Gardeners are panic buying water butts as the drought tightens its grip on the UK.
Haskins, the four-strong garden centre chain with two of its outlets in hosepipe ban areas, reported that sales of water butts are up by 800 per cent compared to last year.
“What makes it even more incredible is that most people wouldn’t even be thinking about water butts…
Alan Titchmarsh has warned that society’s obsession with technology is making us lose touch with nature.
The former Gardeners’ World host said: “We are part of a fast-paced culture that’s become increasingly reliant on technology – in pressing a button we achieve our aims.
“But if that means we lose the ability to involve ourselves in a hands-on way with nature, to…
Gardeners must not be “snooty” about bedding plants and should fill plots with a riot of colour, telly gardener Alan Titchmarsh has said.
Former Ground Force host Alan told AG that gardeners will be forced to try different bedding plants this year, as retailers stop selling busy Lizzies due to the downy mildew crisis.
“It’s time to look again at bedding begonias…
Bitain’s biggest garden retailer is to stop selling the nation’s favourite bedding plant.
B&Q, which has 357 stores, pulled the plug on busy Lizzies (Impatiens walleriana) after impatiens downy mildew struck in 2011.
B&Q usually sells 20 million busy Lizzies a year, making it the UK’s biggest retailer of the hanging basket favourite.
The firm warned of a “chronic shortfall of busy Lizzies…
Alan Titchmarsh has claimed his new ITV series outperformed expectations, but brushed aside critics’ claims that it’s lightweight on horticultural content.
Speaking exclusively to AG, Alan said Love Your Garden attracted average audiences of 3.5million viewers, peaking at 3.8million.
As well as returning for four episodes this autumn, a second series will run in 2012.
“It’s quite scary to do a new programme,” said Alan.…
It is a company that claims: “You can do it if you B&Q it”.
But like the best-planned DIY projects, B&Q’s Chelsea Flower Show garden has run into a few technical difficulties.
Plans for the £300,000 vertical allotment, a tower rising 30ft (9m) high (right), have been tweaked in the run up to the May show.
The garden is to sit in front…
