Couldn't resist posting this photo.
Polyanthus are looking good at the moment adding a great splash of colour to any container. I prefer them to primroses as they hold their flowers above the foliage. They look amazing mixed as all the colours are so strong and really do not need underplanting with bulbs. They are perennial lasting from year to year but in small gardens its best to compost them after flowering and buy new plants in the autumn.
Cowichan Polyanthus have the brightest of flowers for spring containers. They are well worth searching out as most garden centres won't stock them.
These stunning polyanthus have flowers with very small 'eyes' which results in distinctive blooms of deep colours including wine reds,ruby and salmon.
Underplant them with simple deep coloured tulips chosen to flower at about 20-25cm high to give an amazing result.
Grandhall from www.leisuregrow.com is a free standing exterior kitchen range that can be built around a 4 or 5 burner barbecue.
It is very stylish in black and stainless steel. The range includes a sink unit, storage unit, range unit and corner unit, all of which can be bought separately to create any combination desired.
Having grwon Jerusalem Atichokes for the last few years, I thought for this year I would have a go at growing the smaller Chinese Artichoke (Stachys affinis). They are very invasive so I'm going to container grow them.
These small artichokes are delicious with a nutty flavour. Plant any time now and then harvest from late october. The tubers can be eaten raw, stir fried or steamed.
The tubers are available now from specialist veg suppliers and seed suppliers.
www.thompson-morgan.com £7.99 for 20
www.organiccatalog.com £6.35 for 20
www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk £7.95 for 25
After years in the wilderness, dahlias have become the must have style statement in contemporary gardens.
Having gone out of favour they are now back and available in a myriad of colours and flower shapes. Though in the past the have been grown in borders mainly to be used for cut flowers, they can be successfully grown in containers. The larger varieties will need some support but other than keeping a watch on the watering and feeding once in bud with a 'tomato' liquid feed, they are pretty foolproof.
Sarah Raven at www.sarahraven.com has put together some great colour coordinated dahlia collections that are available to buy now from only £10.95 a collection.
There was an interesting item in this weekends Telegraph concerning British Waterways idea to use old canal barges as floating allotments along suitable stretches of the canals.
British Waterways will now begin work in identifying other plots around the county and start a number of pilots to work out the best way to run the scheme. It is expected most of the land will be leased for free to community groups who then find public or private funding to run the allotments. The organsiaton are also looking into using retired work boats for growing vegetables.
Half the population of the UK lives within five miles of a waterway and Gill Owen of British Waterways said it was a perfect way to get people out enjoying rivers and canals.
It seems a great idea but I think security may be a problem.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/4736389/Allotments-on-canals-to-be-offered-to-public.html
Garden art is becoming more popular as the techniques of printing on aluminium become better. There are a wide range of natural photographic prints available but these original artworks from www.gardenambiance.co.uk take garden art to another realm.
Only 100of each design are produced with edition number and artists signature etched on the rear of each print. A short list of plants that would make ideal partners is included with each print.
The Imperimart range of prints cost around £245.00 including P & P
http://www.gardenambiance.co.uk/impermiart.asp
Back in the 80's the easy way to root cuttings was to use a product called Root Gelwhich I believe was supplied by ICI. It was so simple you purchased one of the pots of a special gel, about the size of a yogurt pot and just pushed your prepared cuttings through the lid into the gel.
Placed on the kitchen window sill you could watch the magic of your cuttings rooting while you washed up. Using the gel, cuttings rooted very quickly and then could be potted up into a normal potting compost.
For some reason Root Geldisappeared from the market but now has returned in the form of gel2root and should be available soon from most garden centres.
The snow has melted, the rain has disappeared for a short while but both has left the decks, walls and patio green with algae. The decks are not only unsightly but also slippy and dangerous.
There are many products and ways to clean these areas but the best I have found is Brintons Patio Magic. It doesn't smell ,is easy and safe to use and the results last a long time. You can spray it on with a garden sprayer but a find splashing it around with a watering can works best!
It is available at garden centre and DIY stores. £9.99 2.5l
Out of the grip of a hard winters come moments of pure theatre. Trimming back grasses by the side of the deck yesterday I uncovered my 'mad hazel'.
The 'Corkscrew Hazel' , Corylus avellana Contorta, puts on a real show at this time of year. Its twisting contorted stems show well against a clear winter sky and the bonus is the plump cactkins that unfurl to become long twisty tassels.
It is a great container plant that is well worth growing for its shape, foliage and catkins.
