Heritage Gardens - January Competition

Heritage Gardens - January Competition

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A Happy New Year to Past Customers & Future Customers !

Now that we have just got into 2012 and the Christmas & New Year Festivities are behind us we just wanted to let you know that The Team at Heritage Gardens are planning  a series of exciting competitions for 2012 starting this month.

GET YOUR SPRING GARDENING PROGRAMME OFF TO AN EARLY START BY WINNING THIS ATTRACTIVE AND PRACTICAL HAND TOOL & PLANTING COLLECTION ! THE COMPETITION WINNER WILL RECEIVE A BURGON & BALL SEED BOX ORGANISER,A SOPHIE CONRAN HAND TROWEL & FORK EACH IN A PRESENTATION CASE TOGETHER WITH A PAIR OF SOPHIE CONRAN GARDENING GLOVES.

All you have to do is tell us what products you like and might buy that are currently on our website and also what products you would like to see on the site that we do not offer at present. The Heritage Team will decide which Entry is the most helpful in order that we may continue to offer an unparelled online shopping experience for garden products. Any other feedback would be helpful,particularly in deciding on the winning entry.

To enter visit:
Heritage Gardens - January Competition

THE CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES IS MONDAY 23 JANUARY 2012 AND THE WINNER WILL RECEIVE THE PRIZE BY 31 JANUARY.ENTRY IS FREE & OPEN TO ALL.

Heritage Gardens - Christmas Competition

Christmas Prize - Santa Claus - All About Me

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Heritage Gardens are offering a great opportunity to get some free gardening advice - and a chance to win a great prize at the same time.

The December 2011 prize is a wonderful Christmas book - Santa Claus - All About Me - The Secret Life Of Father Christmas! (worth £25.00).

'Exquisitely illustrated, All About Me is a truly magical celebration of Christmas for everybody.   Full of secrets and hidden surprises to discover. If you love Christmas, you will love All About Me.'

To enter simply post your Christmas and New Year Gardening question - using the Comments link below.

We will post our responses to every question, but please feel free to add to these if you have additional advice to offer.

The best question will win the prize.

The competition is open to all – you do not have to be a Heritage Gardens customer !

The prize winning question will be chosen on 4th January.

You will find the book and lots of other Christmas gift ideas - at great prices - on:
Heritage Gardens - Christmas Gifts Collection

Gardening Competition - November 2011

Burgon & Ball - Herb Pots

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Heritage Gardens are offering a great opportunity to get some free gardening advice - and a chance to win a prize at the same time.

There will be a monthly prize for the best question.

The competition is open to all – you do not have to be a Heritage Gardens customer !

Post your questions using the Comments link.

We will post our responses, but please feel free to add to these if you have additional advice to offer.

The prize winning question will be chosen on the last day of the month.

The November 2011 prize will be a set of three  Burgon & Ball Herb Pots (worth £19.95) - perfect for the kitchen window sill.

RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show 2011

Hampton Court Flower Show - Lilies

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Having attended many of the usual Garden Shows this year and not having been to Hampton Court before we had considerable expectations from what is billed as “the largest floral show in the world.”

Tuesday was the first day and open only to RHS Members. It was a good day to go since although it was busy there were not the large numbers that might be expected later in the week. The trip from Devon by car went smoothly and we were lucky to have several hours of hot sunshine before the rain started on cue at 4pm.

The Show, set against the backdrop of the grandiose elegance of Hampton Court Palace, was magnificent. The Floral Marquee contained a myriad of stunning displays such as the Lillies pictured here. There were many unusual plants available to purchase and take home – I bought an Agrostemma Grithage Milas – a tall, dainty annual with purple trumpet like flowers (will harvest the seeds for next year) and a Dahlia Arabian Knight with impressive maroon flowers.

Show Gardens, Small Gardens  Conceptual Gardens and even Poets Gardens all featured with many innovative displays giving a different dimension than on the TV coverage. The Copella Plant & Protect Garden was our personal favourite (see image) with its theme of English style planting to encourage pollinating insects and a campaign to replant and protect apple orchards. The sculpture represents new life and growth – rills of water culminate in a pool at the base of the sculpture giving sustenance to the plants in the garden. Sustainability was also a key theme as was biodiversity to encourage wildlife into gardens and the planting of apple trees to help replace the large number of orchards lost over the last 50 years.

Copella Plant & Protect Garden

Strolling either side of the Long Water area there were a plethora of stands large and small to attract one’s interest and standing for a moment on the interconnecting temporary bridge one could contemplate the whole scene with an uplifting vista being provided in each direction – the Palace to the west and fountains of water to the east (see image).

Long Water

Garden Tips For April

Patio Cold Frame

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More in our series of monthly gardening tips from Heritage Gardens gardening correspondent Geoff Hodge.

Geoff is a garden writer, author, editor and radio and TV broadcaster. He writes for numerous gardening magazines and  has written several gardening books, including Pruning, Collins Practical Gardener - Bulbs, RHS Allotment Handbook and RHS Allotment Journal. His next book, RHS Propagation Techniques, is due for publication in spring 2011.

More about Geoff is on:
Garden Forum Horticulture Website

For April topics include:

• Planting containers.
• Soil and bed preparation.
• Planting Summer fruit.
• Sowing vegetables.
• Growing tomatoes.
• Tree and shrub care.

Lots of good advice for the gardener as Spring progresses.
You can read the full article at:
Heritage Gardens - Garden Tips - April

If you want to get your tender seedlings and plants off to a great start this Spring try our easy to assemble:
Patio Cold Frame (pictured above).

We have a fantastic range of other gardening products for Spring - on the:

Heritage Gardens Website

We'll be adding new products every month so keep coming back !

Overbecks National Trust Nr Salcombe Devon

MAGNOLIA CAMPBELLII "OVERBECKS"

The South West is fortunate to have a profusion of gardens to rival some of the best worldwide and one of my personal favourites is the National Trust property "Overbecks" in Salcombe South Devon.

Essential to any visit to Overbecks in the Spring is the magnificent 110 year old Magnolia which dominates the sub tropical gardens surrounding the property. It has its own cultivar name of "Overbecks" because it is a much more intense pink than the usual Magnolia Campbellii.

My visit to Overbecks last Sunday took place on a glorious sunny Spring day.Although some damage had occurred after a recent sharp frost and following the very cold winter it still proved to be magnificent sight. The gardens comprise a wonderful range of exotic palms,banana plants as well as other unusual shrubs and trees. Many of the Echiums have taken a battering but some are surviving in the more sheltered spots.

The Victorian building iteslf is in good order and is well worth a visit in itself but the conservatory has sadly fallen into disrepair. The National Trust have launched an appeal to raise £75000 to restore the conservatory to its former state. This is a most worthwhilke project which will enable the building to once more complement its outstanding natural setting.

Coastal Vegetable Garden

Coastal Vegetable Garden

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Today we are starting the first of a series of blog posts detailing the 2011
vegetable growing season as it progresses. Our successes and failures will
be reported along with tips and advice along the way from experience gained
in previous years.

The plot occupies a fairly sheltered position on the South West coast with
good drainage resulting from being based on sandstone cliffs. On the seaward
side of the plot there are three mature apple trees which combined with the
tamarisk hedge along the cliff edge provide some protection from the biting
Easterly winds coming down the English Channel. The trunks of the apple
trees have been greased to stop the bugs from crawling up the trees and
spoiling the apples later on. We are still eating last year's crop which
were carefully laid down for storage and hope for another bumper crop in
2011.

After the cold winter the ground needs a boost and to provide this we have
sourced some excellent horse manure form the local stables. Several boot
loads and wheelbarrows later it has been applied approximately 7cm thick and
will not be dug in but rather once fully rotted we will make it into a fine
tilth. The manure is kept away from the bases of the apple trees as we want
to feed the vegetables not the tree roots!