News - Page 100
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Slug barriers at the ready: Britain’s gardens are in for an invasion this summer according to experts predicting an unusually high number of our least favourite gastropods.
Researchers at conservation charity Buglife have predicted that the record warm temperatures this winter means slugs have not retreated for their usual period of hibernation, but have carried on breeding instead. At the same time populations of natural predators like hedgehogs are dwindlin...
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Leeks sown this spring should be a nice healthy size by now, and it’s time to transplant them across into their final growing places. If you didn’t get around to sowing seeds, don’t worry – you’ll find ready-grown leek seedlings among the great range of veg plug plants at our garden centre here in London.
Instead of just plonking them in the ground, encourage them to form long, white shanks by puddling them in. This is the rather quaint name for a techn...
Dust off your best frock – it’s time for the gardening world’s premier event of the year! The RHS Chelsea Flower Show opens this week and we can’t wait to see what the world’s best designers have come up with this year. Expect groundbreaking designs, superb plants, drama and above all glamour from the moment it starts this Tuesday.
This year peonies are set to be the stars of the show, their blowsily romantic flowers featuring on many gardens and in the Great...
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Have a go at growing greenhouse cucumbers and you too can enjoy the slim, elegant, dark green cukes you buy in the shops.
Greenhouse cucumbers are easy to grow, crop prolifically, and unlike outdoor cucumbers, you don’t have to peel them before you eat them. Growing cucumbers under glass is also good insurance in case wet weather rots outdoor plants before they get going.
The seed of all-female F1 varieties such as Tiffany or Carmen are worth paying a...
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The Chelsea Fringe begins at the weekend, a few days before its world-famous big sister, the Chelsea Flower Show, opens its doors. The Fringe offers an antidote to all that glamour with a little quirky and alternative horticulture of its own.
Last year more than 350 Fringe events took place all over the UK, plus a few other countries too. Nearly all the events are free and volunteer-run: they range from poetry recitals and art installations, to more off...
Count your earthworms and help Oxford scientists find out more about the soil that keeps your plants healthy in the latest ‘citizen science’ project from environmental charity Earthwatch.
All you need to do is dig two holes somewhere in your garden where there are at least two different habitats – say, lawn and flowerbed - and count how many earthworms you find. Then fill in the simple online survey to record your results.
Researchers will use your res...
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Use your walls to the max with vertical gardening to cram even more colour, scent and spectacle into your garden and add a whole new dimension to your gardening life.
There are dozens of new and innovative ways to take your plants skywards and you’ll find many of them right here at our garden centre in London.
Shelving systems triple the number of containers you can squeeze in. Shelving with slatted wood allows water to drain through; if the shelves gr...
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The number of plants blooming on Valentine’s Day this year shot up by over 60% according to the results of the National Trust’s 11th annual February flower count. Each year the Trust counts the number of flowers in bloom on February 14th at 18 of its gardens in the south west of the UK. The sudden increase this year is thought to have been caused by high rainfall and mild temperatures, causing plants to become confused about when they should bloom.
A total of...
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Plant rhubarb now for bumper crops next spring. Late spring is a great time to plant permanent crops, as it's warm but there's plenty of rain about – ideal growing conditions. Big, hungry plants like rhubarb need time to get their roots down into the ground to fuel those stout stalks and huge leaves, so planting crowns before the heat of summer gives them a quick start and a whole season to get going before you start picking – giving you hefty harvests from next sea...
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Gardeners may be able to help reverse the decline in butterfly populations according to Butterfly Conservation, now recruiting volunteers to join its Garden Butterfly Survey.
The survey will reveal the ups and downs of garden butterfly numbers, plus how they are affected by climate change, what plants they prefer and the best size and location for a butterfly-friendly garden.
Britain’s 22 million gardens offer a potentially huge and vitally important h...
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Create your own culinary herb garden that looks almost too good to eat!
Try planting a selection of tasty herbs valued as much for their ornamental appeal as their flavour. From sage to thyme, rosemary to clipped bay and flowering chives, combine herbs valued for their ornamental beauty to produce long-lasting displays as well as regular pickings for the kitchen.
There are no hard and fast rules about creating herb gardens, but successful designs often...
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Plant a classic American Indian combination of squash, beans and corn and reap the rewards of one of the oldest recorded companion planting techniques in higher yields and less work.
The Three Sisters has been used for centuries by the Iroquois, who grew their staple foods of corn, beans and squash mixed up in the same bed.
Tall sweetcorn supports climbing beans, while large-leafed squash scrambles around the feet of the other two ‘sisters’, keeping we...
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