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Propagation, planting out and cultivation posts from writers that know their subjects well.
A small garden pond gives this song thrush somewhere to bathe and drink.
Image source: Ondrej Prosicky
By making just a few small changes to the way you garden, you’ll really help native wildlife to thrive. To get you started, here’s some expert advice courtesy of some of the best gardeners and bloggers we’ve found – tips to make your garden more wildlife-friendly.
Hello Gardening Friends,
For the first time in many years Pembrokeshire is experiencing an actual “Flaming June!” With temperatures exceeding 25°c most days and sticky 18°c nights, it’s been mostly impossible to garden. The water butt has been emptied days ago, and for now we are using our “Grey Water” from washing up, bathing, and showering to water the beds and borders.
The lawn is only green in so far as its full of clover, thistle, dandelion and daisy. The actual grass is brown and crispy. I can’t remember if it was Monty Don or Alan Titchmarsh who said that a perfect lawn wasn’t good in the summer, but you could keep it green with weeds.
This month I am holding my hand up in admittance of being wrong. Or maybe misguided. A while ago I wrote in one of my blogs, that I didn’t agree with garden designers telling us to chose just a few species of plants and grow many of them. However, due to limited capabilities this is what I did this year. I had an abundance of Black Ball Cornflowers that I planted in large clumps all over the front garden, they with our stalwarts of fuschia,margaritas, red hot pokers, azaleas , firestorm And St John Wart shrubs, created a striking scene. Many neighbours stopped and asked what the pretty little burgundy/black flowers were. They also stopped me to ask if my trial Petunias were real or plastic, because the bright pink against the blue bungalow is pretty hard to miss. So although I hate the thought of growing just one type of flower, it does look very effective and the garden designers were right. I haven’t made my mind up if I will just grow a single variety or not in the future, but it has given me pause for thought.
It’s a little difficult to write about the greenhouse this month, because, quite frankly, not a lot is happening in this heat. But here’s a quick run-through.
finitely buy these again. Strangely the African Marigolds that were supposed to be in citrus colours are a burgundy red, so the two complement each other. The African ones were not a T&M product and to be honest I am not someone who complains to companies who give out the wrong seeds in the packets, because a) they may have been a more expensive seed b) it worked out well with my colour theme and c) life is too short to complain!
the border, or from the nerve damage in my fingers and accidentally dropping seed packets or pots I’d just sown with fresh seeds. Either way, I’m happy with the results.
feed granules, more water, less water, newer compost, but in the end it was leaving the windows open at night that triggered the regrowth. In regards to them, I am trialling two sets of Ferlines, one that has had a natural coating put on the seeds and one without. The one with is in the lead with fruits and flowers forming. I am then comparing these to Yellow Stuffer in terms of colour versus colour. Yellows are taller with fruit just forming, but reds are more prolific.
With my aubergine trial the T&M aubergine is tiny and seems to stop growing once it’s put in its final,position – same as last year. The same mix from Lidl Shop bought seeds are doing a lot better. Triple in size. The other third company seed, (but a different variety) are also doing okay. None however have any flowers yet.
The most successful crop to date is the Cape Gooseberries. They are romping away, and as they climb they form discreet flowers, then the fruits almost like magic appear. I cannot wait for these to ripen, they look delicious.
One final thing before I sign off, Mark and I went over to my brother’s house and both Mark and my brother finally to erect his greenhouse. I spent a happy few hours with my nieces teaching them to grow their own foods. I gave them aubergines, sweet peppers, mint,strawberries and radish. Mum came over later on in the and gave them tomato plants.
My other brother has taken on an allotment and his wife has opened a baguette shop in the City of St Davids using local produce. More excitingly they are going to be opening another local business soon, in a well-known tourist hotspot in St Davids!
Mum has redesigned her back garden and I gave her my sail shade as we can’t use it in our garden, I won it in a gardening competition ages ago.
The only redesigning I have done in our garden is buy a hammock and plonked it on the back lawn to watch the sun setting! It’s the best £30 I’ve spent this year.
Since what’s happened to me in the last few years, we have all decided to follow our dreams. I was hoping to return to work, though sadly it’s not possible. So for this year my mission is to encourage the family in their pursuits and to spend more time in my garden relaxing in my hammock.
My name is Amanda and I live in Pembrokeshire with my fiancé and our garden is approximately 116 meters square. I want to share with you my love for gardening and the reasons behind it, from the good to the bad and ugly. I want to do this for my own personal pleasure. If you would like to take the journey with me then please read my blogs and share with me your gardening stories.
Waste not, want not – the frugal gardener’s mantra.
Image source: Ondacaracola
Savvy gardeners are frugal gardeners for whom “waste” is a dirty word. Here we present some top tips from growers with a passion for repurposing, reusing, and recycling – ways to save money and the environment while helping your garden grow.
Colourful flower borders are a joy to behold.
Image source: Artens
To help you get the most from your flower garden, we asked some of our favourite green-fingered bloggers for their expert tips and advice. From planning your beds to pruning, here’s some great advice to get your flowers blooming like never before.
Gardening is a lifelong learning curve based on shared knowledge, trial and error.
Image source: Rawpixel.com
If you’re just getting into gardening and could do with some help and advice to set you on your way, we’ve got just what you need: handy tips from gardeners from across the blogosphere. These growers have planted and grown it all before, so give yourself a head start by learning from their wealth of experience. Here are five golden rules of growing for newbies.
Chocolate Mint is one of the more interesting varieties
Image source: Nic Wilson
Mint is the most versatile of herbs – it adds zest to summer desserts and savoury dishes, and flavours herbal teas and cocktails. It thrives in semi-shade where other Mediterranean herbs like thyme and rosemary might struggle.
There are so many types available, all with different scents and uses – so it’s helpful to know a little about the different varieties before you start growing. But if you just want to jump into growing something versatile, then a basic mint plant is perfect for getting started.
Banana mint has a mild flavour
Image source: Nic Wilson
My favourites include tall apple mint (Mentha suaveolens) whose furry leaves add a fresh tang to boiled new potatoes with butter; it’s also really good in mint sauce. For herbal teas I prefer spicy varieties like peppermint (Mentha x piperita) – a cross between watermint and spearmint, Moroccan mint (Mentha spicata var. crispa ‘Moroccan’) and Tashkent mint (Mentha spicata ‘Tashkent’), also known as spearmint.
For even more flavour, I combine the mint with lemon verbena leaves for an aromatic hot tea, or add sugar, cool the tea and add ice cubes as a refreshing drink on hot summer afternoons. Moroccan and Tashkent mint also have the advantage of being resistant to mint rust, a common fungal disease that can affect leaves from spring until the autumn.
Other varieties to try include ginger mint (Mentha x gracilis ‘Variegata’), an attractive plant with variegated yellow and green foliage that tastes great with fruit salads. Or choose dark chocolate mint (Mentha x piperita f. citrata ‘Chocolate’) my children’s favourite, with deep red stems and leaves that really do taste of mint choc chip ice cream.
The spicy foliage of basil mint (Mentha x piperita f. citrata ‘Basil’) adds a tang to oils and vinegars,and the soft leaves of banana mint (Mentha arvensis ‘Banana’) have a mild flavour with just a hint of banana. There’s even a variety from Cuba called Mojito mint (Menthat villosa ‘Mojito’) which has a warm sweet flavour ideal for combining with soda water, lime juice, white rum and sugar to create the traditional Cuban highball.
Mint is a vigorous plant that spreads unless contained
Image source: shutterstock/Izf
It’s a good idea to grow mint in containers, unless you have a large patch that will tolerate invasion by this vigorous perennial. I have grown mint in large bottomless pots sunk into the ground – you just have to be vigilant and pull out any surface runners before they root and escape into the garden.
Mint thrives in semi-shade and likes to be kept well watered, but it copes with full shade and full sun too. It’s best to avoid growing different mints close together or in the same container as they can lose their distinct scents and flavours.
Once you have mint it’s quick and easy to propagate by stem or root cuttings. Either turn the plant out of the pot, break off a few roots (with or without shoots) and bury just below the surface in peat-free compost, or take several stem cuttings from a healthy plant and place around the rim of a pot filled with gritty compost. Keep moist until you see new growth and then pot on.
Corsican mint (or ‘mini mint’) forms a green carpet on the ground
Image source: David Eickhoff
Mint is also valuable in the garden as an ornamental plant. Creeping Corsican mint (Mentha requienii) creates a relaxed look trailing along a gravel path, between stepping stones or over rocks. At only 3-10cm high, it forms a mat on the ground and releases its spicy aroma when crushed underfoot. As with all flowering mints, this Corsican mint is a magnet for bees which love its tiny mauve flowers.
Hanging baskets are another ideal place for ornamental mint. Indian mint (Satureia douglasii ‘Indian Mint’), a tender perennial in the mint family, has delicate white long-lasting flowers that cascade over the sides of a basket. Or as we’ve done this year, plant sweet strawberry mint (Mentha x piperita ‘Strawberry’) in the centre of a hanging basket surrounded by trailing strawberry plants and then harvest both for a delicious dessert – just add cream. Find more great growing suggestions for your mint and other herbs at our herb hub page.
The author and publisher take no responsibility for any adverse effects from the use of plants. Not everyone reacts positively to all edible plants or other plant uses. Seek advice from a professional before using a plant for culinary or medicinal uses.
Make the most of these tried and tested tips from experienced gardeners.
Image source: welcomia
A great way to get the most from your garden is to follow the advice and guidance of generous gardeners who’ve already been there and done it. Here we bring you some top growing tips from expert gardeners and bloggers – green fingered folk who know their onions.
I have this fantasy image of myself in diaphanous summer dress, wandering around my garden with a woven willow trug and floral secateurs, in the hazy lazy afternoon sunshine, listening to the soporific buzzing of the bees, whilst gently snipping deadheads off my beautiful pristine roses. STOP! I’m actually crawling around the borders on my knees peering at the shredded foliage of the edging plants caused by my Dearly Beloved pressure washing the paths.
Having recently swelled with optimism at the pronouncement that spraying diluted garlic solution on hostas repels slugs and snails, despondency came in the form of leaf shredding pigeons and a leaf nibbling Oriental called Fred (cat, silly!), clearly neither species in the slightest bit phased by garlic fumes.
T & M Foxgloves Illumination Flame have disappeared under the filipendula seemingly in a matter of hours after planting in a suitable gap. The astrantia has crawled all over the dicentra and alchemilla molis. Such an unassuming plant, huh, roots like thatch, needed the WW1 trenching tool to hack some clumps out of the soil along with all the daffodil bulbs. Looks totally decimated, should have left well alone. Talking of daffodils, the wretched things bloomed so late that their leaves will be sprawling all over the place until end June if I want any flowers next Spring. All the phormiums died so out came the trenching tool yet again to prise them out. Why can’t the shallow rooted plants die?
Why oh why does the Salix integra ‘Hakuro-nishiki’ morph into a thatched beach parasol just as the perennial ground cover starts to really take off underneath? The time had come, the time that I dread beyond all other times, to let David loose on the hedge trimmer. Always a row first about methodology and a row afterwards about clearing up.
….And breathe! Well, the worst is over. Today’s somewhat less contentious task was to get the plant loops and stakes into the melee of jostling perennials before everything toppled over. I know I say this every year, but the roses are going to be spectacular. I’ve never seem such prolific sprays of buds, their branches in serious danger of collapse from the weight. And the T&M tree lilies (at least 6 years old now) are in bud already. They don’t usually flower until our NGS Open Day end July, another potential worry then. I put all this growth acceleration down to the recent tropical storms followed by hot humid sunshine. By the way, how many of you watched the eerily soundless lightning storm a couple of Saturday nights ago and thought of War of the Worlds? But lightning is supposed to be good for the garden; it fixes nitrogen into the soil or something like that. (Please feel free to correct me if I am way off the mark.)
So having finally planted up all the patio containers and baskets – T&M begonia Non-Stop Mocca red, Solenia Apricot, Fragrant Falls Orange Delight and petunia Suzie Storm – we turned our attention to the garden accessories. Tatty old white cast iron table and chairs are now subtle sage green, shady fencing where nothing will grow now adorned with pale grey framed mirror, with added bonus of bouncing light back into dingy border as well as reflecting bright sunny border opposite. All planned of course! The driftwood fence is up and is a real feature, a perfect backdrop to ferns, heucheras and a brand new acer. Which brings to mind What Does Good Taste Actually Mean? A certain celebrity gardener (famous parents, you know who you are!) opined to readers of his column in one Sunday paper, that whilst lime green foliage was a characteristic Spring charmer, ideal for lifting shady areas, to mix it with purple foliage, or perish the thought, silver, was a bridge way too far! Well I DON’T CARE. I love my limes and purples and oranges So There! And to celebrate the subjectivity of Good Taste I have created a window box of contrasts: bronze coleus Campfire, lime green ipomoea and black ipomoea, dichondra Silver Falls and lysimachia nummularia Aurea!
Here we are again, coming into the height of the gardening season. What better way to spend a Sunday than by visiting other NGS Open Gardens, talking plants, eating cake and oohing and ahhing at unusual and innovative schemes that you wish you had come up with first. The first week of June was NGS Festival Weekend and so we spent a leisurely Sunday visiting three of my gardens (i.e. gardens under my watch as local Assistant County Organiser.) Marjorie’s small but perfectly formed cottage garden in Hampstead Garden Suburb, full of hidden pathways clothed in old roses and clematis; Sandra’s sweeping lawns, leading to a glamorous sunken pool area surrounded by tropical raised beds and swathes of bamboo, a world away from Finchley Central! Ian and Michael’s Oakwood garden, transformed in two years from traditional lawn to terraced decking, exotic architectural planting, water features and pergola, worthy of Chelsea Flower Show. We truly are a nation of gardeners.
Talking of Chelsea, first time in twenty years, I went this year: RHS Members’ Day Tuesday. Not wishing to sound churlish, I was quite sceptical about how much I would enjoy it, as last time I barely saw the show gardens for crowds five deep in front of me and the old tented plant pavilion was sticky hot, cramped and made my hair frizz up! So I am delighted to report that I thoroughly enjoyed it. The fun started on the previous Sunday when my Chelsea companion Rosie came over with the programme, and we sat on the patio for a happy hour, drinking strawberry laden prosecco, whilst marking up our route in order of preference. Large show gardens first, then refreshments, Space to Grow show gardens, Great Pavilion, more refreshments, and back again, followed by Artisan show gardens, refreshments and finally, when I didn’t care if ever saw another plant again as long as I lived, the trade stands. Sunny day, the right dress, comfortable shoes and a hands free shoulder bag made manoeuvring through the crowds virtually painless. My highlights? Matt Keightley’s’s Feel Good Garden, currently being recreated down the road from here, for patients and staff at Highgate NHS Mental Health Centre. In the Great Pavilion, Tom Stuart-Smith created a garden for Garfield Weston Foundation, all shapes, sizes, textures and shades of green, green, green. Cool, tranquil magic. I could live there. Favourite plants? Evolution Group hellebore hybrids and variegated hellebores, rosa Jacqueline Du Pré and new Solomon’s Seal varieties. And of the trade stands, a pair of huge wire mesh boxing hares.
And even after looking at all that perfection, I was still happy to return to my own plot. I’ve fallen in love with our garden all over again this Spring. It never ceases to surprise, delight and challenge me. Until the next horticultural trauma, that is.…………..Happy gardening.
Caroline Broome has been gardening for more than 20 years. Having passed the RHS General Certificate, she has since developed her East Finchley garden into a “personal paradise” that she and her husband invite the public to visit each year via the National Garden Scheme. Learn more about our contributor using T&M’s ‘Meet the experts’ page.
So, I heard we (Thompson & Morgan) were having a floral fantasia trial garden this year at RHS Hyde Hall in Chelmsford and I was very pleased, and couldn’t wait to visit.
Then I got an email asking me to help plant it up, I was over the moon!!!
Since starting my new career in Horticulture many years ago now, I wanted to work at Hyde Hall. I did apply for an apprenticeship there, but travelling would have been too much, so I studied at Otley College as it was closer.
An early start at T & M HQ and off we went to Hyde Hall down the A12 into Essex.
When we arrived the beds were marked out with marker spray and labelled and all we had to do was crack on with the planting.
There were 26 trolleys heaving with excellent, strong plants all ready waiting for planting.
We also had a team of six Gardeners from the RHS to help us plant out.
The weather was kind to us, but the day before when the chaps were unloading the plants, they got a tad wet, apparently!
I planted some of my favourites including Cosmos Cupcakes and Nicotiana Marshmallow. Can’t wait to have some in my garden!
We think we planted about two thirds the first day, I went back for a second day of fun. It started of misty and cloudy, but to be honest, to me that’s perfect planting weather. It broke out warmer from lunchtime, so on went the hat and all important sun cream.
I loved day two, we got to plant the wonderful Sunflower, SunBelievable ‘Brown Eyed Girl’, what a truly stunning plant it is! In the centre of the garden, there is a large old trough packed with these beauts, I definitely want these in my garden. They are perfect for weddings, as my cousin’s wedding has a Sunflower theme so may have to grow some for her.
Pots and pouches complete the trial garden.
The garden is packed with summer favourites and also new introductions for 2018.
I am looking forward to visiting the garden with my children and showing them the riot of garden. Its open from the 9th June to the 30th September.
You will find the Floral Fantasia next to the Global Growth Vegetable Garden.
One of my earliest memories; helping my Mum and Dad weed the veggie plot and collecting chicken eggs from the chooks at the end of the garden. I grew up on a farm as a child and always had my own piece of land to grow and learn with, so I suppose its in the blood!
In my mid twenties, I re trained in Horticulture (Professional Gardening ANCH) and set up my own Gardening business working for clients in the Suffolk/Essex area. For the last thirteen years I’ve had the pleasure of working on a private twenty five acre estate tending to the grounds.
In 2016, I joined the team at Thompson and Morgan in the Customer Care department.
Also season ticket holder at Ipswich Town Football Club!!
Keep your veg plot brimming over with delicious produce with these handy tips!
Image: Steffi Pereira
From one man who likes his veg Tudor style to another who loves to grow Tomatillos, and on to other green fingered folk with handy hints to share, here we bring you awesome veg growing tips from people in the know – veg gardeners and bloggers from across the country.