If you ask people what colours they like or dislike in the garden its not unusual for people to choose pastel colours and to say that they aren’t keen on reds, oranges or yellow. Yet as the season moves on towards autumn and the sun moves lower in the sky, these rich jewel colours are […]
Category Archives: Gardening tips
Its easy to think that taking cuttings is a thing you do in the summer or maybe in the autumn, when the plant is in full growth. For a particular type of cutting though, you want the plant to be dormant and that is for root cuttings. The best time to do this type of […]
I hardly like to use the B word – Brexit that is, but you may have seen suggestions on t.v and in the media that the way to beat possible shortages post Brexit is to grow your own. A bit late for this advice for a lot of things and if you’re worried about your […]
There is nothing quite like the taste of a sun ripened tomato fresh from the vine, plus tomatoes are a good source of Vitamins A, C and E and they contain minerals such as potassium and calcium. Recent research has also shown that the pigment lycopene, (the chemical that makes ripe tomatoes red) may be […]
It might be a bit too hot for some people and many plants, but as always with gardening, whatever the weather, there are winners and losers. Due to the exceptional heat and dryness some plants are looking parched, but it’s a perfect year to save seed from flowers and vegetables. You might have noticed that […]
Annual flowers are often dismissed as being just for bedding or filling baskets and troughs, but Hardy and Half Hardy Annuals are a great way to add colour in gaps in your borders, for cutting for flower arranging, or grown near your vegetables to encourage beneficial insects. Now that the soil is getting warmer there […]
Coppicing from the French verb couper, meaning to cut, is a traditional forestry management skill used for hundreds of years to produce wood for firewood, poles and charcoal and to prologue the life of trees. Traditionally trees like Ash, Chestnut, Elder, Beech and Hazel are cut to the ground and then new shoots are left […]
January is a grey month this year and its hard to think about summer, but now is the time to have a look through your seeds and browse those web sites or seed catalogues,which will be appearing on your doormat. You might think you have lots of seeds from last year, or maybe it was […]
If you’re beginning to feel that the birds are eating you out of house and home and you’re having to replenish feeders every few days – there is another way. Think about what you plant in your garden and provide some ‘natural bird food’ on an ongoing basis. You could start by not being too […]
Garlic can be planted in the garden right up to Christmas as long as the ground isn’t actually frozen. It’s simple to grow and needs little attention. Although you can plant garlic in spring, in fact it benefits from cold weather. Garlic needs at least 2 months of cold to promote it forming cloves. Plant […]