It’s not surprising many of us are looking for alternatives to a lawn. Because grass needs a great deal of care and attention to look its best. There’s regular mowing…
Gardening
Top tips for creating a dog-friendly garden
How to create a dog-friendly garden in your home If you’re thinking about bringing a dog into your home, you must ensure your garden is safe and pet friendly. Make…
Tough plants to choose for tough places in your garden
If your garden has dry shade? Gloomy gardens and parched soil beneath trees often become dead zones, but this doesn’t have to be the case if you plant well…
How to boost your home’s kerb appeal with a well tended front garden
A front garden is often neglected, even though they’re far more on show than our back gardens. Yet one of the unexpected consequences of lockdown has been neighbours meeting in…
How prairie planting can transform your garden this summer
Prairie planting is a simple concept. You mix bold blocks of perennials and grasses to create a sense of wide open spaces. Inspired by North American landscapes, it’s a more…
How to grow your own fruit and vegetables – even in small spaces
What could be more satisfying that growing your own delicious fresh fruit and vegetables, and picking them straight from the plant? You can get great results even in limited space,…
10 lovely signs that spring has arrived in your garden
Nature is bursting with activity at this time of year. The dawn chorus gets louder and earlier than ever as birds begin nesting and raising their chicks. And with flowers…
Container garden guide: Flower colour schemes
Ideas for strong bright colours Imagine how much more inviting a sunny patio will look with containers filled with blooms in the tropical shades of scarlet and orange. To maintain…
Summer bulbs to brighten up your garden
Tall and dramatic Known as desert candles or foxtail lilies, the stately spikes of eremurus like it sunny and dry and, in order to induce flowering, a cold snap in…
Top gardening tips – your ultimate how-to guide
Cultivating soil is fundamental to good gardening. It improves the soil’s structure as reducing compaction increases aeration, so that more air gets to plant roots and drainage is enhanced. How…
How to take care of your garden through each month of the year
February to March ✤ Sow frost-sensitive summer-bedding seeds, such as pelargoniums, in pots on a warm windowsill. For something a bit different, sow and grow climbers, such as Chilean Glory…
Grow an English country garden
Even if you live in the suburbs and your house is modern, it’s easy to create an authentic country-style cottage garden if you look to your granny’s garden for inspiration.…
Plant irises and bring colour to your garden
Irises have been a favourite flower since the Chinese fell in love with them thousands of years ago. Their picture-perfect blooms have also been a source of inspiration for many…
Green grass tips from our gardening expert
1. Green Up Grass The most common reason for a lawn turning yellow is excess heat and drought, but over-fertilising with nitrogen is another. Feeding a hungry lawn with leaf-making…
How to win the garden weed war
Stinging nettles Well-known for their painful sting, these weeds are widespread. They produce a dense mat of bright yellow roots and form thickets of erect stems more than a metre…
How to use alpine plants in your garden
The majority of alpine enthusiasts use rock gardens replicating their natural habitats to grow these mini mountain plants. Since the 1980s rockeries have been out of favour with less committed…
How to create a craft garden at home
Homegrown veg can be a real money-spinner, especially if they’re organic. Consider getting an allotment, as your plot could provide enough food to feed 20 people when in full production.…
Plant bulbs ready for spring
Plant bulbs now for a garden full of colourful surprises in spring. They’re easy to grow – simply dig a hole, pop them in and wait! Most spring-flowering bulbs prefer…
Prairie garden: What to plant
Naturalised ‘prairie’ planting remains very much in fashion after more than 30 years, mainly because it is trouble-free and is an attractive alternative to an English cottage border. It also…
In the pink: Dianthus plants
Resembling a mini florist carnation, easy-care dianthus – which we call ‘pinks’ because the serrated edges to the petals look as though they have been cut with pinking shears –…