Always harden off transplants for eight to ten days before you set them out in the garden. Expose them to short, then gradually longer periods outdoors. (If you purchase transplants, find out if they’ve been hardened off. If not, make sure you do it.)

If seedlings are in flats, slice the roots into squares with a knife about a week before transplanting. Repeat the process before removing from flat.

Feed transplants with fish emulsion the day before setting them out. If possible, transplant on a cloudy or drizzly day. Or set out seedlings in the late afternoon or early evening. It’s more comfortable for you, and the plants will thrive without requiring shade or constant watering. Read the rest of this entry »

It is fashionable to reel in horror at the thought of gnomes in the garden but it has to be said that children usually love them. They also fall for cement ducks and frogs, for plastic toadstools and windmills and wells, complete with bucket and chain. Disparity of size or materials doesn’t seem to bother children either, so a window sill garden of small shrubs and large gnomes or large shrubs and small gnomes would probably delight its young owner.

It goes without saying that only children who can be trusted to lean out of the window or who are carefully supervised should be allowed a gnome garden box. Your local garden centre will probably reveal a rich source of possible subjects. As with all collections, it is best to have a theme so if the first choice is a jolly gnome with a fishing rod you should give him something to fish in. An old china dish might do, or even a plastic fridge container, as long as the edges can be concealed with small stones or rocks. The bottom could be decorated with gravel, which will support a few marginal plantsfrom the water section in the garden centre or even from a local supplier of tropical fish. These can be rooted in the gravel and, barring accidents, should last a season before succumbing to frost, although some cold-water plants will survive. Read the rest of this entry »

Ponds can come in all shapes, sizes andcontainers, and need not necessarily be confined by conventional criteria. Having said that, the smaller the pool the more difficult it will be to maintain a balanced combination of plants and fish. Maintenance is often higher, particularly if fish are omitted, as unchecked weed and algal growth will need removing from time to time. It is worth remembering that even pools like this should not be completely emptied on a regular basis. What you should do is drain off about a quarter of the water each year, which will remove a percentage of the toxins, and replace with fresh. Lose any more than that and you will upset the ecological balance that has built up. Read the rest of this entry »