Tag Archives: greenhouse

In the Green Mid Winter

Posted on December 23, 2025 by midlifegardener

The Winter Solstice. Eight and a half thousand people gathered to see the sun rise behind the Heel Stone and send its first rays into the heart of Stonehenge on the shortest day of the year.We assume the Ancients celebrated … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged allium ping pong, alliums, ammi majus, antirrhinums, bulbs, flowers, flowers cut flowers, Garden, gardening, garlic, greenhouse, Onions, plants, solstice, sweet pea, sweet peas, tulip, tulips, wedding flowers | Leave a comment

Slugs and Snails and Puppy Dogs’ Tails

Posted on June 9, 2024 by midlifegardener

May was a busy but nerve-wracking month in the Midlife Garden. After starting our cut flowers in storage boxes, they germinated quickly and copiously, but by April we face the challenge of what to do with all those healthy looking … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged ammi, beer traps, bells of ireland, brambles, cerinthe, cosmos, cut flowers, flowers, Garden, gardening, godetia crown, greenhouse, purple sage, scabious, seedlings, slugs, snails, sunflowers | 3 Comments

Pre-season training

Posted on March 13, 2019 by midlifegardener

We are into March. The days are lengthening. The February seeds have germinated and are looking sprightly: the race to produce those early tomatoes has started and the chillis are up too. We need to make sure they are in … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged ailsa craig, basil, bird bath, broad beans, chillis, frogs, frogspawn, greenhouse, hurst greenshaft, leeks, Nicotiana, peas, sweet million, tomatoes | Leave a comment

Veronica or Veronicastrum Virginicum?*

Posted on August 24, 2018 by midlifegardener

I read a good article by James Wong in the Grauniad this weekend in which he gave his four top tips for beginners in the garden. I never feel like I have a great well of knowledge about gardening, although … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged ammi, chard, crown prince, elvis costello songs, fuck em, Germination, greenhouse, Guardian, James Wong, Latin, peas, potting on, slugs, snails, sparrows, squahs, squashes, streptocarpus, tomato, tomatoes, zinnia | Leave a comment

The Dry

Posted on July 24, 2018 by midlifegardener

Two weeks ago I started this post. I don’t know what got in the way of me completing it. Perhaps it was the end of term which passed in a whir of school trips, successive cover lessons involving repeat showings … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged beans, blueberries, blueberry, carrots, cavolo nero, courgettes, french beans, greenhouse, hose pipe, hosepipe, kale, lettuce, mangetout, runner beans, Salad, sunflower, tomato, tomatoes | Leave a comment

Green Shoots

Posted on April 13, 2018 by midlifegardener

Back to a new term and the new garden as we prepare to put my father to rest on Monday. It has, of course, been a strange time – the combination of funeral arrangements, sorting The Old Man’s estate and … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged cavolo nero, greenhouse, hen, potato, potatoes, potting shed, psb, purple sprouting, tomato, tomtoes | Leave a comment

Putting Your Back Into It

Posted on February 25, 2018 by midlifegardener

Back to school after a half term break of mixed fortunes. I started out with a burning desire to get the veg patch properly started with visions of raised beds marked out next to what promised to be a dazzlingly … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged back pain, greenhouse, liverpool, raised beds, rhubarb | 2 Comments

Same Old Same Old

Posted on April 3, 2017 by midlifegardener

It’s been a while since I posted, which suggests that I have not done a great deal in the garden – which is true, and fills me with mild panic that I might be lagging behind in preparation for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged blue ceday, chitting, Compost, greenhouse, parsnips, silver wedding boomerang, stent, storm doris, tulips, white sprouting | Leave a comment

Dead Air

Posted on August 24, 2015 by midlifegardener

It rained yesterday. Bucketloads. Which was a good thing. Not in the “It’ll do the garden good” kind of way, because the garden is plenty wet enough thanks. No – it gave us the excuse to stay indoors and watch … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged ants, black spot, Bolt, cabbage white, caterpillars, cosmos, courgettes, Ennis-Hill, Evil, french beans, fruit cage, Gatlin, Gladiolae, Good, green beans, greenhouse, Johnson-Thompson, lawn, leeks, pennard plants, potatoes, psb, raspberries, rudbeckia, Salad, veronica | Leave a comment

Spring Clean

Posted on April 3, 2015 by midlifegardener

In the past two weeks we have had a major eclipse, the term has finished at school and Parliament has been dissolved to make way for the General Election. All worthy or exciting events, but frankly not as exciting for … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening Times | Tagged eclipse, greenhouse, higgledy garden, labrador, Nicotiana, pheasant, retriever, sweet peas | Leave a comment