Gardeners' Heaven

by Alan Titchmarsh Vampires beware; that most controversial continental food additive, garlic, has taken Britain by storm, and these days enthusiasts are even growing their own. Most of the time it’s very successful. It’s been much less so this year, as the very severe weather knocked most over-wintering garlic for six, and summer was so [...]

by Alan Titchmarsh When you’re planning this summer’s patio planting scheme, don’t forget scent. There’s nothing like wafts of natural floral fragrance – nothing out of a bottle – for creating a warm, welcoming outdoor ambience that helps you relax instantly and make the most of sunny summer evenings and weekends. The same set of [...]

by Alan Titchmarsh When you want a conservatory full of colour all summer, plant exotic bulbs, and grow a spectacular display for a song. Exotic bulbs (and other plants with storage organs such as corms, tubers and rhizomes) are a particularly seductive group. By growing them from scratch at the start of the growing season, [...]

by Alan Titchmarsh If you’d been around in Victorian times, you’d be very familiar with the tuberose  (Polianthes tuberosa) since it was a very popular flowering bulb at the time, grown in posh china pots in conservatories or living rooms that didn’t benefit from much heating. The upright spikes of rather waxy, almost artificial-looking flowers [...]

Maybe it’s being cooped up indoors by the wintry weather, or perhaps it’s just post-Christmas gloom, but most of us are desperate to see the first cheery spring flowers – and soon. ‘Fat chance’ you might think. Well, you’d be surprised. A few dwarf bulbs bloom exceptionally early in the season and, though they aren’t [...]