Erecting a Keder Greenhouse in my new garden was always going to be a big step forward but I hadn’t bargained on just how difficult taking those steps would be! Let me be clear I’m no [...]

How to get late summer colour in the garden? Here’s how you do it – Keeping the show going in August can be a challenge! The early summer flowering perennials and shrubs look tired [...]

Salvias for your Garden Salvias for your garden – I guess that most of us can remember when every garden and roundabout had bright postbox red Salvia as the obligatory part of that [...]

In this blog I’ll reveal the benefit of grafted plants to the gardener. Because nurserymen put in the hard graft so that gardeners benefit from better plants to grow! Let me explain. A [...]

It’s time to plant up your pots for summer! If Easter Weekend is the traditional time to plant out potatoes then surely May Bank Holiday is the time for getting a great display for summer! [...]

Bees and other pollinating insects have been on the decline for several years. We need to do all we can to help them recover by creating a bee friendly garden. Disease, some pesticides, loss of [...]

How to make lockdown Beech Noyau is a departure from my normal blog topics! But then these are extraordinary times that are resulting in extraordinary activities! The Coronavirus [Covid-19] [...]

It’s time to get your lawn in shape for summer! It has been a punishing winter for most lawns and a drive around the neighbourhood has confirmed my suspicions. I’m not the only one that has [...]

House plants can purify air in your home and that message is now getting through! House plants are not only great to look at but they are good for your health too! Indoor plants, and especially [...]

In this blog I want to share with you my tips on growing tomatoes. Maybe you consider yourself an expert? But I find no matter how experienced a gardener you are there is always something to [...]

If you’re wondering which small evergreen garden trees to plant in your garden, read on to see what I recommend! Although we are fortunate in being able to grow a massive range of plants of [...]

Intensively trained garden fruit trees have a lot to offer. It’s a good time to consider planting more. Now before you say ‘I’ve no room left’ I want you to just consider how useful and [...]

.Ground cover plants are such useful plants and can make for an easier life. A few years ago I visited a friend’s garden that was open in aid of charity. This was a very big garden full of lovely [...]

Cloud pruning and lifting canopies of existing plants can transform your garden in a matter of hours. What’s more it can be done with little or no financial outlay. Many of us already have [...]

Newer varieties of raspberries are well worth considering. Many are a marked improvement on old varieties! As we approach the end of another planting season for bare root fruits, I thought you [...]

Creating a beautiful garden with KinderGarden plants is easy but you need to start early! Wouldn’t it be great to produce a garden just like this? Well although this is a demonstration [...]

The glowing colour of winter stems can shorten winter! I find that the colour they provide is long lasting. And when coupled with trees with great bark colour, it transforms the off season in the [...]

Heavenly hellebores filled my old garden. Unfortunately I had to leave most of them behind when I moved. I was able to rescue a few of the most interesting ones and get them established in large [...]

Winter flowering heathers give tremendous value for money and are arguably the most reliable winter flowering low growing plant. This is the type of heather that will grow in the gardens [...]

Modular growing of plants is on the increase and there are many advantages to raising plants this way.   This frustrating season! Here we in mid February and hardly a thing has been sown or [...]

Colourful winter bark is a major plant feature that isn’t given the attention it deserves when selecting plants to grow in the garden. When most leaves have fallen and the only colour in [...]

Fashionable succulent plants are everywhere now! You’d be forgiven for thinking that gardening is unaffected by fashion. Indeed many gardens are laid out to reflect times past and to be a place [...]

Which seed potatoes to grow in your garden is a question foremost in many gardeners minds at the moment and so I thought that I’d give a bit of guidance. With so much rain this winter I [...]

Growing Camellia plants in your garden is really quite easy. Seeing Camellia plants in full bloom in a Cornish garden is truly unforgettable. It is one of the great spectacles of British gardens! [...]

It’s now time to sow chillies and peppers! Chillies and peppers have gone from a novelty vegetable to one of the most popular seeds and vegetable plants. This rise in popularity reflects [...]

Growing tasty new potatoes has one big advantage; you just can’t beat the flavour of early new potatoes taken straight from the earth and into the pan!   Is it wrong to also feel smug about [...]

Tips on Forcing Hyacinth Bulbs     Hyacinth bulbs need to have well developed roots before they can be forced and brought inside. If you rush things and try to bring them on before a [...]

Nutrient deficiencies of plants are not commonplace but when they do occur they can have serious consequences for the gardener. Plants are amazingly resilient. They’ll muddle along even [...]

Soil pH may not sound the most exciting thing to a gardener but it’s essential to get it right for many plants to flourish. You’ve probably heard of so called ‘lime hating plants’ and maybe even [...]

If you’re thinking about planting a hedge this winter I hope you’re considering planting a native hedge. Why? Well primarily because of wildlife but also because many of our native hedge plants [...]

Flood lighting a garden is perhaps not top of your ‘to do’ list. However with shorter days and longer nights it can really enhance a garden. Read on and I think that you might see the [...]

How to build a Garden Bug Hotel In this blog I’ll explain just how easy it is to build a garden bug hotel. Do you remember when you last had to scrape squashed insects off the front of your [...]

Apologies for the corny title but there is really nothing buried about these berried treasures! This month they are at their very best in the garden! There’s no shortage of good trees and shrubs [...]

Late Flowering Garden Perennials Whether it’s because of drought, summer heat, heavy rain or just bad planning, it can be a challenge to keep gardens looking colourful into the autumn! In a [...]

Autumn Planting is best but why have we got out of the habit? When I left college and started my first job, it was common practice to plant your garden in the autumn. Now we seem to wait for the [...]

I call it layered bulb planting but some call this “lasagna planting”. It’s easy to see why. Planting spring flowering bulbs in layers one on top of the other really does extend the flowering [...]

If you want these fabulous insects to visit your garden then you must plant Buddleja for butterflies! “I’ve watched you now a full half-hour, self-poised upon that yellow flower”. So begins [...]

Pumpkins and squash are my edible plant for autumn because they look great, taste good and are fun to grow! In this piece I’ll cover how to grow them and which varieties to try. I’ll [...]

Gardening for butterflies and moths; have you considered doing it in your garden? I’m surprised at how many butterflies and moths I’ve seen so far this year. This got me wondering what we all [...]

  Have you ever wanted to grow fresh blueberries at home? It’s a lot easier than you would imagine provided that you follow a few important tips. I’ll outline them here. Please [...]

Fuchsias that are hardy in Britain are in the minority. The vast majority are not hardy enough to survive our winters outside without protection. But due to climate change our winters have [...]

Garden Dahlias are one of the longest flowering plants starting in the summer months and carrying on until the autumn frosts. They provide a long season of fabulous garden colour in late summer [...]

Mid-summer is the time to focus on dahlias. No other plant rivals the Dahlia for shear brightness and brilliance!   Once the plant of choice for only the dedicated enthusiast, the Dahlia [...]

Sculpture by the Lakes is located near Dorchester in the beautiful county of Dorset. For several years I had been wanting to visit. Then the opportunity arose to go with Tintinhull Garden Club so [...]

Hydrangea bushes are blowsy, easy to grow and in tune with today’s gardener’s needs. Hydrangea bushes have an unshakable link with the Victorian era. You know what I mean, a certain style of [...]

Fruit crop thinning is top of my to do list now. An almost frost free spring has led to a heavy fruit ‘set’. This spring period, when fruit trees were blooming, is critical to fruit growers and [...]

Keukenhof Garden near Amsterdam puts on an astounding annual display of spring flowering bulbs. At the end of a cold and grey winter in Europe visitors flood to see this colour spectacle but [...]

Garden maples, especially so-called Japanese garden maples, get a lot of attention in autumn. They have the ability to produce fantastic autumn leaf colour. But many garden maples have an awful [...]

Broadleigh Gardens is an impressive place! It specialises in growing and supplying superior garden bulbs and is situated just west of Taunton in Somerset. I visited the garden with the [...]

Magnolias at Kew Gardens can be seen over several weeks every spring but lucky for me I struck lucky and for once timed my visit to perfection. I’d planned to visit the magnolias at Kew [...]

Daffodil blindness – that is apparently healthy daffodil bulbs but without flowers- is a puzzle to many gardeners. It can be easily rectified and here’s how. This phenomenon can be [...]

Hellebore trends are making a lot of people sit up and notice! We are witnessing a remarkable time in the life of garden hellebores! Perhaps it was like this when the hybridizing of roses began? [...]

Plug plants have revolutionised the growing of bedding plants for both commercial and amateur gardeners. Germinating seeds of some of our favourite bedding plants can be slow, expensive and [...]

Clematis pruning simplified – there’s a lot of confusion and a little trepidation over when and how to prune Clematis! Since they are a diverse group of beautiful climbers, I guess that is [...]

Tips on Sowing Tomato Seeds Sowing tomato seeds to raise your own tomato plants is not difficult but there are a few key points that need to be taken into consideration. I’d love to share [...]

I just had to see the snowdrops at Elworthy Cottage. I’d intended to go before but somehow had always ended up visiting the bigger places. These had huge carpets of ‘ordinary’ [...]

If you have wondered how to grow the earliest new potatoes and get that fantastic taste when shop bought potato prices are ridiculously high, you need to start growing now! An early start, [...]

Cyclamen like it cool For a cool room, glazed porch or north or east facing cool windowsill, a pot Cyclamen is the best choice. Buy locally I’m convinced that you will get a better quality [...]

Riverford Organics has been one of the great successes of UK horticulture in the last 20 years. Starting from delivering veg boxes to just 30 of his friends in South Devon this business now [...]

Foggy Bottom Garden adjoins the Dell Garden at Bressingham Gardens- a garden that I’ve recently written about. Whilst the Dell Garden is a mecca for hardy herbaceous perennial plant enthusiasts, [...]

The Dell Garden at Bressingham Gardens is a mecca for hardy herbaceous perennial plant enthusiasts. The Dell Garden was created by Alan Bloom during the nineteen sixties and seventies and is as [...]

You’ll see these spectacular Amaryllis bulbs on sale in garden centres, florists and large high street stores right now. They are extremely easy to grow! Although this is a popular cut flower [...]

Oudolf Field at Hauser and Wirth update A visit Bruton was overdue as I needed to have an Oudolf Field at Hauser and Wirth update! I had intended to visit during late summer when more perennials [...]

Why plant tulips late? In this blog I’ll explain why it’s good to plant spring flowering tulips late – even as late as November! There’s nothing quite as magnificent as spring [...]

Cruising the Alaskan Inside Passage The Inside Passage of Alaska used to puzzle the Western World. Local First Nation peoples spoke of a way to the north between the huge island of Vancouver and [...]

Feeding garden birds has never been more important! Even birds that were once common are under threat with numbers in decline. This is clearly shown in various surveys but perhaps most clearly in [...]

Skimmia shrubs will not stop you in your tracks with showy bright blooms. They’re not the most eye catching shrub in a planting scheme – that is until winter arrives! Skimmias are [...]

Box tree clipping around Derby Day is commonly regarded as the right time to prune box trees and bushes. Why now? The timing of box tree clipping and box hedge trimming comes from way back when [...]

Softwood Cuttings; Late Summer Propagation  Late summer and early autumn is the perfect time to propagate your favourite plants by rooting cuttings! You may want to do this to have more of garden [...]

It’s spring and I want to share a few of my tips on sowing seeds. I know that some of you will have already sown some and there’s a huge temptation to get growing. But don’t get carried [...]

Fruit tree pruning seems to flummox most people! Frightened of doing something wrong and in fear of ruining the tree they take the easy option and do nothing! But fruit tree pruning needn’t fill [...]

Plant Colourful Cornus? Colourful Cornus should be planted now! November is a month of fireworks, getting used to the clocks going back, autumn mists and some late autumn leaf colour! But it is [...]

Trees for Autumn Colour As trees are changing colour all round us now this blog is focused on Trees for Autumn Colour. I’m going to recommend the best trees for autumn colour to plant in [...]

Poinsettia Plants: their care Just like us, the Poinsettia plant likes to be warm. Originating from Mexico and Central America this is hardly surprising. Fortunately, this is an indoor plant very [...]

Propagating plants by root cuttings is one of the easiest ways to multiply plants and the cuttings almost look after themselves! There are a couple of times in the year when root cuttings are [...]

The three sisters growing technique is uncommon in the UK. It puzzles me that so few gardeners adopt this companion planting vegetable growing method. Sweet corn – not maize I pass fields [...]

Hardwood Cuttings So you don’t think that you have green fingers [thumbs if you’re American]? Can’t root cuttings eh? Well, I bet you can propagate plants by hardwood cuttings! [...]

Sow Sweet Peas in autumn. If you sow sweet peas in autumn you’ll get the very best sweet peas …but by a whisker those sown in late winter or very early spring are only a smidge [...]

Okay, so this is not a blog about gardening but it is about a fascinating rare wild thing; the Chillingham Wild Cattle. I recently saw these and I’ve seen other wild cattle before but those [...]