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Gardening Inspiration

Homegrown Plants

The Whitegates Team

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Whitegates Nursery

Decorate your home for the spooky season with our simple DIY Halloween tips, guaranteed to give friends and family a fright.

The temperature's dropping, and Halloween is drawing near, so get ready for some thrills and chills! Decorate your home for the spooky season with our simple DIY Halloween tips, guaranteed to give friends and family a fright.
<h2>DIY tips for Halloween</h2>
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<li>
It's not Halloween without a carved pumpkin or two. Get yourself a nice giant pumpkin from the supermarket, cut off the top and scoop out the flesh inside. (You can save this to make a delicious pumpkin pie!) Then use a sharp knife to cut holes in the skin for the eyes and mouth. If you don't fancy hollowing out your pumpkins, you can also use a linoleum cutter to etch a face or a pattern in the pumpkin's outer skin.
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<li>
Remember making paper snowflakes? Well, you can make paper spiderwebs in just the same way, and they make incredible Halloween decorations hanging from window frames and shelves. (If you can't remember how to do all that folding, don't worry – there are plenty of online tutorials available!) Use thin paper, as it makes it easier to cut through all the layers.&nbsp;
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Hang cheesecloth or another sheer material over a window, then attach masses of tiny fake spiders (buy them or cut them out of black paper). For extra effect, cut out a few bigger black spiders and stick them nearby.
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While you're on the spider theme, it's easy to make cute but scary spiders by sticking googly eyes and pipe cleaner legs onto conkers. Hang them from the windows, sit them on a shelf or hide them around the house to make your friends and family jump!
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Make ghost lollipops to hand out to visitors by wrapping white tissue paper over the heads of the lollipops. Stick on some googly eyes or draw them on with a pen to complete the ghoulish effect.
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To make up for scaring your guests, have some Halloween snacks ready to hand out. Add black food colouring to your favourite sponge recipe to make spooky black cupcakes, then decorate them with scary faces. Fondant icing is excellent for this, as you can cut out the shapes you need, and smarties make tasty eyes for your cake faces.
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To make chocolate-covered apples, melt chocolate in a double boiler. Wash the apples, then dunk them quickly into boiling water to get rid of their wax coating. Wipe dry and push a skewer into each apple. Holding them by the skewers, dip the apples in the melted chocolate. Once the chocolate has started to dry, scatter chopped nuts or sprinkles over the apples. Leave to cool and set, then serve.
</li>
</ol>
If you're after some inspiration for your Halloween decorations this year, visit us. You'll be surprised what you can find in our centres!

7 top tips for DIY Halloween decorations

Whether you use your own home-grown herbs or fresh herbs from the supermarket, drying herbs is easy to do.&nbsp;

Drying herbs for winter storage is a skill that goes back thousands of years. It’s an ideal way to give you a supply of herbs all year round, and many herbs taste even better dried, as the flavour is concentrated. Whether you use your own home-grown herbs or fresh herbs from the supermarket, drying herbs is easy to do.&nbsp;
<h2>Picking and preparing herbs for drying</h2>
If you’re harvesting your own herbs for drying, pick them on a dry day around mid-morning, when the dew has dried but before the sun’s heat evaporates the essential oils in the leaves.&nbsp;
Remove any dead or damaged leaves, then wash your herbs to remove any dirt and bugs and pat dry with a clean cloth or paper towel.&nbsp; Tie small-leaved herbs like thyme and oregano into bundles to make them easier to handle, but keep them small, as large piles are more likely to go mouldy. Strip big leaves like sage and mint from the stems before drying them.
<h2 dir="ltr">Air-drying herbs</h2>
Air-drying takes a little longer than other methods but is very easy to do and needs very little in the way of equipment. To air-dry herbs, simply place the leaves or bundles in cheesecloth bags to protect them from dust and hang the bags somewhere out of direct sunlight, with good air circulation and low humidity. Depending on the air temperature, it can take 1-2 weeks for herbs to fully dry – when the stems snap, and the leaves are brittle, they are ready.&nbsp;
<h2 dir="ltr">Drying herbs in an oven</h2>
Herbs can be dried in an oven on a very low setting, around 80°C (100°F), with the door left open so that moisture can escape.&nbsp;
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Spread the leaves out on a wire rack and place the shelf in the centre of the oven.&nbsp;
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Turn the leaves every 30 minutes until they are dry – this should take between 1-2 hours.
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Don’t leave the oven unattended while the herbs are drying, especially if there are children or pets in the house.
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</ul>
<h2 dir="ltr">Drying herbs in a microwave</h2>
Microwave drying is quick, simple, and ideal if you only have a small number of herbs to dry.
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<li aria-level="1" dir="ltr">
Place the clean, dry herbs on a paper towel on a microwave-safe plate and cover with another paper towel.
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Microwave on high setting for one minute – stop if you smell the herbs burning.
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Repeat in 30-second bursts until the herbs are dry.
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</ul>
<h2 dir="ltr">Storing dried herbs</h2>
Dried herbs will store well for a long time in airtight containers. Keep them out of direct sunlight, especially if stored in clear glass bottles. Use a pestle and mortar or your fingers to crush the leaves before storing, unless you want to keep them whole for easier use.
Growing your own herbs will give you a ready supply of fresh leaves for both cooking and drying. Visit our centre today to see our superb range of herbs and much more for your garden.

How to dry herbs for winter

Choosing suitable shrubs for borders and hedging is an effective way to give your garden a whole new look.&nbsp;

Shrubs and hedging are the unsung heroes of the garden. These modest, low-maintenance stalwarts provide structure and create a framework to show off more glamorous plants. Choosing suitable shrubs for borders and hedging is an effective way to give your garden a whole new look.&nbsp;

<h2>Structural shrubs and hedging</h2>

These popular structural shrubs don&rsquo;t have showy flowers, but they are a reliable presence in the garden with their evergreen foliage.

<ul>
	<li>Yew (Taxus baccata) &ndash; One of the few conifers that can tolerate hard pruning, it makes a good hedging or topiary plant and will cope with dry shade once established.</li>
	<li>Box (Buxus sempervirens) &ndash; The classic choice for topiary and low evergreen hedging, as it can be clipped to shape. In areas affected by box blight or box moth caterpillars, Euonymus &lsquo;Jean Hughes&rsquo; or Lonicera nitida (shrubby honeysuckle) are good alternatives.&nbsp;</li>
	<li>Laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) &ndash; grows well in the sun or shade and makes an excellent hedging plant.</li>
</ul>

<h2>Shrubs for flowers and scent</h2>

These low-maintenance flowering shrubs add both colour and structure &ndash; a must for any garden.&nbsp;

<ul>
	<li>Rockrose (Cistus purpureus) &ndash; drought-tolerant and low-maintenance, forming a neat dome covered in brilliant pink or pure white flowers all summer.</li>
	<li>Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) &ndash; aromatic silvery foliage and very fragrant purple flowers. A must for bee-friendly gardens.</li>
	<li>Forsythia &ndash; brings fantastic colour in early spring, when the bare branches are smothered in a blaze of yellow flowers.</li>
	<li>Christmas box (Sarcococca confusa) &ndash; an unassuming shrub that grows happily in the shade, with small but incredibly sweetly scented flowers in the middle of winter.</li>
	<li>Hydrangea &ndash; an excellent shrub for shady spots, with big pink, white or blue flowerheads in late summer.</li>
</ul>

<h2>How to plant shrubs and hedging</h2>

Please follow our how to plant shrubs and hedging guide to provide your shrubs and hedging with a&nbsp;

<ol>
	<li>Water container-grown plants well before planting. Bare-root plants should be soaked in water for an hour to rehydrate them before planting.</li>
	<li>Dig a hole big enough to fit the rootball. If planting a hedge, it&rsquo;s often simpler to dig a trench and then space the plants evenly along the trench rather than digging individual holes.</li>
	<li>Plant the shrub to be at the same level in the soil as it was in the pot. A sprinkling of mycorrhizal fungi over the roots can help the plant to establish a sound root system.</li>
	<li>Backfill with soil and firm gently around the trunk of the plant with your boot&mdash;water well.</li>
	<li>Water shrubs and regularly hedging in the first year after planting. Mulch annually in spring or autumn with compost or well-rotted farmyard manure.</li>
</ol>

Autumn is the ideal time to plant shrubs and hedging, so visit our centre soon to see our extensive range. Our staff are always happy to help and advise!

10 great shrubs and hedging plants

Follow these simple autumn lawn care tips to keep your lawn healthy through the winter and ready for another year.

Lawns get a lot of hard use during the summer, so they need a little care and attention in autumn to help them recover. Follow these simple autumn lawn care tips to keep your lawn healthy through the winter and ready for another year.
<h2>Autumn lawn care tips</h2>
<ol>
<li>
Keep mowing the lawn regularly, but as growth starts to slow down, raise the blades of your mower. As lawns are often wet with dew in the mornings at this time of year, it’s better to mow in the afternoons when the grass is dry.
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Apply a lawn weed killer to eliminate any weeds that germinated over summer, always remembering to follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Alternatively, if you only have a few weeds in your lawn, weed them out by hand, taking care to get as much of the root as possible when dealing with broadleaved weeds like docks and dandelions.
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Tackle moss by raking it out, or apply moss treatments – again, always follow the manufacturer’s instructions when using moss killer.
</li>
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Scarify your lawn. Scarifying involves raking to remove thatch (dead grass) that builds up over the year and can form a thick layer over the soil, stopping water from reaching the roots of the grass. Scarify small lawns by raking them firmly with a spring-tine rake, or use a mechanical scarifier for larger spaces. As well as getting rid of thatch and moss, this helps to weaken broadleaf weeds like dandelions by damaging their leaves.&nbsp;
</li>
<li>
After scarifying, it’s a good idea to aerate your lawn, especially areas that have become compacted through frequent use. You can do this manually on small lawns, spiking holes in the soil at regular intervals with a garden fork or a hollow-tine aerator. However, this can be quite hard work, and for larger areas, it’s best to use a mechanical aerator. Aerating the lawn breaks up compaction, allows air in and improves drainage, helping the grassroots grow strong so they can out-compete weeds.
</li>
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Once you’ve dealt with weeds and moss, and the lawn has been scarified and aerated, give it an autumn feed. Autumn lawn feeds are formulated to promote root growth and ‘harden’ the grass, helping your lawn recover from summer and strengthening it ready for winter.
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Autumn is a good time to sow new seeds on bare spots in your lawn and also to lay new turf or patch bare areas. Although there is generally enough rain in autumn to keep the soil moist, water regularly if the weather is dry, and don’t let newly-laid turf dry out.
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Finally, as the autumn leaves start to fall, rake them off the lawn so that the sunlight can reach the grass and cut back any plants that are spilling over onto the lawn.&nbsp;
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</ol>
We have everything you need in the centre to get your lawn into great shape this autumn, so visit us soon!&nbsp;

Autumn lawn care

Now it’s time to start planting spring-flowering bulbs to make sure you get that splash of colour in spring next year.

Now it’s time to start planting spring-flowering bulbs to make sure you get that splash of colour in spring next year. Gardeners always have to look toward the seasons ahead, and this time of year can be a busy one for gardeners everywhere. As summer comes to an end and we head into autumn, look ahead to the time of year where nature seems to wake up after a cold winter. There’s nothing more wonderful than seeing Daffodils, Tulips, Alliums, Hyacinths and many more spring bulbs blooming as the garden springs into life again.&nbsp;
<h2>Plan what you will grow before you start planting spring-flowering bulbs&nbsp;</h2>
Think about what you would like to grow next year. Will you have a bed full of spring bulbs and then plant with annuals, or will you plant your bulbs around shrubs and perennials? Consider your space, and then think about the colours you would like to grow. Would you like all pink or all calming whites? Perhaps you’d like a mixture of all kinds of colours. Have a plan in mind, and that will make your bulb choices much easier.&nbsp;
<h2 dir="ltr">Start planting spring-flowering bulbs anytime from now</h2>
Autumn is a hectic time in the garden, clearing away plants, finishing the summer harvests, mulching the soil and composting. One of the most lovely jobs is planting bulbs, and most can be planted anytime from September to November as long as the ground isn’t frozen or waterlogged. Tulips can be planted until Christmas, so there is plenty of time, but if you want to get ahead, why not start now.&nbsp;
<h2 dir="ltr">How to start planting spring-flowering bulbs&nbsp;</h2>
Bulbs need to be hidden under the soil, where they store energy through the winter until they pop up through the ground and give us so much spring joy when they bloom.
Planting depths are usually about three times the size of the bulb, but you can also use this guide to know how deep you should plant the bulbs:
<ul dir="ltr">
<li>Tulips 20cm,</li>
<li>Iris 10cm,</li>
<li>Daffodils 15cm,</li>
<li>large Alliums 30cm,</li>
<li>smaller Alliums 15cm,</li>
<li>Crocus, Snowdrops and Hyacinths 10cm.</li>
</ul>
Too deep may mean they won’t flower but too shallow, you may find them eaten by squirrels!&nbsp;
<h2 dir="ltr">Start planting spring-flowering bulbs in containers&nbsp;</h2>
It doesn’t matter if you have a small space. Bulbs grow really well in pots and containers as well. You can plant lots into one pot for a bustling display and even create a ‘bulb lasagne’ where you plant a few of each bulb at the correct depths in the same container. So, for example, Tulips at the bottom on a layer of compost, then cover with compost and plant Daffodil bulbs and so on.&nbsp;Always plant late-blooming bulbs first and early-blooming flower bulbs on top of the container.
There are so many varieties to choose from. The options are endless, and you can create a gorgeous spring display.&nbsp;
Pick from our selection of spring bulbs in store to glam up your garden.

Gardening Inspiration

Cafe

Homegrown Plants

The Whitegates Team

Family friendly

Whitegates Nursery

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