Author: Barry Holdsworth

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has secured a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £14.7m as part of the £34.3m restoration project of the Temperate House at Kew Gardens, which is a Grade One listed heritage building. The £34.3m restoration project will be completed in May 2018. The Temperate House is the largest surviving Victorian glasshouse structure…

Barry Holdsworth Horticultural Consultant with over 30 years experience List of Companies Work is undertaken for all garden and horticultural related issues. Below are some of the public and commercial organisations that Barry has worked with as a horticultural consultant: A selection of case studies below offer an insight into past work that has been…

Fusarium Patch (Snow Mould): A Comprehensive Guide with Scientific Insights and management Fusarium Patch, commonly referred to as Snow Mould, is a turf disease caused by the fungus Microdochium nivale. This pathogen thrives in cold, wet, and humid conditions, making it a significant problem for turfgrass in temperate climates. Originally associated with snow cover, its occurrence has…

Sugar as a Catalyst for Tree Growth: A Scientific Exploration Poor root systems in trees are a significant challenge, often leading to the depletion of storage reserves by up to a third, ultimately starving trees to death. However, recent studies suggest that sugar, a simple and widely available compound, may hold the key to revitalizing…

Pumpkins and Squash are celebrated for their culinary uses

Electrical Weed Control Trials at Oxford Botanic Garden show promising Results The concept of using electricity for weed control is not new. In fact, this method has been explored for more than a century. However, it has never gained widespread acceptance, likely due to the lack of suitable equipment and the dominance of chemical herbicides…

Halloween means high demand to buy pumpkins. One of the largest growers in the UK is David Bowman, with a 200ha farm growing three million pumpkins especially for this time of the year. Over 100 staff lift the massive crop into the warehouse to ripen then they are shipped out to the major supermarkets for…