NB. I wrote this article about space2grow in Farnham, before the COVID-19 crisis started and quarantine measures were put in place. Naturally, all of space2grow’s clubs and activities are closed at the moment, but this fantastic initiative will reopen when it is safe to do so.
Space2grow: community gardening in Farnham, SurreyFor every problem we experience in life, nature provides us with the ingredients we need to heal ourselves.
The Secret Lives of Garden Bees
Author: Jean Vernon
Publisher: White Owl
ISBN: 978-1526711861
I am fascinated by bees. I’ve so enjoyed reading Jean Vernon’s book, The Secret Lives of Garden Bees; I love the author’s ethos for spreading bee-love! I want to help bee-love spread far and wide and so I’m sharing my appreciation for Jean Vernon’s book with you; hoping that through reading this super book, you’ll fall head-over-heels in love with these intriguing insects and share the same desire to help bees, too.
The furry bees, colourful butterflies, mysterious moths, darting hoverflies, and other pollinating insects that visit my garden are just as fascinating as the plants I grow. The sound of bees buzzing and the sight of butterflies fluttering relaxes and inspires me. I want to help you find the best pollen and nectar-rich plants to attract insects and bring your garden to life!
Since I shared my last Rainforest Terrarium update with you, I’ve been busy conducting a huge rearrangement of many of my terrariums and terrarium plants. Some of the orchids that previously resided inside my Rainforest Terrarium have now been introduced to other enclosures, including my new Tall Orchidarium.
As you’ll see in this update, I’ve changed the appearance of my Rainforest Terrarium, by placing huge slabs of cork around the sides of this enclosure.
The Frensham and Dockenfield Horticultural Society cannot run their Spring Show in the Marindin Hall on Saturday 4th April 2020, as they usually would – but this society have no intention of giving up their flower show! So this year, they’re holding an Online Spring Show! There won’t be any trophies or prizes – the show is just for fun.
Frensham and Dockenfield Horticultural Society Online Spring Show is open to anybody who wants to participate, you don’t need to be a member of this society and you don’t have to be from Frensham, or even from Surrey; it’s open to all – wherever you live.
We could all do with a little cheering up and what better way than to get your thinking caps on and join in with this naming competition. How would you like to be in with a chance to name a brand-new tomato variety from Burpee Europe?
To help you with your creative juices, here is some more information on these sunny looking balls of joy!
Since I first told you about my Vegepod much has changed. Back in 2018, my Vegepod was set up in an area of my garden that enjoyed partial shade, but after trialling the Vegepod in this fairly beneficial position (vegetables thrive when they’re grown in sunny and partially shaded sites), I decided to move my Vegepod to a more shaded area of my garden, to see what I could grow successfully inside my Vegepod with more challenging growing conditions.
Meadows present a natural, seemingly effortless beauty, with an undeniable allure. For the most part, meadow guardians save much of the energy that gardeners spend repeatedly mowing and maintaining traditional lawns. Nevertheless, meadows are not an easy option; creating a meadow requires endeavour, careful planning, and time, to ensure success.
Perennial meadow plantsOur native British, perennial meadow plants flourish in poor soils, where they grow contentedly alongside sedately-growing, fine-leaved grasses.
Last year, I discovered Crematogaster scutellaris ants on the cork I purchased for my new Tall Orchidarium. Crematogaster scutellaris ants are known as acrobat ants, but these ants are found in many different countries, so they’ve got many other common names, too. With their distinctive amber coloured heads and pointed abdomens, these ants are easy to identify.
This year, Mothering Sunday, also known as Mother’s Day, will be held on Sunday 22nd March 2020, in the UK. If you’re looking for a special family day out, the following gardens and attractions are all offering special offers to celebrate Mother’s Day 2020. The offers differ, so I’ve listed the details of each event for Mother’s Day 2020 offer separately for every venue.
Daffodils are such cheerful flowers. Full of hope and heralding the start of springtime; daffodils are a joy to behold. Being such a popular flower, daffodils have been bred, selected, and re-selected, over a great many years, which has resulted in the creation of a diverse range of daffodil flowers. We can now purchase daffodils that grow to a range of sizes and heights, choosing from bulbs that produce dramatically different coloured flowers and various sizes of daffodil blooms.
Dalefoot Composts have produced the top performing peat free composts in all of the Compost Trials that I’ve run over the past seven years. Rather than just continually highlighting every year that Dalefoot Composts are the best peat free composts to use, I designed this Compost Trial to demonstrate methods you could use to get the best results from one of their products, namely Dalefoot Double Strength Wool Compost.
Peatlands are extraordinary environments, which now cover just 2-3% of our planet’s surface. These scarce ecosystems are very fragile; they depend on sufficient moisture being available, together with a slightly cooler temperature range, to enable sphagnum moss (which slowly forms peat) to grow, flourish, and reproduce. If optimum conditions occur, a new layer of peat, (measuring up to one millimetre thick) can be created over the course of a year; consequently, this is not a resource that can be replaced in a hurry.
Every year I run Compost Trials to discover the best quality peat-free composts on the market. Dalefoot Composts have produced the top performing composts in all of my Trials over the past seven years.
One of my favourite products is Dalefoot’s Double Strength Wool Compost, a nutrient rich, organic compost, comprised of natural materials, including bracken and Herdwick sheep’s wool.
If you’re in need of some time out, a delightful and quite simply enchanting activity that you can take part in this weekend is the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2020 – spending a restful, restorative hour watching and counting birds. I love birds, wildlife and nature. I adore taking part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, it is one of my favourite events of the year!
Happy new year! Happy new plants! Here are the dates and details of plant sales, plant festivals, plant swaps, seed swaps, and other super opportunities to buy wonderful, locally grown plants at fantastic prices; as well as details of events where you can swap plants or seeds for free! Great quality, rare, hard to find, special, and unusual plants can be found at the specialist plant fairs and other events that I have listed for you below, in this, my 2020 Calendar of UK Specialist Plant Fairs, Festivals, Sales, and Swaps!
Welcome to the fourteenth update from my White Orchid Trial BiOrbAir Terrarium. In this update, it’s a pleasure to share the sparkle of this Aerangis hyaloides plant’s glistening flowers with you. Yes – that’s right – this miniature orchid’s blooms really do twinkle in the sunlight! I’ve also got a crystalline Ceratostylis pristina flower that you might be interested to see.
If you’re looking for ways to make a positive difference to the environment, why not build a pond? Ponds support a vast range of wildlife, from the bottom to the top of the food chain. Insects, invertebrates, amphibians, and birds, all need ponds. These ecologically important habitats give us the chance to see dazzling dragonflies and get closer to nature. Ponds grant us exciting opportunities to grow waterlilies and aquatic plants!
If your garden is indoors and you’ve no outside space it can be difficult to find specialist plant fairs that sell orchids, cacti, and other indoor plants. I’ve created this calendar to help you find these events, so you can turn your home into a plant filled oasis!
Happy new year! Happy new plants! Here are the dates and details of plant sales, plant festivals, plant swaps, seed swaps, and other super opportunities to buy wonderful, locally grown plants at fantastic prices; as well as details of events where you can swap plants or seeds for free! Great quality, rare, hard to find, special, and unusual plants can be found at the specialist plant fairs and other events that I have listed for you below, in this, my 2020 Calendar of UK Specialist Plant Fairs, Festivals, Sales, and Swaps!
