May is the month when warm days begin to beckon tender plants onto the terrace, but beware the cooler night temperatures, which will turn them purple at the edges. The process of hardening-off involves gradually accustoming plants to the rigours of outdoor life, and should not be rushed, but taken in orderly stages. Move plants from the greenhouse to the frame: prop the frame light open during the day, then shut it at night; leave the lights up; then, plant out at the end of the month. All of us needed to learn to walk before we could run.
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21 of the greatest craftspeople working in Britain today, as chosen by the nation's best designers and architectsWe've persuaded some of the most celebrated names from our Country Life Top 100 to name the craftspeople they have in their own personal little black books.
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The garden created by a forgotten genius of the 1920s, rescued from 'a sorry state of neglect to a level of quality it has not known for over 50 years'George Dillistone’s original Arts-and-Crafts design at Knowle House, East Sussex, has been lovingly restored and updated with contemporary planting. George Plumptre tells more; photography by Clive Nichols.
