• LONDON'S BIGGEST GARDEN CENTRE

    Shop & Cafe open 7 days a week

News - Page 113

You can find the latest news from Birchen Grove garden centre here! 

Any questions or do you want to know more? Just fill out our contact form or call 0208 905 91 89. Want to get social? Use #loveBirchenGrove. 

See you soon at Birchen Grove garden centre.

 

Grow winter salads

Grow winter salads for a supply of fresh, crunchy greens to add the taste of summer to salads and sandwiches right through the coldest winter months.

The secret of keeping your salad supply going right through even the very coldest months of the year is to make the switch from summer to winter salad mixes from October onwards.

You'll find a great selection of spicy winter baby-leaf salad mixes on the seed racks in the garde...

Read more...
Plant winter tubs

Plant winter tubs as soon as the summer bedding is cleared. Biennials like wallflowers are available as bare-root bundles right now in our garden centre here in London, offering fantastic value: team them with cheery daffodils or tulips in matching colours for a display next spring which will take your breath away.

During winter itself there's a wide selection of plants which will give you plenty of colour to cheer you up even on the coldest days. Pansi...

Read more...
Grow your own horseradish

Grow your own horseradish for an unusual addition to your herb garden that's very easy to look after and will give you spicy roots to use in the kitchen for year after year. Peeled and grated into vinegar and a little cream, they make a real knock-your-socks off accompaniment to roast beef.

Horseradish is a rugged plant and needs firm control to stop it spreading into neighbouring beds and borders. Once you've bought your plant or root - now on sale in...

Read more...
Lift dahlia tubers

Lift dahlia tubers as soon as the first frosts have blackened their stems and store them for winter.

Dig up the fat hand-like roots carefully, making sure you don't accidentally spear them with your fork. Then brush off any excess soil and trim back the foliage to leave about 10cm of stem above the top-most tubers.

Tie a label round the stem so you don't forget which variety it is, then move them indoors and stand upside down in a tray line...

Read more...
Learn more about apples

Learn more about apples at one of the many Apple Days taking place around the country.

Late autumn is the perfect time to plant an apple tree or three - you'll find an excellent selection now on sale at our garden centre here in London. But choose carefully: an apple tree is a long-term investment which could provide delicious crunchy fruit not just for you, but for your kids and your grandkids too.

You'll usually need at l...

Read more...
October's plants of the month are conifers

October's plants of the month are conifers, possibly the most versatile, easy-going and handsome garden tree you can buy.

You'll find a conifer for every spot in the garden, from tiny dwarf pines for crevices and containers, to giant cedars with magnificently sweeping branches. They're evergreen, low-maintenance, drought tolerant and brilliantly colourful: what more could you ask?

Conifers are particularly good at providing dense shelter fr...

Read more...
What to do in the garden in October:

Temperatures are falling, mists are rising and it's time to begin the long, slow process of putting your garden to bed. Here are the autumnal jobs to be getting on with this month:

General tasks:

Dig clay soils while the ground is still easy to work, leaving claggy clods exposed for the frost to break down.
Rake up fallen leaves and store in bin bags with a few airholes punched through: after a year they'll turn into...

Read more...
Give your lawn some autumn TLC

Give your lawn some autumn TLC before tucking it up for winter and it'll bounce back in spring with redoubled vigour, giving you the greenest, smoothest start to your new year.

Lawns are getting tired by now after a long summer as football pitch, pet playground and sunbathing spot, so take a long critical look and work out what needs fixing.

Start by raking out the 'thatch', dead grass and moss which accumulates over the ye...

Read more...
Take action against lurking pests

Take action against lurking pests hoping to camp out in your greenhouse this winter - if you don't deal with them now they'll be waiting to infest your crops from for the moment you start planting next year.

Winters are getting warmer, and that means pests are finding it easier to snuggle down in nooks and crannies. Not only are they occasionally active during the winter – they also get going far earlier in spring.

Fumigati...

Read more...
Plant out biennial wallflowers

Plant out biennial wallflowers for a dazzling display of colour next spring.

Like foxgloves, sweet williams and forget-me-nots, wallflowers are sown one year to flower the next. But if you've missed the boat and forgotten to sow your own earlier this year, you'll find great value bare-root bundles and potted plants ready to go in our garden centre right now to fill those gaps left by summer-flowering annuals.

Choose a sunny, well-drained sp...

Read more...
Harvest your haricots

Harvest your haricots for a filling and tasty addition to winter stews and soups which will keep you warm to the toes right through winter.

If you're growing French beans, you're growing haricots: while many gardeners know how delicious slender green beans can be, we often forget about their secondary use, as dried haricots. In French gardens it's a staple crop, but less common here.

Most French bean varieties make good haricots but a few a...

Read more...
Ripen your pumpkins

Ripen your pumpkins in the last of the autumn sunshine and they'll not only make fantastic Jack o'Lanterns for Hallowe'en, they'll also keep for months.

There are loads of gorgeous pumpkin varieties around these days. For real whoppers to carve into spooky decorations for your doorstep, go for 'Atlantic Giant' or 'Hundredweight', but if space is limited try more modestly-proportioned 'Becky', or dwarf pumpkins like 'Jack B Little' or 'Baby Bear', perfec...

Read more...