Our sixth advent prize draw gives readers the chance to win a variety of seed mix grab bags from Seedball, worth £105.
16.11.2023 - 18:27 / finegardening.com
Cold frames are a great way to get a jump-start on or extend the gardening season. An easy way to get started with cold-frame growing is to put it to good use cultivating herbs through the winter months. Cold frames create a microclimate by utilizing the sun and insulation. This environment creates conditions so that plants grown inside are protected from frost and can take advantage of warmer soil. Though it takes a bit of effort to set up and maintain, it is well worth the reward of having fresh and flavorful herbs during the coldest months of the year. Even in a Midwest winter, you can grow fresh herbs that will tolerate this chilly but snug situation. Here are some tips and easy herbs to grow in a cold frame.
If you don’t have a cold frame already, they are fairly easy to set up. An appropriately constructed cold frame can be purchased and assembled or done as a DIY project using new or repurposed materials.
Fresh chives (Allium schoenoprasum and cvs., Zones 4–8) have myriad uses in the kitchen, and this includes our winter recipes. Cold-tolerant chives can actually be sown in the spring and will continue to provide fresh growth (remove the flowers) well into winter. However, you can also transplant your chives into the cold frame in fall or plant/sink a container of chives into the cold frame as well.
The wide range of mints (Mentha spp. and cvs., Zones 3–9) that we can grow in the Midwest is impressive, as is their reliability as vigorous perennials. Do be wary of their propensity to spread; they are often best grown in pots. Even so, with repeated frosts ending the outdoor season for mints, existing pots (or newly potted divisions) can be sunk into the soil within your cold-frame soil with just the rim of the pot
Our sixth advent prize draw gives readers the chance to win a variety of seed mix grab bags from Seedball, worth £105.
Robins can lose up to 10% of their body weight keeping warm over a single winter’s night. With reports that the La Nina weather system may bring harsh cold spells in winter 2022-23, added to the problem of disappearing food sources and habitats over the UK, robins – and other garden birds – could do with some support this season.
Blue moths are not just a mesmerizing sight in your backyard but a symbol of a thriving ecosystem.
Words by Joanna Fortnam
Small Space Garden Design Ideas from the Pros Learn how to make the most out of small garden spaces from 4 designers. Elevating Small Space Gardens
Mushrooms in the garden can be an unsettling sight, indicating changes in the soil and in growing conditions generally. While growing mushrooms is becoming more popular as a home interest, fungi can be unpleasant in gardens when they arrive out of nowhere. These unplanned garden guests can also be toxic, so you’ll want to remove them if you have curious children or pets.
You can take an Englishwoman out of England, but you can’t change a deeply ingrained English garden aesthetic. Pom Shillingford has lived in America for 26 years, but she still yearns for the garden she knew as a child — her grandmother’s beloved Arts & Crafts garden in Hampshire, which she remembers always being filled with seasonal flowers. She and her husband David and their three young children moved from Manhattan to the small town of Salisbury in Connecticut in 2013. ‘I had always loved Manhattan, but suddenly I didn’t love it any more and needed to go back to green fields and the outdoors,’ says Pom.
Autumn at the garden of St Giles House
Growing these Cold Hardy Vegetables in your garden will ensure you enjoy a fresh harvest in the midst of the chill, right from your backyard!
We’re in Beeton, Ontario, today, visiting Marina. We’ve been to her beautiful garden before (Marina’s Garden in Beeton, Ontario) when it was just a few years old, and we’re back today to see how it has thrived and grown since then.
Visit the Hampton-Preston House and Garden in Historic Columbia. It was built for Anisley and Sarah Hall in 1818. They lived here until 1823, when the house was sold to Wade Hampton Sr and his wife, Mary Couter Hampton.
Last week, I told you about a garden talk I attended at the Robert Mills Carriage House and Gardens in Columbia, SC. Jim Martin (The Magnolia Plantation and Gardens Director of Horticulture & Landscape) was the second presenter. He discussed using bulbs to create “special little moments” every day.