Growing Peanuts in your greenhouse is an excellent way to get children interested. Pea, Ground or Monkey nuts are known to kids everywhere, if not as fresh nuts then roasted salted ones and certainly their famous butter. Actually Arachis hypogaea is not a nut from a tree but a member of the Pea family, somewhat […]
Greenhouses will soon become even more invaluable for gardeners by helping them cope with climate change. We don’t know how bad things may become, however for certain our weather’s becoming more extreme, and more unpredictable. Our traditional gardening calendar’s unreliable with some current crops becoming more risky out of doors. However under cover we already […]
A glasshouse gem often seen on a kitchen window sill is the Hot-water plant with its long flowering display of pastel trumpet blooms. Related to Gloxinias several dozen species were introduced from Central America in the late 18C early 19C. These were tropical plants requiring hot house conditions and were soon hybridised to be more […]
Hyacinths huge fat spikes of waxy perfumed blooms are way larger than nature provided and a triumph of both breeders’ and growers’ skill. Then to also persuade Hyacinths into bloom way out of their natural season is another achievement in itself. The original of our florists or Dutch Hyacinths were until the late 16thC little […]
If you were a greenhouse gardener one hundred and fifty years ago you could have been growing twenty seven different species of the beautiful Spider flower. Listed in Paxton’s Botanical Dictionary as Cleome with another eight registered under the apparently near synonymous Gynandropsis there were three dozen or more available. Seventy five years ago Roy […]
You need a warm greenhouse or conservatory to grow Wax plants successfully. Not surprisingly as these originate in the tropical Far East. The first, Hoya carnosa, was introduced to the UK from Java in 1802 and proved an immediate success. In the next fifty years another two dozen species were collected but none ever challenged […]
One of the easiest and most exotic of all greenhouse flowers this is sadly not a good choice for those who must work 9-5. You see, or rather you won’t see, the fantastical blooms, which open in the morning and close and die that afternoon, really remarkably soon come and gone. This unfortunate habit is […]
One of our tastier re-discovered culinary delights is a simply grown salading that may be harvested all year round within the protection of a cold greenhouse. Easy to grow from seed this weirdly shaped leaf resembles a blade of grass with irregular teeth somewhat like those on a saw or swordfish. Fortunately these are as […]
A most valuable greenhouse crop for those who love good food is Apium graveolens. An Umbellifer of marshlands found almost worldwide was known to the Ancients as Smallage. This was grown in gardens, or rather herbariums, solely for its medicinal use, until the Sixteenth century. Then in Italy this almost toxic plant was developed into […]
Why on earth would you grow carrots in your greenhouse? After all there’s seldom shortages in the shops, they’re usually on sale year round and are inexpensive. Well simply because carrots are crunchier and sweeter when home grown especially when pulled just before eating not stored for months. Then of course there are so many […]
Sweet corn’s not your commonest greenhouse crop but one that benefits hugely, and has imposing foliage. Now the sweetness is the essence of good sweet corn, and is continually reducing from the moment the cob’s picked. If you’ve grown your own you’ll know, cobs from shops or even roadside stalls are never ever as sweet. […]
With a warm glasshouse you can grow this succulent salad crop year round. Originally from India long ago this self seeding annual is now found wild, worldwide. Introduced to England in 1582 it was in Maine, in quantity, by 1605. And by 1819 it had spread across the entire Americas in such local abundance it […]
