garden tips

Ah, spring! The time of year when Mother Nature emerges from her winter slumber, and the world explodes with vibrant colours and the sweet scent of blooming flowers. But before you can fully embrace the joy of spring gardening, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty (in the most delightful way, […]

This April, many of our posts will be about encouraging calm and tranquillity as it’s Stress Awareness Month. Today, I’ll talk about creating a calm corner in the garden by using natural materials and colour, water, plants and comfortable seating. A corner can be a very good setting for a quiet and private place. No-one’s […]

There’s plenty to do in the October garden. It’s all about clearing and cleaning up, planting and moving, and getting ready for autumn rains and winds. It can be a bit of a scramble to do what’s necessary before the weather turns against us. But who knows what October’s weather will be like? It can […]

It’s the August bank holiday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and, as is traditional, the weather picture is mixed. Here are three tips for what to do in the garden this bank holiday . Do what you can – it all makes a difference. 1. Be in the moment You know how the house […]

Bold use of colour can play a big part in making your garden look great. Repeating the same colour across your garden gives it a rhythm and helps it hang together. The colour can embrace the buildings too. It’s a trick that many of us have learnt. Let’s talk about especially bold colours, like we […]

Home-grown tomatoes taste so much better than ones bought in the shops and they’re fun to grow. You have to keep an eye on them and look after them – children are good at that! Now’s the time to choose and plant your tomato plants so plan a little trip to your local garden centre […]

Plant pots, containers, planters – there’s an enormous choice out there. How do you choose what’s best for your plants and best for your garden? We answer seven of the most common questions. 1. What should I think about when choosing a pot? As well as how good the pot looks, think about: how big […]

We all want happy and healthy plants and good soil is key to making that happen. (Of course, there are a few happy and healthy exceptions to this: air plants, hydroponic plants and perhaps plants growing on gravel but here we’re talking about plants that grow in soil.) For happy and healthy plants we have […]

Mowing, weeding and watering are the most disliked jobs in the garden. Follow our suggestions about working with nature to create a low maintenance garden. After the initial work you’ll soon see the benefit. Gardening is made very, very much easier when we work with nature and our soil conditions, climate, rainfall and local wildlife. […]

Whether you’ve just moved in or been there for years, it might be time for a garden redesign. You can move on from a tired-looking garden, creating somewhere you love, maximising space and making the inside and outside of the property all work together. Here are some tips as you pull together your thoughts, the […]

Where I am, in lovely summery days, gardeners are starting to prepare for winter. For me, winter is not a welcome thought but deep in my bones there is an urge to save some summer to enjoy in winter. So this week I have two garden jobs that make the most of summer days and […]

Why are strawberries called strawberries? Strawberries planted back in April are starting to swell now. Soon they’ll be ready to eat. But before they get to that mouth-watering bright-red-all-over-stage and the weather is warm and they are at their most delicious, the plants need a little more care and attention. Especially if they’re in the […]