Classic Gardening Magazine | Gardening as it ought to be

News, of a sort
News is good - we don't deny it. And sometimes the news we post here could possibly be that Dormant Seeds has launched a new catalogue, or that a certain gardening celebrity will be offering advice at the latest gardening hyper-show. But it is more likely to be of the 'blimey, I never knew that' or 'now that's interesting' variety. Oh, and it will have some sort of current relevance. Here's a flavour of what we reckon is news - and yes, we know we ain't exactly Reuters:

Let's hear it for Derris and the Dominoes

Actually, just the Derris. Forget the Dominoes. Dear old bug-zapping Derris is now an outlaw, soon to be banned by those slug-huggers at the EU.

Now, I know we are all supposed to be organic these days, but show me a gardener who's just seen a row of delicate young seedlings scythed down, or found his fruit full of worms, and I'll show you someone contemplating chemical warfare.

Fortunately, those nice people at Garden Organics have some friendly alternatives to suggest.

Have they ballsed-up at Brogdale?

I’m sorry to ask, but it is an important question

To explain, Brogdale houses the national fruit collection. It has, to quote it’s website: “the largest collection of varieties of fruit trees in the world. Over 2,300 different varieties of apple, 550 of pear, 350 of plum, 220 of cherry, 320 varieties of bush fruits, as well as smaller collections of nuts and vines are grown here in 150 acres of beautiful orchards.”

But last week we turned up to find the garden centre replaced with an empty concrete-cobble forecourt. Around the edges were units selling local meat, veg and cider, among other things. One had the toe-curling name of The Tiddly Pomme. They could have called it Bloody Expensive Cider. A sign trumpeted a new ‘destination’ restaurant The only trees were a token couple of dozen, in pots. Here's what's going on

Saving the juniper

Now what would a group of absailers be doing dangling
off a cliff face in the English Lake District with a
bunch of juniper bushes in their back packs?

Life-saving work is the answer.

You flower once, then you die

Life, eh. You spend 50 years building up to a really spectacular blooming, and that’s it. This is the lifecycle of a newly discovered palm that has lived in complete obscurity in Madagascar, despite growing to 60 feet, putting out a huge pyramidal bunch of flowers at its tip and being visible on Google earth. Read all about it here

Gardening by the moon? Are you mad!

Well...possibly not, as it happens. Not only are books on synchronising your planting and harvesting to the phases of the moon among Amazon's bestsellers, an experiment carried out by National Trust gardeners has been declared a success that will be repeated.

Adopt a threatened species
It looks like it’s up to us gardeners to keep hundreds of traditional varieties of vegetable from extinction. Here's how you can do your bit.

Time to grow your own mistletoe

Pity the poor mistletoe. It lives as a parasite, it dies at the office party. Chopped into tiny, desiccated spriglets, it is the silent witness to countless ill-advised couplings, and gets binned along with the plastic cups and half-eaten sausage rolls.

So isn't it time we gardeners did our bit for mistletoe? Here's how you can grow your own.