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The Plant Notebook

A collection of experiments, thoughts and articles for the indoor gardener.

It's not the harvest you reap, but the seeds you sow.

Sowing seeds for a vertical city allotment.

May 261 min read

Plant feed: How synthetic fertiliser impacts plants and soil

Discover how over-applying chemicals weakens plants and how organic houseplant food and organic liquid seaweed can help build resilience especially in your potted plants.

May 192 min read

Do you know what a wild courgette or a tomato looks like?

Nope, neither do I. We have been super successful at selective breeding and creating hybrids. Some edibles of today look so wildly different to their original ancestors, it will be difficult not to gasp. Mexican grass Teosinte (Wild Corn, Genetic Literacy Project) and the modern corn. Take the modern corn. It is a product of 9000 years of selective breeding of the Mexican grass called Teosinte. 17th Century watermelons were thick skinned, less fleshy, seedy and bitter, car

May 176 min read

Yellow courgette growing in a living wall kit

Let's talk about food

Specifically, supermarket vs homegrown. It seems that over the past 80 years supermarket food has been losing nutrients and minerals at a rather hefty rate. Yellow courgette / yellow zucchini grown in a veggie garden kit The greatest reduction is in vital minerals such as sodium (-52%), iron (-50%), copper (-49%) and magnesium (-10%). ‘Records from the British Medical Research Council from 1940 to 1991 reveal that during this period carrots lost 75% of their copper and magne

May 62 min read

Amaryliss growing in a terracotta wall planter.

The King of Bulbs: How to grow Amaryllis bulbs indoors - Complete Guide

Last spring I tested growing bulbs vertically with good success. So, of course it seemed reasonable to go from daffodils to the king of bulbs, Amaryllis. Last year's Daffodils and Cyclamens. This year's Amaryllis. Hailing from the Andes Mountains of Chile, Peru and Bolivia, this flower has reached Europe in 18th century where over the next 226 years it has been hybridised to the king of bulbs we know today. It has graced the glass houses of many a green fingered aristocrat,

Feb 133 min read

Hellebores growing in a terracotta wall planter in a vertical garden.

What if one was to bloom all year round?

While the god of gardening, Monty Don, combats winter with as much green as possible. I, on the hand, like a randomly awakened bee, need flowers. Outdoors and indoors. Hellebores for outdoors and Amaryllis for indoors. Is it winter that you are into? Not at all. I used to be. At least the snow, when it happened, had a way of reflecting light, even on the dullest of days. But the greyness of recent winters, especially with prolonged cloud cover we’ve had in the UK, has become

Feb 33 min read