Posts from expert gardeners just like you!

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Variegation across the nation…

Guest blogger Jane Scorer has gardened the same half acre plot for over 30 years and has opened her garden for the NGS (Yellow Book) scheme. She has an RHS qualification, but feels that her main qualification is the years she has spent with her hands in the soil.

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Autumn colour is coming

Autumn colour is coming…

I am sitting looking out at the garden and there seems to be a funny tinge to the trees. They have a kind of lightness in their colour, but only here and there. Underneath one of the trees there is a scattering of leaves, the trees are shaking off the leaves from the summer which provided such wonderful shade on those long hot days we were lucky enough to have in the summer. But the winds are changing, there is a breeze which is rattling the branches as I write. The autumn is hastening on. I have taken to wearing my woolly tights to work, and there is a definite chill in the air.

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Getting more from your garden!

Getting more from your garden!

By ‘getting more’ I mean multiplying up your favourite plants the cheap and easy way — by taking cuttings. Although September is thought to be late for taking cuttings, it is in fact my chosen moment. The busy spring and summer seasons of the gardening year are behind us, but light levels and warmth are still adequate to persuade the many half-hardies currently doing colourful duty in mixed borders and pots, to root in double quick time. By ‘half-hardies’ I mean the more tender perennials such as the larger Verbenas, Venidio-arctotis, Diascias, Salvias, some Osteospermum, and many of the foliage plants that are downright tender, including Iresine, Helchrysum petiolatum and Plectranthus argentatus. Interestingly I also routinely take Penstemon cuttings at this time of year, although they are hardy in the ground, I often treat them as annuals. In my garden, they flower their socks off in their first year for many weeks longer than older stock can ever manage.

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Water, water, water keeps the garden rosy

I love to see the sun as much as anybody and it certainly makes the plants grow, but they could also do with a shower of rain from time to time.

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All’s growing well in the garden

By the end of May, all the bedding plants were put in the borders and watered in for a few nights. Last weekend after some heavy rain I went around them all with a small 2 pronged claw and loosened the soil. This will let air in around the roots and create dry soil mulch, trapping some of the moisture below as well as enhancing the visual appearance of the borders.

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Taking inspiration from The Chelsea Flower Show

I have been to Chelsea before – I have always loved it and I’m sure I always will. Never before have I felt so excited about going as I did this year. The last time I went to Chelsea, it was the second day and I went with one of my best friends, a florist who runs a fantastic florist shop in Berkshire called Green Parlour. My friend Emma had got the tickets for us and we had a wonderful day looking around the show together – looking for inspiration for her floral designs. This year was quite different. I had been lucky enough to be accepted for Press Day and I was so excited to be able to see the showground, whilst it was still quiet before the gates opened to the general public the following day.

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Was buying a house called ‘Brambles’ an omen? (Part three)

Was buying a house called “Brambles” an omen? (Part three)

“Every snow drift has a silver lining?” or “Is it true that gardeners are the world’s greatest optimists?”

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Behind the scenes at Chelsea Flower Show 2013 (press day)

Behind the scenes at Chelsea Flower Show 2013 (press day)

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show celebrates its centenary birthday this week, and I was very lucky to receive a press pass for Monday 21 May for a sneak preview and behind the scenes look at the most prestigious event in the gardening calendar – a money can’t buy experience for any keen gardener!

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Gardening Adventure – Gardening Beginner!

Gardening Adventure – Gardening Beginner!

My beginner’s garden is still very much that. I still don’t seem to know what I am doing but I think it’s coming together. Though I do know that I am not dedicating enough time to it. Still, I spent a sunny day back in April (that seems a loooong time ago) planting up my onion sets and getting some broad bean plug plants in. I think I must have a reputation for ‘playing’ at gardening still, so the onions were leftovers from my mum and grandparents – all 63 of them. My garden is far too small for that – however, I planted them all in anything I could find that would be deep enough! I’ve got Golden Gourmet shallots, Stuttgarter Riesen and a heritage seed from my granddad (all I know is that they are from his personal seed stock, Cornish in origin and taste fantastic!)

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Your local allotment needs you!

What can we do to ensure that our allotments are getting the love that they deserve? Locally to me in Hertfordshire, there are some sites which have been threatened with closure, due to planned developments – the people who grow on the sites are understandably battling hard to try to keep their beloved allotments, and it made me think about what it is that we love about our allotments, and why some sites are now struggling to fill plots, or why councils are trying to close them down for development.

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