My neighbor has set up a gigantic, animated witch balloon (Halloween decorating seems to have escalated this year). Meanwhile, Iāve set up a sprinkler. Deep in October, with the first hard freeze due any day, most people are done with gardening, apart from raking leaves. But Iām still busy with the hose. Why on earth? […]
Cardboard is one waste problem thatās actually a solution, with a host of labour-saving, cost-cutting, earth-friendly uses in your garden and greenhouse. Brown, bulky, boring and super-abundant: if thereās one thing weāve not been short of during these tough and trying pandemic months, itās cardboard. Booming local deliveries, click-and-collect services, and online buying generally have […]
In Homage to Shakespeareās Sonnet 43 – āHow do I love thee. Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day’s Most quiet […]
At this moment in the year I love to see all of my semi tender plants tucked away in the mini greenhouse. The temperature has dropped and my aeoniums, pelargoniums and other succulents suddenly looked delicate and vulnerable in a way that they hadnāt a week or so earlier as they bathed in late summer […]
Ellen Zachos knows how to look for what others might overlook. Sheās author of several books, including Backyard Foraging: 65 Familiar Plants You Didnāt Know You Could Eat. Her newest book The Foragerās Pantry: Cooking with Wild Edibles will be out in April, 2021. Whatās her definition of foraging? She laughs. āSome people think itās […]
Cymbidiums are beautiful flowering plants in the orchid family, featuring many showy flowers arranged on unbranched stems. For the winter greenhouse these orchids are a favorite. They are also very popular as cut flowers during the winter months. Typically, they come into bloom in late January through March when little else is in bloom. When […]
It might be autumn, but Jean Vernon is starting to hunker down for winter and preparing her greenhouse for cold weather I know itās October, but this year has really flown by. The pandemic has brought every day into focus and yet when I look at the calendar I seem to be turning the pages […]
Often the most rewarding greenhouse will be one youāve filled with plants youāve grown from seed. Itās that personal connection, youāve known them at each stage, rather like your own children. And if you have children little will give them such an appreciation of nature as growing plants from seeds in fruits theyāve eaten. There […]
Check your greenhouse heater early in the month to make sure that it works before the cold nights set in. If it doesnāt, there is still time to make some running repairs or to buy a replacement; it is worth having a cheap back up heater, on standby, too. Ventilate the greenhouse on sunny autumn […]
Nights have gotten chilly. The news is scary. Winter is coming. But a garden is still a consolation, especially if itās planned to keep blooming until the last possible moment. I dropped by the other day to say farewell to a friend who is moving far away from the home where sheās gardened for decades. […]
With the new interest in food growing that has arisen in these uncertain times, many gardeners want plants that look attractive in their garden or greenhouse but are also good to eat. While all well-grown vegetables have a lovely lookāIām thinking of a row of cabbage, or a square foot carpet of cut-and-come-again greensāsome vegetables […]
Sunās up: as summer fades, these solar-powered stalwarts reach their zenith.Ā Ā Sunflowers are my September saviours. As autumn starts to win the tug of love with summer, Iām drawn to these tall, slightly improbable-looking, reach-for-the-sky flowers every bit as much as the clouds of bees, drone flies, hoverflies and pristine red admiral imagos. These tough, […]
