Lots of people in horticulture will have very fond memories of out late Queen Elizabeth, including the staff and management of Hartley Botanic. Her late Majesty adored going to the Chelsea Flower Show and Hartley are regular attendees. I particularly remember her visit in 2012, the year of the Diamond Jubilee, because an entire military […]
Itâs been an amazing summer in the greenhouse for peppers, aubergines and anything Mediterranean. What these crops need in order to produce at their best is warmth and lots over it over a long period of time, and they certainly got that. So much so that the challenge this year was cooling down the greenhouse: […]
If you grow tomatoes, you are probably now awash with lots of fruit. Itâs a great challenge finding ways to use up a glut of tomatoes and there are many wonderful ways to make use of this fabulous, flavour filled surplus. Gardeners that grow tomatoes should now have a bit of a glut and be […]
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. Thereâs little obvious similarity in these even though theyâre both in the family Asteraceae, […]
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, didnât need washing and would never go off. Would you eat them? Would you think, oh wow, thatâs a great idea, another way to circumvent nature? I donât think so. But […]
Gardeners are used to battling the elements, but 2022 has been a catastrophic event. It began with an âIâm-not-going-to-grow-for-you-at-the-momentâ dry winter and cool spring. That was followed by extreme heat and strong Saharan winds, so most peopleâs gardens (including mine) turned into a sea of brown. One evening I sat and watched as hummingbird-hawk moths […]
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 âWhat a gorgeous specimenâ when their eyes glance upon Cosmos atrosanguineus Chocamocha. Admittedly this is an undistinguished leaved scantily flowering almost scruffy looking plant youâd not look twice at. However once their noses catch the delicious vanilla and hot chocolate scent they will be entranced. Then as […]
Itâs 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 âcut and come againâ crops like mixed herbs, in pots, […]
While temperatures remain high, watering and ventilation are top of the list. Open vents early in the morning, as temperatures in the greenhouse soon rise (shading should be in place by now), water preferably in the evening or early morning and check plants several times a day to ensure that they donât dry out. Consider […]
What do wasps do?? Whatâs the point of wasps?? These are commonly uttered, exasperated questions of wasp-laden summers. Wasps need a new PR agency. They are badly misunderstood, hugely persecuted and victims of incredible abuse. All because they dare to gate crash our summer parties and from time to time kick back. Yes some wasps […]
