Plant Gardens 101

One of the most magical things about gardening is taking a cutting and watching it suddenly start to grow into a whole new plant. That moment when you can’t resist the temptation any longer and you tug on it gently. If it resists you know it’s been a success and has already rooted and started to become a fresh new version of the plant you admired in the first place. It’s wonderful.

Late summer is that time of year when you can take cuttings from many garden plants. It’s been such a warm, wet summer that many plants have put on even more growth than normal, and this is ideal cuttings material. Summer cuttings can be rooted from this season’s shoots of many garden shrubs such as hydrangeas, lavender, and salvia also from garden perennials such as penstemons, phlox and sedums. These are generally called semi-ripe cuttings and many will root pretty quickly, sometimes within three or four weeks so they are an excellent project for the school holidays. (more…)

Most gardeners will have saved a few seeds over the years. Runner beans are the most likely candidate and one of the easiest seeds to save seed from.

Saving seed completes the life cycle of the plant, making it a great way for children to learn. If they have grown their own beans from seeds this year, then now you can show them that from one plant you get dozens of pods and inside each pod are six to eight bean seeds. Each one of these seeds will grow into another plant and make hundreds more seeds. It’s easy to see where the magic bean story came from and on a practical note it shows children how gardeners used to ensure plenty of seed for the following year before the arrival of seed merchants. I’ve got a huge planter of runner bean plants in my greenhouse this year, which makes it very easy to save seed from them. I can leave a handful of pods on the plant now and allow them to dry out in the warm conditions inside my greenhouse. When the pods have turned brown and crispy I can pick them off, open them up and store the beans somewhere coold and dry. (more…)

Gabriel Ash planthouses and glasshouses can be used as greenhouses, but they can be so much more! A glasshouse is essentially like a larger version of a standard planthouse, but with many more possible variations in design and uses. You can use your glasshouse to house and display exquisite exotic plants the same way you can in a planthouse, but glasshouses can be designed much larger so that they can accommodate seating or even hot tubs or swimming pools. Imagine relaxing in your hot tub on a cold winter’s day or swimming amid a tropical paradise! You could use your glasshouse as an outdoor dining area where you could entertain guests while basking in the splendour of a brilliant sunset. A glasshouse from Gabriel Ash is the perfect setting for an artist’s studio, or simply a place to sit and reflect amongst your beautiful plants. It will allow you to get the most out of your garden by enabling you to spend more time outside during spring and fall when the weather is not always pleasant. Glasshouses can serve the same purposes as greenhouses or planthouses, but they can be built with ample space so that you can use them for so much more! (more…)

Once your Gabriel Ash greenhouse is fully assembled on its foundation, you are ready to furnish it with staging, shelving and accessories so that it is ready for plants. The main staple of a greenhouse is the benching, or staging, which provides of a waist-high slatted surface for plants to sit on. Staging also provides a convenient workspace for you to work on. The best location for greenhouse staging is on the side that gets the least sun so that you have a clear space to install blinds for shading the greenhouse. Once you have your staging in place, you can add other accessories to maximize the effectiveness of your greenhouse space. Gabriel Ash has a variety of accessories that will match the design of your greenhouse and help you get the most out of your greenhouse.

o Seed Trays Gabriel Ash has seed trays made from the same Red Cedar that is found in the structure of their greenhouses. These attractive seed trays are sold in packages of three, and they measure 384mm x 244mm, which is the perfect size to hold most plastic seed trays. They are jointed at the sides and held together with stainless steel pins. The cedar frame complements your greenhouse nicely, and its insulating properties help keep seedlings and cuttings warm for optimum growth of roots. (more…)