That wonderful celery taste we get in so much Asian food doesn’t come from the classic celery we grow but from this smaller much easier and faster growing variety.
With a long history of use as a flavouring herb and vegetable in China and still one of the more widely grown vegetables there today,
Very sweet with Continue reading Growing Chinese Celery or Kintsai
Hollyhocks are one of the quintessential cottage garden plants but the can also add drama and colour to more modern and even “Exotic” plantings.
The techniques used for Hollyhocks work perfectly with most biennial or perennial vegetables or flowers
Hollyhocks can add height to most plantings and can be planted under,and Bees love then for there simple flowers.
You can save your own seed and they will once established self seed ,the ones I am sowing I collect while filming on the ILe de Re of the coast of France
They are easy to grow and if you follow these simple tips will give you great results
After about 3 or 4 weeks you will need to transplant your seedlings and How to “Pot On” shows you the best way
This shows the wonderful rich colours Hollyhocks have and why the French call then Rose Trémière
They were first grown after being collected in southwestern China during, or possibly before, the 15th century so have a long history of cultivation
One of the best ways to attract bee’s and pollinators is to plant an annual flower bed,heres a great way to do this
Its a useful place to start if we understand that Echeveria’s are succulent plants coming from pure desert
conditions like a cactus. Most succulents have some part of the plant that is more than normally thickened and fleshy, usually to retain water in arid climates or arid soil conditions. Echeverias are natives of Central America and Mexico and grow best in desert conditions but cool desert conditions.
In many ways they are the perfect plant or for us to grow Continue reading How to grow Echeveria
Biennials differ from annuals – which flower and set seed all in one growing season – in that they grow fast from seed and develop strong roots and foliage in one season, before flowering in the next.
For most, this means that they germinate and grow without flowering in summer and autumn, remaining dormant over winter, then
Continue reading Sowing and growing Biennial flowers