Category: September

If you are lucky enough to have an apple tree in the garden you will know that apple season is with us. Of all the fruit we can grow in our gardens, apples are the easiest and best value. It is true that they are an investment, costing a lot more than a packet of…

There are various ways we can keep the colours of summer in our homes over winter. Simply drying flowers is the easiest but not all flowers can be cut, hung up and dried. There are alternatives of course and with some ingenuity a large range of blooms can be preserved. I hate plastic plants and…

It is the season when we are surrounded by apples and it is a sin to buy imported apples. Of all the fruits we can grow, apples are the most rewarding and probably the easiest. It is true that strawberries will crop more quickly but the plants need replacement after two years and apples are…

We should be planting spring-flowering bulbs over the next few months but one type needs planting as soon as possible; prepared hyacinths. It was always exciting when the boxes of prepared hyacinths arrived when I was working at Nags Hall in the 80s. They were always displayed next to hyacinth glasses and I am sure…

As the garden centre shelves start to fill with wonderful spring-flowering bulbs, look out for the autumn-flowering section. Autumn-flowering bulbs are wonderful and bring a real touch of freshness to the autumn garden. But, unlike the daffodils and tulips, which can wait a while for planting, these need planting now. After all, they will be…

It is not a huge challenge to fill your garden with colour and fragrance i summer, but now that autumn is officially with us, it can be more difficult to keep the garden looking fresh and colourful. Of course, bedding plants should still be blooming but autumn-flowering shrubs are not so common. But there are…

Michaelmas daisies (yes, this Tuesday is Michaelmas) are in my thoughts at the moment and may be in yours if the gales of the past week did not flatten them. These hardy perennials are invaluable for bringing colour to the garden in autumn but their late blooming works against them as much as for them….

One of the most effective ways to plant daffodils, and other bulbs, is in grass. Daffodils have an informal look about them and I always think they look best when planted in grass. Of course this is not essential and they can be planted in borders and pots too. I like them everywhere! And the…

As we slide into the middle of September we need to think seriously about spring-flowering bulbs. Yes I know that the weather is doing its best to make us think about petunias and barbecues, for a few days at least, but if it is summer, autumn cannot be far behind! There are lots of bulbs…

If dandelions were difficult to grow I am sure we would all have pots of them. And if common bindweed (calystegia) were killed by frost I am equally sure we would value it as an ornamental. But, as it is, I would rank it as the worst of all weeds we have to tackle. Ground…