If you want to enjoy spring flowers like daffodils and alliums in your garden next year, then this is the time to take action and get busy planting bulbs! When visiting garden centres to buy bulbs, choose plump and firm, healthy bulbs and avoid purchasing dried out and desiccated bulbs, as these won’t amount to anything.
Ox-eye daisies are one of Great Britain’s most endearing wildflowers. These charming large, white daisies with their golden centres light up our meadows; we should embrace these beauties, as they can bring just as much joy to our summer gardens! August and September is the ideal time to sow seeds.
The ox-eye daisy, dog daisy, or Marguerite is also known by the botanical name Leucanthemum vulgare.
Hardy annuals grow, flower, and die within the same year. Short-lived they may be, but their generosity of spirit and abundant flowering give our gardens a delightful floral boost, making these plants welcome additions to our gardens. Sowing seeds directly in the soil now requires less physical effort and is more economical than buying plants to plant in springtime. Spending under £10 on hardy annual seeds at the garden centre can produce enough plants to fill an average sized garden!
One of the many joys of growing our own food is providing ourselves and our families with freshly harvested fruit, vegetables, and herbs, which often have a dramatically improved flavour and freshness, compared to those we buy at the supermarket.
When we picture home-grown vegetables and herbs, we usually imagine produce that takes several months to a year (or more) to deliver a harvest of vegetables, fruit, or herbs.
Hard frosts, low temperatures, and wet weather can obliterate our borderline hardy garden plants over the autumn and winter months. To avoid unnecessary losses this coming winter, seize the moment and embrace this opportunity to increase your stock of Penstemons (and other perennials) by taking cuttings now!
Generally, Penstemon cultivars with the thinnest leaves tend to be hardiest, but even the hardier types can be lost during wet winters.
As autumn’s whisper reverberates through our landscape, many plants begin to fade, as they respond to the changing season and wither in the ever-lengthening nights’ embrace. This is a season of salvage, protection, and celebration; it’s time to bring tender plants inside our homes, conservatories, and glasshouses, and gather in our harvest.
At this time of year, Late Blight (Phytophthora infestans) is often viciously working its destruction through our tomato and potato plants, marking leaves and stems with patches of brown and spreading rot and disease, turning green or ripening tomatoes a deathly brown.
When you imagine your perfect container plant, what do you dream of?
Does your garden need a boost? Do you have enough summer-flowering perennials? Treat yourself to some Echinacea, these gorgeous plants have stunning, long-lasting flowers that attract butterflies, moths, bees, and other pollinating insects.
I adore Echinacea, also known as Coneflowers. My favourites are the purple and white flowered forms of Echinacea purpurea, as well their elegant cousin, Echinacea pallida.
Kidney Vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) is one of our beautiful British wildflowers that grows in chalk grassland, over sand dunes, across shingle, and atop cliffs, in South East England. These stunning plants should be cherished, as from late spring and early summertime, Kidney Vetch bloom continuously for around three months. Their flowers are a magnet for bees, and Kidney Vetch thrives in containers on a sunny patio or balcony.
Are you, your family, or community group, or your neighbourhood, village, or town planning a bonfire night celebration? Members of our community often devote significant amounts of their time and energy into creating a spectacular display for all to enjoy. Bonfire celebrations bring us together, but our actions can be harmful for wildlife.
Bonfire mounds resemble five-star luxury hibernation destinations to hedgehogs, frogs, newts, and toads, who enter seeking refuge, mistakenly assuming they have found a safe place to hibernate over winter.
Life isn’t always as relaxed as we’d like it to be. Daily demands and pressures can leave us feeling tense, stressed, and exhausted. My favourite way to relax, recharge, and re-energise my body and soul is to spend time outdoors in a garden or allotment, or to take an uplifting walk outside in our beautiful countryside.
If you’re looking to unwind, make time to enjoy a pot of tea in the garden.
In my last pond update, I showed you the shape of our wildlife pond after it was dug out and explained my thinking behind the design for the contours of my new wildlife pond. With the pond now all ready to set up, the next phase of our wildlife pond project is to prepare and install the equipment needed to make it all work!
November is a wonderful time to head outdoors in search of seed heads, pine cones, interesting stems and fallen branches to create stunning indoor decorations for Christmas.
Honesty (Lunaria annua) seed heads are called silicules. As a whole they may appear a little drab, but gently flex Honesty seed capsules between your fingers and the outer casing will peel off and reveal the elegant beauty of Lunaria annua.
Nurseries, garden centres, and online retailers are now displaying Thanksgiving Cacti on their shelves! Thanksgiving Cacti are easy to grow houseplants. One of the many endearing qualities about these plants is that we can enjoy Thanksgiving Cacti this season, but these long-lived plants can flourish for over one hundred years, allowing Thanksgiving Cacti to be celebrated and passed on to future generations.
Back in June I shared the first stage of my project to build a wildlife pond in our new garden. We hoped to have our pond up and running this summer, but due to the cost of buying the liner, plants, and other equipment, plus the sheer monumental task of shifting so much concrete and the need to repeatedly dig up reappearing bamboo suckers, it has taken us longer to get everything in place.
Bring positivity to a dreary autumn day by forgetting the outside world and focussing on creating your own miniature plant world! My step-by-step terrarium planting guide will help you plant your own long-lasting indoor centrepiece to enhance your home this autumn and winter. Get ready to make the most of the longer evenings getting busy designing your own plant paradise!
Terrarium plantsA terrarium creates a perfect environment for small plants that thrive in low light levels and high humidity.
A favourite with garden designers, every year Angelica archangelica is one of the most admired and coveted plants at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show in May. This is the perfect time to sow Angelica archangelica seeds; don’t miss out on this opportunity to introduce this glamorous and statuesque plant to your garden or allotment!
There’s no need to mess around with pots or compost, as Angelica archangelica become rather resentful if their roots are disturbed; therefore, sowing seeds directly where you want your plants to grow is both the easiest and most successful option.
Meadows epitomise the picturesque idyllic summer garden that so many of us dream of. However, creating a successful meadow is often more of a challenging project than we anticipate. Whether you’re creating a new meadow or fixing a failed meadow, August and September are the months that meadow gardeners must spring into action!
Preparation is the key to success. It’s easy to rush soil preparations, giddy with the excitement of sowing seeds – this is where most people fail.
Whether you garden in sunshine or shade, there are plants that will be perfectly suited to growing in your garden – it’s just a case of finding them! In 2019, my Vegepod was moved from a sunny spot, to a new enclosed, deeply shaded area of my garden. I am not exaggerating when I say that in its new position my Vegepod truly was shaded – my Vegepod was sandwiched in a tight space, wedged between a tall conifer hedge, a two storey high wall, a tall fence, and an 8ft tall pergola that was smothered with climbing plants – the plants growing in my Vegepod did not receive any direct sunshine whatsoever.
I love growing herbs. I get such pleasure from growing plants with tantalising flavours to enhance our meals and drinks. Just a small pot of mint can enhance cocktails, herbal teas, savoury dishes, fruit salads, and more decadent desserts. With autumn‘s arrival, I’m mindful that I don’t want to waste the lovely fresh leaves that will soon wither when the weather changes and frosts arrive.
