Peat-free reality
The peat-free message is finally being broadcast far and wide – but it’s gardeners and growers, rather than the gardening media, who are doing the telling.
Take back control
I’ve been on a bit of a healthy eating binge these last few weeks. It probably started after a pretty nasty illness I picked up on my travels, which left me particularly under the weather. Having wasted away for a few weeks (! Yes really), and then left craving for sugar and sweet things, I […]
Press Release: Companion Planting & One Very Special New Introduction
It’s going to be quite a year for the ladies at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show with show gardens designed by Anne-Marie Powell, Jekka McVicar, Rosy Hardy and for Hartley Botanic’s 1st ever show garden it’s Catherine MacDonald who will be at the helm. Hartley Botanic MD Johnny Mobasher has long been a fan of […]
Celebrating slate
Walls, terraces, paths, steps, soil, compost, wildlife habitats… second-hand and spoil heap slate can give you the makings of an entire garden. Bar the dreaming and hard graft, my garden owes its existence to an ancient and, given its dour demeanour, quite magical ingredient. It’s very tangible, and it’s very heavy. Its straight lines run […]
Blue Coat School Takes Delivery of Hartley Greenhouse
With autumn now on the way, Hartley Botanic is proud to announce that it has donated a brand new Tradition 8 Greenhouse to The Blue Coat School in Edgbaston, Birmingham. With such a beautiful school garden (known as The Hanging Gardens of Blue Coat), Hartley Botanic was more than happy to donate the greenhouse to […]
Welcome to wormposting
There is an easier middle way between the effort of traditional composting and the specialised requirements of a wormery: invite the worms into your regular bin, and let them do the work. Of all the ongoing experiments and trials in my garden, the longest-running, most revealing and ultimately most fruitful are those around compost-making. I’m […]
Inspiring Primary School Children in Southend-on-sea
Hartley Botanic Inspires Children to Build Their Own Greenhouses at Primary School <p?It is not every day that a greenhouse manufacturer gets to help out and inspire school children, but last month, that’s exactly what Hartley Botanic did. After receiving a request for brochures from Mr Lane, a KS2 teacher at Edwards Hall Primary School […]
Moles ‘can benefit gardeners’
Moles are often seen as little more than pests by green-fingered enthusiasts – and there certainly are a wide range of reasons for this. The subterranean creatures burrow lawns and raise mole hills, which can undermine plant roots and inadvertently cause damage or death. However, gardening expert Roger Mercer has argued that mole populations are […]
A mischievous weed, with Omega 3
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 […]
A plant to go nuts about
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 […]
‘Hardening off’ and more of this month’s essentials.
Apart from the few days of summer last month we spent most of last month in low light, constant rain and chilling winds, so the ground is still too cold and wet for sowing crops directly and will be for a while yet, so thank goodness there is plenty to do in the greenhouse. Seeds […]
A plant too good to be true
This flower is seldom grown in glass-houses. It’s a hardy annual now seldom grown anywhere else, save by children who sow it in some ‘easy’ mix. However it will be recognised by nostalgic and knowing gardeners with a love for perfume. For this is a plant grown solely for it’s divine floral scent, such a […]
