Peat-Free Compost: Choosing a Blend, Watering and Feeding
Choose peat-free compost for the plant and its purpose. Learn how to check moisture, read feeding instructions and avoid unnecessary extra fertiliser.
Journal
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Long Flowering Perennials: 25 Species Ranked by Bloom Weeks
Quick answer: Long flowering perennials fall into two camps. Nine species hold open flowers for 12 weeks or more on their own — catmint, Rozanne geranium, calamint and ’Goldsturm’ rudbeckia lead the list. The rest flower for six or seven weeks and repeat if you cut them back in early July. Mix both and you…
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How to Prune Currant Bushes: Black, Red and White
Quick answer: Prune currants in late fall after leaf drop or in early spring before bud break. Black currants should lose about a third of their oldest stems every year, cut right down to the ground. Red and white currants are kept and built up into a permanent framework instead, where you only shorten leaders…
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How to Grow Rosemary (and Actually Get It Through Winter)
Quick answer: Rosemary is only reliably hardy in USDA zones 8–10, so in zones 3–7 it’s grown as a container plant. Give it full sun, gritty well-drained soil, and water sparingly — rosemary is far more likely to die from overwatering than from underwatering. Overwinter it somewhere bright and cool, around 40–50°F (5–10°C), and it…
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Best Seed Compost: How to Choose (or Mix) the Right One
Quick answer: The best seed compost is low in nutrients, fine-textured and free-draining — the opposite of ordinary potting soil. Look for products labelled ”seed starting mix” or ”seed compost” with little or no added fertiliser, check the ingredient list rather than the marketing on the front, and choose peat-free or peat-reduced if sustainability matters…
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Growing apple trees in a cold climate: the complete guide
Quick answer: Growing apple trees starts with the rootstock, which sets the final size: Bud 9 gives a 1.8–2.4 m (6–8 ft) tree, MM.106 about 3.5–4.5 m (12–15 ft), a seedling stock over 6 m (20 ft). Add full sun, well-drained soil, a second variety within 30 m (100 ft) for pollination, and expect your…
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Grow lights for seedlings: how to choose and set one up
Quick answer: Grow lights for seedlings should deliver about 200 µmol/m²/s across the whole tray for 14–16 hours a day, which works out to roughly 30 W of modern LED per square metre (11 sq ft) and a daily light integral of 10–15 mol. Buy on photon efficacy in µmol/J – 2.5 or better –…