News - Page 94
To create a beautiful garden with year-round appeal it’s essential to pick the best plants, and few celebrate the seasons more than colourful cornus. Commonly called dogwoods, these reliable and hardy shrubs provide a luscious leafy backdrop to summer flowers. As a final fanfare their foliage is transformed into a rainbow of colours through autumn before fluttering away to reveal brilliant wand-like stems.
This seasonal transformation is just the start...
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The most expensive Halloween pumpkin in history has weighed in at a record-breaking 1,333.8lb (605kg) – the heaviest pumpkin ever grown outdoors in the UK.
A Pricey Pumpkin
The pumpkin scooped first prize for biggest outside grown pumpkin and second prize overall at the 2016 Jubilee Sailing Trust Autumn Pumpkin Festival in Southampton.
The pumpkin was grown from the world’s most expensive pumpkin seed, bought by seed merchants Thompson & M...
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A small town in Northern Ireland has been crowned Britain in Bloom’s 2016 Champion of Champions. Ahoghill in County Antrim was one of only six areas from across the UK chosen to compete in the category.
Britain In Bloom
Another competitor in Northern Ireland, Castlecaulfield in Ulster, was a joint winner of the Best Village award with Elswick, Tyne and Wear. Coleraine, also in Ulster, won best Large Town. Best Small Town was Freckleton, Lancashire, a...
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It’s Wild about Gardens Week this week – your chance to do your bit for the wild creatures which share your outside space with you.
Wild About Gardens Week
The week-long celebration of wildlife-friendly gardening is led by the Royal Horticultural Society and the Wildlife Trusts, who set it up four years ago after research showed about two-thirds of Britain’s plant and animal species including common garden species like bats, hedgehogs, house sparrows...
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Two elm trees thought extinct in Britain have been discovered growing at Holyroodhouse, the Queen’s residence in Scotland.
Extinct Elm Trees Discovered!
The majestic 100ft tall Wentworth elms (Ulmus ‘Wentworthii Pendula’) have a weeping growth habit and large glossy leaves, and had been growing in the garden at Holyroodhouse for decades without anyone realising their importance.
All specimens of the variety were thought to hav...
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Dry tomatoes and other fruits to keep them in perfect condition for deliciously nutritious snacks right through winter.
Dry Tomatoes
Dried tomatoes are a classic of Italian cuisine and for sheer tastiness there are few better ways to preserve your surplus tomato crop. You can also dry apples, pears and apricots; and you can wow the kids by drying berry fruits into ‘fruit leathers’, perfectly preserved strips of dried fruit you can ro...
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A prison in Lancashire has won a prestigious award for its gardens, described by judges as ‘excellent’ and ‘scrupulously tidy’.
MHP Wymott wins Award for its Gardens
HMP Wymott, in the village of Ulnes Walton near Leyland, Preston, has a population of 1,126 prisoners, 50 of whom work on the prison’s extensive gardens. It beat four other finalists to scoop the RHS Windlesham Trophy, given to the best prison garden in England and Wales...
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Clear away plant supports as part of your end-of- season clear up and store them carefully for next year.
Clear Away Those Plant Supports
Whether they’re bamboo canes, hazel rods, or metal plant grids and obelisks they’ll do sterling service for years to come if you treat them well now.
Untwine old plant stems and cart them off to the compost heap as long as they weren’t diseased (in which case put them in with the green waste collection or bu...
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British gardens have a new and unwelcome visitor as an Asian hornet has been spotted for the first time in Gloucestershire.
New Garden Pests
The sighting prompted a search for its nest across a three-mile surveillance zone. A large nest was subsequently found at the top of a conifer tree and destroyed.
The insects are up to 3cm in length, with entirely dark-brown bodies with the last abdominal segment almost entirely yellow. They also have yel...
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Ripen the last of the green tomatoes now before it’s too late. There are always a few underripe tomatoes left at the end of the season, but there’s still time to persuade at least some of them to turn red before the first frosts.
Persuade those Tomatoes!
First, 'stop' your plants by removing growing tips so they're concentrating on fruit rather than new foliage. Then maximise what heat there is by detaching plants from supports and laying them flat o...
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Celebrate the nation’s favourite fruit at an Apple Day near you. These annual festivals of all things appley are taking place around the country throughout this month, so look out for the event nearest you.
National Apple Day!
Among the biggest is the National Apple Festival, held at the home of largest collection of apples in the country, Brogdale Fruit Collection in Kent (www.brogdalecollections.org...
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The brilliant colours of autumn, caught by rays of mellow sunshine, are among the highlights of the gardening year. It’s also time to put the garden gently to bed, so there’s plenty to get on with this month!
General tasks:
Go on a slug and snail hunt looking for both pests and clumps of their pearly white eggs.
Clear autumn leaves from flower beds regularly, especially if they’re collecting in the crowns of p...
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