I first grew Chinese Kale ‘Kai lan’ (also known as Gai lan or ‘Kailaan’) in about 2006; I was really impressed by this vegetable’s speedy growth and the bounteous harvest my plants produced. ‘Kai lan’ leaves, flower buds, and stems are all edible, but it’s the stems that provide the main harvest. Try it raw, stir-fried, steamed, or boiled; ‘Kai lan’ is a little like broccoli.
The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is a much anticipated event in the horticultural calendar. It’s a week long celebration of plants that provides an opportunity to see plants face-to-face and discover nurseries’ new plant ranges.
I adore fragrant roses! Each year, I relish meeting the new rose introductions from David Austin Roses, at the Chelsea Flower Show.
The reason we created our wildlife pond was to support and encourage wildlife. I’d love to be able to tell you about every creature that has ever visited my pond, but I am not able to visit my pond every day and I’m not the fastest mover, so I’ve only managed to capture a fraction of the wildlife I’ve seen in this area of my garden.
I thought I’d share with you some photographs I’ve taken of my wildlife pond this spring and early summertime. I’m not sure if you’ve seen my pond before; this pond was created last year (here’s the first article I wrote about this pond). To guide you through the season, I’ve added my photographs to this article in date order.
Over the past year, I’ve watched in despair as algae has wrapped its ever extending arms around my pond; it feels like algae is threatening to suffocate my pond. The other ponds I’ve created have never really suffered with algae to the same extent that my current pond has. The smaller pond that we built in our garden some years ago (this pond was installed in exact the same spot where my current pond stands – it was my current pond’s predecessor) experienced an algae bloom in late spring, each year, but it was far less noticeable than the algae is in my pond, now.
In times of stress, our gardens and allotments become our refuge and remind us of the true value of plants and outside spaces. For me, time in my garden is priceless; it lifts my spirits, leaving me feeling revitalised. One of my favourite things to do is to grow my own food.
You don’t need a large garden to grow your own vegetables.
I set my Rainforest Terrarium up in April 2018, to provide a home for a number of the orchids that form part of my National Collection of Miniature Phalaenopsis species and my National Collection of Miniature Aerangis and Angraecum species. This particular update focuses on how the equipment installed inside my Rainforest Terrarium has performed from March 2019 until May 2020.
Today the Royal Horticultural Society launched a competition inviting the public to vote to decide the winner of the prestigious accolade of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Decade. The nominated plants are all winners of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year Competition. Here are the nominees……
Anemone ‘Wild Swan’Back in 2010, Anemone ‘Wild Swan’ ‘Macane001’ was the winner of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show Plant of the Year Competition.
Growing tomatoes is so much fun! Tomato plants will grow happily in a sunny border or in large containers of peat-free compost.
There are two types of tomatoes – cordon and bush tomatoes. Cordon (also known as indeterminate) tomatoes can form tall plants, reaching 2m or more! Don’t worry – you can ‘stop’ your plants from growing any taller by simply pinching out the tip of your plant’s stem, when your plants have reached your desired height.
Holidaymakers buying plants or collecting plant material as holiday souvenirs often bring home more than they bargained for and unwittingly transport pests, diseases, or invasive species into the UK; causing lasting, and sometimes irreversible, problems for themselves and UK horticulture as a whole.
Instead, make your holiday excitement last all summer, every year, with UK grown plants that will flourish inside your conservatory or glasshouse, at your garden or allotment.
Since my last Rainforest Terrarium update, I’ve been busy conducting a huge rearrangement of many of my terrariums and terrarium plants. As part of these changes, some of the orchids that used to reside inside my Rainforest Terrarium have now been moved to other enclosures, including my new Tall Orchidarium.
I am full of ideas of terrariums I’d like to create.
Last month, I published a lovely competition from Burpee Europe and Mr Fothergill’s who gave readers an exciting opportunity to name their first ever blight-resistant orange tomato! Thank you to everyone of you who entered; it was tough to decide on a winner as we received heaps of super name suggestions for this interesting new tomato. Our favourites were:
Sweet Amber, suggested by Laura Blackburn
Tangerino, suggested by Roger Seaman
Golden Girl, suggested by Irene Wilson
Merrygold, suggested by Ann Page
Hope, suggested by Penny Grant and Helen Tottle-Nugent
Sunpop, suggested by Georgina G.
I feel a strong and passionate desire to protect our planet’s peat bogs. This is an urgent matter, it’s not something we can keep putting off to consider again in the future, at a more convenient time – for the peat that is being extracted now can’t be saved and so if we continue as we have done in the past, the opportunities we have in our hands, right in front of us now, will be lost forever.
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.
