Cornish Plants in High Places

As the busiest time of the year approaches for Trevena Cross Nurseries, and the team anticipates a real spring buzz, the garden centre looks forward to seeing who might walk through the door in 2012. In its 35 year history at its retail site in Breage, the garden centre has served some interesting and high profile clientele, from Royal Gardens, to British lyricists and authors; film companies, to the British Museum.

Only last month, it had a visit from the film company shooting film drama ‘Summer in February’ just down the road, for which it sold and hired out a range of plants; and last year it supplied plants, including tree ferns, for one of the gardens featured in ITV series ‘Love your Garden’ hosted by gardening gurus Alan Titchmarsh and Cornwall local Matt James.

Nursery and garden centre owner Graham comments:

“It’s always interesting to see where our next customer comes from. Over the years we have supplied plants nationally and internationally, and have had some really unexpected enquiries from the most unexpected places. It’s really great that our beautiful county, out on the far west tip of the UK can actually find itself at the centre of some high profile business dealings!”

As well as television and film interest, the garden centre has received royal requests, supplying plants to Highgrove House and Gardens, and The Savill Garden at Windsor Great Park. It has also had regular dealings with many National Trust and Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) gardens, well known Cornish gardens and Tresco Abbey Garden in the Isles of Scilly.

Graham continues:

“Whilst parks and gardens are perhaps our more obvious business customers, it seems there is no limit to where plants are required, with local and national zoos, councils, museums and colleges, to name a few, also taking plants off our hands in the past. We are thrilled to be able to serve a huge range of customers from a variety of places; with each as important to us as the next, whether they are a Helston local requiring plants for their courtyard garden or a large business looking for a complete makeover.”

For more information about Trevena Cross and its upcoming spring stock visit www.trevenacross.co.uk or call 01736 763880.

Did I speak too soon?

Only last week we were looking forward to the spring, commenting on how mild the winter had been and how the possibility of a true winter hitting us now was unlikely!

It seems I spoke to soon! With temperatures plummeting to at least -7 degrees C last night and rumours of snow arriving this weekend, we perhaps haven’t got off so lightly…

Bringing in the timers of our automatic watering systems, turning off water to prevent freezing, covering the entrances to our fernerys and shutting up our succulent and grow your own greenhouses are just some of the protectives measures we’ve been taking over the last few nights, to beat the effects of the cold!

Are you protecting the tender and vulnerable in your garden? – Make use of your greenhouse, and conservatory, and bark and fleece anything tender as a precaution!

Fingers crossed (for our plants sake) that the white stuff doesn’t reach these parts (although for the big kids amongst you, you never know!…you could make use of that sledging gear after all!)

Spring is on the way

As we work hard behind the scenes to prepare for the upcoming spring season, both in the nursery and in the garden centre, we are surprised by the on going mild temperatures and the seeming lack of any stereotypical winter! The possiblity of a ‘late’ winter even seems unlikely now – and we cross all our fingers and toes that this is the case.

Back in the autumn we were preparing for the cold of winters past, bringing anything with any level of fragility or vulnerability into our polytunnels, and removing the risks that the cold presents to a working nursery like ours. Despite the weather failing to meet our expectations, we have inadvertantly aided our wonderful plant stocks, giving them that little bit of ‘luxury living’ …enough to guarentee a smashing collection of plants, looking their absolute best!

We look forward to our spring rush (which we anticipate may start a little early this year, assuming the mild weather continues) …and to adding to our wonderful collection of plants at a time when the garden is a priority for many.

Can’t wait to get started? As well as our seed potatoes, which are adorning the shelves, we now also have a very wide selection of bulbs available, including onion, garlic and shallot bulbs, and masses of Dahlias, Begonias, Agapanthus, Irises, Freesias, Alliums, Gladioli, Liliums, Nerines, Callas, Cannas, Crocosmias… and more!

Our Drive to Make ‘Friends’!

We were delighted to welcome Trevena Cross ‘friend’ and Christmas prize draw winner Jill Cooper to the garden centre today to receive her prize of £100 in Trevena Cross gift vouchers!

Jill Cooper, Trevena Cross Prize Draw Winner

Jill very kindly agreed to have a piccy taken for us, so that we could show you all… and also encourage new friends to join us by signing up to receive our monthly newsletter and regular updates regarding our latest special offers, garden tips and advice and  more.

Happy to be a constant point of contact for all your garden needs, our Trevena Cross team has such a wealth of horticultural knowledge and experience, that it seems a shame not to share it with more gardeners of all ages, with all levels of experience. Our ‘friends’ scheme, initiated in March last year, allows us to keep in regular touch with our local community and customers new and old, facilitating a two way street for any questions, queries or problems that you may have!

We have crowned four lucky friends as winners of wonderful voucher prizes and meals in our Garden Kitchen Cafe, since the start of the campaign, by entering all friends into quarterly prize draws!

If you want to learn more about us and about your garden, you can sign up to become friend by clicking here.

The oldest garden helper, 420 million years old in fact!

Coming soon…watch for an announcement when it arrives!

Crop yields at the SEER Centre after using Rockdust

Probably known only to the keenest of allotment owners, plot holders or gardeners, we are excited to now bring this new product to the Cornish masses, and open the door to organic crops of giant carrots, earth moving cabbages and phenomenal parsnips in the months…and years, to come!

What are we talking about? It’s called SEER Rockdust, and most simply put, is finely ground and freshly crushed volcanic rock, more than 420 million years old!

Rich in minerals and trace elements, Rockdust is exceptionally fertile and productive, unlocking goodness that has been tied up in rock for so many years and finally releasing it back into the soil to ‘remineralise’.

It may take several months to improve soil fertility and see beneficial results, but with a little patience you can expect to see benefits to crops, compost and the environment, including:

• Improved  overall crop yield – in terms of health, flavour, aroma, flower quality, shelf life, pest & disease resistance
• Increased worm populations, microbial activity, nitrogen fixing, composting speed and fertility
• Healthier environment –  improved ability to absorb CO₂ in the soil, whilst encouraging a reduced dependency on synthetic fertilisers

Rockdust can be used as a top dressing and a compost activator. It can be applied at any time of the year, at any stage of plant growth, and will benefit all types and pH of soil – simply lightly rake in.

Min. dose – 0.5kg per square metre
Optimum dose – 2kg per square metre (1^st year) 0.5kg per sq. metre thereafter
Max. dose (as used at the SEER Centre) – 5kg per square metre (1^st year) re-apply when fertility decreases
Application to potted plants – Sprinkle 3mm SEER Rockdust onto soil surface – no need to mix. Just water as normal or mix with potting compost prior to sowing or planting
Compost Activator – Sprinkle 3-5mm of Rockdust into each 5inch/13cm layer of green waste as you add it

As the only stockist of SEER Rockdust in West Cornwall, and one of only two in the whole county, we are delighted to bring this unique top dressing and compost activator to grow your own fanatics and those who are not afraid to try new things!

Where does it come from?
The SEER Centre (Sustainable, Ecological, Earth Regeneration Centre) is a Scottish, charitable organisation, where Rockdust has been used to grow bumper, mineral rich crops. It was initiated by a couple, interested in organic gardening and what has now developed into SEER Rockdust – as well as the concept behind it.

Click here for more information or click here to watch a video, and find out more about this rather mysterious, and for many, experimental product.

Happy New Year Potato Lovers!

Happy New Year All! We hope the Christmas indulgence isn’t sitting too heavy! We believe there’s nothing better than getting some fresh January air into those lungs to clear the cobwebs and those Christmas calories – and where better to start than in the garden?

The main grow your own season will soon be upon us, and we’re kick starting things with a huge range of seed potatoes for you to get you teeth into, (quite literally, in months to come!) The potato is a fantastic, versatile veg, very rewarding, and easy to grow if a few simple steps are followed.

We have our first earlies in stock, and second earlies and maincrop potatoes on the way within the next week. The best part? You can grow potatoes where other veg and plants will struggle – great for growing in a new, weedy plot or on old, untended grassland, potatoes will supress the weeds, and then when you come to dig up your potatoes you will be digging over the soil and inadvertantly preparing it for future growing.

Learn more about our seed potatoes by clicking here.

Christmas Opening Hours

Please note, we will be open as normal over the Christmas and New Year period (9am-5pm Mon-Fri and 10.30am-4.30pm Sun) except for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day when we will be closed.

All online/phone/email orders placed from 20th December 2011 may be delayed over the Christmas and New Year period due to a limited courier service, so we ask you to please be patient and bear with us until the 3rd January 2012 when a normal delivery service will resume.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Trevena Cross Attracts New Wildlife!

Trevena Cross Owner Graham has created a new pond and wildlife area at the top of the nursery where he lives – away from the hustle and bustle of the garden centre and areas open to the public.

Keen on natural environmental management of the garden landscape, and on taking full advantage of the wonderful ecosystems we are surrounded by, Graham has decided to help create the desired living conditions for a range of garden helpers, by making some subtle and fairly straightforward changes to the landscape.

For one, he has installed new bat boxes to provide valuable roosting sites for these fascinating creatures, where they don’t currently exist. Bats, which can prey entirely on insects (and lots of them!) are important members of the food chain and an important source of pest control – eliminating the need for chemical pesticides.

Bats - fascinating garden friends

Of course our garden insects are very important too – as vital cross pollinators for a range of flowering plants, and Graham has helped create insect habitats too, by simply stacking big hollow canes – incredibly basic, but very inviting, to a range of insects.

A wildlife area wouldn’t be complete without a water feature, and perhaps Graham’s biggest addition, is a wildlife pond, built with shallow sloping sides to ensure any small animals, such as hedgehogs, can crawl out and won’t get trapped. Next to the pond, which will attract the insects, bats, and a range of other wildlife, is a stack of logs – a great place for slug-loving frogs to lurk and find their prey.

Basic changes in the garden, that consider our garden wildlife as well as aesthetics, can create the most interesting and lowest maintenance spaces.

Why not give it a go? – Make just one or two changes in your garden to encourage more wildlife, and let nature get on with it… Let it do what it does best!

We are 35 years old!

As 2011 draws to a close, Trevena Cross Nurseries marks 35 years of business.

The business has undergone impressive growth over the years, despite experiencing its fair share of challenges, including severe storms, several recessions, and more recently, snowy winters. From just a field of growing cabbages, sold at Helston market, the business has evolved, and today spans more than 35 acres of land, comprised of a 32 acre working nursery and a three acre garden centre, which sells its wonderful site grown plants.

Owner Graham comments on the milestone:
“The retail world is very different from how it was a few decades ago, but we continue to be driven by the same values, and our ability to make a difference to our customers, who share our passion for horticulture.

“I didn’t imagine we’d be where we are today, upon starting the business with my late father in 1976, but I’m pleased to have grown and sustained the business, and to have come through some pretty challenging but also exciting times. Long may it continue!

Welcome to our new website!

It has been a long time coming but we are thrilled to have finally done it – we have created a brand new website that represents who we are and what we’re all about!

With the help of two local Cornish businesses, Ki Design (web designer) and Redfuse (web developer), we have reached the climax of months of hard work to make the website a reality and finally give our visitors an online experience that they will hopefully enjoy and learn from.

Trevena Cross Nurseries Owner Graham comments:

“We are delighted with how the website has turned out and are very grateful to Ki Design and Redfuse for turning our vision into a reality. At a time when the retail world is struggling, we are fortunate to be able to introduce a tool like this that can help us grow our business with an accurate portrayal of who we are and how we can serve our customers.

“We look forward to adding to the site and getting it into a position we’re really happy with over the next couple of months before the pre-spring rush, a time when we expect its purpose to be truly realised.

Two points the business are really hoping to convey through the new site are the huge diversity of plants available, and the extensive horticultural knowledge of the Trevena Cross team. In addition, the insight into what’s going on ‘behind the scenes’ should be invaluable in reaching the majority who up until now haven’t appreciated the nursery/growing side of the business – but rather, have seen the business as just another garden centre.