An Englishman's Garden Adventures
How hard should you prune lavender after it has finished flowering? Lavenders benefit from annual pruning immediately after flowering to help them remain compact, dense and shapely. If you prefer to let them run riot, au naturel, they will become …
Three examples of sturdy, long-lasting, DIY trellis panels TRADITIONALLY, trellis is any open framework used to partition areas of a garden or support climbing plants. In principle trellis — which comes from the latin for “arbor” or “summer house” — …
Trellis Panels in the top section of this 2m fence improve the look, adding texture and visual interest. I used trellis panels to reduce the visual impact of the 2m fence that runs along one side of my garden. The …
Here’s how I grew 30 Charentais melons in a narrow greenhouse bed just 5 ft long and 1 ft deep. Charentais are a fragrant variety of cantaloupe or musk melon, bred in France in the 1920s. Typically they are more difficult to …
The neat lines of well trimmed box hedging contribute so much to a garden. By contrast they seem to emphasise the form of adjacent plants whilst providing a direct link to the formal lines of nearby paving and brickwork. The …
▲ The box balls in front have just been clipped, but the large one at the rear waits its turn. For good results you will need really sharp shears, one-handed shears or garden scissors for detail and some kind of …
A traditional starting point for training climbers on walls and fences is a system of tensioned horizontal wires. Ideally these wires should provide a permanent structure that needs little maintenance over the years, whilst creating a firm fixing for tendrils, shoots, branches …
Read moreHow to create quality wire supports for walls and fences
Recently we had some friends over for a lunch party and without prompting, two of the male guests, (why is it a bloke thing? I don’t know why it’s a bloke thing, but it’s a bloke thing) quite independently, gazed at …