How to protect tender plants over winter
Bring a taste of the tropics to your garden Many of us love the taste of the tropics when it comes to our gardens but unfortunately the downside is that these plants have to be protected from the...
The state of peat
Peatlands are unique, environmentally sensitive habitats (Image: healthy raised bog flora) Peat has been used by gardeners for generations, but it is a non-renewable resource and its destruction is in...
How to have a low maintenance garden
Cut down on the work and enjoy life Not everyone can have a show garden, which, let’s face it, is very time consuming and does require a certain degree of horticultural knowledge. Many working people...
How To Look After Your Garden Pond Over Winter
Tidy the pond for winter and start spring with a healthy pond and fishDon’t neglect your garden pond or water feature in autumn when you are preparing the garden for the winter shut-down. Not looking...
Outdoor Living Trends 2020
Live life al fresco In the past few years the outdoor space has increasingly become an extra room and this looks set to continue into 2020, but with the emphasis more and more on environmental...
January/February
February is upon us & the snowdrops are in flower offering the promise of spring to come. If you want to introduce a bit more colour to brighten your day there are lots of plants in the garden centre...
Best Choice Of Shrubs To Give You Spring Colour In The Garden
Rhododendron 'Golden Torch'Plant spring flowering shrubs for colour and scentAfter a dull, dreary, cold, wet winter what could be more uplifting than the sight of the first blossoms of spring that can...
How To Choose Plants To Give You Spring Colour At the Bottom Of A Mixed Native Hedge
Add colour to a mixed native hedge with spring flowering plantsThere is nothing lovelier than a native mixed hedge, and nothing better for providing a wildlife habitat, both food and housing. But in...
How To Choose Trees To Give You Spring Colour In The Garden
Spring blossom in the Lyth Valley, Cumbria
How To Choose Plants And Bulbs To Give You Spring Colour In The Rockery
Welcome spring with these alpine gems in the rock garden or containerWhat could be more uplifting after a long weary winter then the sight of little brightly coloured jewels popping through the soil...
How To Plant Bare Root Soft Fruit, Trees And Hedging
Plant bare root soft fruit, hedging and trees in winter and early springBare root trees, soft fruit and hedging are supplied without soil; they usually come wrapped in sacking. These plants are...
How To Plant Up A Spring Container
Plant your spring containers following our easy guidePlanting up a spring container is fairly easy and straightforward and does so much to lift the spirits at the end of a dark, wet, dreary winter. As...
Taste of BBQ courses
Try your hand on one of our Taste of .... BBQ courses Are you a keen barbecuer? Want to impress family and friends with your barbecuing skills by producing perfectly cooked, succulent, tender meat or...
How To Make The Most Of Autumn Leaves
Free soil conditioner from fallen autumn leavesAfter we have enjoyed the flaming autumn spectacle put on by gorgeous deciduous trees the leaves start to fall and become a nuisance. They clog drains...
How To Make The Perfect Compost
Compost is an essential element for producing healthy soilComposting is one of the most important tasks you can carry out in the garden; it re-cycles kitchen waste and spent organic matter from the...
How To Make A Magic Mulch For Your Garden
Mulching improves the soil, protects plants, saves money and workWhy go to the trouble of spreading mulch?Because it benefits the garden and the plants in so many ways:Suppressing weeds; it is worth...
How To Help Our Hedgehogs
Hedgehogs, the gardeners friendHedgehogs are one of our most charismatic native mammals and they need our help. A survey commissioned by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society and the People’s...
A Winter Container Vegetable Plot
If you fancy growing your own veg this winter but haven’t got the space, why not have a container garden instead. There are a number of vegetables that will grow in pots if fed & watered & not all of...
Autumnal Acers
The changing colour of leaves in autumn is caused by the shift in concentration of three photosynthetic pigments in the leaves, brought on by reduced daylight hours and lower temperatures. The three...
How To Stay Safe In The Garden
Avoid that accident by following these few easy tipsOver 300,000 people are injured each year in the garden, over a third of them are children with men being the next highest group. Men and women in...
How To Grow Scrumptious Apples
Apples trees give interest in the garden from spring to autumnAnyone can grow an apple tree no matter what the size of your garden. There are varieties suitable for an orchard or a pot on the patio...
What Seeds Should I Be Sowing In Autumn?
Autumn sown seeds give you fresh veg in winter and an earlier spring cropYou can sow some seeds in autumn to crop earlier the following year, therefore prolonging the cropping season. Some need to be...
How To Grow Bedding Cyclamen In The Garden And Indoors
Brighten up winter with a patch of colourful cyclamenCyclamen persicum, the Persian cyclamen, has been improved to be longer lasting, to have more flowers and a larger range of colours than the...
How To Maintain Your Greenhouse
Spring clean the greenhouse ready for those first seedlingsAs the Christmas pudding and the mince pies are settling nicely around the waist it is the ideal time to get to grips with the greenhouse...
How To Grow Tempting Tulips
Tulips are the essential flower for a shot of brilliant spring colourWho doesn’t have room for a splash of spring colour from even a tiny pot of tulips? Plant a river of colour or pop a pot onto the...
How To Feed Garden Birds In Winter
Feeding the birds in your garden in winter can be lifesavingYour garden can be a lifesaver in winter; giving you the chance to see birds which usually inhabit the countryside coming into urban areas...
How To Grow Bountiful Blackberries
Blackberries are easy to grow, food for free in autumn and nutritiousThe humble blackberry considered to be a weed by so many is one fruit which almost always never fails to give a generous crop...
Fantastic Fungi
Mycorrhizal fungi leads to bigger, stronger plants and better yieldsPlants formed a symbiotic relationship with fungi approximately 500 million years ago. Gardeners can utilise this relationship to...