Category: Plants

Don’t be afraid to grow your own vegetables or bedding plants from seed.  You don’t need a big garden or fancy greenhouse.  It is easy and saves a lot of money, not to mention the satisfaction when pulling the first carrot out of the ground or planting a hanging basket with your home grown petunias.

If your garden is too small for a traditional greenhouse, then an alternative could be a medium walk-in greenhouse (h1.9 x w1.43 x d0.73m at £39.99**).  Both can be easily assembled when needed, and taken down again to make room for other activities. Other smaller ones are available from £24.99 in the outside garden shop.

From the end of March, some seeds and bulbs can be sown and planted outside in the ground, for example brussel sprouts, summer cabbages, beans, peas, garlic onions and sweet peas.

Some seeds are better sown in pots, for example cauliflower, and plastic pots are available in the shop from 9cm at 30p up to 25ltr at £5.50.

You can give nature a helping hand by covering your soil with black heavy duty plastic (2m wide at £2 per metre) to warm it up and make it ready for planting parsnips, kale and lettuce.  When planted, you can cover the rows with a cloche tunnel (from £12.99) to protect them from harsh weather and pests.

We stock a wide range of seeds in the shop from both Suttons and Thompson & Morgan, catering for every taste and flavour.

To give your seedlings the best start, we stock heated and non-heated propagators in different sizes, from £3.99 for a non-heated windowsill propagator to a heated windowsill propagator for £39.99.  These are very handy if space is a premium and seeds need a little help to germinate.

So why not give it a go, maybe club together with like-minded friends or family.  You could all grow different varieties and swap your results.

**These products are currently on promotion and are limited whilst stocks last.

Don’t let the sun go down on me!

If part of your garden becomes dry and is very sunny, then I may well have a few plants that fit the bill.  Just be sure to keep them well watered the first year until they’ve settled in.

Cistus ‘Sunset’

Evergreen with grey-green leaves and cerise flowers from May and through the summer months.

Halimiocistus sahucii

Evergreen with delicate white flowers and yellow centres continuously produced from late spring.

Convolvulus cneorum

Evergreen with silky white funnel-shaped flowers from spring onwards.

Ceanothus repens

Evergreen with pale blue flowers from May and into June/July.

Forget me Plants

With busy lives, many people would like a garden to ‘look after itself’; that we can forget about and require minimal care.  A few plants may help towards this.  The following are worth giving space to.

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

Beautiful blue flowers in late summer with stunning autumn colour from the leaves too.

Cotoneaster dammeri

Good in sun or part shade.  Evergreen with white flowers and red berries.

Pachysandra terminalis

Evergreen glossy leaves with white flowers in spring and early summer.

Vinca minor

Evergreen low growing plant with flowers in blue, purple or white.  Variegated forms such as; ‘Ralph Shugert’ are very attractive and lighten a shady spot.

If the world were an even place, the natural life cycle of growth and die back would go around in a nice neat circle, with leaf fall and decomposing plant material providing all nutrients and minerals to the soil for the next generation of plants to soak up and thrive.

But, as life is never as tidy as we would like our gardens to be, we sometimes need to provide a bit of nourishment so that our plants can flourish.

Container plants will appreciate a feed, as their source of sustenance is obviously limited by the size of the pot, and there’s only so long before they will need a top-up.  Liquid and soluble feed are some of the easiest to apply, and certainly the best option for containers where there’s a risk of overfeeding with granular or powdered feed.  Ever looking to multi-task, these fertilisers are applied at the same time as your regular watering and you can even get an attachment for the end of your hose, so you’re doing two jobs in one!

One of the most satisfying benefits of using a liquid feed is that the results are fast – you should see an impact within a fortnight.

Miracle-Gro All Purpose Soluble Plant Food

A balanced mix of the essential NPK, plus a blend of 6 more micro-nutrients.  Just one large scoop is added to an average sized watering can (4.5L).  Feeding is recommended every two weeks from early spring until late summer.

Miracle-Gro Liqua feed Starter Kit

A great option for large areas, the bottle of feed attaches to the feeder, which attaches to the hose, and the plants are fed and watered in one fell swoop.  Refill bottles are available in twin packs.

Seaweed extract

A naturally organic stimulant that can be used from the very first stages of seed germination, right through to giving a boost to mature plants.  It’s natural, good for the environment all round!

Tomorite

Leafy plants like a feed high in nitrogen, but any flowering plants, including fruiting plants that set flowers, enjoy a rich potassium feed.  Tomorite is ideal, not just for tomatoes, but also to use alongside an all purpose food for a whole variety of plants.

Now’s the time of year to get out in the garden and plant vegetables and herbs.  If you plan it right, you can end up growing your own rainbow!  Why not start with purple radish at one end , following with tomatoes, carrots, parsnips, lettuce, broccoli and ending up with dark green kale at the end.  The possibilities are endless!

Radish Scarlet Globe £1.55

Tomato Heartbreaker £2.99

Carrot Resistafly £2.79

Parsnip Gladiator £2.79

Lettuce Little Gem £1.75

Broccoli Parthenon £2.99

Kale Black Magic £2.99

VegTrug sells a range of raised planters that are perfect for growing vegetables and herbs in.  They are at a handy height so no more bending or crouching down!  They are environmentally friendly as well, with the wood sourced from sustainable plantation grown fir.  The small 1m VegTrug is available for £109.00 and comes flat packed so it will easily fit in your car to take away today.

For a more purse friendly option, Grange Fencing sells ‘rustic Raised Beds’ at £14.99 for the small and £17.99 for the large.  These are perfect for sectioning off an area in your garden for a mini vegetable plot.

Don’t forget to feed, Miracle-Gro, Gro Your Own Fruit and Vegetable feed is only £5.49 per bottle.

Here in the Arthurs kitchen we steam, fry, grate, stew, bake, juice, pulp, puree and mash a huge amount of fresh vegetables throughout the year.  We even bake cakes containing vegetables, which is becoming very trendy.  We are always experimenting with different flavours and complementing them with others to achieve the best results.

There is no better satisfaction then sowing, growing, harvesting and eating your own vegetables.  Apart from being super fresh, they also taste much better.  Here is just a small glimpse of some of the vegetables we use and sell at Coolings.

Carrot

The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, although purple, black, red, white and yellow varieties exist.  Carrots are always best sown from seed directly into the ground, as transplanting carrots from pots to the ground can increase the risk of them attracting a pest called carrot fly.  Carrots can still be sown in May.

Carrots are cooked and eaten in a variety of ways.  Here at Arthurs we use grated carrot in our moist homemade carrot cake and homemade coleslaw, and chopped in our carrot and coriander soup, as well as in our Cottage pies, and as a complement to our Sunday roasts.

This vegetable can be pulped, mashed, boiled, pureed, grated, fried, stewed, baked, juiced or eaten raw, and are typically used in stir-fries, salads and soups.  Carrots are high in beta-Carotene, which our body turns into vitamin A.  Vitamin A is important for healthy vision, bones, teeth and skin.

Beetroot

Beetroot is packed with essential nutrients and is a great source of fibre, iron and vitamin C.  Beetroots and beetroot juice have been associated with many health benefits, including improving blood flow, lowering blood pressure and increasing exercise performance.  They are delicious when eaten raw, but are more often cooked or pickled.  Their leaves can also be cooked and enjoyed in the same way as spinach.  Beetroots can be planted from April onwards.  Our chefs at Arthurs used pickled beetroot in our premium salad and raw grated beetroot in our beetroot and mixed seed cakes.

Courgette

Courgette, or Zucchini as it’s known in other parts of the world such as Australia, can be planted in May after the last frosts.

In England a courgette that can grow to nearly a metre in length is harvested at half or less than this size, as a fully grown courgette is called a marrow.  We use grated courgettes in our cakes, such as courgette and chocolate cake, and lime and courgette loaf cake.  Courgettes are low in calories.

Broccoli

Broccoli is an edible green plant in the cabbage family.  It’s large flower head is eaten as a vegetable.  Broccoli is one of the healthiest green vegetables, rich in dietary fibre, minerals, vitamins and anitoxidants, which have proven health benefits.  It’s also versatile, inexpensive and tastes great.  Broccoli can be used as a handy snack, in soups and in salads.  We use broccoli and its stalks in our Broccoli soup, and to complement our Sunday roasts.

For a selection of ready to plant vegetbables check out our ‘Grown your Own’ range.  Alternatively it is not too late to sow from seed, with a wide range available from suttons and Thompson and Morgan.

It is nearly time for our holidays, and we all know what a bother it is to arrange for someone to do the watering for us whilst we’re away.

Why not invest in an irrigation system?  One I would recommend is the Hozelock Sensor Controller (£36.79).  It can be set to switch on once or twice a day at sunrise andd/or sunset, for five minutes to up to one hour at a time.  It knows when the sun rises and sets, so that the times follow the season – clever little thing!

If you’re going away for a longer period of time, the cloud controller set (£134.99) gives you full control over your watering, as it works via an app on your computer or smartphone.

So whilst lounging by the pool in Spain or or trekking in the Lake District checking the weather at home, in a couple of clicks, the watering is all sorted, and the hanging baskets are still looking fab when you get home.

Come into our shop and we can advise you on what we think is the best solution for your garden.  Also available is Coolings Irrigation Installation Service (Free site survey available).  Please ask in store for more details.

That, in combination with Hozelock’s ‘easy drip’ system (from £3.99), works a treat.

Tillandsias (air plants) are enjoying a renaissance, having been very popular in the 1970s.  As with all things, if you wait long enough they will come back into fashion!!

Tillandsias originate from Central South America and Mexico.  In their native habitat, they rely on a host plant or other surface to attach themselves to, where they can get good light, and gather moisture and nutrients through their leaves.

They make a really good feature in the home, whether in a group or placed singularly.

Tillandsias may be attached to many items, maybe a favourite shell to remind you of a fabulous holiday, a small piece of wood you may have found, in a bowl surrounded by pretty pebbles or moss or even as a fridge magnet.

Tillandsias often flower, some may even have a scent.  After flowering the parent plant will eventually die, but not before it has produced pups.  These can then be removed from the parent and used to display on their own.

They need misting with water several times a week or dunking in water to maintain their health.  Also spraying with a liquid feed is very beneficial.  The possibilities for displaying these very varied and fascinating plants is endless:  make a vertical garden as a living picture to place on a wall, as a very interesting focal point, hang them upside down.  The only limit for display is your imagination.