GYO – Grow your own

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Growing your own vegetables is one of the most rewarding forms of gardening as it combines all the pleasures and benefits of gardening with the added satisfaction of producing fresh nutritious food, and October marks the beginning of that time of the year when the widest variety of produce becomes available for planting.

Anyone new to growing vegetables should start small. If you are already a gardener of ornamentals, then just leave aside a little space for some … Read more »

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Spring Fever

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by Mark Evans

Whether you subscribe to the meteorological view that it begins on the first day of the month or to the astronomical view that it begins on the vernal equinox on the 23rd day of the month, September brings us into the season that many consider the beginning of the gardening year, namely spring.

This is our favourite time of the year to get plants into the ground. Planting or re-potting this month means that plants will be ready to … Read more »

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Bare-rooting season

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Mark Evans

For thousands of years humans have cultivated shrubs and trees, and dug and distributed them as bare-rooted young plants, often wrapped in damp rags or bound in a damp ball of sawdust. For growers, this is the most economical way to produce and distribute plants, and for buyers it means we get a bigger, better plant for less money. August is the perfect time to plant bare-rooted roses, fruit trees and ornamentals, because with … Read more »

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Click go the shears!

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Mark Evans

While it is often said that ‘the best time to prune is when the knife is sharp’, as we move beyond the winter solstice (22 June) and the days start to grow longer, now is one of the best times to prepare your garden for the upcoming growing season by sharpening up your pruning shears.

Late winter is a great time to prune any deciduous trees or shrubs … Read more »

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Welcome to winter

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by Mark Evans

As winter arrives and the days grow shorter and darker, just because the sun is fading it doesn’t mean that your garden has to also. You can overcome the dreariness of winter in the short term by injecting some colour with annuals like calendula, pansies, primroses, violas or … Read more »

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Digital Gardening

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by Mark Evans

Like most gardeners, I have a big pile of plant labels that I have collected over the years. I hang onto them because the labels contain handy growing information (not to mention their names). Recently, however, I developed a dilemma. I went on a bit of a cutting spree in a couple of gardens and the problem arose as to how to keep track of the needs and names of all these plants? 

… Read more »

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