News - Page 76

In March, you can practically feel life flooding back into the garden. Spring bulbs are flowering and buds are appearing on branches. It’s a glorious time to be out of doors, watching the new gardening year begin again, and here are a few jobs for you to be getting on with this month.

Many houseplants need humidity in order to survive so your bathroom can be the ideal place for some. It’s especially good if your house is dry as some plants that struggle in other rooms of the house will enjoy the steam from your bathroom. From large pots with big foliage to smaller pots on shelves and hanging plants, take your pick from these top 7 houseplants for your bathroom.

Many of us met our first badger in a bed-time story, whether it was the kindly and wise Mr Badger from The Wind and the Willows, Fantastic Mr Fox’s legal-minded Clive Badger Esq. or The Chronicles of Narnia’s loyal Trufflehunter. But anyone who’s woken to find their bins knocked over and holes dug in their lawn by badgers in search of supper may have a less rosy view. Badgers and their dwellings (setts) are protected by law, but there are some steps you can take to protect your garden.

Roy Lancaster is well known for presenting Gardeners World and appeared on other horticultural shows such as Gardeners Question Time. He is a prolific horticultural writer and speaker and he could be called a ‘Plant Hunter’ as his career took him all around the world discovering new plants. So what can we learn from Roy Lancaster?

Rock cress is one of the best-kept secrets of spring. A low-level, groundcover plant, it grows quietly in the garden, easily overlooked for most of the year. Then in early spring, it suddenly bursts into bloom and makes you sit up and take notice. Rock cress is the common name for several different plants, all of them species of either Arabis or Aubrieta.