My gardening week – Six on Saturday 21.04.18
This week has seen the entry of warp speed Spring as the weather warms up to above seasonal averages. I have been admiring Pieris and tulips, shopping for the shade and planting sweet peas.
Growing sweet peas as cut flowers? – give them a suitable support
If you want to grow sweet peas in your allotment or cut flower patch, training them straight upwards is preferable to a triangular obelisk. You'll get straighter stems and better quality flowers for display. Here I show how to build an easy string cordon on a cane frame.
Rivendell delights – a garden for all seasons
Rivendell Garden in Amersham - a beautiful garden in springtime, open as part of the National Gardens Scheme. Featuring daffodils, hellebores and carefully selected spring beauties the garden layers early season impact above the emerging beauties of summer.
Forsythia intermedia – brightening gloomy days
Forsythia seems to split opinion. Some people find sunshine yellow difficult to incorporate in a garden and I admit to having a love-hate relationship with it. Spring is when I'm most likely to love yellow and my Forsythia has not disappointed this year. Yellow and optimistic Forsythia blossom [...]
My Gardening Week – Six on Saturday 14.04.18
This week I have been gardening in perma-cloud but plenty of summer colour is promised in my dahlias, cannas, bananas and roses. Daphne mezereum is scenting the air and I welcomed some Trilliums into the garden.
Narcissus desire – How I fell back in love with Daffodils
I’ve got a renewed attraction to daffodils, or to use their latin name - narcissi. It’s like cupid’s bow has hit me and inflamed my narcissus desire. That’s my love of daffodils, you understand, not myself. Read on to find out why.
My Gardening Week – Six on Saturday 07.03.18
My gardening week - six on saturday - 07.04.18 This week I was thankful for forsythia, showing daffodils, admiring Camellia and Pleione, making homes for more alpines and bringing an old cold frame into service.
Troughs for alpines – how to cover a belfast sink
Rock chicks of the mountains, a traditional stone trough gives alpines their perfect show stage. Aged with moss and lichen, stone can be hard to beat aesthetically but they are expensive. You can create an artificial stone trough cheaply by covering an old sink in a cement-based hypertufa mix. Here's how.
My Gardening Week – Six on Saturday 31.03.18
My gardening week - six on saturday - 31.03.18 This week I planted up a Gloriosa lily, took difficult decisions regarding my veg patch and delighted in a new Elephant's Ear shoot. I also admired the succulent roof on a bird table, planted some mini iris seeds and celebrated victory over fungus gnats.