Search - Articles

to the serenity of the place.So I was very pleased to see a pair of goldfinches this morning. I'm not a birdwatcher, but even I know the unmistakable red face, white sideburns and yellow wing flash of these pretty creatures. They were not in my 'wildlife haven

to be the oriental poppy. Even the most subtle of them are charismatic and, for the most part, they're the flashiest of flowers, flaunting their charms with bravado.The biggest, and surely one of the best oriental poppies, is the blood-red Papaver orientale (Goliath

It's always exciting when we move the stock outside from the polytunnels to 'harden off' and 'grow on', so that they're just perfect for the Chelsea Flower Show. I guess it's rather like farmers letting cows out onto the grass after a long winter

, and damp down the floor every morningBe on the lookout for pests, including whitefly and red spider mite, and treat at once with a suitable spray or biological controlPot up rooted cuttingsPinch out the tips of cucumber sideshoots two leaves beyond a female

Take cuttings of zonal and regal pelargoniums, and pot up rooted cuttings taken earlierTrain the main stem of cucumber plants up a wire to the roof of your greenhouse. Pinch out sideshoots two leaves after a flower or fruitWater plants in pots

Train cucumbers and prune back sideshootsPick off flowers on coleus to maintain their colourful leavesWater tomatoes regularly to prevent fruits from splittingTake cuttings from fuchsias, coleus, pelargoniums, marguerites and other tender perennials

watering a week to keep plants growing stronglyBe vigilant for pests like red spider mite and take action against any right awayBuy narcissus, hyacinths and lachenalias to plant for indoor displaysSow poor man's orchid (schizanthus) to produce flowering

corollas, like foxgloves and red campion. Smaller-tongued bees are generally less fussy. Buff-tailed bumblebees, B. terrestris have learned to rob nectar from plants with long corrollas, by piercing them and taking nectar from the side of the flowers. I

There are several different viruses that affect tulips, each with slightly different symptoms. Tulip breaking virus causes streaking or marking of purple, pink and red tulips, usually on the late-flowering cultivars. White and yellow tulips aren

) have started flowering. (They are annuals and not to be confused with the beefier oriental poppies - like this striking red Papaver orientale 'Beauty of Livermere'.)These are one of my most favourite flowers: so delicate, so unbelievably beautiful