recap: 10 thoughts on successful underplanting

Egypt Sherrod | Design: Better Homes & Gardens

It's easy not to think much about the intelligence of insects. Tiny creatures with even tinier brains—how smart can they be?

The idea of growing our own vegetables and herbs is gaining popularity in the UK (possibly thanks to Felicity Kendal and ‘The Good Life’ circa 1975). However, not all of us have access to a garden, especially in large cities. So, what can you do if you would like to grow some veggies at home, but don’t have a garden or much space to work with? Don’t worry, you can still put those green fingers to good use!

You can see photographs of my former compost bins in an  old 2014 post

In 2008 a google search for sunflowers would have found gardeners tips in the top 3 results. Now it would be luck to be found in the top 3 million. We are number 115th for the more specific ‘sunflowers gardeners tips’ as Tips for Easy Sunflowers from 2015.

You do not need to garden on top of a hill or mountain to have an Alpine garden but it helps. Alpine plants tend to have deep roots and a deeper dislike for wet around their necks. Many alpines are bulbs and use other tactics to survive harsh conditions. For every generalisation there is an exception and this book gives you a better insight into Alpine plants.

I bet you spotted my weed as soon as you looked at the picture. ‘Where’s Wally’ you may ask, well he is the gardener that not only let the dandelion flower but seed as well. Back to gardening school. Depending how you look at it there has been a great profusion of dandelions this year but you just wait until next year. The ‘clocks’ have been distributed far and wide since the beginning of May, the breezes were light, the conditions just right and the air and ponds filled with seeds so dandelions are not going to be a threatened species anytime soon!

Even if you have a shortage of space, you can grow this vegetable in pots on your balcony, rooftop, or patio. Let’s have a look at How to Grow Zucchini in a Pot.

Hydrangeas, with their extravagant blooms, are a quintessential part of any garden. However, coaxing the best performance from these plants requires more than just basic gardening skills. This guide will share some secret Master Gardener’s Tricks to Grow the Successful Hydrangeas!

Having successfully got five streptocarpus through the winter and into bloom I am a little more hopeful of my prowess with them, but will feel more confident once I have got them through a second winter too – and may even be tempted to add one or two more! The fern behind them is a couple of plantlets lifted from the saucer under a pot of sarracenia,  kept topped up with water and seemingly an ideal breeding ground for ferns – the asplenium is understandable as there is a lot of it in the garden but I don’t know what this fern is or where the spores have come from.

Early spring is the perfect time for this kind of project, when divisions of perennials are plentiful and there’s a long growing season ahead for everyone to settle in and get growing.Successful underplanting involves selecting the right mix of plants, and then being patient: There are 10 things I think about when I am tackling a new area, creating another botanical mosaic to cover the ground beautifully instead of a mass one one thing. Ready to create some of your own?Categoriesannuals & perennials for beginners garden design groundcovers shade gardening trees & shrubsTagsgroundcover

I REMEMBER THE PHALAENOPSIS ORCHID I GAVE my sister at Thanksgiving a few years ago, one of two of the same variety, keeping one for myself. Mine never rebloomed, and as for my sister’s–well, hers never stopped.