Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to steam, bake, grill, roast or fry your food in the same appliance – and save electricity at the same time? Enter the halogen oven. I look at these high-design appliances that cook by infrared light and discuss their pros, cons and features before I make my recommendations and that includes some actual real testing to see how good the food taste too. Some of the models we…
Chrysanthemums are the flowers that you add to your garden to produce colour when everything else is fading away. Affectionally known as mums, chrysanthemums varieties are either early, mid- or late season blooming. That is, they start to bloom in August and early September, or late September through October, or late October, November and even into December. We discuss each of these blooming periods for mums that you grow in your garden. What are some…
There are several ways to look at how to group chrysanthemums (aka mums) together. The UK National Chrysanthemum Society lists many categories of these flowers in which you can display your prized blooms in shows. We, however, have put together a selection of types of chrysanthemum that make sense to regular and enthusiastic chrysanthemum growers in their gardens. We look at early vs late-blooming plants, annual vs perennial mums, categories of colours and full size…
If you’re reluctant to cool off in the summer with a fan with blades because of the safety issues (especially with kids and pets around), bladeless fans are the answer to your heat problem. Bladeless fans are generally quieter and more energy-efficient than bladed fans, plus they don’t have any sharp moving parts to harm anyone. Our review looks at bladeless tower fans of a variety of sizes and features, including some with extras such…
So planting bulbs in the autumn is a great way to prepare your garden so that you get a stunning show of colour in the spring, after all, daffodils, tulips as well as many other first bulbs are often the first signs that spring has sprung. It’s an exciting time as we know the gardening season has started again with lots to look forward to. The problem I’m often faced with, and as a professional…
One of my favourite plants to grow over the Christmas period inside my home are Amaryllis. I just love the large stunning flowers, the fact that they are available in many different colours, they are so easy to grow and they require very little care. Just a little watering now and again and they are happy. They prefer to be placed in bright but indirect sunlight, so a sunny windowsill is usually the perfect spot…
One of the most enjoyable parts of growing your plants from seeds is when they germinate and begin to grow into seedlings. One question I often get asked by those just getting into gardening is when and how you should prick out seedlings. If you prick them out too early they may not take, however, if you leave them too late they may start yellowing, they become more prone to rotting off and the roots…
I think sunflowers are one of the most rewarding plants you can grow, I myself prefer the giant sunflowers that can reach 8ft tall with heads that can be over 1.5ft wide. They really are a sight to behold. So, if you have successfully grown sunflowers you may be wondering when is the best time to harvest the sunflower seeds and also what is the best way to harvest the sunflower seeds. When it comes…
Chrysanthemums (affectionally known as ‘mums’) don’t need pruning during the growing season to encourage the development of many lush blooms. This is good news as pruning is an aggressive process that cuts back the branches of the bush to keep it looking neat and allow for new growth, but it does put some stress on the plant while it recovers. However, you do need to gently pinch parts of the bush off to get the…
This simple question has quite a complicated answer. Some chrysanthemums (also known as mums) are bred as annuals and others are developed to be perennials. But, if you’re careful, you can overwinter annual mums and grow them again the following year, effectively changing them into perennials. We discuss each type, with examples. Annual garden mums Most people grow mums in pots and treat them as annuals; that is, they discard them at the end of…
