Growing Hens and Chicks Plants in Gardens and Containers

Summer is here! Vegetable gardens have yielded the first tomatoes of the season, perennial borders are overflowing with colorful blooms, fruit is ripening in the orchards, and rose bushes are flushing out with their second round of flowers. On the surface, it might appear that summer brings nothing but a profusion of delightful blooms, lush greenery, and a cornucopia of delicious summer veggies, but alongside all this flowery and fruitful abundance are the insects, birds, rodents, and larger critters that are the bane of any gardener’s existence: European earwigs.

This easy table modification all started because we live in cow country and where you have cows, you have flies. They drive me crazy in the summer so I am always looking for ways to deter them. The other day I was at OSH and the sales lady said that most herbs are a natural fly repellent. That got me thinking and this project was born. Now the jury is still out if this works on the flies but I love the end results anyway.

It seems strange, I know, to talk of growing winter crops for the polytunnel or glasshouse, smack-bang in the middle of a very sultry Irish summer. But the simple truth is that the secret to making the best, and most productive use, of these valuable covered growing spaces throughout the year has always been to plan and propagate very far ahead.

Bougainvillea is probably one of the most stunning flowering plants of a warm climate. It never stops blooming, filling any outdoor space with colors.

Lotus is a jewel of the aquatic world. This exotic flower gets rooted in the soil or mud and emerges above the water’s surface, making it look like it’s floating. Isn’t this amazing? If you too want to experience this, learn How to Grow Lotus in a pot in this post.

The gardens at Great Dixter.

This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Mulching is one of the best things you ca

This post may contain affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. In our attempts to save the bees, many of us are

It is always best to grow some veggies in your container garden instead of depending on the supplements that we buy from the counter to give a boost to our immune system. Follow our guide to know everything about How to Grow a Vitamin C Vegetable Garden in Containers.

Indoor gardening takes many forms, from microgreen kits to windowsill herb pots to home hydroponic systems. And then there's the "Garden in a Bag." Exactly as its name suggests—these cute paper bags are filled with soil and seeds that will grow into one of many plant varieties on a sunny windowsill. This is a fun way to have a steady supply of fresh herbs or flowers year-round.

A former AIB banker-turned-gardener says he feels “like a five-year-old getting presents” after winning a major award as well as a prestigious gold medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in London.

Here at my Copake Falls garden all day with a truckload of irresistible botanical goodies will be Broken Arrow Nursery. They will be accepting advance phone orders, too, between now and Wednesday, May 31, if there is something special you simply must have. Their website; phone is (203) 288-1026.All ticket sales from my garden will be donated to two local nonprofits I love: the Hawthorne Valley Farmscape Ecology Program in nearby Ghent, N.Y., and Turtle Tree Seed in Copake.And there’s much more:Those of you who r