In my last piece I described a greenhouse gem; the chocolate scented Cosmos, which I also noted was not exactly one of the neatest looking shrubs. Oddly, another powerfully chocolate scented flower, Berlandiera lyrata, also comes as an unruly small shrub. Thereās little obvious similarity in these even though theyāre both in the family Asteraceae, […]
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Ventilate the Greenhouse on warm days but reduce this when temperatures drop later in the month and the amount of shading, so crops ripen and to avoid problems with grey mould caused by damp air and cooler nights. Before bringing plants in for overwintering check them for pests and diseases, and treat accordingly. Red spider […]
Imagine if you went to a restaurant and were served plastic vegetables? And when you complained the chef said that they were less maintenance, didnāt need washing and would never go off. Would you eat them? Would you think, oh wow, thatās a great idea, another way to circumvent nature? I donāt think so. But […]
With the climate crisis escalating and evidence of ecological breakdown all around us, itās time to get serious about gardeningās restorative potential. What if gardening stopped being fun ā and becameĀ seriousĀ fun? Emergencies are skidding at us from around every corner: social, political, economic, ecologicalā¦ the list grows as we face crises near and far, in […]
Gardeners are used to battling the elements, but 2022 has been a catastrophic event. It began with an āIām-not-going-to-grow-for-you-at-the-momentā dry winter and cool spring. That was followed by extreme heat and strong Saharan winds, so most peopleās gardens (including mine) turned into a sea of brown. One evening I sat and watched as hummingbird-hawk moths […]
Once I had a kitchen garden. It was a large space, surrounded by a trellis fence so that it didnāt appear part of the āproperā garden, because it was a hard-working space, with a small glasshouse in one corner, compost heaps in another, and two long parallel rows of four-foot-wide raised beds. These were not […]
You can use your greenhouse not just for growing existing plants but also for obtaining a great many new ones, all for free. One way to do this is by propagation using cuttings. Another way is by harvesting seeds. Hereās more on each of these methods. First, letās look at growing plants from cuttings. In […]
We are finally into tomato season in the greenhouse. All of that preparation, nursing through the spring, staking, feeding, watering and general encouraging begins to finally pay off properly in August. Was it worth it? Well that depends. With a bit of luck you planted some beefsteak tomatoes. In a cool overcast summer you might […]
I doubt anyone entering your glasshouse will gasp āWhat a gorgeous specimenā when their eyes glance upon Cosmos atrosanguineus Chocamocha. Admittedly this is an undistinguished leaved scantily flowering almost scruffy looking plant youād not look twice at. However once their noses catch the delicious vanilla and hot chocolate scent they will be entranced. Then as […]
Itās time to sow Fennel, oriental vegetables like mizuna greens and Pak Choi, rocket, coriander dill, spinach, claytonia and land cress in modules as soon as you can. These will germinate quickly and can be planted out by mid-August for cropping in autumn. Continue sowing ācut and come againā crops like mixed herbs, in pots, […]
With that glorious scent, and unusual habit of flowering and fruiting at the same time, itās no surprise that citrus plants are often the first choice to grow in a home greenhouse. To discover the best tips for success, this month Iām turning to Sam Hubert, Nursery Manager for the West Coast mail-order company, One […]
