It is possible to design your basket and container displays by grabbing a basket full of plants you like the look of at the garden centre and shoving them in your chosen container, but don’t expect to achieve stunning results! It is often far more successful to purchase a collection of plants that have[…]
Colour Themed Collections For Your Hanging Baskets And Containers 2020
By Mark - Garden for Pleasure Colourful combinations, Container gardening, Gardening for beginners, Ornamental gardening, Summer Mar 17, 2020
How to Grow Broad Beans
By Mark - Garden for Pleasure Fruit and veg gardening, Gardening for beginners Feb 11, 2020
Broad beans are one of the year’s easiest crops, not least because the seeds are large and easy to handle. There is no fiddling about with miniscule seeds and trying to sow them thinly, they can be handled individually. They are also delicious and crop at a time when there is little else to harvest.[…]
Courses and Events from Sarah Raven
By Mark - Garden for Pleasure Gardening Courses, Gardening Events, Gardening for beginners Jan 22, 2020
Whether you are an avid seasoned gardener or a novice there is always new things to be learnt and events to be enjoyed. Here we bring you a range of courses and events arranged by the renowned TV presenter and garden and food writer Sarah Raven. From cut flower gardening to vegetable gardening, and natural[…]
Mini Fruit Trees – An Orchard On Your Patio
By Mark - Garden for Pleasure Container gardening, Fruit and veg gardening, Gardening for beginners Oct 09, 2019
It is a great treat for us gardeners and allotment holders to have fresh, healthy and delicious fruit at our finger tips, but increasingly the majority of us do not have an acre or two to turn over to an orchard! Most of us however do have room on our patios for growing dwarf trees[…]
Planting a Spring Bulb Lasagne
By Mark - Garden for Pleasure Autumn, Bulbs, Container gardening, Gardening for beginners, Ornamental gardening Sep 04, 2019
A bulb lasagne is simply layers of flower bulbs between layers of compost. The reason for doing this is to greatly increase the season of interest. For example, you could plant tulips on their own. This, though undoubtedly beautiful, would only provide weeks of colour. By planting layers of bulbs that come into flower[…]
The Fight For The English Bluebell
By Mark - Garden for Pleasure Bulbs, Fragrant plants, Gardening for beginners, Ornamental gardening, Spring, Wildflowers Aug 20, 2019
Beware, the English Bluebell is under threat from Spanish invaders! The quintessential English bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) that we all see and love in our woodlands is in danger due to people inadvertently planting Spanish Bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica). The English Bluebells are now being overtaken by the more vigorous Spanish Bluebell and hybridising with them. There[…]
Cutting Edge Gardening With Smart Technology
By Mark - Garden for Pleasure Container gardening, Fruit and veg gardening, Gardening for beginners, Houseplants, Ornamental gardening, Technology in the garden Aug 12, 2019
Gardening has always been a traditional pastime with methods handed down through generations. However maybe for some it is time to break the mould and step into the 21st century with the latest smart technology available to us. The smart technology we talk about here is not going against the important knowledge that our predecessors[…]
Chick Charms® – New Breeding in Sempervivums
By Mark - Garden for Pleasure Container gardening, Gardening for beginners, Ornamental gardening, Perennials May 20, 2019
Sempervivums, also known as Houseleeks or Hens and Chicks, were a plant often seen in rockeries in the nineteen seventies and were widely available on the plant stall at your local jumble sale as they are easy to propagate and grow. They sadly fell out of fashion for some time. That is until new breeding[…]
Windowsill Vegetable Gardening
By Mark - Garden for Pleasure Container gardening, Fruit and veg gardening, Gardening for beginners Apr 24, 2019
Windowsill gardening holds a certain attraction to some. Perhaps you live in a flat or other property without a garden. Perhaps you have no vegetable patch in your garden. Maybe you have a disability that prevents traditional gardening methods, or your age means you are unable. Maybe you just don’t want the exertion and the[…]
Controlling Slugs With Natural Nematodes
By Mark - Garden for Pleasure Fruit and veg gardening, Gardening for beginners, Ornamental gardening, Pest and disease control Apr 02, 2019
The dreaded slugs can be the bane of the gardener’s or allotment holder’s life, munching away at our prized flowers and crops while we are in our beds. The vile creatures can also carry lungworm parasite that can be extremely harmful to our dogs. Controlling them can be difficult as many of our garden chemicals[…]