Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs) (aka Plant Hormones, or Phytohormones)- What They Are, How They Work, and How To Use Them
They’re natural… sort of. It is a true miracle of nature that the individual cells of any multicellular organism each have identical DNA to each other, but find a way to create a variety of very different cells in just the right places. Of course, this doesn’t happen by sheer Continue Reading
The Best Sunflower Varieties to grow from seed this year
The Best Sunflower Varieties to grow from seed Sunflowers are one of the best and possibly underrated of garden plants, being easy to grow from seed, and producing a tremendous displays of bright colourful flowers in a range of shades, shapes and sizes. Plant the seeds in April to May Continue Reading
USDA Climate Zones: What they mean, and how to choose the right plants for them – in Europe!
USDA is for the USA, but also everyone else. The United States Department of Agriculture provides essential information and other services to people and organizations involved in the growing of plants – including a system of identifying climate zones and plants that are hardy enough for them. It can be Continue Reading
What People Ate in Europe before Potatoes
What do you mean before potatoes? It is hard to imagine today a European diet without Potatoes, but before the 16th Century, Europeans had to get by without this delicious and familiar root crop, and find a variety of other sources of calories and carbohydrates. For many people a ‘complete Continue Reading
Plant Breeding – How to make your own new crosses and hybrids
Breeding Basics Many Gardeners and Plant-lovers find themselves captivated by new and interesting varieties. But how are new plant varieties made – and how can amateurs try this in their own garden? Well, sometimes you’re lucky and a new variety will just ‘pop up’ as a random mutation or chance Continue Reading
Planting Alliums for early summer flowers
Alliums are tremendous flowers for the border, with the taller stemmed varieties making a wonderful punctuation to the summer display. These can be planted later than some other Spring-flowering bulbs, and are often offered alongside the autumn and summer-flowering bulbs/tubers (such as Dahlia), however for the best results these should Continue Reading
Chlorpyrifos – Demon Pesticide or Demonized?
A pesticide has hit the news this week, although these issues are always rumbling away in the background long before they hit the mainstream media (which includes Facebook and Twitter, of course). Chlorpyrifos was the subject of a petition which activists had hoped would allow the substance to be banned Continue Reading