Plants like peppers, chillies and aubergines, which need a long growing season should be sown this month. If you sow them now, they will ripen but leave too late and they will not. The third week in February is ideal, mid-March is fine and the first week in April is the limit. They need light, […]
Gardeners are an ebullient lot, because weâre always looking into the rosy future and, at the start of the year, the futureâs rosier than ever! Weâre enjoying the gardenâs renaissance and mostly thatâs sheer joy, although occasionally I shed a tear when a lost friend is remembered by a plant. The snowdrop âFieldgate Impâ, named […]
Why would you want a blight-beating tomato in your greenhouse, where blight is rarely an issue? Because in these increasingly unpredictable times, it pays to think laterally. Solutions to gardening problems sometimes arrive in moments of sheer serendipity. My greenhouse was the setting for such a moment last summer, when the conditions inside flipped from […]
There’s been a couple of snow flurries, but the days are early-spring-balmy and the soil dusty, plants equally so. It’s a glasshouse moment for sure–watering and fussing over the greenery that lives outdoors in summer, and indoors during winter. So I’ll keep this brief out of necessity, as I’m hard pressed to turn my mind […]
The internet is loaded with gardening adviceâgood, bad, and atrocious. But excellent online information is available, so itâs worth spending the less-demanding gardening months poking around online. Hereâs a sampler of whatâs out there in the way of classes, webinars, and podcasts from reliable experts who can help you make the most of your next […]
At this time of year, many greenhouse owners are getting ready to start seeds. I find that pepper seeds take up to three weeks to germinate, so I usually start them first, followed by eggplants, tomatoes, and flowers. However, thereâs a problem starting heat-loving plants in a small greenhouse in late winter. The seeds of […]
If you had space in the greenhouse, and time on your hands, you may well have sown your sweet peas in autumn. They are very happy with this treatment, and will put down good roots over winter and be ready to produce good early flowers this year. If, like me, you did not find the […]
Jean Vernon is starting the year with fresh intentions, determined to be prepared to grow and ready to sow. Community spirit Itâs funny how good deeds have a way of rewarding you. In the midst of food shortages in 2020 and the COVID lockdown Iâd made a real effort to grow more from seed and […]
When the city has only the colors of brick, slush, and concrete, green is precious. Thatâs why we plant evergreens. Just about every yard I see has some evergreen tree or shrub. There are tiny tidy boxwoods in pots. There are towering spruces. There are rows and rows of arborvitaes, the go-to plant for privacy […]
It is not always practical to grow everything from seed, so make a list of plants you intend to sow and those to be bought as plug plants. Plug plants save time and space in the greenhouse and heating costs, too. Once you have placed your orders, write the labels for the seed trays, put […]
Weâre living in interesting times â honestly, I wish the days were rather more dull. In Colorado along the Front Range where I garden (fitfully it must be admitted), records from 1 July to 17 December report just 1.07 inches of rainfall in Denver. In Colorado Springs, weâve had a few drops and some snowflakes […]
This is the time of year when we can imagine our gardens of the future. But how do we know which plants to choose? Today, Iâm turning to Janet Sluis, Director of Plant Development Services and the curator of plants in the Sunset Plant Collection and the Southern Living Plant Collection. Essentially, she auditions plants. […]
