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Another tree disease is threatening to wipe out one of Britain’s most treasured species.
Arboriculture experts are calling for a ban on imported sweet chestnut trees – to halt the spread of sweet chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica).
The fungal disease has hit two sites in Warwickshire and Essex. Around 180 trees have been destroyed.
It follows the import of infected trees from France…
Gardeners face forking out a fortune to replace plants that have rotted during the wet winter.
Experts warned that trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants may fail to spring into life, as roots have turned to mush.
Gardeners on heavy clay soil are likely to be worst affected but plants on lighter sandy soils may also struggle – as nutrients have been washed…
Gardeners could be hit with bills of up to £1,000 for removal of trees hit by ash dieback.
Experts say the disease (Chalara fraxinea), which threatens to wipe out Britain’s 80 million ash trees, could be as bad as Dutch Elm Disease, which killed 25 million trees in the 1970s and 80s.
The Government was warned about ash dieback in 2009 –…
Owning a lawn could soon be regarded as an environmental sin – like driving a gas-guzzling car.
So says Bob Flowerdew, the Gardeners’ Question Time panellist, who claims it’s time to rip out turf.
To the dismay of turf growers, Bob said predictions of drier summers and hosepipe bans mean that brown lawns will become a common sight.
Bob said: “Having a green…
Gardeners are to be allowed to use drip irrigation for the first time during hosepipe bans.
Up to 20 million homes in central and southern Britain will be forbidden from using hosepipes from 5 April, following two years of below-average rainfall.
Under traditional hose ban rules, anyone caught using mains water through a hose to water plants or wash cars risks a…
Gardeners in the south are on track for the worst water shortages since the summer of 1976 – while those in the north face the risk of flooding.
The north-south divide emerged as the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) declared the south-east officially in drought.
Environment secretary Caroline Spelman called an emergency water industry summit and said: “Ensuring we…
Garden centres have continued to buck High Street gloom, with retail experts predicting that interest in grow-your-own will remain strong this year.
The Horticultural Trades Association said UK garden centre sales were up by five per cent in October, six per cent in November and 12 per cent in December, compared to 2010.
Interest in growing fruit and veg, according to the…
A technology revolution will change the way gardeners shop for plants and products.
Hi-tech barcodes, called ‘QR’ codes (quick response), are appearing on items from plant pots to fertiliser and compost.
When shoppers scan the codes with a mobile phone, they are directed to websites or videos explaining how to use the product.
Editor of trade magazine Garden Retail, Matthew Appleby, said: “QR codes…
The High Street’s economic woes have started to hit garden centres, with the first indicator that the fashion for grow-your-own is running out of steam.
After a spring bonanza, which saw Easter and May Day sales at some garden centres rise by up to 80 per cent on 2010, a spending spree by shoppers has wilted.
Soaring food, gas and petrol prices…
Anti-peat warriors are licking their wounds after suffering a devastating setback.
Campaigns to bring a peat phase-out forward from 2020 to 2016, and calls for a tax on peat-based compost, have been brushed aside by the Government.
It has even been confirmed that targets to wean gardeners off peat over the next decade will be voluntary.
A similar ‘voluntary’ deadline set by the…
