Gardening is a fantastic way to relax and unwind, and does not have to include large or strenuous tasks. Get into the garden this month and learn the benefits of growing your own herbs and other produce! …

Try your hand at growing this well loved and versatile vegetable with all the tips, tricks and advice you could need for perfect potato crops ready for warming winter meals! …

After the seemingly never-ending wet winter, early spring is here and there’s a lot to be getting on with in the garden. Now’s the time to assess any winter damage, catch up with pruning roses and have a look at the condition of the lawn. …

This is the time of year when we start gearing up for spring, and you can get ahead of the game by stocking up on all your gardening needs from Longacres, where we everything you need to spruce up your garden for spring – both in store and online! …

Plants are fascinating things and there is loads to learn about them. Here is a list of 20 fun facts that we thought you might enjoy! …

Now that spring is just around the corner and we’ve had some sunshine, our garden centres are beginning to stock up on a great range of plants. We have so many inspiring plants that will give colour and interest in the upcoming months – come and look at Longacres! …

Soil, dirt, mud, whatever you call it is one of the most important parts of your garden but what is it and how do you care for it? Find out how in our helpful how to guide. …

Spring is here at last and now is the time everything is “full steam ahead” in the garden. We have so much to see in store and online so come in and get inspired. Here’s a reminder of what you can do in the garden right now: Plan and plant a colourful herbaceous border with our amazing 9cm pot perennials at a ridiculously low price of only £1.49 each or 6 for £7.99 (promo in store only). There’s plenty to choose from- lupins to lavender, delphiniums to dianthus. Plants in groups of 3 or 5 of each variety for maximum impact at minimum cost! Dahlias – with colours to suit every taste, dahlia’s have come back into fashion and are fantastic for late summer colour in your borders or containers. They make great cut flowers and varieties with single flowers are excellent for pollinating insects. Plant in a sunny position. Baby bedding plants- basket and container plants for spectacular summer colour – our Perfect Choice 7cm pot range is now in store! Over a hundred varieties to choose from. Priced at only 79p each, get a head start on growing on your summer bedding. Please note: these plants are tender (i.e not frost hardy) and will need to be grown in a greenhouse or bright frost free place and gradually potted on to larger sized pots. Once the summer comes you’ll be able to place outdoors for a dazzling display. Click here to find out more. Window boxes and container plants for spring colour: potted spring bulbs – many varieties available for instant impact. Narcissi, tulips, iris plus many more. Bedding packs of spring flowering plants such as viola, pansy, polyanthus (primula) Add to your borders or containers for a pop of spring colour. Spruce up your rockery: we have a range of 1 litre pot alpines – a snip at 4 for only £10! Aubrieta, Saxifrages and Dianthus are looking superb. These perennial plants are also useful for ground cover in sunny, well drained borders, or filling an empty space in a container. Heathers are also in – in bud and flower – 9cm pot £1.49 or 11cm £2.49. Available throughout the year, there’s a heather variety for every month, and early spring flowering heathers are nectar rich so a magnet to bees. Best planted in groups of 3 or 5 to make a good show of colour. Most prefer acidic soil (ericaceous) but Erica carnea types are lime tolerant (can be planted in alkaline or chalky soils). Spring- flowering shrubs: we have so many to choose from it’s hard to know where to start but here are a few favourites: Camellia -fabulous plants full of bud from small to large pot size, spring -flowering fragrant Viburnums such as Viburnum ‘Anne Russell’, V. carcephalum ‘Juddii’ or Viburnum carlesii. Early spring favourites such as forsythia and flowering currant -Ribes ‘King Edward VII’. Daphne odora ‘Aureomarginata’ has the most delicious fragrance with the added bonus of evergreen foliage. Magnolia’s – some good-sized plants with plenty of flower buds. Now’s the time to grow early seed potatoes – we have a large range in stock. Start them off (sprout or chit them) in a seed tray in a brightly lit frost-free place spot. Find out more on our guide by clicking here. Plant onion sets- as soon as the ground is “workable”, to have a crop ready in late summer to early autumn. Plant 5-10cm (2-4in) apart with the rows 25-30cm (10in-1ft) apart. Depth of planting 2cm (¾ in). Only the tips of the onion sets should be showing. You may need to net the crop or cover with fleece to stop birds damaging the onions, until they are established. Protect young shoots of perennial plants from slug or snail damage – we have a vast range of products to help you win the battle! From organic remedies like slug traps, physical barriers such as copper tape, or Growing Success Slug Stop granules, to a Slug Bell in which to put pellets out of harm’s way. The latest showerproof slug pellets from Westland Eraza, to Growing Success Slug Killer (organic) -we have all bases covered. Lily bulbs are now in stock! There’s no finer fragrance on a warm summers’ evening, than lilies growing in your garden. If your soil is too wet and heavy, why not grow in containers and plunge into the border - better still in pots on the patio so you can enjoy them close-up. Click the image below for our guide on getting the best from planting lily bulbs in pots: …

Hello, this is the first gardening blog for Longacres from Mike at Purkiss Cottage (there's a picture of the cottage following this post). I am the part time gardener of five years at this beautiful cottage located within the New Forest. A 1940’s cottage with over two acres of land including large lawns, three greenhouses, a small vegetable plot and a variety of fruit trees. A growing Huchera collection, herbaceous borders and a fantastic fully established purple Wisteria. With chickens, ducks, alpacas, dogs and cats there is always a job to do! This was the first weekend since before Christmas that there was a chance to get out in the garden and start on the growing list of jobs. Without having to get wet feet as half of the garden is still underwater as I'm sure a lot of you will also be experiencing, the potted roses were in desperate need of attention. Growing roses can be seen as a bit of a chore but they provide months of beautiful flowers and fantastic scents to float around the garden, so in my opinion a must for every garden and not as difficult as it is rewarding to grow. This weekend I concentrated on the pot grown collection. Firstly I pruned out any dead wood or crossing stems. Then cut back all stems to an outward facing bud to around 10-15cm from the base. You may think this is rather early but David Austin the famous rose grower used to escape the in-laws on Boxing Day by getting out in the rose garden to prune his collection it is rumoured. So whilst we are having such a mild winter I decided to make a start. Next after pruning each rose I took the rootball of each rose out of their pot. Removed any suckers pushing through and discarded of all of the weeds. Gently brushing away to remove old soil I then repot the rose using plenty of good drainage and a good quality compost. My preference is to use a specific rose, tree and shrub compost mixed 50/50 with John Innes No 3 for permanent planting. This will provide the best water and nutrient retention for roses grown in posts. Roses are amongst the hungriest plants in the garden and need plenty of regular feeding throughout the seasons. So to give these roses the best chance I decided to use a new product “Gro-Sure Planting Magic”. This will help to provide a mix of essential ingredients to give them the best start. Dried seaweed alongside fast acting nutrients and a slow release plant food with little water storing granules added to hold and release water close to the roots when required. This eliminates the risk of under or over watering. A really simple new product to use, just add two handfuls before putting the rootball back into the pot. Then backfill the pot firming down the compost as you go. It can also be used all around the garden in any situation including ericaceous plants and with fruit and vegetables. It will then feed the plant for up to six months. These roses will also need additional feeding during the season to maintain good growth, strong flowers and help build up a good resistance to pest and disease. So I recommend using Westland rose food enriched with horse manure. Using a rose food containing horse manure provides all the usual major and minor nutrients that you find in a good rose food. With the added manure a traditional gardeners favourite with growing roses brings the slow release of essential trace elements to the soil. Healthy soil means healthy plants. I will feed all of the roses with a handful of food mid summer to keep them happy. Be careful not to feed too late in the summer as this will promote growth which maybe vulnerable to frost damage in the autumn. A regular spraying programme beginning in early spring when fresh leaves appear will help prevent pest and disease during the spring and summer. A systemic insecticide and fungicide like Rose Rescue used every two weeks will keep your roses healthy throughout the summer. Next weekend I will be planting out strawberries grown from last years plants and begin to start sowing tomato and pepper seeds. I will choose some seed potatoes to begin chitting ready for planting out after the risk of frost has passed. Best to buy early to get the best choices in varieties. This Longacres Blog post was contributed by Mike Storer. Purkiss Cottage …

The first in our series of videos for 2014 - Jack Shilley explains how to plant seed potatoes so you can enjoy a fresh crop through the year! Products featured include: First Early Seed Potatoes: http://goo.gl/DD9W5D Main Crop Seed Potatoes: http://goo.gl/mYABlz Longacres Multipurpose Compost: http://goo.gl/58z1xg Miracle Gro Gro Sac 50L: http://goo.gl/4ltCWX Potato Planting Bag (twin pack): http://goo.gl/dRR3HE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoGeId7EWBA …