Seasonal, practical gardening for people with a normal garden and a normal amount of time. Timings are given for a temperate northern-hemisphere climate — adjust for yours.
687 guides
Getting tender perennials, citrus and cuttings through a British winter under glass — the water regime, the ventilation that prevents grey mould, and why most losses are damp rather than cold.
The right moment, the grip that does not crush the stem, and the depth that makes the difference between a stocky plant and a floppy one.
What to cover and in what order when a frost is forecast onto growth that has already broken, why soft new growth is the vulnerable part, and what to do the morning after.
Seedlings are killed by heat in an afternoon, in conditions established plants shrug off, because their roots occupy a tiny volume that dries and heats faster than anything else in the garden.
The one rule that governs every Mediterranean subshrub — no dormant buds in bare old wood — how to prune within it every year, and what to do with a plant already past the point of rescue.
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.
Shade paint, external netting and internal blinds compared, the right time of year to put shading on and take it off, and why external shading beats internal by a wide margin.
What actually attracts rats to a heap, the physical changes that exclude them, and why the usual folk deterrents do nothing.
Reading which leaves are affected — oldest or newest — to separate the mobile nutrients from the immobile ones, and what each pattern actually means.
The honest answer is: when the turf profile says so, which for most lawns is a good deal less often than once a year. How to measure it, and what aerating does that scarifying does not.
The edge of the spot tells you what made it — round with a firm margin, angular and stopped by the veins, or fading out with no margin at all.
How to tell a new lean from an old one, the ground-level signs that mean it is actively failing, and the order to do things in when it involves a neighbour or a road.
The single difference that decides how you train, support and harvest a tomato plant — and which type suits a greenhouse, a bed, a pot and a hanging basket.
What each option really costs in money, time and risk, and the situations where one of them is clearly the wrong answer.
Why the ground under a tree is the hardest place in a garden, the planting technique that works there, and the plants that genuinely cope.
What no-dig actually involves, where it genuinely saves work and where it does not, and how to start a bed without digging.
Why potash rather than nitrogen is the fruit grower's feed, the late-winter timing that matters, and the mulching and grass-free circle that do more than any fertiliser.
Identifying a clematis group from when it flowers, and what each group needs — with the safe approach for a plant you cannot identify at all.
The four mechanisms climbers use to attach themselves, what support each one physically requires, and why a new climber sitting in a heap at the bottom of a wall is nearly always a support problem rather than a plant problem.
The realistic candidates for a UK privacy hedge, what each costs in annual maintenance, and why the fastest-growing option is almost always the wrong one.
The traits that make a plant a good long-term container subject, the reliable performers for a British patio, and the popular ones that will not do it however well you look after them.
Blown sprouts come from loose soil, too much nitrogen and wind rock — the firm planting and staking that produce tight buttons, plus when stopping the plant helps.
The five causes of blind daffodils in the order they are worth checking, why congestion is the commonest, and the lift-and-divide job that fixes a clump that has stopped performing.
Yellowing garlic is normal at one time of year and a warning at another — reading it by season, by which leaves, and ruling out white rot.