How do I start composting?
How to set up a compost heap that works — the greens-to-browns balance, what to include, and why most heaps fail.
beginner2 hr3 min read
Soil & Compost
The part of gardening that decides everything else.
87 guides in Garden
How do I find out what type of soil I have?
Two tests that settle it — the ribbon test in two minutes and the jar test overnight — plus what the answer changes about watering, feeding and what you can grow.
beginner20 min4 min readHow do I improve my soil?
How to work out what kind of soil you have, and the organic matter approach that improves clay, sand and everything between.
beginner4 hr3 min readHow do I prepare soil for planting?
Finding out what soil you have, adding organic matter, and why digging is usually the wrong instinct.
beginner2 hr4 min readHow do I choose compost for pots versus beds?
What each type is actually formulated for, why garden soil fails in pots, and the peat-free products that behave differently.
beginner25 min4 min readHow much topsoil, compost or bark do I need?
The volume sum, the conversion into bulk bags and 50-litre bags, and the settlement allowance that stops you ordering a third too little.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy is my peat-free compost dry on top and soggy underneath?
Why wood fibre and bark dry pale on the surface while the middle of the pot is still wet, and the watering change that fixes it.
beginner20 min4 min readHow do I get good results from peat-free compost?
Peat-free is a technique change, not a downgrade — six habits built on peat that give poor results with wood fibre and bark, and what to do instead.
beginner20 min5 min readWhat can I put in a compost bin, and what should never go in?
The green and brown lists, the surprising items that are fine, and the small number of things that genuinely must not go in.
beginner15 min4 min readCan weedkiller in manure ruin my garden?
Aminopyralid and clopyralid residues pass through animals and survive composting — how they reach a garden, what the damage looks like, and why nothing about the manure warns you.
intermediate20 min5 min readHow do I fill a very large planter without using ten bags of compost?
What can safely go in the bottom of a deep planter, what must never go in, how much compost depth you have to keep, and the mistake that turns a bulk-filled planter into a bog.
beginner40 min4 min readHow do I make compost that actually breaks down quickly?
Why a trickle-fed bin never heats up, and how to build a heap in one go that reaches 60°C and is finished in a few months.
intermediate3 hr5 min readCan I reuse last year's compost from my pots?
Where reused compost is fine, where it quietly loses you a season, and how to recondition a heap of it so it is worth using again.
beginner45 min3 min readHow do I make a new bed on top of a lawn without digging?
The cardboard-and-compost method from measuring out to planting the same day — including the edge detail and the weeds that defeat it.
beginner2 hr 30 min5 min readHow do I mulch a garden and why does it matter?
What mulch does for water, weeds and soil, which material to use where, and the mistakes that make it counterproductive.
beginner2 hr2 min readHow do I fix the soil in a new-build garden?
What is actually under new turf — a machinery pan, subsoil and rubble, with 50mm of imported topsoil on top — and the order to fix it in.
intermediate5 hr5 min readHow do I grow blueberries and rhododendrons if my soil is not acid?
Why acidifying open chalky ground does not work, why the container route does, and the watering and feeding regime that keeps a pot acid year after year.
intermediate1 hr5 min readHow do I improve heavy clay soil?
Working with clay rather than against it — organic matter, timing, and what genuinely does not help.
intermediate3 hr2 min readHow do I read a fertiliser label?
The N-P-K numbers, the trace element list, the application rate and the form — four pieces of information that between them tell you what a product does and whether it is good value.
beginner15 min4 min readHow do I stop rats getting into my compost bin?
What actually attracts rats to a heap, the physical changes that exclude them, and why the usual folk deterrents do nothing.
beginner1 hr 30 min4 min readWhat is no-dig gardening and should I do it?
What no-dig actually involves, where it genuinely saves work and where it does not, and how to start a bed without digging.
beginner2 hr3 min readHow often should I feed through the season?
A feeding year that separates the three completely different regimes — open ground, containers, and things you want to flower and fruit — plus the date after which nitrogen does harm.
beginner20 min4 min readWhy is my compost not breaking down?
The green-to-brown balance, moisture and air — diagnosing which one is missing from what the heap looks and smells like.
beginner45 min2 min readHow do I fix a waterlogged garden?
Working out why water sits, and the range of responses from improving the soil to planting for the conditions.
intermediate3 hr2 min read