Quiet, non-polluting, kind to wildlife, people-powered, earth-friendly: scythes win over strimmers on every count – but sometimes you need to see to believe. It’s the sound that pulls them in – the harsh, honing rip of stone against steel isn’t an everyday sound here. As soon as I start sharpening, heads start to turn. ‘Is […]
Most gardeners love to inject their garden with a huge dose of colour, Whether that’s flamboyant bedding schemes, flowers for cutting or the spring spectacular of flowering bulbs. Colour is the lifeblood of most gardens. But it doesn’t have to be dramatic and lairy, it can be soft and calming too. Learning how to use […]
A superbly nutritious greenhouse plant Okahijiki, Salsola komarovii, is one of the oldest Japanese vegetables. Native to saline maritime regions this translates as ‘seaweed on land’ and is distantly related to our Samphire and more closely to our native Prickly Saltwort, Salsola soda, both of which are rich in Elements needed for out nutrition. Salsola […]
I share a trait with the late Queen Elizabeth, only one you understand. Just like our late, and much-missed majesty, I religiously tune into the weather forecast. And just like her, I love it when Tomasz Schafernaker is in charge. It’s rumoured that the late Queen Elizabeth developed quite a crush on this softly spoken, […]
It has been a long, slow and mostly pretty cool summer in the greenhouse. Social media loves to throw old triumphs from past years at us, and so I am fully aware of how smug I have been about summer tomatoes in other years, and how pitifully late my tomatoes are this year. It feels […]
Early in the month, especially if it is warm and sunny, sow trays, pots or old growing bags with ‘cut and come again crops’ to harvest through autumn and into winter; think land cress, oriental salads, like pak choi, mizuna and mibuna greens plus lettuce, lamb’s lettuce, chicory and radish and imagine it is spring […]
I have bought a brand new, long-hankered-after plant this summer that might just make my greenhouse a little less full to bursting this winter: a ‘semponium’. I have long loved Aeoniums – beautiful succulents the most well known of which is ‘Zwartkopf’, which has almost black rosettes of leaves on sinuous stems. I think I […]
Don’t get despondent if there are weeds on your patch. Most are wildflowers and have a vital role for our pollinators and insects. In my world there is no such thing as a weed. Weeds are wildflowers. Many of our wildflowers evolved side by side with their pollinators or other creatures that depend on them. […]
For the edible greenhouse collection this little known maritime esculent is Marsh Samphire, Glasswort, Salicornia europaea. Long collected from shallow salt marshes and sand dunes of East Anglia this is NOT the Samphire, Crithmum maritimum, of Shakespeare, which lives on the wind, blasted rocky outcrops of western coasts. Both living in saline conditions are rich […]
Sow spring onions in modules in late August for planting outdoors in September, for harvesting next spring, ideally, they should be protected with cloches or fleece after transplanting outdoors. Germinate oriental vegetables like Pak Choi and mustard and salad rocket in modules for transplanting outdoors and overwintering under cloches or fleece. Begin removing tomato leaves […]
All gardening makes life better in the here and now – but when you plant trees, you’re also growing a better future. Nowadays, amid the wonder, awe and gratitude I feel whenever I gaze upon trees, lurks something else: an odd feeling of sadness. This has nothing to do with how a particular tree might […]
Can I grow lemons in my greenhouse? If you want fresh lemons for your summer drinks maybe it’s time to grow a lemon tree in your greenhouse? Growing things to eat is one of the greatest pleasures of gardening and indeed owning a glasshouse. Growing high value ingredients is possibly the number one rule. Add […]
