Gardening

Casual Gardener: Beech life - and death

John Manley

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Gardening

Casual Gardener: Blooming marvellous accolade for Glenarm Walled Garden

Gardening

Casual Gardener: Let's learn to love leaves

Gardening

Casual Gardener: Keep your green fingers active with autumn planted garlic

Gardening

Casual Gardener: Blackthorn - sloe as you go

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Bare root planting is best for native woodlands

John Manley 27 Oct, 2023

It's the thought of the clock going back an hour, rather than the act itself, that is the source of my mild anxiety. I quickly become accustomed to the time change yet in the weeks before Summer Time ends, I feel dispirited. Often I wish we humans could do what deciduous plants do and shut down for the...

Casual Gardener: A dozen varieties of miniature daffodil excel in RHS trials

John Manley 20 Oct, 2023

Two things all gardeners should know about are daffodils and the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit – or AGM. The former is synonymous with spring; the latter is shorthand for a tried and tested variety of plant that according to the charity "demonstrates excellent performance in the...

Is it time we feared the creeper?

John Manley 12 Oct, 2023

Autumn is all about foliage and the transformation in our gardens, woodlands and forests. The countless shades of green that were so vivid over the summer gradually change into a variety of bright hues that mark a last hurrah before they are cast off for the winter. It's a spectacle that occurs right...

Casual Gardener: Savour the autumn seed harvest

John Manley 06 Oct, 2023

Summer, Indian or otherwise, is well past and already the characteristic signs of autumn are all around us – soft light bathes the red, bronze and golden foliage before the leaves begin to fall and the bare bark becomes increasingly conspicuous. It is time for harvesting, tidying up and for making plans...

A different story with morning glory

John Manley 28 Sep, 2023

A creeping acknowledgement that we are facing a biodiversity crisis is steadily helping to change attitudes towards plants that were once regarded as pernicious weeds. In the space of little more than a decade, most gardeners have begun to realise that the remedies for dealing with unwanted plants usually...

Extend the sense of summer with late-flowering perennials

John Manley 21 Sep, 2023

The autumnal equinox has passed and our body calender starts looking towards the winter solstice for its next major landmark. Gardeners more than most understand that summer can be as much a feeling as a season and that certain plants coupled with favourable conditions can help extend those heady days...

Don't be seduced by invasive crocosmia

14 Sep, 2023

We gardeners tend to be a thrifty bunch who like nothing more than getting something for nothing. However, the desire to acquire an attractive plant at no expense can sometimes backfire. Before accepting a gift (from a Greek) or helping yourself to a plant that grows abundantly, stop and consider for...

WATCH: Restoring Northern Ireland woodlands at Cultra

Jenny Lee 14 Sep, 2023

With Northern Ireland facing a major threat to its native tree species The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) at the Ulster Folk Museum at Cultra have welcomed funding to enable them to grow a targeted 50,000 to 77,000 native trees at its Tree Nursery.

The Casual Gardener: People come before pollinators at Magheralin's Jubilee Garden of Reflection

John Manley 08 Sep, 2023

In May last year, the then agriculture and environment minister Edwin Poots announced that Magheralin Church of Ireland in Co Down had secured £100,000 under the publicly-funded Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pollinator Garden Award. In a press release, the minister said the money would transform "an area...

Casual Gardener: Houseplants you can't kill

John Manley 31 Aug, 2023

There are a few attractive fail-safes to get your houseplant collection started...

Double delight at Co Donegal's Dunree Fort

John Manley 24 Aug, 2023

Discovering something special and inspirational by chance is always better than hearing or reading about it beforehand. It was on a recent trip to Inishowen in Co Donegal that we inadvertently stumbled across Dunree Fort on the eastern shores of Lough Swilly. The plan had been to visit what turned out...

Casual Gardener: Rescuing the courgettes' tarnished reputation

John Manley 18 Aug, 2023

For those who like to grow their own, there are few edibles easier than courgettes. They're as fool-proof as you get – as long as your earth's in reasonably good order and they get adequate water, a couple of plants should yield something you can actually cook with. They like a bit of room to spread...

Casual Gardener: Rain reigns supreme after wettest July on record

John Manley 09 Aug, 2023

A MONTH ago this column carried some advice for gardeners on taking care in the sun. There were a few sardonic texts and snide remarks that would've hurt someone with a thinner skin, but after 25 years in journalism, I'm immune to criticism. The content of the July 14 column remains valid, but as the...

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