in various ways and you can’t root every plant the same way. Some plants root best from cuttings of soft shoot tips in spring and summer and these can root in…
Gardens can look a bit dull at the moment but there is no need to put up with this. Your garden can look spectacular in autumn with a bit of planning so add some carefully selected shrubs for colour and interest every year. My own garden is rather windy and prone to early autumn frost…
We seem to be in a mild spell at the moment and garden work is pleasant. Autumn often means lots of heavy garden work: emptying compost heaps, digging, tree planting, mulching or ‘big pruning’. So it is a relief to spend some time doing less physical and more creative jobs. Planting patio pots definitely fall…
Grape hyacinths (muscari) are delightful spring flowers that are easy to grow and adaptable to most garden conditions. But they have a bit of a bad reputation. I remember a neighbour, when I was a child, who spent years battling the common Muscari armeniacum, digging out bucketfuls every year. And he never won the battle….
Saving seeds from your plants may seem like a lot of work and hardly worth the effort but it can be simple to do, help you produce lots of plants at little expense and it can save you money too. Before we go into details of how to do it – and there are different…
Most people plant their patio pots in May to provide colour all summer. These pots are probably looking a bit scruffy by now. Many people leave the pots in their dead state over winter, only paying them attention at Easter! Yet they should be replanted now and they will give colour and interest through autumn…
Ground cover plants seem to be nature’s gift to gardeners. They promise a colourful and interesting way to fill expanses of the garden while smothering weeds. A few decades ago they were all the rage. Before that it was heathers and conifers which was very much the same thing. Now it is prairie planting. Many…