Social distancing quandaries, money worries and stock shortages are making garden centre trips fraught with anxiety – but home-mixed solutions will eke out your compost supplies. Seedlings need potting. Young plants are dropping through the letterbox, ready to pot up. Your greenhouse tomatoes, peppers and other veg are ready for their summer containers. You’ve got […]
After the shock of the mid May frost put all of my gardening plans temporarily on hold, the warming weather has meant that the greenhouse is now fully planted up and romping away. The task now is to give some of the plants a little attention and pinching out to direct their energies the right […]
This Spring of self-isolation has been, for many people, myself included, unnervingly productive. So many missions accomplished: like sorting through old photo albums and hundreds of 35mm slides and waking memories of my first encounter with Hartley Botanic and their sturdy greenhouses. I recall how charmed I was by their display at the Chelsea Flower […]
HARTLEY BOTANIC WILL COME TO YOUR GARDEN WITH ITS ‘VIRTUAL GREENHOUSE CONSULTATIONS’ With Glasshouses and Greenhouses providing a beautiful, undercover al fresco space, and the capacity to grow a huge variety of vegetables and fruit, it is not surprising many of us are dreaming of a Greenhouse during lockdown. Historic Glasshouse and Greenhouse manufacturer Hartley […]
The wonderful thing about having a Hartley greenhouse is it allows you to go forth and propagate! Propagation appeals to me on so many levels. The Yorkshire part of my heritage admires the fact that I can raise plants for virtually nothing. The Christian enjoys the fact that this quote about ‘going forth and propagating’ […]
People who grow things are hopeful. This month, I’m talking with Teresa Speight, who describes herself as a “garden visionary.” Teresa consults, teaches, gives garden talks, and delightful podcasts, but her greatest interest goes beyond growing plants. She wants to, as she puts it, “mindfully grow our community.” Teresa’s community is a black middle/working class […]
If you’ve got a handful of precious tomato plants for this season, this is how to make them go further It’s pretty easy to grow tomatoes from seed, but unless you sowed them in January or February or even March before lockdown, then really it’s a bit late for this year. However you might have […]
There are many reasons to grow your own vegetables during the COVID-19 pandemic. It will cut down on trips to the grocery store where observing the shopping requirements can be stressful and where certain kinds of produce can often be in short supply. Plus, veggies straight from the garden are a highly nutritious, pesticide-free addition […]
35 PERCENT INCREASE IN HOMEOWNERS WANTING A GREENHOUSE TO ‘GROW THEIR OWN’ SINCE LOCKDOWN LANCASHIRE-BASED MANUFACTURER LAUNCHES SAME-DAY ‘VIRTUAL HOME VISITS’ TO DEAL WITH DEMAND Historic Glasshouse and Greenhouse manufacturer Hartley Botanic is experiencing a renewed demand from homeowners in their beautiful, handmade Greenhouses during lockdown, as the benefit of being more self-sufficient and […]
A greenhouse of foliage and flowering plants is easy to tend. Naturally you water, feed occasionally, maybe dead-head and sometimes propagate. It’s important to open and close ventilation unless you have an automatic set-up. And to keep watch for pests or diseases, and then take action. The care required is not huge however it increases […]
Now’s the time to sow outdoor cucumber like ‘Marketmore’, marrow, squashes, pumpkins (vertically on edge, not laid flat like a surf board) individually in 7.5cm pots plus French and Runner beans and Sweetcorn in gentle heat in peat substitute seed compost or sieved multipurpose compost in a propagator, ready for planting out once the danger […]
