Hartley Magazine

All the latest news, hints, tips and advice from our experts

Written in United Kingdom

Sowing the Seeds – better than a Paul Daniel’s Magic Set!

I’ve got two daughters, Frances and Zoe, and Frances used to spend many a happy hour trying to do tricks with her Paul Daniels’ magic set. She’d arrive, complete with cape, top hat and wand, and then she’d entertain us with varying degrees of success whilst we tried to take it seriously.  That was the […]

Written in United Kingdom

Allies in the air

Aphids beware: the earth-friendly greenhouse gardener has a secret weapon, and it’s homing in on you. Don’t dwell on this for too long – it needs your quick-fire answer: which greenhouse gardening ally found in nature… is an acrobat, entertainer and plant pollinator, doesn’t bite or sting (although it fakes the latter), rids plants of […]

Written in United Kingdom

HARTLEY BOTANIC’S 2018 RHS CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW TRADE STAND

This year, British greenhouse and glasshouse manufacturer Hartley Botanic is celebrating a landmark 80th anniversary. The Lancashire-based business, which was founded in 1938 by brothers Vincent (RHS fellow) and Norman Hartley has been making its beautiful, handmade and bespoke aluminium greenhouses and glasshouses for 80 ‘trusted’ years, working from the same artisan factory beneath the […]

Written in United Kingdom

Named after ashes this is not at all dull

Some plants, and oddly rather many glasshouse plants, have somewhat misleading common names. This gem has perversely come to be known as Cineraria though it is not a Cineraria but a Senecio. Cinerarias are so named for their soft white downy leaves like cineres the Latin for ashes. Some Senecios also have white or grey […]

Written in United States

Growing Organic Fruits and Vegetables Year-Round

Have you noticed that produce has become more expensive in supermarkets lately? One reason is the cost of transporting fruits and vegetables from the southern hemisphere, another is unfavorable recent weather in California, a major supplier of produce, and a third is a decreased number of migrant workers available for harvests. If you’re a greenhouse […]

Written in United Kingdom

What is the best way to make compost?

There’s a lot of unnecessary myth and magic about making garden compost says Jean Vernon First let’s unravel the confusion between the compost that you buy in bags for container plants and growing seeds. This, the trade, is called growing medium and is basically specially formulated to a precise recipe with a variety of ingredients, […]

Written in United States

The Best Garden You’ll Find in a Book

I once received a breezy Christmas letter with the advice— “Everyone should take their family to the Galapagos.” I fell out laughing. Really? Everyone? What would the Galapagos look like then? And yet, when I walk into the garden of Marietta and Ernie O’Byrne, I understand that letter writer’s impulse. Everyone should see this acre-and-a […]

Written in United States

The Scented Garden for Indoors and Out

A conservatory or greenhouse can be a heavenly – and heavily – scented environment when crammed full with perfumed flowers like jasmine, citrus, and countless other plants that hold fragrance in their petals and foliage. Pot pourri is an amalgam of plant parts preserved by drying and blending that will conserve the scent of garden […]