News - Page 129
Build a composting area in a corner of your garden and you'll never regret it. In goes kitchen peelings, garden prunings and autumn leaves; out comes lovely, crumbly black gold, rich and ready to spread on the garden to feed your plants.
Once you get into composting, one bin just isn't enough: three is the ideal (one to fill, one to rot and one to use), then there's leafmould to make, and a green cone and wormery for kitchen scraps. You'll find a fantas...
Prune hardy fuchsias to tidy them up while the spring shoots are still dormant, and you'll find they erupt in fresh green growth from next month onwards ready for their lovely long-lasting display of pendent purple and red flowers through summer.
There are plenty of varieties of fuchsia able to survive even quite a hard winter: most are related to F. magellanica, a tough shrub which is so resilient it's naturalised and now grows wild in the hedgerows of...
Stock up on seeds for next winter's crop now as big, beefy brassicas like Savoy cabbages, Brussels sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli need almost a year to grow to full size.
Make the most of the great range of seed varieties you'll find here at our our garden centre in Lymington by sowing two or three different ones for each type of veg. Sowing just one type of Brussels sprout, for example, can mean they all hit picking time at once, leaving you wit...
Show your loved one how much you care this Valentine's Day with a beautiful bouquet of fresh blooms from the cut flower range here at our garden centre in Lymington.
You'll find traditional red roses, of course - always a romantic choice - but this year why not try something different by choosing seasonal spring flowers instead?
Combine a bouquet of sweetly-scented hyacinths, delicately-fragranced anemones and pretty yellow narcissi for a f...
There are enough bright sunshiny days to get outside, just for a while, to admire the spring bulbs and put the first seeds in. It may be early - but it's definitely spring at last!
General tasks:
- Float a football on the pond to keep a small area free from ice so fish and other creatures can breathe and plants stay healthy.
- Invest in a shredder to turn woody early spring prunings into chips small enough to go on the...
February's plant of the month is heather, often unfairly undervalued - but if you dismiss it you're missing a trick, as it's a star performer in the garden at this time of year.
There are over 4000 species to choose from, with flowers in white, pink and purple and foliage colours varying from bright green, olive green and golden, and you're sure to find one to suit your garden.
Ericas are the largest group, with a very long flowering period...
Get your creepers under control before they invade your house and treat them to a haircut so they're at their shapely best ready for new growth to appear in spring.
Wayward climbers can work their way into window frames, doors, guttering and roof spaces if left to grow unchecked, and need regular cutting back to keep them neat. Creepers you can prune now include ornamental vines, wisteria, ivy, Virginia creeper, Boston ivy and climbing hydrangea. They'r...
Sow chillies now to turn up the heat in the garden this year to the max. There can be few veg which are as much sheer fun to grow as chillies. There's the fun of choosing from the many varieties on offer in our garden centre here in Lymington, from relatively mild Anaheim and Jalapeno peppers to fiercely hot Scotch Bonnets. There's also the fun of handing a super-hot Bhut Jolokia or Dorset Naga to your nearest and dearest to sample and watching as their eyes start t...
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Invest in a heated propagator and you'll transform your seed-sowing life this spring. Getting going early is essential to allow long-season veg like peppers, chillies and aubergines enough time to grow and ripen fruit. However these are plants from exotic climes, used to germinating in warm, cosy conditions - impossible to recreate in a chilly British January.
A heated propagator kids your seeds that it's warm enough for them to risk germinating. They a...
Look out for lorries full of gardens this summer as the Love the Plot You've Got roadshow goes out and about in our city centres to inspire and entertain you with some fantastic garden ideas.
The roadshow takes a tiny patch of ground and gives you the 'before' - typical of an averagely neglected back garden - and the 'after', three themed ideas for turning it into a stunning outdoor room. It'll be visiting cities from Glasgow to Bristol as well as desig...