Little Green Space - Magazine

What it a Garden?

2009-05-31T17:26:00.000+01:00

An accumulation of plants you love, of smells and colours, objects and sounds, of water and wind. This may be why gardens are so difficult to design well, since all the best are the result of years of collecting and removing, planting and training, the sum total of hours of pottering and humming and gazing.

Strange then that the garden is also a place to be ruthless. If you don’t like something, get it out. Don’t let it hang around, dig it up, and plant something you do like!

Written By Tom O'Leary

Designer Advice - Designer Don'ts

2009-05-24T16:28:00.001+01:00

A path of blue slate chippings meandering through clumps of tastefully positioned bamboos. Looks fantastic in the magazine but wait until you have to pick the dead bamboo leaves out of the chippings. It’s a never-ending and virtually impossible job.

A Grecian style urn planted with a castor oil plant (Fatsia japonica). Striking contrast in form, very classy, but how are you going to get the plant out when it gets too big. Break that expensive urn, that’s how.

A fastigiate Italian cypress (the tall, narrow ones that grown like columns) a focal point to a border beneath a large tree. Looks very nice when planted but the cypress is going to grow towards the light and the straight column will soon look very bent.

Area of white gravel dotted with hostas and ferns. There are two problems here. The garden is very damp and shady and the owner has a cat. Soon the gravel area will turn into a mixture of green slime and you can guess what else.

Cotoneaster horizontalis as underplanting for a large deciduos tree. It’s a fairly tough shrub that will do OK in the dry shade. Its main features are the autumn colour and berries but the owner will probably never get to enjoy them because this plant is a leaf trap.

The Power Flower

2009-05-21T16:18:00.000+01:00

Love them or hate them, bedding geraniums have to come top of my list for their sheer staying power. But even with geraniums, it pays to be a little bit discriminating if you are after maximum performance for the minimum effort.

For ultra low maintenance, my advice is to stick to the zonal types, the ones with banded markings on the leaves. Named varieties are the safest bet as they tend to form compact, bushy plants. The ones sold simply as geraniums often grow rather leggy and uneven, not what you want for a container display. They are also less prone to geranium rust, a common fungal disease that disfigures the leaves late in season.

Don’t worry too much about actual name: ‘Aprika’, ‘Ringo’, there are hundreds to choose from but they are nearly all good, so go for the colour that takes your fancy. Think twice about white though because the flowers turn brown as they fade and they need constant deadheading to keep them looking good. In a wet summer, double flowers often collect the rain and the blooms can start to rot during prolonged grey spells.

Written By Alistair Ayres

The Tea Bag Trick

2009-05-19T16:50:00.000+01:00

In the days when tea came in packets rather than bags, it was common practice to empty the used leaves onto the garden. ‘Does wonder for the roses’ as my granny used to say. Unfortunately, a pile of soggy tea bags doesn’t’ quite have the same effect (the bag material doesn’t biodegrade), but the old wisdom is not entirely lost.

As you probably know, azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons need an acid soil and, especially those grown in pots, commonly start to look a bit sad and yellow over time. This is because they struggle to get enough iron as the compost turns more alkaline, an inevitable result of using our hard London water. But there’s no need to worry. Just put a used tea bag in a can full of water and stir gently. A weekly dose of this mix will soon have your plants looking green and healthy again. Magnolias, skimmias, and heathers will also thank you for a drop of tea.

Green tea, highly favoured by the Chinese and Japanese for its antioxidant properties, has an almost magical effect on plants. Just a tiny drop in the watering can each time you water results in healthier, bushier plants with more flowers. It works for both houseplants and outdoor containers. It may take a month or so but, once you see the results, I’m sure you’ll be convinced to join your plants in a regular cuppa.

Growing Annuals from Seed Part 2

2009-05-17T17:17:00.000+01:00

You should see signs of life anywhere from a few days to a 2 weeks. As soon as you do, put the pot in the lightest place you have. Water only when the pot has nearly dried out. When the seedling is showing four or five leaves, pinch the stem out above the topmost leaf. This will stop the plant rushing upward and toppling over.

If it’s warm out, you can then start ‘hardening off’ – see my piece on Annuals – to get them used to being outside. This is terribly important. If you rush it, your plants will get a cold shock and sulk for weeks. When you are sure all risk of cold or frosty weather is past, usually late April – carefully plant out or pot on your seedling and water it, keeping it out of direct sunlight for a few days afterward. Make sure your new container is only slightly larger than the old one,
or your seedling will drown.

Written By Tom O'Leary

Borrowing from Bonsai

2009-05-15T19:57:00.000+01:00

You don’t need to grow miniature plants to benefit from the wisdom of bonsai growers. Choose the scale you want and use the techniques to you’re your containers trees and shrubs healthy and in perfect proportions.

Trees and shrubs commonly start to look stressed once the roots fill the pot. The problem if you put them in a bigger pot, they’ll just grow bigger. What bonsai growers do is prune back the roots. For container gardeners wanting medium-sized plants, trimming back the roots by up to a third and putting the plant back in the same pot with fresh compost will work wonders.

The other useful technique is to regularly pinch out the leaf tips, which keeps plants bushy and compact, and to prune back the side shoots before they get too long. Done regularly over several seasons, even naturally vigorous trees and shrubs begin to learn the ideal size you would like them to grow and develop well in their new well-behaved habits.

5 Steps to Longer Lasting Flowers

2009-05-15T16:48:00.000+01:00

Ok, I’m a man, but on the rare occasions that a woman buys me flowers I take it as a big compliment. I want them to last as long as possible. Here’s what to do.
1. Take off all but the top two or three leaves. Any leaves that remain under water will rot. If you get roses, take the thorn off too.
2. Submerse the stems in bowl and trim the bottom of the stems underwater. This prevents the pipes getting blocked by bubbles of air.
3. Even cut flowers like to eat as well as drink. A drop of lemonade in the vase supplies them with the sugary goodness they like. Adding half an aspirin helps to keep the water clear. If you get one of those little sachets with your bunch, use that instead. They contain both food and medicine. Don’t forget to top up the water occasionally and change it if it starts to smell.
4. Tulips and roses have a tendency to curl their heads over. It’s just an airlock in the plumbing. A simple pinprick just behind the flower head will fix the problem.
5. Put the vase in cooler part of the room, not over a radiator or on top of the TV.
A little bit of thought and effort, well yes, but isn’t that what true romance is all about!

Written By Alistair Ayres

Growing Annuals from Seed

2009-05-14T17:15:00.000+01:00

Nothing beats growing a plant from seed, planting it out and seeing it flower. Watching a small piece of springtime emerge on your windowsill in it’s little pot will gladden the heart on rainy days, and you’ll be much more likely to care for it during the coming seasons.

It is good to remember that an annual plants whole purpose is to flower and set seed before winter comes, which is why we ‘deadhead’ and remove old flower heads, encouraging the plant to flower again and again.

I sow 2 or 3 seeds in little pots 4 inches high and 3 wide, using FRESH seed compost pressed firmly into the pot. Plant the seeds at twice the depth of the seeds diameter – for tiny seeds, sow on the surface and scatter a fine dust of compost over them. Then, place your pots in a tray and water the tray – not the pots. They will slowly absorb the water without disturbing the seeds.

Place the pots in a warm place, on a windowsill in the light, and don’t let them dry out!

Written By Tom O'Leary

Why Do Supermarkets Taste So Bland?

2009-05-14T16:20:00.000+01:00

For me even the organ vine-ripened varieties don’t come a patch to one freshly picked from my own plant. The thing about supermarkets is that choose varieties that look good on display, have a long shelf life and are not easily damaged by customer handling. They also stop the fruit from fully ripening by putting it cool storage. If you want really tasty tomatoes, my golden rule is never ever put them in the fridge.

Tomatoes are very easy to grow. Virtually any container, some decent compost, a bottle of liquid feed and your away. The problem is that it’s a bit late to start growing them from seed. Late in the season the plants on sale can also look a bit sad. Fortunately, tomatoes are exceptionally easy to grow from cuttings. Take a side shoot, trim the bottom and remove all but the top four leaves. Poke it into a pot of compost and it will start growing within a week or so.

If you don’t know a friend or neighbour who will give you a small bit of one their plants to get started, even starved and leggy plants from market stalls can be made young and healthy again if you use it for cuttings.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Rhodedenrons en Masse

2009-05-11T19:49:00.000+01:00

Do you want a colour experience that will literally take your breath away? Forget HD, you won’t find it on any television. One of the most amazing sights of late spring is azaleas and rhododendrons planted en masse. It’s almost like being in a dream.

While a trip to the Himalayas is probably not on the cards, a short trip down the A30 to the Valleys Gardens in Windsor Great Park is a good second best.

From 18 to 22 May, there are organized walks through the Valley Gardens, when hopefully the azaleas and rhododendrons should be at their peak. See www.theroyallandscape.co.uk for details.

Slightly closer to London, the Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park boasts over 220 different types of azalea and rhododendron and is also well worth a visit.

Written By Alistair Ayres

(Get in touch if you take Alistair up on any of his tips - we'd love to hear from you)

5 Tips for Easier Watering

2009-05-09T19:58:00.000+01:00

Line the sides of clay pots with polythene. This stops the compost drying out so quickly and helps prevent frost from cracking the pots.

Add a tiny sprinkling of watering-absorbing polymer (such as Swell Gel) to the compost when planting containers. The granules can hold up to 400 time their volume of water. Too much and the compost will turn to soggy jelly.

Put a small saucer in the bottom of hanging baskets before planting to act as water reservoir. Line the side with black polythene to reduce evaporation but make some small holes around the bottom to allow drainage.

Cover bare compost around large specimens in containers with light coloured pebbles. This will reduce evaporation and reflect heat.

Group container plants close together. They will share in the moist micro-atmosphere created by evaporation from compost and leaves.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Think Clematis, Think Laurel

2009-05-09T16:35:00.002+01:00

Perhaps you have a couple of naked fence panels you would like to cover with clematis. Here, a bit of lateral thinking will give you the best results. Instead of buying two or three plants, look for one with three or four reasonably long stems. When it comes to planting, put the roots sideways in the hole. You can lay the stems along the ground at the base of the fence and cover them with soil. A few leaves sticking out above soil level at regular intervals is good but not essential.

Before you know it, a new stem will start to grow from every leaf joint, each one with its own roots. This way, your single plant will give you a lush blanket of leaves and flowers to completely cover the fence.
If you try this at home, don’t act too smug when you see your neighbour’s clematis has a few almost bare stems with all the leaves and flowers at the top. This technique can be used with many climbers. Feel free to experiment.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Bargain Orchids

2009-05-05T16:34:00.000+01:00

Due largely to modern micro-propagation techniques, orchids have become much more widely available and very reasonably priced. The plants are raised in test tubes from tiny fragments of tissues, enabling growers to produce them in their thousands, cutting literally hundreds of years from the traditional production cycle. Cloning may sound a bit Frankenstein but for plants it’s really just a hi-tech way of taking cuttings.

Of all the orchids, cymbidiums are by far the toughest and most widely sold. These are the ones with long strap-shaped leaves and flowers in an amazing range of colours. They are happy in quite cool conditions and do well with minimal watering while in flower.

If want an absolute bargain, watch the shops for orchids that have just finished flowering. Prices are often slashed to giveaway prices. To get them to perform again next year, put them outside somewhere as sunny as possible, keep them watered and give them an occasional liquid feed. The leaves can look quite attractive as a foil to summer flowers in a container collection, so there’s really nothing to lose.

Bring them indoors again until temperatures threaten to go below 5 degrees C and ease off the water for the winter. As long as you had a nice summer, you should be rewarded by ten full weeks of bloom.

Written By Alistair Ayres

The Gardener's Scourge

2009-05-04T20:00:00.000+01:00

The leaves of bay and laurels all eaten away around the edges, polyanthus suddenly turn yellow and die. Chances are you have the dreaded vine weevil. It has reached plague proportions in London gardens over recent years.

The adults, which are like tiny black beetles, can only be seen if you go out with a torch at night. Shaking the plants over a sheet will give you a clue to their numbers and give some measure of control. Unfortunately, while the adults disfigure plants biting out notches around the edges of the leaves, it their maggot-like larvae that do the most serious damage, gnawing away at the roots.

Vine weevils are hard to kill because you need to get the adults, the larvae and the eggs. There are two chemicals that will do the job but they are only for use in containers. Provado Vine Weevil Killer 2 (thiacloprid) and Scotts Bug Clear Ultra Vine Weevil Killer (acetamiprid) are both mixed with water. You need to really soak the compost for them to be effective. A single treatment can give up to two months control but my experience suggests that at least one repeat application Let your guard down once and they’ll be back in force.

Never uses these chemicals for any plants you intend to eat. The organic solution is a biological control in the form of a microscopic worm that parasitizes the vine weevil grubs. It works in the garden as well as containers but the soil needs to warm and moist. Putting the worms into action is easy. Just mix some powder into to your watering can and you are away. They work in the garden as well as containers but the soil needs to warm and moist. Google biological pest controls to find suppliers.

Recharge Your Bulbs

2009-05-02T20:03:00.000+01:00

Bulbs come with their own power pack. They stored the energy to put on a good flower display during last year’s growing season. Now they need to recharge for next year.

My parents had the strange idea that daffodil leaves should be tied in knots when they finished flowering. It’s better than cutting the leaves down but it’s still not good practice. Extensive trials by the Royal Horticultural Society have demonstrated that daffodils perform best the following year when the leaves are allowed to die down naturally. The same principle applies to tulips, hyacinths and all the other spring flowering bulbs.

Great simple advice but it’s not always totally practical. What if you planted daffodils and crocuses in the lawn for example? Try and hold off mowing for 6 to 8 weeks after the last flowers fade. Mow around the bulbs rather than letting the whole lawn go wild.

In tubs and window boxes, watching the leaves of spring bulbs slowly die is not a very attractive. What I do is to plant the bulbs in small pots in the autumn and sink them pot and all into the containers. Once they finish flowering, I can easily take them out the pots and let the leaves continue growing in a less conspicuous position. With a bit of care, most bulbs can be successfully moved in leaf. Another solution is to replant all the daffs and tulips from your window boxes in a large pot and give the leaves a bit of extra loving till they fade.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Attack of the Greenfly!

2009-05-02T16:43:00.000+01:00

Greenfly are amazing creatures. They survive the winter as eggs and during the warmer months they give birth to young greenfly that are already pregnant with a pregnant offspring. Not only that, but they can ride the winds for hundreds of miles to find their way to your window box. The mind boggles. So how do you kill them?

My favorite method is to gently squash them between finger and thumb, taking care not to damage delicate stems. It’s cheap, organic and effective for container plans. An alternative is blast them off with a hose. It won’t kill them all but there will be fatalities. Both these methods require persistence for success.

Insecticides are the next resort. Soft soap, approved by organic growers, contact insectides (containing bifenthrin) kill greenfly and other insects they come in contact with, and systemic insecticides (imidacloprid and thiacloprid) ingested by plant and poison insects that try to eat them. My advice would be to use insecticides sparingly to deal with the first big wave attack. You don’t really want to kill the ladybirds, lacewings, ground beetles and spiders that will eat enough greenfly to prevent them become a further problem once the population is under control.

The sugary droppings from greenfly and other aphids can often be a bigger problem than the direct damage they cause to plants. This becomes covered with a black mould that blocks out light to the leaves. Don’t worry if you see this, the plants are not diseased; they just need to be washed.

Ants farm aphids for their sugar droppings and will viciously defend them against predators. A ring of Vaseline around the base of the plant stem will close down the ants’ access to their herd.

Rose Pruning Myths

2009-05-02T16:24:00.000+01:00

I once had a dog named Ken who loved rose bushes. Every time I planted one, he’d dig it up and chew on the stems. Undeterred I kept replanting them and lo and behold they flowered beautifully, albeit a bit later than normal. This started me questioning the traditional advice on rose pruning.

Working for Which? at the time, I commissioned the Royal National Rose Society in St Albans to carry out a proper trial to compare the careful method (making a slanting cut just above a bud) with just cutting all the stems back roughly to about a third of their height. We used a hedge trimmer to simulate dog’s teeth. The roughly pruned and hedge trimmer cut roses flowered as well or better than those treated with care.

Roses in general are pretty tough plants so don’t be frightened to cut them back. The textbooks usually say March, but April, May or even June is OK. In our recent mild winters, roses can carry on blooming until after Christmas and the later pruned ones should be especially good in the autumn. If you use a rough method, be prepared for brown bits at the ends of some of the cut stems. This is not worry – just trim of anything that looks ugly as and when.

Unfortunately Ken is no more, but I hope his contribution to gardening may be remembered.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Nurseries come to farmer's markets!

2009-05-01T19:42:00.000+01:00

I like visiting London’s Farmers’ Markets. There’s something reassuring about seeing vegetables sold in random shapes and sizes. There’s the homemade bread and scrummy cakes too. This year, gardeners are in for a special treat as nurseries have been invited along to sell their plants on selected dates through April, May and June at Farmers’ Markets throughout London.

They run from 9am to 1pm on Saturdays and 10 to 2pm on Sundays. Dates for markets with Plant Fairs are:

4 April Holly Road Carpark, Twickenham
5 April and 24 May Walthamstow Town Square
26 April Bonneville Gardens, Clapham
3 May and 21 June Salusbury Road, Queens Park
9 May Wimlbledon Park Primary School
1o May and 14 June Islington Town Hall
16 May William Ellis School, Parliament Hill
17 May Blackheath Station

Written By Alistair Ayres

(We'd like to hear about what you think of your local farmer's markets. Please let us know and we will promote them for you. We want to support local British produce of the highest quality - the little green space ladybird says)

Plant Resurrection

2009-04-30T20:10:00.002+01:00

So many times people have brought me a plant with one sickly-looking leaf and asked how they can revive it. It’s a bit like the Monty Python sketch: ‘My plant’s not dead it’s just resting’. Here is my advice that might just work for some plants that are just resting. Bury them.

It’s not a cruel as it sounds. For example, shrubby plants like heathers, hebes and lavenders, along with geraniums and busy lizzies, may actually form new shoots if you bury them. Just leave the last surviving leaves above ground. If it doesn’t work, at least they had a decent burial.
For plants that are just leggy or bare at the base, burying is an excellent rejuvenation technique.

Written By Alistair Ayres

What will you do with the blue hydrangea?

2009-04-29T19:50:00.000+01:00

Buy a blue hydrangea and plant it next to concrete path and it’ll turn bright pink. The reason is that lime washed out of the concrete turns the soil alkaline. Hydrangeas need aluminium for blue flowers and even if it is present they can only access it if the soil is acid. So how do you turn it back?

Potting up your hydrangea in a tub of ericaceous compost is good start to provide the acid conditions. But it may not be enough. They may still need aluminium. For this you can buy a bluing agent especially for hydrangeas that contains aluminium sulphate. Be very careful though, it can easily scorch the roots. Add less than half a teaspoon to a gallon of water and don’t use it when the compost is dry or when the plants are under stress in very hot weather.
Personally I like white hydrangeas. It avoids a lot of problems.

At Little Green Space, there is a ready made range of seasonal boxes to tempt you. Why not give one as a gift?

Death Traps

2009-04-28T20:14:00.000+01:00

Clay pot saucers look innocent enough but they can bring a slow agonizing death to patio plants. The problem happens during prolonged periods of heavy rain when is retained in the saucers. As a result the compost remains soaking wet and starved of air, and the plant roots slowly rot.
To protect your plants from waterlogging, fill the saucers with gravel so the plant roots won’t have to sit in water. Better still, use pot feet or bricks to keep the container above ground level.
Other common causes of waterlogging are containers without drainage holes or drainage holes become blocked. This is why you should always use a crock (piece of broken pot) or a stone to cover the holes before planting. Putting gravel in the bottom of the pot is a good idea for taller plants, as it will add stability as well as improving drainage.

Written By Alistair Ayres

(The Little Green Space Ladybird suspects that the saucer in the picture is a plastic one. For quality planters for all your window box needs, come to little green space!)

London's Number One Climber

2009-04-27T16:37:00.000+01:00

Will it tolerate shade? What about traffic pollution? My balcony is very windy; I want a plant that will provide shelter! I really want something with scented flowers. It must be evergreen. I don’t want something that will grow too vigorously and ruin the walls! Can’t be doing with something that needs a lot of fuss, I have a busy lifestyle; it will have to take a certain amount of neglected. It gets very hot next to my porch; do you think it will survive?

There is just one answer to all these questions. Star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides). Glossy evergreen leaves, attractively tinged with red in the colder months. Delicately scented white flowers virtually non-stop throughout the summer. Stays bushy right from the base, not too slow and not too vigorous. Happy anywhere. It’s almost like it has been designed for the London gardener.

Written By Alistair Ayres

At Little Green Space we specialise in beautifying London balconies! - love the little green space ladybird

Lovely Lavender

2009-04-26T16:30:00.001+01:00

Lavenders can make great plants for window boxes and tubs but too often you seem them all bare at the base and flopped out of shape. A lot has to with the variety you use. The dwarf varieties like ‘Hidcote’ and ‘Munstead’ are tried and tested favourites. Look at the labels carefully. Don’t buy plants simply called ‘lavender’ as they are quite likely to disappoint.

French lavenders (Lavendula stoechas), with their curious ‘buterflesque’ flowers have become very fashionable in recent years. They can do very well in containers but be aware they are a lot more tender than the other types. Young plants sold in flower are often raised in greenhouses and can sometimes become very droopy when you put them in the window box. If they droop badly, it can take a whole year for them to recover.

Pruning is essential for neat plants but never cut them back below the level of the first leaves or they will die. Wait until the new growth is well established and give them a hard trim sometime in April or early May. Once the blooms start to fade, follow this up with a light haircut before the flower stems start to turn woody.

Written By Alistair Ayres

(The Little Green Space Ladybird would like to remind tell everyone about the fabulous ready planted 'Lavender Box' window box available through Little Green Space urban gardening website!)

Simple Irrigation System

2009-04-24T16:42:00.000+01:00

It’s been a long day, the boss doesn’t seem to understand you have a life outside of work and you still haven’t packed for your weekend away. The weather is forecast for hot and sunny. Who’s going to water your container plants?

The last thing gardening should be is stressful. I would strongly recommend anyone with a hectic life style to get a watering computer. It sounds complicated but it’s just a timer that turns the water off and on. If you can set the alarm clock on a mobile phone, you shouldn’t have much problem. It simply screws on to an outdoor tap.

The other bits you need come as kits or individual pieces. Basically, there are three elements: the black irrigation pipe that takes the water from the computer to your containers, the grey porous pipe that you use inside your containers, and plastic connectors to put the whole thing together. It’s a bit like one of those simple construction toys you might have had as young child.

Use the t-connectors to make a ring from the porous tube to use in pots and straight lengths for window boxes. It may take a few hours to set up, but you will be able to sit back and enjoy your little patch of green all summer long without every worrying about watering.

By Alistair Ayres

Success With Japanese Maples

2009-04-23T19:00:00.000+01:00

Japanese maples are very popular as patio plants. They can be extremely beautiful but they commonly fail to deliver their full potential. The two most common reasons are they don’t like wind, scorching sun, even in London, is too much for them. In the spring, the new leaves are also very sensitive to late frosts and aphid attacks. Once the leaves are spoiled, that’s it for the season. Forget that glorious autumn colour. In nature, they grow in slightly acid conditions but they do fine in ordinary compost. What they won’t stand is drying out or sitting in water.
If I haven’t put you off, here are my tips for the cautious grower.

1. Cover the plant with horticultural fleece (available from garden centres) to get it through that treacherous period between the buds bursting and the leaves fully opening. This will protect against unexpected frosts and aphids.
2. If you haven’t got an ideal position out of the midday sun and away from windy corners, use tougher plants like bamboos to give them a bit of shade and shelter.
3. Don’ wet the leaves while the sun is on them. They scorch very easily.
4. Prune any dead bits that you find at the end of the stems. These are nothing to worry about in themselves but can lead to secondary fungal infections.
The trick is to get those leaves through the summer so your tree can show what it has really got offer in autumn.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Scented Plants

2009-04-23T17:23:00.001+01:00

Right now it’s early April and my whole garden is filled with a delightful, lemony scent. The plant that is so free with it’s fragrance? Osmanthus delavayi, a small evergreen shrub of around 5 feet high and wide, and in my experience rather slow growing. It has foliage a little like small holly leaves, and for a month it will pour it’s scent upon the air.

Another scented star is in the Daphne tribe, D. odora ‘aureomarginata’, another small evergreen whose scent is among the finest of all plants. All the Daphnes are scented, but this one is special.

Written By Alistair Ayres

(Little Green Space, for all your urban gardening needs, produces some scented boxes. Look out as they are only seasonally available! - love the little green space ladybird)

Hot and Dry

2009-04-22T16:45:00.002+01:00

On the windowsill or next to the wall, it’s sometimes easy to forget that plants still need watering even when it rains. In a sunny position during a hot summer, they may even need to be watered twice a day. Fuchsias and busy lizzies are quick to bring on your guilt by looking all sad and limp before they start shedding their leaves.

For a south-facing spot, I like to choose flowers that can take a spot of scorching and won’t sulk too much if I let them go dry occasionally.

Livingstone daisies (Mesembryanthemum) A fine leaved trailer with masses upon masses of small blue, pink or white dais-like flowers. Such a good temper: I’ve never seen it sulk or look stressed.

Felicia A trailer with small but quite startling blue flowers. You can get them with cream variegated foliage, which looks very good with blue, but I have found these to be far less sun tolerant than green-leaved forms.

Gazanias These are tough little plants that will really take a baking. The flowers, which come in all shades from cream to orange, close up on cloudy days when there isn’t enough light. I rather like them for this as it reflects my moods but it can be a bit of a downer in a bad summer.

Osteospermum Easy to please with a choice of purples, pinks, blues and white blooms. Not a party flower though as they close up at night. Trim the plants hard back after the first main flush and they will back in full bloom with a few weeks and carry on well into the autumn.

Californian poppies (Eschscholzia) Available in a range of vibrant colours that bring their own sunshine. Each flower lasts a day but they keep on coming. Very undemanding; will even grow in rubble.

Tasty Garden Salads

2009-04-21T19:27:00.000+01:00

Young leaves make very tasty salads, you can grow them ready mixed just like those in bags at the supermarket, they are very quick compared more conventional lettuce, and require very little space to grow. The easiest way to start is use seed mixture such as ‘Salidini’. The Organic Gardening Catalogue (http://www.organiccatalogue.com) offers a good range of spicy, oriental and Mediterranean mixtures.

You can sow them any time from April until August and they’ll be ready for cutting in about 4 to 6 weeks when the leaves are about 8 to 10cm high. You can graze them gradually with scissors as you need them or harvest the whole lot in one go. Leave about 1cm of stem, and you’ll get a second crop of leaves within a couple of weeks. Occasionally, you can get a third cutting but by that time it’s better to sow some more.

If you want to have a go at experimenting yourself, cos lettuce, Chinese greens, beetroot, chicory, mustard, broccoli, rocket, and basil are all delicious when eaten as baby leaves.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Last Day At Chelsea

2009-04-20T19:15:00.000+01:00

I was a regular exhibitor at the Chelsea Flower Show for many years and I never lost the thrill and excitement when the bell rings on the last day. People gather in anticipation as gardens are ripped apart, old ladies struggle with a 2m high delphinium under each arm. It’s like a feeding frenzy when you are overcome with an insatiable appetite for more plants than you can reasonably carry.

Working at the show, I was obliged to take my staff along with more small forest down the pub and out for a meal. Many years, I took my prize specimens home on the tube to much amusement of my fellow travelers. One year, I bought an orange tree with very ripe fruit and decided to take a taxi. The driver was forced to do an emergency stop, causing all the fruit to splat against the window behind him.

How many of my Chelsea plants actually thrived? To be honest, not that many. Being forced, put on display for week and taken on a perilous journey isn’t the best treatment for plants. But I like to think they had fun.

Even though the Chelsea Flower Show has improved for visitors in recent years with the new marquee and the extended the opening to Saturday, 5pm on Friday in the last week of May still holds a special place in my memory.

Written By Alistair Ayres

(The wonderful picture is borrowed by the little green space ladybird because it is so beautiful. If the owner would like credit or removal from this site, please contact us at customerservice@littlegreenspace.com and we will remove it)

The Facts About Worm Composting

2009-04-20T18:18:00.000+01:00

You can buy a worm composting kit and some local authorities even give them away as part of their recycling initiatives. They can work very well but the thing a lot of people don’t realize is that you need to treat the worms as pets. Tiger worms, or brandlings, the type sold for bait in fishing shops, are the ones used for composting.

First thing to know is that they don’t like the cold, which means you can’t leave your bin outside unprotected for the winter. You need to feed them regularly. They like vegetable waste, which is fine if you cook fresh vegetables everyday. They hate oranges. Garden waste is ok in moderation, but if you put lawn clippings in the bin, it is likely to overheat and kill them. Anything that’s a bit woody or has been sprayed is a no, no.

If you feed them right – fresh, little and often – it’s a very nice way to turn your kitchen waste into plant food. Neglect them, overfeed them, let them get too wet, too dry, too cold or too hot and you’ll be left with a bin full of rotting rubbish and dead worms.

Waves of Spring Bulbs

2009-04-20T17:27:00.000+01:00

You can really pack flowers into a container if you choose bulbs that flower from Febuary through to May. This can be achieved by planting different bulbs at different depths. My suggestion is crocuses followed by small early daffs – ‘Febuary gold’, then grape hyacinths & snakeshead fritillarys with tulips and Turkscap lillies (Martagon) for later in the season.

In october, get a decent sized pot, and some John Innes No 2 potting compost. Fill the pot to about 7 inches below the rim. Plant your tulips and turkscap lillies, then cover them with soil and gently firm. Next layer is your daffodils, filling again with soil. Lastly, in go your crocuses, grape hyacinths & snakeshead fritillarys, adding a final 2 inches of soil to about an inch below the rim. If they’re to live in the sun, only the tulips will need removing. The rest should come back next spring.

Written By Tom O'Leary

Snail Proof Annuals

2009-04-20T17:18:00.000+01:00

Many London gardens suffer from plagues of snails and slugs, especially so in the last few wet years. They adore tender young foliage as much as we do – so that’s something we have in common at least!

By painful trial and error I have found that what annuals they will not eat (unless starving)

Pot marigold (Calendula)
Poppies – Welsh, field, icelandic, Himalayan etc
Forget-me-nots
Annual quaking grass – in fact all grasses.
Cornflower
Snapdragons
Petunias
Lobelia
Feverfew
Foxglove
Poached egg plant (Limanthes)

Written By Tom O'Leary

Number One Fan

2009-04-19T20:06:00.001+01:00

My other passion besides gardening is making films and for the past few years I’ve been making the annual pilgrimage to Cannes. After a week of intensive film watching, non-stop networking, and wild parties, it’s good to take a day out to appreciate some of the surrounding countryside. One of the treats for me is to see the dwarf fan palms that grow wild at the side of the road.
Chamaerops humilis is the only palm native to Europe and it’s one of the toughest, tolerating high winds, periods of drought and sub-zero conditions. With its handsome evergreen fan-shaped leaves, it has to be the number one palm for London gardens. Growing well in clay or chalk, it’s a good architectural plant for a sunny border. But for me, it’s as a container plant on balconies, roof gardens, and patios, where it truly surpasses.

It’s slow growing so start with a decent-sized plant. They rarely grow above head height, especially in pots. Use a John Innes compost to give extra weight and stability and water very sparingly when the days start to get colder.

Am I ever tempted to bring one back from France? No, taking these magnificent plants from the wild is not right. Garden centres and nurseries offer plenty of specimens born and bred the UK. Bringing home the Palme d’Or, well that’s another matter. I’m working on it.

Written By Alistiar Ayres

(We agree with Alistair. Choice of compost is so important, especially in container gardening. We at Little Green Space, pay a lot of attention to detail in this regard especially for our ready planted window boxes. Love from the little green space ladybird)

Why Wisterias Don't Flower

2009-04-19T16:22:00.000+01:00

I have done hundreds of gardening clinics and one of the most common questions around this time of year is why doesn’t my wisteria flower. It’s nearly always one or more of the following five reasons.

1. There are several species of wisteria. The Chinese ones (W. saneness) can take seven years or more to start flowering. Japanese (W. floribunda) types flower in two or three years. Hybrids are a safe bet.
2. Wisteria plants that you buy may be grown from seed or a stem of one variety may be grafted on to the roots of another one. Seed raised plants are unpredictable and generally take much longer to reach flowering stage. The easy way around both 1 and 2 is to buy plants while they are in flower.
3. Wisterias like to have their roots restricted. If the roots have space to run, plant them in bin with the bottom cut off. Old plants can be made to flower again by digging around them and cutting back the roots. Moving a plant is risky. Be prepared to loose it.
4. You didn’t prune? It’s quite easy. In summer, cut back all the long dangly bits to around 60cm. In winter, cut back all but the main stems to three pairs of buds. If you have a very big specimen, call a professional unless you are very confident with ladders and have a good head for heights.
5. Wisterias thrive on neglect. Too much food and water and they will produce a mass of leaves and no flowers.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Early Bees

2009-04-18T17:11:00.001+01:00

As spring approaches, London gets the odd day of sunshine which transforms the city and lightens the step. These warm days have woken the drowsy Bumblebee, a solitary helicopter. It is hard NOT to notice a Bumblebee as it zooms from one rosemary flower to the next – and it set me to thinking; ‘this bee is up too early from his winter sleep, and needs all the pollen he can get’. Having early flowering plants like heather and rosemary in your windowbox will give these early risers a much needed breakfast.

www.bumblebeeconservationtrust.co.uk/

Written By Tom O'Leary

Craft of Planting

2009-04-15T19:20:00.000+01:00

I am always amazed when I see quite experienced gardeners resorting to the make a hole, shove it and hope for the best method of planting. When you are on a remote site with an hour to plant a hundred shrubs, it can be sometimes hard to follow best practice. At home, you have time to get your plants off to a really good start.

1. Water your plants before planting. You can tell by the weight of the pot. If they are bone dry, submerse the pot in water until you can’t see any more air bubbles and leave them to drain.
2. Remove the pot. This may seem obvious but bedding plants in particular sometimes have pots within pots that severely restrict root growth. A saw is often useful for plants that are pot-bound.
3. Skim off the top 1cm or so of compost. Even if they are no visible weeds, it’s very likely to be full of weed seeds.
4. Look at the roots. Any roots that are growing in circles will keep growing round and round once they are planted. This is one of the most common causes of stunted growth, premature death, and for trees being blown down by the wind. Always cut off any curling or overlong roots.
5. Loosen the soil in the bottom of the hole so that it will be easy for new roots take hold. Throwing in any compost you can spare is a good idea. Opinions are mixed over adding fertilizer I the hole. Research suggests that the risk of scorching the roots may negate any nutritional benefits. I prefer a light sprinkling of Growmore on the surface after planting.
6. Trees and shrubs should be planted at the same height as they were in their pots. With herbaceous and bedding plants, you can set them slightly deeper. Firm plants with fists or your feet. You shouldn’t be able to pull them out easily after planting.
7. Water after planting (this helps settle the soil around the roots) and consider applying a bark mulch if only around the root area.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Feeding Containers

2009-04-14T18:04:00.001+01:00

A typical general-purpose compost will contain enough nutrients to supply vigorous growing bedding plants such as geraniums and petunias with all the food they need for 6-8 weeks. After that, your plants won’t die of starvation but they’ll start feeling the pinch. With the massive choice of plant foods available, what do you use?

Liquid fertilizers provide an instant hit, like a tea with three sugars, but the effect is short-lived. Used regularly, a good liquid fertilizer can produce exceptional results.

Granular fertilizers like Growmore are cheap and light sprinkling fluffed into the compost will probably keep your plants going for the rest of the summer. Overdosing or applying when the compost is too dry can damage the roots. Compare this to fish and chips. Perhaps not the healthiest option but you won’t starve.

Slow-release granules such as Osmacote provide a steady supply of food over several months. These are your rice and potatoes. This is probably the most expensive option but very low-maintenance and recommended for permanent plants that you intend to keep for more than one season.

Blind Bulbs

2009-04-14T17:22:00.001+01:00

A bulb is said to have gone blind when it produces no flowers. Ninety percent of the time this is because it is in too shady a position, and cannot make enough food for next year.

This is a shame, because they do so much to make the early spring garden, whilst all else slumbers. So if your daffs are in shade- move them into the sun after they’ve flowered, or if you have no room, dig them up with a sharp pointed trowel and throw them on the compost or recycling, and plant new bulbs next autumn.

With tulips you should jettison them as soon as they finish flowering, as they generally fail to produce the next year, or make puny blooms. They need ideal conditions to thrive, and it’s generally not possible to reproduce these.

The wonderful grape hyacinth should be dug up some six weeks after flowering and stored in a cool dry place, to be replanted the next autumn. Otherwise they produce lots of boring, space-consuming foliage.

Written By Tom O'Leary

Snow In April

2009-04-14T17:07:00.003+01:00

Sometimes it snows in April.

I’ve done it myself – it’s all too easy. The UK gets a week of
beautiful weather, and you find yourself sowing seeds and buying
little tender plants. My advice is, wait up, woah there, hold your
horses! Before you know it, the cold weather’s back with a
vengence, and your little plants are looking pinched and miserable. All too
easily they can get a cold shock from which they probably won’t
recover.

The phrase is; ‘hardening off’ – the process whereby young
seedlings and plants slowly adapt to being outdoors after being raised in the
comfort and ease of a heated greenhouse. The trick is not to sow or
buy too early. Plants sown later – say late March/early April - will
quickly catch up with earlier sowings.

Once your seedings are a reasonable size, 4 or 5 inches, put them
outside in a sheltered spot during the day, and bring them in at
night. Do this for a week, and if it gets really cold again, keep
them inside while the cold spell lasts

You’re young plants will thank you for it.

Written By Tom O'Leary

Sorting out the Houseplants for Spring

2009-04-14T17:04:00.001+01:00

Now’ s the time to go through your houseplants and give them a
spring going-over. They’ve struggled through the winter with us,
and they need a boost!

Firstly – see if they’ve become pot-bound. Are the roots bursting
out of the drainage holes? The plant will thrive if you repot it
in a slightly larger container, big enough to handle the extra
root growth, say a couple of inches all round.Tease out the roots
gently with your fingernails if they’re tightly bound.

Use a soil based compost which contains nutrients (such as John Innes No 2)
to pot on your plant, then scrape off and discard an inch or two
of the old soil from the surface, to be replaced with your fresh
soil. Do this last bit with all your houseplants. The nutrients
and organic matter in the fresh compost are just what the plants
need, and you won’t then have to feed them again for a year.Give
the plant a good watering and let it sit in a tray of water for
10 minutes while you either wipe the foliage with a felt cloth,
or spray off the dust that can clog a plants breathing apparatus.
Your plants will thank you by growing faster and healthier!

Written By Tom O'Leary

Down In The Basement

2009-04-13T17:47:00.000+01:00

Gardens below street level can be very damp and gloomy places. Plants with dark green foliage tend to do best here but you need some flowers to bring in the light. Colours can be difficult to use and my preference would be stick with white.

White busy lizzies (Impatiens) are safe choice and so are white begonias. You could try the larger tuberous begonias as well as the smaller waxy-flowered bedding types. Zantedeschia aethiopica, the giant white arum, commonly sold as a houseplant, is perfectly hardy and will provide a striking display in a damp basement. For more subtle effects, try Aquilegia ‘Munstead White’, with its cute upturned bonnets in early summer, or one of the many tellima varieties with there delicate frothy flower heads in white or cream.

At Little Green Space (the online urban gardening site) there are shady ready planted boxes available for those who are busy and want instant splendour.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Healthy Mints

2009-04-12T09:36:00.001+01:00

I love mints and there are loads of different types to experiment with, including from apple, banana, chocolate, lemon and pineapple to ginger, along with the more usual peppermint and spearmint varieties. However, I would be loath to plant them in the garden because once they get established they run everywhere. In pots, they can be a lot of fun. You need to keep them moist though and repot plants once they become straggly.

Mint can also be fun for the children when grown in window boxes. It is pretty hardy. Have a look at the range of containers at online stores like little green space.

If your plants looks a bit and pale and weak in the spring, and later develop orange spots and start to lose their leaves, they have got the dreaded mint rust disease. If you are starting mint from scratch, especially if someone has given you a few runners, you can protect mint plants from infection. What you do is dip the runners (the rooty bits without leaves) in warm water heated to 45 degrees C. Use a thermometer, it mustn’t be hotter than this. Leave them for ten minutes then rinse in cold water before planting.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Which Camelia to Choose?

2009-04-11T19:52:00.002+01:00

You don’t have to walk far in many parts of London to see just how well camellias thrive in pots. Given some light shade, a little bit of shelter and an ericaceous compost, they smother themselves in bloom from early to late spring.

If you look more closely, you may have noticed that some camellias hold on to their flowers until they turn brown while others shed their coloured petals everywhere once the blooms mature.
There are lots of different camellias but the ones you see in London gardens are nearly always varieties of the Japanese camellia (Camellia japonica) or one of the Camellia x williamsii hybrids. The former hold on to their dead blooms, the later drop their petals.

Which to choose? I would always go for the one that looks without the need for deadheading. But, if you have a bad back or don’t like sweeping, the Japanese types may be your taste.

Written By Alistair Ayres

(Little Green Space have used Camelia for several corporate projects and found them to be very popular).

A Gardening Medical Chest

2009-04-11T19:33:00.002+01:00

The Chelsea Physic Garden, founded in 1673 by the Society of Apothecaries, is still one of London’s best-kept secrets but it is a must for anyone seriously interested in the healing power of plants. The Garden of World Medicine is truly fascinating with beds containing healing plants used by different ethnic groups. A feature that I am very keen to see is the new Pharmaceutical Garden.

With slightly quirky opening times (12-5pm on Wednesday to Friday and 12-6pm on Sundays), it pays to plan your visit. You’ll find the entrance tucked away in Swan Walk just on the left past the National Army Museum in Royal Hospital Road (nearest tube Sloane Square). The cafÈ is particularly good and you’ll find interesting plants on sale.

Written By Alistair Ayres

(The Little Green Space Ladybird often visits the Chelsea Physic Garden - a truly magnificent day out. If the owner of this picture would like credit, please let us know. We would also be happy to take it down if required,)

Ferns for Dry Shade

2009-04-11T18:08:00.002+01:00

Not all ferns need damp conditions. Some naturally grow in very dry parts of woods and these are especially useful for planting in dry soil beneath trees, next to walls, or a fillers or underplanting for containers.

1. Toughest of all is the male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas). It’s deciduous with typically divided ferny leaves, disappearing completely from autumn till spring. This British native grows around 60cm but there are several more ornamental forms that only reach half this size.
2. Hard shield fern (Polystichum aculeatum). A bold evergreen forming plants around 30cm tall and 60cm across.

3. Soft shield fern (Polystichum setiferum). A big evergreen fern growing about 90cm across and almost as tall. The variety ‘Divisilobum’ grows almost flat.
4. Golden scale fern (Dryopteris affinis ). Interesting habit of remaining evergreen for most of the winter and then flopping in early spring before the new fronds unfurl. The shuttlecock form ‘Polydactyla’ is particularly striking.
5. Hart’s tongue fern (Asplenium scolopendrium). If you’ve ever seen the tongue of deer, the fronds are about the size and shape. It’s evergreen and seems totally unbothered about what soil it grows in.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Readers should note that many of the ready planted window boxes and container gardens at little green space contain different types of fern and add shape and structure to the overall effect. (tip from the litle green space ladybird).

Grasses

2009-04-11T17:57:00.002+01:00

Grasses can make superb specimens for large pots where there form can be really appreciated. They are mostly pretty drought-tolerant, rarely suffer from pests and diseases, and never need more than annual haircut. Here are of three of my favourites which can rival the best flowering shrubs when in bloom:

Stipa gigantea, the golden oat, forms elegant arching flowering stems up to 1.5m or more, gently swaying in the breeze above a neat clump of greyish evergreen foliage.

Miscanthus sinensis ‘Zebrinus’, the Zebra grass, has green leaved banded with horizontal cream stripes. The plume-like flowers appear in late summer and go on well into the autumn. In a 30cm pot, you can expect to reach about 1.5m.

Pennisetum alopecuroides 'Hamelin' , the fountain or foxtail grass, form neat mounds of mid-green leaves and becomes smothered in hairy bottlebrush like flowers from late summer until the frosts.

Standard Fuscias

2009-04-11T17:42:00.002+01:00

Standard fuchsias can be quite expensive but they are quite easy to grow. Pot up a young plant and insert a bamboo cane that is the same length as you want the main stem to grow. Tie in the stem to the cane as it grows (use soft garden twine rather wire) and pinch out any shoots that grow away from the main stems. Once it reaches the height you want, pinch out the very tip of the shoot and wait for it to branch. When you have two shoots at the top, pinch them out again once they grow to about 10cm.

Keep repeating this until you 8 shoots, 16 shoots and so on to get a really bushy head, When you are satisfied, let the head grow out a bit. When it’s the right size, start pinching out the tips again to keep it under control and get progressively more flowers. By now, the main stem tied to the cane should be totally clean of shoots and leaves. As the summer progresses, it will become stronger and more woody.

Written By Alistair Ayres

Little Green Space - Updating Main Site

2009-03-31T19:46:00.000+01:00

Don't fret! Littlegreenspace.com will be reappearing very soon.

We are upgrading the website to make it even better. We are currently transferring across ready for Spring.

See you soon.

The little green space ladybird.

Pot Plants in the Spring

2009-03-28T19:04:00.000Z

Now’ s the time to go through your houseplants and give them a
spring going-over. They’ve struggled through the winter with us,
and they need a boost!
Firstly – see if they’ve become pot-bound. Are the roots bursting
out of the drainage holes? The plant will thrive if you repot it
in a slightly larger container, big enough to handle the extra
root growth, say a couple of inches all round.Tease out the roots
gently with your fingernails if they’re tightly bound.Use a soil
based compost which contains nutrients (such as John Innes No 2)
to pot on your plant, then scrape off and discard an inch or two
of the old soil from the surface, to be replaced with your fresh
soil. Do this last bit with all your houseplants. The nutrients
and organic matter in the fresh compost are just what the plants
need, and you won’t then have to feed them again for a year.Give
the plant a good watering and let it sit in a tray of water for
10 minutes while you either wipe the foliage with a felt cloth,
or spray off the dust that can clog a plants breathing apparatus.
Your plants will thank you by growing faster and healthier!

Written By Tom O'Leary

Floating Cuttings

2009-03-28T19:02:00.000Z

Taking cuttings is fun and here is a little technique you might like to share with your kids. A lot of cuttings root in water and a fun way to do it is make little boats from polystyrene and insert the cuttings through them like masts, so that just the bottom centimeter or so of stem is under the water. The advantages to this method are that the cuttings are always kept at the right level in the water and movement has a curiously positive effect.
There are no rules about what will root and what won’t but you may like to start with something quick and easy like fuchsias, dahlias, geraniums, or busy lizzies. If you are going to grow on the plants in compost, don’t let the water roots get before potting them up or they will find it harder to adapt to life in soil.

Written by Alistair Ayres

A warm welcome to your new resident gardening expert, Alistair Ayres

2009-03-28T18:55:00.000Z

Alistair Ayres was editor of Which? Gardening and regular columnist at The Guardian for more than ten years. He is a trained botanist with a wealth of professional experience in design, building and maintaining gardens, and has won medals at all the major flower shows.
Read more

Biography
Alistair moved to a 3-acre Victorian walled kitchen garden when he was seven. By the age of ten, he had his first small business growing gladioli for market. After leaving school he became a professional propagator before coming to London to study botany.

After graduating, he developed a successful career as journalist, editing two national gardening magazines and a regular columnist for The Guardian for more than ten years. Working for Which? Magazine, he was responsible for conducting trials on thousands of gardening products, techniques and plant varieties. He has designed medal-winning gardens and exhibits at all the major flower shows, including Chelsea, Hampton Court and Tatton Park.

Alistair has also worked as park keeper, maintained the gardens of the rich and famous, and designed and built numerous projects ranging from tiny roof terraces to country estates. He currently divides his time between gardening and his other passion, which is writing and making films.

Christmas Gifts

2008-11-22T17:21:00.000Z

As you can see, we have been busy at Little Green Space creating our wonderful winter range in time for Christmas. If you order now, when we phone you to arrange delivery, you can opt for delivery in the week before christmas!

Our window boxes and herb gardens are very popular as gifts. They make a special alternative to a big bunch of flowers.

Give the gift of nature to someone you love this christmas...

2008-10-02T20:11:00.000+01:00

Coming up with original gift ideas that delight is one of the most difficult things about christmas. However, at Littlegreenspace.com you can delight your friends and family with original and thoughtful gifts.

For your 'foodie' friend - A Herbie on the Sill herb garden. How wonderful for them to have to hand such a delicious range of fresh living herbs to use in recipes!
For your friend with the small London apartment - a winter windowbox to put on their balcony. The Holly and Ivy box makes a dramatic seasonal statement. When everyone else brings their plants inside, your friend can take them outside.
For your best friend - our new 'Winter Wonderland' box. These contain three luxurious white heather plants in a striking silver container.
For Mum - choose from our excellent value range of William Morris inspired garden accessories. The colourful metallic watering cans also make nice ornaments for in the home or for growing house plants in!

Who said Christmas needed to be difficult! ...We'll even let you pre-order and we'll deliver in the week before christmas so that you don't need to store the gifts for ages. We call every customer to arrange delivery - just tell us what is easiest for you.

Little Green Space. Little Green Christmas.

Autumn/Winter Range

2008-10-02T19:46:00.000+01:00

As London cools down for Autumn/Winter, we're red hot at Little Green Space - putting the finishing touches to our new seasonal range! You will not be short of christmas gift ideas and we'll even deliver pre-orders in the week before christmas so that you don't need to look after

them in between ordering and giving.

In the bleak of midwinter, you may sometimes feel miserable, but that doesn't mean your balcony must be sad too. Cheer it up with our winter range of stunning winter boxes. We will be producing a range of boxes including a winter version of our popular Shady Sadie -she continues to seduce in evergreen attire.

We will also be introducing our brand new 'Holly and Ivy' box - robust, full-bodied and uncompromisingly charming. Last but not least, we will debut our bewitching 'Winter Wonderland' box. In a striking silver container, three splendid white heather will nestle from the wintry London winds.

...We like winter too.

Little Green Space. Winter Wonderful.

New product range

2008-09-17T22:07:00.000+01:00

Hello to all our customers! Following a detailed design process, we are delighted to be launching our autumn/winter range very soon. As always, there will be attention to detail and tailoring of the product to the season and individual. We are sure you will be as pleased as we are with the end result. A

August in the garden

2008-07-26T15:18:00.000+01:00

Watering is the biggest task in August - if the weather gets hot! Vegetable gardens, flowering plants and the lawn all need about one inch of water per week to keep them looking nice. However, when it comes to our wonderful container gardens, please be careful not to overwater as the roots will drown. Just ensure that you check on them once or twice a day to see if the soil feels thirsty or the plants look limp. On particularly hot days you may like to move them out of direct sunlight. Push your finger in about an inch to make sure that there is adequate water there.

New Special Offers at little green space

2008-07-26T15:16:00.001+01:00

Our Stunning V&A garden tools are now reduced for summer. They are great for gifts. The beautiful watering can, for example, in blue and green William Morris style print, is now a snip at just £14.99! The price at the department stores is usually £24.99!

Hurry while stocks last...

Herb Garden Recipes

2008-06-09T19:34:00.001+01:00

Breaking News!

We now have a selection of mouth watering recipes courtesy of top London chef, Guy Awford (of Greenwich's Inside Restaurant )!

All use ingredients sourced from our wonderful little green herb garden 'Herbie on the Sill.' The lamb kebabs are absolutely delicious. We prepared some this lunchtime in the little green kitchen. Marvellous with a dash of naughty afternoon sauvignon blanc.

Every kitchen needs one of our herb gardens. Great as a free standing unit or a window box.

New Picnic Prodcuts

2008-06-05T21:57:00.001+01:00

If you want to picnic in the Royal Parks or just a day at the races, our new range of gorgeous picnic baskets are bound to be the envy of everyone else eating their sandwiches out of cling wrap.

There is now no excuse not to do things in the proper way.

Recipes

2008-05-31T10:51:00.000+01:00

Guy Awford of Greenwich's finest restaurant 'Inside', is writing some recipes to use with our Herbie on the Sill herb garden!

We are all very excited at little green space.

We will be featuring them on our site very soon,
- so watch this space...

The Herbie Song!

2008-05-30T19:28:00.000+01:00

Breaking News!

The wacky music production team, The Rotherhithe Project, are currently recording a new song called 'Herbie'.

It's a jazzy song with a dance remix and is all about how women just can't get enough of Herbie the herb garden in their kitchens.

We think Herbie is a dashing fellow and can totally understand why women go weak at the knees for him!

Paradise Gardens and New Garden Accessories

2008-05-25T13:11:00.000+01:00

Thanks to all of you who came to visit our stall at Paradise Gardens. We only had a pitch for the Saturday and judging by the weather we chose the correct day to attend. The weather was perfect for it.

We also launched our new range of stylish garden accessories (V and A Products). The arty types amongst you will love them. They are based on products on sale at the Victoria and Albert Museum shop and are all in designs by William Morris. He of the arts and craft movement!

We've stocked up on watering cans, tool kits and much more. We're also knocked the prices down as a special introductory promotion.

We think that the watering cans are beautiful and could make lovely indoor or balcony planters. Why not grow some of our herbs in them?

Herbs for Park Lane Metropolitan Hotel

2008-05-25T13:08:00.000+01:00

We've been venturing further West recently. We planted up a couple of huge tubs for the terraces at the Park Lane Metropolitan. Our favorite was the huge container with just rosemary growing in it. It looked stunning and smelt gorgeous! The mint one was also a winner...

Victoria Park Fayre - Bank Holiday

2008-05-19T20:31:00.000+01:00

All at little green space are looking forward to seeing you at the Victoria Park Paradise Gardens Bank Holiday fayre!

We'll be there with some new surprise products including our new 'Optima' - our new deluxe top end pre-planted window box. This box contains some new more exotic and specialist plants and will be the envy of the neighbourhood.

Please come and say hi if you are there and tell us how your boxes are getting on.

Herbie on the sill

2008-05-06T21:56:00.000+01:00

Our cheeky little herb garden has caused a flurry of inquiries lately. We have had some cooks among you requesting specific herbs and so fat have met every request.

Herbie grows to become quite bushy in his container and likes to be trimmed frequently to make mouth watering dishes.

What a wonderful gift to bring the host of a summer barbecue! Just think of all the heads that will turn when you walk in with 'show off' Herbie. I've seen grown women go weak at the knees around him, cooing like he's a new born baby.

Pruning Tips

2008-05-06T21:51:00.000+01:00

Remember to prune your plants to enjoy extra flowerings!

It’s not just trees and shrubs that need pruning: flowering perennials, annuals and bedding plants will make more flowers, better quality blooms or bushier plants with the odd nip and tuck. There are several easy, undemanding techniques that can be carried out while you are sipping your morning cappuccino on your balcony.

Remove spent flower spikes of lupins, delphiniums, verbascums and foxgloves to make a second flush of flowers.
Deadhead fading flowers of bedding plants, annuals and herbaceous perennials to stimulate new blooms and prevent plants from self-seeding.
While small, remove growing tips of some perennials and bedding plants to make bushier plants.
Some perennials benefit from being reduced by half in May to make more sturdy, compact plants.
Recycle the flower spikes, blooms and stems you remove by putting them on the compost heap.

littlegreen progress

2008-05-04T17:33:00.001+01:00

Here at LGS, we are extremely happy to be kept busy at the moment...

'Herby' is currently flying off the shelves (he is feeling quite smug about this). We are also working hard to expand our product line - the aim is to hand-pick a stylish and affordable range of products -the sort of things we would be proud to be using/displaying/giving as gifts.

I have hopefully managed to locate a great range of watering cans I set my eye on at last year's Chelsea Flower Show. We will be delighted to be offering these to our customers soon.

Brackets and attachments continue to be a popular request - we should have these officially 'online' shortly. In the meantime, please continue to contact us directly and we will always try and accommodate you.

We are also in discussions to be appearing at a few very special local events. Watch this littlegreen space!

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Little Green Space - Window Boxes Reduced!

2008-05-01T22:03:00.001+01:00

We have slashed the price of Sunny Bloombox (40cm) to £14.99 for a limited period only. Hurry!

Visit www.littlegreenspace.com now!
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Eastenders and Window Boxes

2008-05-01T19:58:00.000+01:00

Eastenders tonight! It's like a mirror to our world - or not, thank god... Well all the talk on the square tonight is of the window box competition. Never mind the murders, adultery and kidnap.

At little green space, however, we think we can do far better when it comes to container gardening, if only we could enter the competition.

We are sure that Dot Cotton would love a Herbie on the Sill (herb garden) to cheer up her cooking and her miserable life. And if Pauline Fowler was still around we could do wonders with her grey blanket of depression.

I must, however, point out that if Bianca's brood were to damage my window boxes like they did to that poor lady tonight, I would not merely just stand with my hands on my hips tutting. I would use carefully selected colourful language in a raised tone to express my disdain more constructively.

Hard Candy - Madonna

2008-04-30T22:38:00.000+01:00

It's slightly off topic, but I must congratulate her royal madgesty on her new album. She has really dug deeply into her 80s closet for this fantabulous creation. Okay, the single is not her best work but there are some real gems on the album.

'She's Not Me' is pure Madonna. She does 'comedy bitter' with the lyrics in a way that we have not heard since 'Thief of Hearts' from the 'Erotica' album. I cannot resist the wonderful early Michael Jackson synth strings in the chorus that provide a simple but effective harmonic colour for the chorus. 'She's got legs up to there and such beautiful hair, she's not me. Devoted for life. She'll make a beautiful wife. She's not me.' To which she cheekily retorts 'I know I can do it better!'

She's called in some of the producers of the moment including Timbaland and the Neptunes. However, she has not just rehashed what they have done previously and just added her vocals. She has clearly put her stamp on it. There is quite a disco/80s funk vibe about the album. As Stuart Price has said when interviewed on Pop Justice 'you don't write for Madonna, you collaborate with her...'

Stand out tracks for me are 'Dance Tonight', 'She's Not Me' and the snythish 'Devil Wouldn't Recognise Me'.

The closing track 'Voices' is astonishing. It reminds me of her golden periods ('Like a Prayer' and 'Ray of Light'). She does epic ever so well and this song really goes on a musical journey with real developement. Musical build and evolution in a three or four minute pop song is difficult to deliver as a songwriter.

According to sales patterns so far this week, the album is projected to sell 125,000 in the UK alone in its first week. Popularity is not always a sign of quality, but with 'Hard Candy', rest assured that the majority have got it right.

Olympics

2008-04-30T18:08:00.000+01:00

The upcoming Olympics is supposed to be a green one. Is it all spin or do people really think it will be? I note that there is a plan to build a bridge over the Thames between Rotherhithe and Canary Wharf for bikes and pedestrians. That would be a good start.

I hope that they manage to strike a good balance between the urban environment and appropriate landscape gardening for the area. Personally I am all for more trees and would like to see a good selection of evergreen species to keep the area green in winter. I am also keen on a good burst of summer flowers and being British would love to see a field of roses. I hear that there is talk of giving a species of rose the name Olympic Rose. I am all for this.

If they are going to encourage people to cycle I would ideally like to get cycles off the roads and on to their own dedicated paths. It's far too dangerous out there with those buses pulling out and errant cab drivers.

Little green space blog

2008-04-30T14:15:00.000+01:00

Just testing