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 […]
Category Archives: Gardening tips
Sow sweet peas in October or November and you’ll have flowers from May to August next year. You can sow them in spring for a later start and finish to flowering, but autumn sown sweet peas are little trouble and one thing less to do at the start of the growing year. Sweet peas first […]
Autumn is the time for planting spring flowering bulbs such as Daffodils, Camassia, Alliums and Tulips to name but a few. As Tulips are happy to go into the ground right up to the end of November, there’s still plenty of time to put some in. Tulips are simple to plant and look after and […]
There’s just about time to plant onion sets if you get them planted in the next few weeks. Sets, for those not in the know are small immature onions where development has been stopped and which will grow as soon as planted. Why use sets not seed? Sets are quicker to get going, more resilient […]
It’s a bit of a trek but if you like Hellebores (also called Christmas or Lentern Roses) there’s only one place to go if you want to see some stunning colours and varieties. That’s Ashwood Nurseries at Kingswinford, where owner John Massey has been breeding Hellebores for 50 years. Having been on one of his […]
As storm Doris rages you might be forgiven for thinking winter is still here and there’s not much to be done in the garden. There are a few things you could be doing though (besides getting the lawnmower serviced, cleaning and sharpening your tools etc) including planting onions and shallots. Good varieties are Sturon, Bedfordshire […]
After a chilly couple of months, those of you with wood burners and open fires have probably got quite a lot of ash stored somewhere. So can you do something better with it than putting in land fill? Well, as wood ash contains Potassium and traces of Calcium and Magnessium, all key plant nutrients, the […]