Iâve always been an organic gardener. Partly, itâs out of lazinessâIâll do just about anythingâincluding pulling bindweedâbefore Iâll mix chemicals. Partly, itâs because over the years Iâve become more and more convinced that organic practices are better for me, my family, and everything living on this small patch of earth Iâve called home. However, organic […]
Sweet cornâs 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 cobâs picked. If youâve grown your own youâll know, cobs from shops or even roadside stalls are never ever as sweet. […]
March usually says âFarewellâ to winter and âHelloâ to spring, a transition that seems to herald a month of erratic weather. I start sowing outdoors after warming the soil then add a few âback upsââ under glass to fill the gaps if germination is erratic. In northern or cooler locations, you can also start sowing […]
We canât buy our way out of the plastic problem â but we can reuse, recycle and share our way toward a more sustainable gardening world. Is gardeningâs contribution to our global plastic pollution crisis sorted? Have we â gardeners and the businesses that profit handsomely from us â collectively fixed it? Is concern over […]
A thing the gardening life teaches you is that youâre never too old to learn. Each new climate zone Iâve gardened in has been an upward curve on the horticulture and landscape grid â and kept my synapses snapping. Figuring out how my first greenhouse worked in balmy Norfolk, England, prepared me for coping with […]
Many gardeners, stuck inside, are itchy to go shopping. Emails and catalogs arrive daily, the weatherâs still too bad to do much outdoors, and after the pandemic, you have online ordering developed to a fine art. Youâre ordering plants anyway, so why not add a tool or two? Itâs worthwhile, though, to go shopping in […]
The cold start to the year has left the greenhouse relatively empty of new inhabitants, as it should be, really, at this time of year. It has been very chilly, a proper winter, and there has even been snow on the roof of the greenhouse some days, but this is all to the good for […]
Itâs the most exciting time of all in the garden, because everythingâs responding to longer days and warmer temperatures. My Hartley greenhouse is a hive of activity because itâs full of seeds about to spring into life. It may be unheated, but it warms up brilliantly well on spring-like days and that encourages earlier germination. […]
As I was moving an orange tree in my greenhouse a few weeks ago, whiteflies started flying around my head. These are one of the most common greenhouse insect pests. How do you know if you have them? Just hang a yellow sticky trap near one of your larger plants and then shake the plant. […]
Jean Vernon offers her seasonal thoughts on ways to use the garden to survive the ongoing pandemic The garden was a saviour to so many of us last year. It wasnât just the place to connect with nature, for many of us it was a place to escape from the house, move away from the […]
It might be cold right now, but this is the time of year when gardening fever hits. You want to plant somethingâNOW. And what better way to satisfy your cravings than to grow something to eat, protected from inclement temperatures and rough weather? Niki Jabbour knows all about that. She lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, […]
Itâs a real joy to have a greenhouse where you can potter when the rain, snow and waterlogged ground make gardening outdoors impossible. Thankfully, thereâs plenty to keep you busy in there and hey, itâs not long now until spring. If you lifted and stored your dahlias over winter, encourage them back into growth by […]
