Carnon Downs Garden Centre

If you want to raise your own plants from seed, an electrically heated propagator is a must.
In fact, it only uses as much electricity as a light bulb, yet it allows you to produce all your own tomato plants, as well as many veg and bedding plants.
Stand the propagator on a windowsill or table close to a window where it gets good light but won't be in strong midday sun later in the spring (which will cook everything inside).
A small, inexpensive, heated propagator won't be thermostatically controlled.

Great battles are fought every day as gardeners strive to protect their precious crops, while a multitude of garden pests and diseases seek to destroy them!
Pest and disease control presents a huge challenge for the gardener, and identifying the cause of the damage is often the hardest part!
Those sneaky garden beasties don't always show themselves, so how do you know whether your plants were eaten by a slug or a squirrel?
And just what is the difference between downy mildew and powdery mildew?

Mycorrhizal fungi are a remarkable group of organisms that have been benefiting plants for at least 500 million years.
At the dawn of time when plants were just beginning to colonise our planet mycorrhizal fungi were there living in a symbiotic relationship with plants enabling them to extract nutrients and hold onto water in very difficult soil conditions.
In effect, the fungus provides a secondary root system, a system that is considerably more efficient and extensive than the plants own root system.

With bees in trouble, our gardens are vital fast-food takeaways for bees and other beneficial bugs.
As well as serving up a varied menu of plants they provide the shelter and nesting places that bees also need.
It's a sad commentary on the declining state of nature that our gardens are proving to be better habitat for bees than our countryside.
It should be the other way round but that's one reason why Britain's bees are in trouble.
Our green and pleasant land has lost much of its natural variety.

For the UK gardener, developing a tropical garden can seem an Olympic-sized challenge.
But, tropical plants can be surprisingly hardy.
Plus, you can grow many of them in pots that you can bring inside during the colder winter months.
Here's how to create your own tropical paradise.
A sheltered spot that is sunny and frost-free will give you a head start.
But don't be put off if that doesn't describe your outdoor space.
You can create the type of jungle conditions that tropical plants love by fashioning a protective upper canopy out of tropical-style trees, and also by preparing your soil in advance.