The
Gardening Show On-demand
audio - listen anytime online (new programme every Sunday from 3.15pm.) Walney Voices Building a sensory garden on Walney Island. Paul
O'Neill About BBC Radio Cumbria's gardening presenter and writer.
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BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites. Gardening
updates» Alan
Titchmarsh How
to be a gardener online course.
FACTS
South Cumbria
is blessed with all the ingredients for successful gardening like generous
soils, plentiful rain (!), long summer days and mild winters influenced
by the North Atlantic Drift off the Gulf Stream.
Cumbria and the Lake District are famous for gardens and two to note are
Holker Hall, with its part formal and part woodland garden, and Levens
Hall which, as the 'Shell Book of Gardens' says " ... is quite unlike
any other garden. To enter it is to step into an 'Alice in Wonderland
fantasy."
Seasonal
pot plants can brighten up even the darkest days. This
Christmas cactus is in full flower, and I'm holding back
a second plant in the cool greenhouse, which will flower
later in the month.
This
indoor plant is Hippeastrum, though many call it Amaryllis.
It's being grown on in the cool part of the greenhouse
so we can have some Spring colour indoors.
The
greenhouse is filling up as I try to get a head start
on vegetables for Spring. A quick-growing variety of carrot
is underway in a big bucket.
All
manner of plants from Winter Lettuce to Cauliflower and
Spring Cabbage to Spinach are growing away in gentle heat.
Although
most of my Garlic cloves were planted outside in Autumn,
I planted a few extras in a big pot, and they're romping
away.
Edible
and Sweet Peas are growing strongly now as well. They'll
be planted out in Spring.
And
the forced Strawberries are even flowering. This weather
has a lot to answer for!
December
is a good time to clean up your tools, and replace the
odd broken handle!
I
planted up potatoes in pots in September, and grew them
on the the greenhouse. Now it's cropping time! New potatoes
in December? Beat that in the Channel Islands!
...
now where did I put that blinking Santa?
Don't
forget to tune into the Gardening
Show on BBC Radio Cumbria, every Sunday at 2.05pm, or catch
up with it here on the website for up to seven days after broadcast.
On-demand
audio - listen anytime online (new programme every Sunday from 3.15pm.)
