Houseplants make great presents but to ensure that a plant, like a puppy, is not just for Christmas here are a few key tips on buying and looking after plants for yourself or as gifts. The first question is on what and where to buy. Like buying any plant at any time of year, you want a healthy plant with a...
I was brought up in a fairly rural village and my mother’s mantra for a healthy childhood seemed to be “fresh air and exercise”. That suited me pretty well as we children roamed the country lanes on our bicycles (more likely to meet a tractor than a car) and I spent many happy hours in a huge tract of National...
Have you ever noticed how many of the flowers we rely on for a late summer display tale the form of a Daisy? Although daisies are one of the most familiar flower forms that we see from the small native Lawn Daisy (Bellis perennis) to the tall Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) the flowers themselves are most definitely worth a closer look....
By high summer it is tempting to ease off the gardening work and I would not deny anyone a well deserved rest. But there are a couple of tasks that will keep your garden in good health and giving a great display right through to the end of the season. The first of these is deadheading. The object is to keep...
It is slightly unusual for me to devote an article to a garden that I have visited but there are two reasons for writing about the Walled Garden at the Luton Hoo Estate. In the interests of transparency I should say that I attended a free Press Day for garden writers that involved lunch and chocolate cake but beyond the...
June may seem a strange month to be talking about giving up on a shrub and digging it out but after last year’s dry summer and the cold spell in December, there are quite a few shrubs lurking in gardens that are not ever going to be healthy again. Here on the Kent/Sussex borders we can get away with choosing...
With the upcoming coronation this month and the common practice of planting up pots, baskets and even flower beds to celebrate significant events, my thoughts turned to gardeners seeking blue flowers in a Red, White & Blue scheme. There is no shortage of red and white blooms in a wide range of plant types but blue is a different kettle...
As Spring gets into gear (at last), we may be glad to see the back of winter colds and bugs but there is one ‘bug’ that will benefit your children, grandchildren or school pupils for their whole lives – and that is the gardening bug. There is a raft of evidence that green spaces and gardening can have huge benefits to...
March is a great month to consider layout and planting changes to your garden before the summer arrives - or so we hope! One of the elements of a garden that it is easy to overlook when we are dreaming of a beautiful space to sit or borders full of colour, is the garden path. So often I see gardens...
As gardeners decide what to grow vegetable plots and allotment this year, I am looking at a trend in gardening that reflects a growing interest in reducing our carbon footprint and preserving wildlife: namely, growing permanent or perennial vegetables. This saves growing from seed or buying plants each year and also, as they are no-dig plants, saves on effort and...
