putting a fine edge on things

Fantastic Gardeners has spent 10 years putting down roots in London and now we’re ready for new growth. We’ve spread ourselves to the North West of England, call us for our affordable, professional gardening services for private residents and businesses in the following areas:

I am not a great fan of ferns as I live too near moorland that shares its bounty with gay abandon and I spend significant time removing uninvited guests. These are usually Bracken (Pteridium aquilinum) or  Buckler-fern (Dryopteris dilatata) with fronds that are arranged like a shuttlecock. There are some exceptions such as the Hart’s tongue (Asplenium scolopendrium) and the  Maidenhair Spleenwort (Asplenium trichomanes) shown in this wall. The strap like fronds  and pinnate rectangular leaflet fronds make a simple  feature on this mossy wall.

Cordless Strimmer, Lawn Edger and Trimmer like this GTECH ST04 shown above is a must for all garden and grass lovers.

Here’s everything you need to know aboutHow Not To Kill Plants In Containers. Follow these handy tips to keep your indoor plants happy and healthy!

Isn’t it funny how even people who don’t like gardening grow tomatoes? What is it about them? Maybe tomato growing is one of those practices passed down from grandparents that just sticks, evoking childhood memories. Growing tomatoes is also one of those rites of passage to becoming a keen gardener. Ask the keenest gardener that you know and there’s a good chance that one of the plants they started out with was the good old tomato.

You may like to “put de lime in de coconut” or “pina coladas in the rain”, but these two products (pictured below), while both made from the flesh of the coconut, are NOT the same.

I’m not usually much of an impatiens lover, but ‘Fusion Glow’ and the Fusion series from the giant breeders Ball Horticultural will have a place here again next year for its mounding habit and free-flowering, and of course its lovely color (one of several in the series). Also on my list to be sure to track down for next year: that elusive ‘Terra Cotta’ viola (above) I couldn’t find locally this year and should have ordered in advance. Come to think of it, Viola ‘Blue Bronze’ is on the list, too; I just didn’t love the substitutes I grew this year, as I have complained before. Oh, and that variegated Abutilon I found without a label on it (which I have since ID’d). It’s named

The new red-foliage polychroma cultivar, ‘Bonfire,’ seems to stand up better to summer, so I’m not chopping it down. Will I regret it? Don’t know…only my second year with the plant, so it’s all an experiment.Which is what cutbacks are: You observe what is going on, and if it’s not looking good, you consider administering a haircut.The pulmonarias were shorn to the ground after flowering last month, and already have a new set of showy leaves (instead of tattered, about-to-mildew old ones). They would have grown a new set right up and over the old, but I prefer to just shear them, rather than fussily deadheading each flower stem.Perennial salvias, like the popular ‘May Night’ and the nemorosa varieties ‘Snow Hill’ and ‘Caradonna,’ can do with a good, hard cutback when they’re done blooming. A new rosettes of foliage will be emerging down below, and a lower-impact second flush of bloom will eventu

THE FROGBOYS CAN’T BELIEVE IT, EITHER: Another warm-weather season is drawing to a close, and with it the “everybody into the pool” mindset that pretty much sums it up around here will be traded for something involving snowsuits, not swimsuits. Everywhere I look this week, there’s a frogboy on the edge of the colder reality ahead.

1. That all the mail-order providers I have used send me my “slips” (pieces of vine sprouted off their stock sweet potatoes) much too early. Yes, I may have few hard frosts after late April or early May…but the weather is by no means as settled nor the soil as warm as a sweet potato would ideally have it. I want my slips to arrive a month later than some stupid automated calculation at the growers is apparently indicating, triggering my too-soon shipment. Just say no to early delivery; hurrying doesn’t help.D.I.Y. for Starters?2. If I had healthy, firm stock left from the previous year—and no sign of any disease or troubles last growing season—I could technically sprout my own slips, and it may just come to that. I’d need to get some of the stored potatoes to begin to sprout in

WE’RE LIVING ON THE EDGE HERE at A Way to Garden, literally: the edge of seasonal change. These two youngsters sat on the lip of one of the water gardens all day yesterday, sunning themselves like it was summer, taking the occasional lap around the pool.

Hoard cardboard: I’ve stopped putting my corrugated boxes from packaging and other plain cardboard out for recycling. I’ll stockpile all that arrives from now onward, breaking down the boxes and stashing the resulting panels as future weed-smothering, under-mulch control. Learn how it works.Order asparagus: There are some weak stretches in my long row of asparagus, spots where for some reason the old plants just aren’t performing any longer. Time to order more, and maybe plan for another row. Asparagus is an investment crop that pays back for years to c