News - Page 97

It’s National Allotments Week this week and we’re all Growing Together – this year’s theme for the annual celebration of all things allotment-related run by the National Allotment Society.

National Allotment Week

Allotment sites all across the country are opening to the public and welcoming in local communities to see for themselves how plots are open to all sections of society, from the unemployed to the professional, young or old, all races and rel...

Just one in four of us come across hedgehogs regularly in our gardens according to a wildlife survey from the RSPB. That’s a drop of three percent on the previous year – showing that populations of our favourite mammals are still in steep decline. The charity asked 280,000 people to keep records about wildlife they saw in the garden over a year.

You've got more chance seeing a Fox in Your Garden than a Hedgehog?

The results included foxes for the fir...

Pick off male cucumber flowers once a week to avoid your cucumbers turning bitter. Most greenhouse cucumber plants produce both male and female flowers – it’s easy to tell the difference as male flowers have simple stalks while female flowers have miniature fruits forming behind the petals.

To avoid a bitter tasting Cucumber, pick off male flowers once a week

If you allow the male flowers to develop and pollinate the female flowers, the fruits that d...

From dainty Blue Fescue Grass to majestic Miscanthus, ornamental grasses provide texture, character and form unmatched by many other hardy perennials. Their presence develops through the seasons as bright and colourful foliage is joined by graceful swaying flower heads that last well into winter.

In large borders grasses can be planted in bold groups or striking drifts, but many varieties perform well in large patio pots, positioned where their individual sha...

The Met Office wants weather obsessed gardeners to help them improve their forecasts by installing small weather stations in the garden to predict thunderstorms and tell them when there’s a weather front on the way.

Calling all Weather Obsessed Gardeners

The country’s leading weather forecaster says its supercomputer – among the most technologically advanced in the world and able to carry out 16 trillion calculations a second – needs more data than t...

The city of Belfast is coming up roses this week as the nation’s favourite flower takes central stage for the annual Rose Week at Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park.

Annual Rose Week at Sir Thomas and Lady Dixon Park

The world-famous rose gardens in the park, already home to 40,000 roses, are playing host to thousands of visitors with a full programme of activities, including music and entertainment for all the family. There are bee walks, floral art dem...