Greenhouse Ideas, Tips & Guides

eye of potato, monkey’s tail….

In terms of a review of the year as a whole, there is not a lot to say, with it being more a case of consolidation than of change, building on subtle changes made the year before, like moving snowdrops to the woodland, thinning the apple trees to introduce more light to the woodland edge border below, and extending the blue & white borders. Even the current project, despite the organised mayhem it has generated, will only bring about a subtle change to the garden. Within the garden as a whole, mixed weather patterns created uncertainty in flowering times but there were negligible losses from the previous cold winter and no problems with waterlogging during the last few rainy and unsettled months.

The gentlemen may well be resting and making merry but, never one to sit and twiddle my thumbs, I have suddenly found myself in the middle of another project. With only eight weeks until we open the garden again, it is not necessarily a sensible thing to be doing, but with a settled period of weather in the offing it was hard to resist, especially as the Golfer was very much up for the challenge. In fact, unusually, the project developed from an idea of his, a practical revision of the status quo, and began with stealing one of the cutting beds (above) and temporarily bagging it up (below):

Greenhouses have an abundance of benefits that can allow you to make the most of your plants. If you’re considering investing in a greenhouse but are still not sure whether to buy one, read on for our ‘need to know’ advice.

Meet Rachel Bull, our veg grower

Meet Cel Robertson, our flower grower

In this exclusive video for BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine subscribers, Adam Frost takes us on a private tour of his garden.

Shortening days and falling temperatures in autumn mean its time to swing into action and get your garden into shape, before the winter sets in.

Jasmines are evergreen or deciduous climbers with twining stems. They can be summer or winter flowering, with flowers that are white, yellow and occasionally red and pink.

Every fall, the United Nations holds a global meeting to discuss the state of climate change and necessary actions. This two-week gathering is for the signees of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and is called the Conference of the Parties, or COP, for short. Also in attendance are policymakers, NGOs, lobbyists, scientists and more.

Blooms are almost non-existent in the garden at the moment after several days of frost, but I had two options: another pelargonium from the Coop, or stems of the overwintering Salvia ‘Phyllis Fancy’ in the working greenhouse. The latter, which never made it back into a border last year after its previous overwintering, remaining in its pot in disgrace, won the toss. After continued underperformance, I have been on the point of banishing it altogether, but now plan to give it a reprieve, albeit keeping it in a pot rather than giving it border space. However, I am not holding my breath…

Greenhouse Gardening 101: How to Get Started

What Are Underground Pit Greenhouses?

When you pull a pie crust out of the freezer aisle at the grocery store or a sleeve of cookies off the shelf, it’s likely that one of the ingredients they contain is dietary fat, such as soybean or palm oil. These oils are agricultural products, but do they have to be?

Caught out yet again by the sudden descent towards darkness, I had to quickly pluck a few things from the garden to make a posy for my lift-giver to choir early last week. Having been working in the greenhouse, I snipped a few blooms from the overwintering Salvia ‘Mystic Spires’ and plucked greenery from some ivy on the way back to the house. Back inside with my cup of ta and cake, I found my friend had messaged me to say she was unwell and not going after all, so the posy was no longer required. Rather than keep it in its interim jam jar, I sought a vase with a degree of sultriness to match the dark moodiness of the salvia blooms and deep green of the ivy and its curious flowers, coming up trumps with a blue hyacinth vase.

Keeping indoor plants safe as the year approaches its end is essential to ensure they thrive in the colder months. Here are some creative and cost-effective Ideas to Provide Warmth to Plants in Winter!

Echiums are related to borage and share similar characteristics, such as hairy stems and leaves, and nectar-rich flowers that are loved by pollinating insects. There are around 40 species of echium that grow across Europe and Asia. These range from the common Echium vulgare, also known as viper’s bugloss (the seed looks a little like a snake’s head) to the gigantic Echium pininana or tree echium, which can grow to around 5m. The taller varieties originate from the Canary Islands, so will only grow in similar conditions and need protecting from frost in the UK. However, they will usually self-seed prolifically, so will colonise your garden if allowed to. Be careful when handling them as the sap can irritate the skin and all parts of an echium plant are toxic if eaten.

Keith Irvine is sharing photos with us today—some close-up looks at the stars of his Zone 3 garden in Oxdrift, Ontario.

When it is full of newly-planted bulbs, of course!

Alliums are the pinnacle of late spring gardens, providing an elegant backdrop for your borders. They're statuesque, ornamental, and produce amazing flowers for weeks (if not, months!) on end.  If you've got a bag or two of allium bulbs sitting in your greenhouse, and you've just realised with horror that it's suddenly spring and you might just be too late to plant them — fear not! We're going to show you when to plant alliums and when it's really too late. 

11 Essential Greenhouse Supplies

Both day and nighttime temperatures are dropping here, although nights have only been down to about 3°C so far. I note from my garden diary that I bubblewrapped the greenhouse this week last year, and the Coop soon afterwards; that certainly won’t be happening this year, but I am keeping an eye on the weather forecast for the next fortnight and if need be I will abandon other jobs on my job list and bubblewrap instead. The lower temperatures have certainly made an impact on leaf fall, as leaves are beginning to accumulate around the garden, and the witch hazels by the streamside (above) have become all but bare in recent days, although that is not the case with all of them.

Growth may be slowing, but this month still offers plenty of opportunities to maximise the possibilities of winter and get ahead for spring. November is a month for protection, ensuring that rain and frost don’t wreck havoc.

Most gardeners treat tomato plants like annuals. They are nurtured during the garden season and then tossed on the compost heap sometime in the fall, but what if you could overwinter tomato cuttings? Can you overwinter tomatoes? Overwintering tomatoes is possible but it does require some knowledge. Read on to learn how to overwinter tomato plants.

Our nearby town always puts a lot of effort into its floral displays, on approaches into the town and in the main park at the foot of the castle, and is regularly the winner in its regional category of Britain in Bloom. Most of the plants used are annuals, but they do use some perennials of which I have been known to take the odd cutting or two. One year I decided to regularise this and emailed the local council to ask what they did with their plants at the end of the season, and if I could take the occasional cutting. It transpired that there is no longer such a thing as a ‘parks department’ and no facility for growing on or protecting plants; young plants are bought in, planted straight out and composted at the end of the season.

Growth may be slowing, but this month still offers plenty of opportunities to maximise the possibilities of winter and get ahead for spring. November is a month for protection, ensuring that rain and frost don’t wreck havoc.

Cherry Ong is taking us on a look back at her garden over the past summer.

Do you feel constrained by the limited outdoor space, which prevents you from having your little yard? Well, these Tabletop Garden Ideas are the perfect solution for you. They offer a miniature oasis of greenery that you can place on your coffee table, desk, or dining area!

35 of the Best Crops for Your Winter Greenhouse

There’s around 100 species of helicona, most of which are evergreen perennials native to tropical Central and Southern America. Their enormous glossy leaves are similar to banana plants and can grow to 120cm long. As heliconia can’t be grown in frost prone areas, there are few regions where these plants can be grown outdoors, although some varieties could be placed outdoors in summer. Heliconia flowers come in shades of red, orange, green and yellow.

Mandevilla, also known as Dipladenia, Brazilian jasmine and rock trumpet, is a woody climber native to tropical Central and South America. It has gently scented, vibrant blooms and makes a fine conservatory plant in the UK.

Wondering when to plant your daffodils? Perhaps you have a bag of bulbs that have been left at the back of the greenhouse, just begging to be planted… well, it’s probably not too late! Our plant experts give their advice on when it’s truly too late to plant your daffodil bulbs – spoiler alert, it’s later than you might expect.

A Glass Act It is always good to see a first class bit of recycling. Confronted by a couple of ruined greenhouses and a stack of redundant Critall windows, friends in Suffolk have fashioned a spacious and practical greenhouse from these unpromising materials. By using the windows on their sides along the length of the building they have achieved excellent ventilation and created a really good growing space.

Tips for Growing Succulents in a Greenhouse

My name is Eric Peterson, and like most gardeners I have been into gardening since I was a child. I live on a 3,900-square-foot lot in Portland, Oregon (Zone 8b). I started my garden when I moved in about 12 years ago. Originally I was renting the house and started a container garden made mostly of plants that I would find on Craigslist for free. It made sense to have my plants in containers so I could take them with me if I moved. I continue to rescue unwanted plants when people are ready to give them a new home. We ended up buying the house in 2017 and still have a lot of container plants.

Greenhouses are an excellent way for gardeners to create their very own microclimate and nurture crops such as tasty tomatoes, fragrant herbs and peppers that pack a punch. They allow you to create the ideal environment for a whole host of exciting ornamental and edible plants and extend the growing seasons, which is great news for garden enthusiasts. If you’ve been thinking about investing in a greenhouse, we’ve put together a handy guide packed with all the information you’ll need to choose the best greenhouse.