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  • Home
    • News >
      • The Flourishing Garden
      • Bee Cafe Planters
      • Chelsea Blog
    • Sign up
    • Shops and shows
    • Contact us
  • Visit
    • Garden area >
      • The Garden Flower Beds
  • Shop online
    • Delivery information
  • Our Plants
    • Bedding and Annuals >
      • Hanging Baskets
    • Perennials
    • Shrubs >
      • Conifers
    • Bulbs
    • Trees
    • Hedging
    • Fruit & Veg
    • Roses >
      • Rose pruning
    • Shade plants >
      • Ferns
    • Herbs
    • Lavenders
    • Alpines
    • Grasses
    • Climbers >
      • Clematis pruning
  • Flourish
    • Flourish flashback
    • Flourish terms conditions
  • About
    • Gallery
    • Trade services
    • Garden services
    • Nursery production
    • Environment
    • History
  • Advice
    • Garden tips
    • Planting Themes
    • Videos
    • Slug proof
    • Rabbit proof
    • Deer proof
    • Plants for shade
    • North-facing walls
    • Dry & sandy soil
    • Coastal sites
    • Exposed sites
    • Clay soil
    • Damp soil
    • Plants for slopes
    • Plants for pots
    • Evergreen perennials
    • Long flowering perennials
    • Plants for ground cover
    • Flowers for cutting
    • Plants for butterflies
    • Plants for birds
    • Plants for predatory insects
    • Plants for Pollinators
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New range of native flowers!

30/4/2024

 
We have added another new range at our Newbourne nursery!

Get the wildflower look and help local wildlife with our new selection of native plants.

On the whole, they prefer unimproved soils, so if you have any spots where other plants struggle to thrive, such as close to buildings and paving, verges and edges of the garden, these could be ideal!

Welcome in the bees, birds, butterflies and much more besides. Priced at £2.59 each in a 9cm pot.

To maximise the benefits to visiting pollinators they should be planted in clusters, which is why we are offering the discount price of £6 when you buy 3 of the same variety - sorry, no mixing and matching to get this offer!

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THE RANGE

Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum)
Honesty (Lunaria annua - naturalised plant)
Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)
Ox-eye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgare)
Black Knapweed (Centaurea nigra)
Lady's Bedstraw (Galium verum)
Selfheal (Prunella vulgaris)
 
Limited availability:
Ragged Robin (Lychnis flos-cuculi)
Field Scabious (Knautia arvensis)

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The Wildlife Trust has a comprehensive guide detailing best growing conditions and which wildlife can benefit from particular wildflowers. Click here to search it

Grow Your Own weekend!

12/4/2024

 
Save 20% on all edibles this Friday, Saturday, Sunday!

20% discount applies to all Grow Your Own:
  • Fruit trees
  • Fruit bushes
  • Herbs
  • Vegetable & salad plants
  • Seed potatoes, onion sets & vegetable seeds!
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Grow-your-own weekend: How to grow tomatoes

11/4/2024

 
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On the whole, the more heat and sunshine, the tastier the tomato! However, if growing in greenhouses provide shade from scorching midday sun, and be sure to ventilate on the hottest summer days.
 
Try to be consistent with watering to avoid splitting of the fruit  - tomatoes need a lot of water but don’t want to be waterlogged.
 
Tomatoes are hungry plants. Grow in a good multi-purpose compost and feed weekly with tomato feeds, seaweed extract or homemade comfrey mix once flowers appear.
 
Most varieties - known as cordons - benefit from a support cane to grow up: loosely tie in as necessary. Nip out any side shoots as soon as they start to form: you want the plant to concentrate its energy on the main stem.

“Trusses” is the term for the clusters of flowers and fruits. Once several have formed you should nip off the top of the plant to stop it wasting energy getting taller: you want the nutrients to go to fruits not leaves.

Bush tomatoes need little staking or nipping out as they grow to a compact size. They have a shorter harvest season than cordons.

Tomato feeds often say to use once the "first trusses are set". This means when you see the first green tomatoes forming!
 
Examples of cordon tomatoes are:
*Alicante

*Gardener's Delight
*Honeycomb
*Moneymaker
*Shirley
*Sungold
*Supermarmande
*Sweet Million

Examples of bush tomatoes are:
*Roma
*Tumbling Tom
*Veranda Red F1

Grow-your-own weekend: How to grow leafy greens: salads and brassicas

11/4/2024

 
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Lettuces and salad leaves are a great place to start if you are new to Grow-Your-Own as they are relatively fuss-free and give quick results.
 
Grow in fertile well-drained soil: improve with composts and manures if necessary. Water regularly and don’t allow the soil to dry out. Mulches such as bark chippings can help keep moisture in.
 
Although the salads need sunshine, they can struggle in strong midday sun which can also cause the soil to dry out. You can counter this by planting in the moderate shade of taller growing edibles such as runner beans, cucumbers and tomatoes.
 
Plants of the Allium family such as chives and garlic can deter pests, as can chervil. Harvest leaves early in the day when they are still plump with the morning dew!
 
Brassicas - such as cabbages, cauliflowers and brussels sprouts - need similar growing conditions, although they take longer to grow.
 
You can try using old CDs and children’s whirly windmills to keep problematic birds away.

Grow-your-own weekend: Companion planting advice

11/4/2024

 
Plant herbs and flowers among your vegetable and salad plants to help them grow better!
 
English Marigolds, Sweet Peas and most herbs will draw in bees which will increase pollination of your plants.
 
Among the plants that will deter aphids from your crops are Chives, Thymes, Oregano (Marjoram), French Marigolds and Nasturtiums.

Chives and other plants of the onion (Allium) family can be a deterrent to slugs and snails.

Parsley, Dill, Coriander, Fennel, Achillea (yarrow), Verbenas, Monarda and daisy flowers such as Cosmos and Sunflowers can attract predatory insects such as ladybirds that will eat aphid.
 
Take a look at our Plants for Predatory Insects list for further inspiration!

A pond is one of the best way to draw in "predators" that will help keep pests in check - this April we have a small selection of marginal plants to help you kit out your pond!

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Grow-your-own weekend: How to grow peppers

11/4/2024

 
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For best cropping, grow sweet peppers and chilli peppers under cover in greenhouses or similar, as they like it warm and sunny.
 
Grow in a good multi-purpose compost and feed weekly with tomato feeds, seaweed extract or homemade comfrey mix once flowers appear.
 
Peppers need very little care, despite needing a long growing period before they are ready for harvesting.
 
Sweet peppers like a humid atmosphere. Keep well watered and also consider watering the ground around them on warm, sunny days.
If you get a heavy crop be prepared to add support canes to prevent the plant from collapsing!
 
To get hotter chilli peppers you can try stressing the plant. Methods can include allowing the soil to temporarily dry out, or to stop feeding. Bear in mind this is likely to reduce the overall harvest.

Grow Your Own weekend: How to grow fruit bushes

11/4/2024

 
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Fruit bushes are the great way to enjoy years of homegrown produce with little effort!

Most fruit bushes grow best in fertile, slightly acidic soils. Adding ericaceous compost to the planting hole can help. Blueberries in particular can be grown in pots where you can control what they grow in. It is a good idea to add sequestered iron in springtime. A feed of fish, blood and bone can be given once a year.

Different raspberry varieties ripen at different times of the summer and autumn, so if you are a fan of them make sure you plant a mix of early, late and autumn cropping varieties!

Fruits generally prefer to be in sunny spots, but some will still crop in light shade, including raspberries, blackberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, whitecurrants, gooseberries and rhubarb.

Most fruit bushes should be left to grow for the first couple of years, and then pruned in the winters thereafter.

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