Search - Articles

Cuttings taken from new shoots will root easily in spring to provide new plants for flowerbeds or pots. Alternatively take cuttings of your favourite plants in late-summer to overwinter indoors ready for planting or potting in the following season

early in winter before. I’m sure my friendly BBC weather forecaster will provide me with plenty more weather statistics when I next tune in.So, what does this mean for our plants and gardens? Firstly, take very great care walking out into your garden

.Cover with fleeceGrow carrots in narrow beds surrounded with 60cm-high barriers of polythene, or fine-meshed netting – this is another good way to stop the female flies finding your crop.Make fly barriersGrow carrots alongside strong-smelling companion plants

's still advisable to take cuttings as a back-up, which you can then overwinter.PenstemonIce plants are very reliable in hot, dry positions. Varieties of Sedum spectabile and S. telephium are particularly lovely. The green, domed heads of buds

plastic flowers instead.Does this sound harsh? If you think it is, I still can't believe that the Editor of Gardeners' World magazine let me get away with calling gardeners 'cack-handed' when it came to planting nectar-rich plants and hanging seed balls

the plant nearly died, so I took it to my allotment, hoping the fresh air and a good dose of sunshine would sort it out. It did, but then the greenhouse it was overwintering in was stolen, leaving it exposed to some hard, Manchester frosts. At least they put

Over the next few weeks, you may find a large wasp on the plot, which will turn out to be a queen. Having overwintered, queen wasps look for a place to start a brood, and may well decide that your shed (or in my case, compost heap), would make a

, and what the needs of your plants will be. If you’re planning to grow crops in there all year round, raise seedlings or overwinter tender plants, you’ll need a spot with maximum light and sunshine, away from frost pockets and cold winds.Discover the six

get a moment, I'll be putting the new grow bag out with fresh tomato plants, so they can sit in there, if they like. It just won't have the attractive topping of dead foliage and Christmas tree branches, which I have lived with for long enough

plant debris over the top, for extra shelter. In January I added the branches of the Christmas tree I used to make my bee hotel. Then in March, when I'd had quite enough of looking at it and was convinced the frogs had taken shelter elsewhere, I set