HTA Grow your own guides

Related to culinary apples, crab apples are small to medium-sized trees, bearing masses of spring blossom followed by small, apple-like fruits in August and September. These trees start blooming at a young age, often as early as two or three years old, making them an excellent choice for those seeking quick results. Crab apple trees…

Hyacinths make fantastic, fragrant indoor Christmas displays. For Christmas flowering you'll need heat-treated bulbs. We have a number of beautiful and fragrant varieties available in our stores, suitably prepared for indoor Christmas flowering: 69p each or 5 for £3. Plant the bulbs around 13 weeks before Christmas, roughly in late September. Use bulb fibre or…

It's that time of year when allotment holders and veg growers are beginning to harvest their potatoes. First earlies from June and second earlies from July. Maincrops come later in the summer. Uncovering the buried treasure, boiling them in a pot and slathering them with butter and maybe a little fresh mint is delicious. But…

Herbs have been grown for centuries for their culinary, medicinal and ornamental properties. An essential ingredient in many dishes, herbs can be cultivated and picked fresh from the garden, however small the plot. These ornamental plants range from those grown annually from seed, such as basil; to more permanent perennials, such as mint and tarragon;…

Many of the most worthwhile vegetables you can grow at home are known as ‘tender plants’ and will not survive outside in cold weather without some form of protection. They are best sown indoors on a warm, sunny windowsill or in a greenhouse – then the seedlings can be planted outdoors when the risk of…

A succulent harvest of ripe berries in summer and orchard fruits in autumn is a wonderful bonus for gardeners, with very little effort required. Fruit trees have the added bonus of beautiful spring blossom and ballerina style trees can be grown in the smallest space, while berry fruits can be grown against a sunny wall…