Purple wellies blog
Welcome to Purple Wellies, the Painted Fern Garden Design blog. Here you will find gardening ideas, design inspiration and details of plants we grow and use in our garden designs.
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- autumn plants
- bacteria
- BBC Gardeners' World
- biophilia
- birds
- Box alternatives
- bulbs
- Chelsea Flower Show
- Clematis
- colour
- Community gardening
- container plants
- daffodil
- dry garden
- evergreens
- fern
- fungi
- garden design
- garden lighting
- garden seating
- garden trends
- gardening
- gardening gifts
- Habitats
- hardy geraniums
- harvesting rainwater
- honey fungus
- Horsell Garden Safari
- houseplants
- Insects
- mulching
- NGS
- open day
- outdoor living
- paving
- perennial
- pests and diseases
- plant combinations
- Pollinators
- Propagation
- RHS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show
- rose
- Salvia
- screening
- show garden
- shrubs
- spring
- spring bulbs
- spring flowers
- spring plants
- summer flower
- summer planting
- sustainability
- tender plants
- tree
- unusual plants
- winter plants
- xeric
Soil microbiology
DECEMBER 2022
If you have ever wondered why you struggle to grow a particular group of plants, it might be down to the soil microbiology. The soil food web is teeming with both bacteria and fungi, both of which are preyed upon by protozoa, nematodes, arthropods, and other larger organisms such as animals and birds. All gardens differ in the quantity of microbes in the soil, and some of this is down to the type of plants we grow.
Dealing with honey fungus
FEBRUARY 2022
As dutiful gardeners we keep our plants healthy by checking for pests and diseases, but how do you keep them safe from problems you can’t see? Honey fungus, Armillaria, is one such hidden concern. It is the most destructive fungus in the UK and many gardeners will turn white at the mere mention of it, but should we be terrified of this silent killer?