Caring for your fresh Christmas tree One of the benefits of having a real Christmas tree is that they are much better for the environment. They are grown as a field crop so as soon as one is cut, another is planted. Although they aren’t carbon neutral, Christmas trees help to reduce greenhouse gases by…
At a glance guide to selecting and caring for your Christmas poinsettia: Select a plant with a minimum of five heads, as it will give a longer lasting display. Ensure that the poinsettia is sleeved before taking it outside to get it home with you. Once you get your poinsettia home, you should place it…
Selecting the perfect Christmas tree Selecting the right Christmas tree for you and your home is an important job. Whether you opt for a real or artificial tree, you will have to live with it for well over a month, so you want to be sure you’re selecting the right one. Follow our handy tips…
What do in the garden in November Ten top tips from our experts on what to do in the garden this month (November). 1. Conifers add much needed colour and shape to your garden in the winter months and are starting to become more popular again with the gardening community all over the world. There…
Looking berry good in November Berries and fruits provide cheerful splashes of colour in the garden once leaves begin to fall. Some of the shrub roses are terrific, laden with large red or orange hips, like ‘Fru Dagmar Hastrup’, ‘Scabrossa’ and ‘Scarlet Fire’. Hips Some of the rose species like Rosa rugosa, dog rose (R.canina),…
Jobs to do in the garden in November November marks the start of winter and the time when any remaining colour in the garden begins to fade. Now is the time to start preparing for next year’s growing season and it’s still a good time for planting all hardy plants too. Plant • Finish planting…
Four great gardening tasks to tackle this weekend… If you’re looking for a few seasonal tasks to tackle in the garden this weekend, then how about these four? 1. Clean out nesting boxes and use boiling hot water to kill any over-wintering parasites. 2. Plant tulip bulbs. 3. Sow broad beans and peas. 4. Plant…
Tree planting Now is the perfect time to get new trees into the ground. They are best planted in the late autumn, especially bare rooted varieties. The soil in the autumn is warm and moist so gives trees the time they need to produce new roots and acclimatise before the onset of next summer’s heat.…
Tub-tastic! If you’ve cleared out your patio pots and tubs this month and removed your summer-flowering plants, then you can now replace them with biennials and bulbs for a gorgeous display of colour in the spring. Winter colour Ornamental cabbages are also good, with attractively shaped heads of white, green or purple foliage, if you’re…
How to plant an apple tree Now’s a great time to plant an apple tree. Choose your spot Choose an open, sunny but sheltered site in almost any soil, but make sure that the ground is neither prone to water logging nor has a high lime content (above pH7). The ideal soil for apples is…