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Latest Gardening Articles

worms
Garden Inspiration

Wonderful Worms

Charles Darwin called worms ‘the most important animal in the history of the world’. They are well known to gardeners as an indicator of healthy

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Euphorbia
Garden Design

Euphoric Euphorbia

Euphorbia is such a diverse Genus with over 2000 species. It is one of those plants that I’m often asked to identify and yet it’s

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Garden Design

Hardy Annuals

I thought this month I would look at a quick and easy way to brighten up your garden for 2022. There are an amazing group

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Cinnamon sticks
Growing Vegetables and Herbs

Christmas Spice (Cinnamon)

Every year I try to write about something festive but also relating to horticulture. Have you ever wondered where your Christmas spices come from? I

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Single slug
Garden Projects

Slug Wars!!

I think this year has been the worst ever for slugs and snails! I have tried everything and thought it would amuse you to share

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Biodegradable peat pot on greenhouse compost humus soil
Organic Gardening

Are you peat free yet?

Cathie’s Gardening School went on an outing to garden centres this week (at the time of writing) to try and unravel the confusion over potting

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Green lawn on ground
Garden Maintenance

‘No Mow May’

You may have heard and tried to follow the advice with mixed results I’m sure. Each year we are all encouraged to leave our grass

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Soil close up
Garden Design

What Lies Beneath

The soil is literally at the root of everything that we grow and affects everything that we eat. It is such an important entity and

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Garden Inspiration

Tropical Paradise

Well we have not been allowed to go to anywhere remotely tropical in many months. Interestingly (not sure if there is a connection) I have been asked how to create a tropical feel in the garden. Obviously many tropical plants do not like our climate so need winter protection but there are many that look the part and are totally hardy.

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Garden Projects

Get Composting!

I can’t stress enough that a working compost heap or bin is the heart and soul of your garden. I don’t mean a pile of

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Garden Maintenance

WHO ATE ALL THE BERRIES?

At the time of writing this (when the country has just gone into lockdown again) I am watching a flock of birds strip the berries on my holly. It’s as though they have left them for me over Christmas and then started feasting in the new year. The same thing happens every January and they are having such a wonderful time!!

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Garden Projects

PLANT A TREE IN 2021

It’s not as catchy as ‘Plant a tree in ‘73’ and I remember that very well as a child and how important it was to my family. The trees are huge now and it is more important today than ever to think about the future of our planet. I’m focusing mainly on native trees and how we can incorporate them into our gardens.

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Garden School
Garden Maintenance

PRUNING PROBLEMS!

Pruning plants is something that takes time to learn properly. Regular readers will know how I feel about the ‘hedgecutter brigade’. I write many articles

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Growing Vegetables and Herbs

GARDENING FOR HEALTH !

The Merritt Medical Centre in Chessington received a garden makeover last week by a group of horticultural students. The students were attending a Garden Design

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Garden Maintenance

Gardener or Horticulturist?

Learning to mow a lawn and use a hedge cutter takes about five minutes whereas learning the subject of horticulture takes a lifetime…….Cathie’s Gardening School

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Garden Projects

Garden Gifts For Christmas

Some ideas for last minute Christmas Gifts with a gardening theme from Cathie’s Gardening School, Secretts Garden Centre, Milford. It’s that time of year again

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Garden Maintenance

Garden Composting

Most people have a compost heap or bin in their gardens more often an eyesore than a functional thing of beauty. I love my compost

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Garden Inspiration

Honey Bees at Secretts

An introduction to the honey bees at Cathie’s Gardening School, Secretts Garden Centre, Milford. This month I thought I would introduce you to my bees.

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Garden Maintenance

Fruit Tree Pruning

We are fast approaching the winter fruit tree pruning season as I write this but it does appear that there is still confusion over this

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Garden Inspiration

Flower Feast!

Herbs are a favourite amongst gardeners and cooks but have you ever thought about using the flowers as well? It may surprise you just how

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Garden Inspiration

Flaming February!

On a recent visit to Wisley I was totally in awe of the reds, yellows, oranges and silver stems surrounding the lake. Truly a magical

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Garden Inspiration

Fabulous Forsythia!

You truly know it’s Spring when the Forsythias are out in every garden. The riot of yellow truly lifts the spirits. Although it is an

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Seasonal Gardening

Easter Parade!

Narcissus or daffodils are an integral part of our Easter celebrations and bring delight to the senses after a cold winter. Many of us grow

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Organic Gardening

Drought Resistant Planting

Advice on choosing the right plants for the hot Summer ahead from Cathie at Cathie’s Gardening School, Secretts Garden Centre, Milford. In April we were

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Garden Design

Dogwood Dilemma

An unusual month to look at these colourful winter plants but the pruning is very important if we are to retain their coloured stems every

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Garden Inspiration

Daphnes in January

The Daphne is a delightfully scented alpine or shrub. They vary greatly in size, colour and cultivation requirements. Every garden should have one, although they

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Garden Design

Dazzling Dahlias

Dahlias are the most popular late season flowers but many people do not grow them due to the high maintenance requirements. Here are some interesting

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Container Gardening

Crops in Pots

Advice on growing vegetables in pots from Cathie at Cathie’s Gardening School, Squires at Secretts Garden Centre, Milford. Last year we looked at growing your

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Garden Maintenance

COMPOST CONFUSION!

When I was starting out in horticulture many moons ago we had to mix our own potting composts and it was quite revolutionary when we

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clematxis | Cathie's Gardening School
Garden Maintenance

Clematis Pruning

The perpetual problem! The challenge is to watch when it flowers, hence writing the article now. It can seem so complicated with all the different

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Garden Projects

Christmas Wreath

At this time of year I like to look at the meanings behind some of our Christmas traditions. We’ve covered Holly, Ivy, Mistletoe, Christmas roses

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Garden Inspiration

Oh Christmas Tree!

It’s that time of year again and I have written some interesting articles over past festive seasons. How many of you have wondered why we

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Seasonal Gardening

Christmas Nuts!

Each year at this time I look at one of the Christmas traditions relating to horticulture and this year I have chosen nuts! I find

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Garden Projects

BUGINGHAM PALACE!

Regular readers will be aware that Cathie’s Garden Army have recently created a garden at Woking and Sam Beare Hospice which was designed by Valerie

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Garden Inspiration

Botanical Drinks

As a horticulturist with a deep passion for growing all things edible it occurred to me that readers may like to share how easy it

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Organic Gardening

Bees, Bees, Bees….

Advice on all kinds of bees from Cathie at Cathie’s Gardening School, Squire’s Garden Centre at Secretts, Milford. Regular readers will be aware that there

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Garden Design

Beautiful Bark and Stunning Stems!

Some inspirational gardening ideas by Cathie from Cathie’s Gardening School. I was inspired to write this article after a New Year’s Walk around Harold Hillier’s

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Organic Gardening

An Introduction to Keeping Bees

Advice for new beekeepers from Cathie at Cathie’s Gardening School, Secretts Garden Centre, Milford. We now have three colonies of bees in the teaching garden

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Garden Inspiration

Autumn Sedums

The Autumn brings us spectacular colours as deciduous trees and shrubs prepare themselves for the winter rest. As well as coloured leaves, berries and stems

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Garden Maintenance

Autumn Tidy Up!!

Autumn is such a beautiful colourful time of year but many plants die or die back or just look a bit sad. The question is

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Garden Projects

Bee and insect accommodation!

Congratulations to Sarah Blake in Cranleigh for winning the free Cathie’s Mobile Gardening School consultancy and to everyone else who won the reduced fee visits.

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Hellebores The Christmas Rose
Garden Design

HELLEBORE HEAVEN

Hellebores are a delight in the garden from Christmas through to Easter. The Christmas rose is well known for it’s beautiful white flowers in the depths of winter but there are many more and with a little knowledge of their requirements everyone can give a Hellebore a home.

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