There’s no getting away from it, skimmias are worthy but a little dull are they not? However, for the past few weeks it is their fragrance that puts them centre stage. It hits me the minute I step out of our back door, and for this reason alone I must grow it. So, they need careful positioning: suited to shade or part shade, […]
I am still wondering if my visit to Arundel Castle Gardens really happened or whether it was a surreal dream. Arriving for the first Narnia-like glimpse through one of the glorious stone archways, it felt like we were entering a fantastical film-set rather than a working garden. Like a unique blend of The Lord of […]
This spring is certainly taking its time to get going! The soil still feels cold, and this week experienced the coldest April night in eight years – even in the the balmy southern counties. That doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty to do though, including sorting out your seating areas, tending the roses, and dividing primroses, […]
Welcome to ‘Beginner’s Veg! I want to say right at the start that this series of blogs is not for all the clever-clogs out there, who’ve been growing veg for years and know all the neat tricks and dazzling science of the art. If you’re new to The3Growbags, we are three sisters (Laura, Caroline and […]
Right, the first vegetable in our ‘Beginner’s Veg’ series. One of the easiest things for a beginner, I think, is potatoes. It’s sort of magical when you dig into the soil and unearth fat new tatties. And you know your spuds haven’t been sprayed with chemicals, and they are going to taste FANTASTIC…. 1.Choosing Varieties First of […]
I’m going to be talking about one of my favourite of all vegetables today – broad beans. One of the joys of growing your own broad beans is that they are SO seasonal – one of the few things that you’ll only buy fresh in supermarkets or get in veg boxes at certain times of […]
We’re now going to talk about growing the most versatile vegetable of them all – ONIONS! Not usually difficult, unless you live in a swamp, and lovely to have on hand at almost any time in the kitchen. So let’s get started………. 1. Seeds and sets, onions and shallots You can grow onions from seed, […]
Now let’s get busy on some marvellous veg that you can grow outside, or in pots big and small, or (in the case of pea-shoots) just in an old butter-container on your kitchen window! Getting Hold of Seeds It is a very common rookie mistake to sow too many seeds at once. You DO NOT […]
I don’t think that the horticultural chasm that exists between we three sisters’ geographical locations has ever gaped as widely as it did this Easter. The topic of spring climbers was obviously put forward by smug Elaine, who gardens in an urban heat-island on the South Coast, with scarcely a thought about what might or […]
Today, I’m talking about tomatoes, those stalwarts of any self-respecting veg drawer. I think I’m slightly addicted to the sharp luscious smell of tomato leaves and of a just-picked tomato. Those of you who’ll be growing them for the first time are in for a treat! They are fabulous for growing in pots, as well […]
‘Large-leaved pachyphragma’ is hardly a name that trips off the tongue, is it? And the Latin is not easy to remember either.I’ve grown it for years but do not often see it in other gardens, though once gardeners discover it, they love it. This hardy, semi-evergreen perennial with its rounded scalloped leaves is such a valuable addition to the spring garden. Happiest in shade or dappled shade, it forms an effective carpet (H: 30 cms) under trees and shrubs where its […]
You can grow a marvellous range of salad plants with very little difficulty. They’re the perfect thing to grow as a ‘cut-and-come-again’ crop – the idea is that you sow a few seeds every few days or so, you snip off leaves as you want them when they’re young, small and fresh, and you keep […]
Courgettes and squashes are really good fun to grow if you have more than a shoebox of space. Apart from anything else, I love getting so much PLANT from one seed! They are generally easy – even my horticulturally challenged little sister Caroline had roaring success with butternut squash last year! And just a couple […]
Let’s fast forward now to next winter; warming vegetable soups, vitamin-packed green leaf smoothies, crunchy homemade coleslaw and parmesan encrusted roast parsnips with your Sunday lunch. It may seem a world away but actually right now is the time to get cracking on the winter veg front. Having covered all the sexy summer salad-y stuff […]
Let’s turn now to some lovely leafy veg! Swiss chard, kale and spinach leaves are delicious and full of vitamins, whether cooked/steamed for stir-fries and the like, or eaten in salads when very young and fresh. You can sow seeds of kale and chard throughout the spring and summer, and with a bit of protection, […]
So we’ve got our salad crops on the go and plans in place for that warming winter veg, all we need now is some home-grown fruit for delicious summer puds, jams and jellies, with some left over to stock up the freezer. There’s such a range of varieties now to suit any size of garden, […]
Let’s try some herbs now! Most are a cinch to cultivate, and they’re just as great for containers, hanging baskets, planters, balcony window-boxes etc as they are for a pretty little herb garden by the back-door… 1. What to grow Herbs can be annuals (start, flower and die in one season), biennials (start in one […]
We’ve arrived at April – probably the busiest month in the calendar for a gardener! Seeds to sow, beauties to plant, shoots to tie in…..at least we now have an extra hour in the evening to get things done! A few tips here to help you, and we 3Growbags also want to tell you about […]
Hurrah! We’re storming through the vaccination programme here in the UK but wait, that means getting the hair cut, weight lost and joggers back in the cupboard pretty damn quick and the garden prepped for VISITORS! Long-time family friend and Growbag follower Ann is seeking advice for creating little coffee spots in her garden using […]
I have always grown tulips in pots. At least, I always start them off in pots – it’s easy to keep an eye on them and to judge how well they do and to see how much I like them. But every year, after they have flowered, there is the same old question of what to […]
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We all know that winter hasn’t finished with us yet, but isn’t it great to be really up-and-doing again. Thank heavens the clocks will go forward soon and we’ll have more time in the evenings to get through the hundreds of gardening tasks clamouring for our attention. Judging by the response to our new pocket-book […]
The 3Growbags have written a book – Glory be! It has come about in rather an unexpected way, and in fact stems (see what I did there?) from the pandemic. A year ago in the first Lockdown, there were a few big positives among a morass of negatives, and one of them was the huge […]
winter windflower or Grecian windflower Just as the snowdrops and crocus are starting to go over, Anemone blanda is there to take their place in the spring parade. Many of the best plant associations happen by chance and I certainly didn’t conjure up this one; but when the sun comes out after a spring shower, the brilliant blue of the winter windflower against the cinnamon orange […]
Arrgghh! So much to do now that it’s March! There’s a shiver in the air, a lovely anticipation that the garden is about to pirouette from the wings onto centre-stage again. We need to get ready! Let’s pot up some summer bulbs, sow some salad seeds, sort out the shed……….. Smashing summer bulbs The garden […]
Never before has the blooming of spring bulbs been quite so lovingly embraced than after months of virtual house arrest with nothing but Harry and Megan to relieve the tedium. So today we’re going to have a look at a few early species that might be brightening up your lives, although I must warn you […]
Soft shield fern ‘Pulcherrimum Bevis’ Just over a year ago I chose another soft shield fern to write about, and mentioned my difficulty remembering the names of ferns; well, it seems that I am not alone in this as I recently came across an interesting article by one of my favourite garden writers, Val Bourne, who tells of ferns, oestrogen and saucepan lids all in […]
The snowdrops are in full fig, and even early daffodils are starting to flower down here in the south – praise be! We’ll soon be through this ghastly, frightening winter and into brighter, more hopeful days. Time to start some veg-plot planning, and tackling some deep-rooted weeds amongst other things… Rotation motivation If you are […]
Is there anything so full of promise as ordering and sowing seeds, but what to choose this year? We three sisters will have different approaches. I will want to experiment with a pre-determined ecological outcome in mind, Elaine will go for the dreamily romantic (thank goodness you don’t grow roses from seed or we’d be […]
Before this recent bout of snow and frost, the garden seemed almost to be in early spring mode and bursting into life with crocus, aconites, iris and of course, snowdrops. Now we have returned to winter and it’s just what the garden needed. However, my choice this week had already made its mark, quietly but […]
Brilliant! We’ve made it to February! And it really won’t be long now before the early spring flowers will be everywhere to cheer us through these dark times. It’s still pretty quiet in the garden, but we can certainly start getting the beds ready, begin rose-pruning, and sow some broad beans………………… Can you dig it? […]
Don’t you just adore those small and medium-flowered summer clematis – they will enchant for weeks and weeks from mid-summer onwards, if you have a good hack at them now. All that mass of tangled brown top-growth can be cut off entirely now, right down to about 1ft off the ground. I know it’s scary […]
It’s catalogues galore now isn’t it! Sarah Raven, Mr Fothergills, Parkers – just so tempting. But remember a garden is not created by plants alone. A garden needs to have paths and seating at the very least, possibly steps and walls, and ideally some tasteful artefacts placed around it (a hot tub is, of course, […]
The timing couldn’t be better: the RHS have just announced that the Chelsea Flower Show 2021 is being postponed until September. Bring in the new! This is a big opportunity for change: for the RHS, for the nurserywomen and men, for the exhibitors and for us, the gardeners. The announcement also coincides with a few […]
While the world hunts desperately for snippets of good news amongst all the awful stuff, we gardeners still have the little buzz of feeling that spring is not hopelessly far off now. The snowdrops are pushing through, and we can begin preparing our plots for the coming season. Let’s get going on tasks like pruning […]
We’re pretty much confined to barracks now in our gardens and local parks, but our daily exercise walks can be livened up no end by one of those many winter shrubs that puts its best foot forward in the coldest months of the year. As the most normal of the 3growbags sisters (let’s face it, […]