How do I grow chillies and peppers?
Starting early enough, providing enough warmth, and the feeding that determines whether you get fruit or just foliage.
intermediate1 hr2 min read
Garden
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
How do I know when my compost is ready to use?
The look, feel and smell of finished compost, the cress test that settles it, and what immature compost does to plants if you use it too early.
beginner20 min4 min readHow do I store apples so they keep until spring?
Which varieties keep and which never will, the cool damp dark conditions apples actually want, and the sorting and checking routine that stops one rotten apple taking the tray.
beginner1 hr 30 min4 min readHow do I take cuttings from plants?
Making free plants from softwood and semi-ripe cuttings, and the humidity that decides whether they root.
intermediate45 min2 min readHow do I tell if my soil is healthy?
Four things you can read from a single spadeful — structure, colour, roots and life — and what each of them is actually telling you to change.
beginner20 min4 min readHow do I thin apples, pears and plums, and how much should I take off?
Removing a large part of a young crop feels wrong and is the single most effective thing you can do for fruit size, next year's crop and the branches themselves.
beginner1 hr4 min readHow do I use horticultural fleece properly?
How much protection fleece actually gives, the two things people get wrong — laying it on the leaves and leaving it open at the bottom — and how to keep it usable for several seasons.
beginner25 min5 min readHow much fertiliser do I actually need?
How to turn grams per square metre into something you can actually measure without scales, how to work out what a bed needs, and why half strength twice as often beats guessing.
beginner15 min4 min readHow often should I water newly planted shrubs and perennials?
Why new plants need watering long after they look established, how much a single soak actually delivers, and the first-year regime that decides whether they survive.
beginner20 min5 min readShould I get a polytunnel or a greenhouse?
Cost per square metre, light quality, heat retention, lifespan, wind resistance and how each one looks in a garden — the honest comparison before you spend the money.
beginner15 min4 min readShould I put weed membrane under bark or gravel in a border?
In a planted border, no — it fails within three years and leaves a mess that outlasts the planting. The three places it genuinely belongs, and what to do instead.
beginner20 min5 min readTree roots are lifting my patio — what can I do?
Why cutting the offending root is often the worst option, the three fixes that work, and how to rebuild a surface so the tree and the paving can coexist.
intermediate3 hr5 min readWhat can I grow in a shady or north-facing garden?
Working out how much light you really have, and choosing plants that genuinely prefer it rather than tolerate it.
beginner45 min2 min readWhat can I safely spray on plants I am going to eat?
How to read a garden pesticide label for edible crops, what homemade soap sprays actually do, and why the non-chemical answer is usually also the more effective one.
beginner15 min5 min readWhat compost should I use for lavender, rosemary and olives in pots?
Why multipurpose compost kills drought-adapted plants in containers, the grit proportion that fixes it, and the different mix each of the common Mediterranean plants actually wants.
beginner15 min3 min readWhat do I do if I have already spread contaminated manure?
Confirming it, deciding between removal and waiting, what you can safely grow in the meantime, and the honest timescale for the bed coming back.
intermediate1 hr 30 min5 min readWhere do I start with a neglected, overgrown garden?
How to take on an overgrown garden without destroying what is worth keeping — survey and hazard check first, cut to see, then wait a full year before making permanent decisions.
intermediate4 hr5 min readWhich mulch should I use — bark, wood chip, gravel or compost?
What each mulch material is actually good at, where each one is the wrong choice, and the depth that decides whether any of them works.
beginner30 min3 min readWhich type of greenhouse heater should I get?
Electric fan, electric tube, paraffin and gas compared on control, running cost, humidity and safety — plus the honest question of whether you need to heat the whole greenhouse at all.
beginner20 min4 min readWhy did my plant go black after a cold night?
What frost actually does to plant tissue, why the youngest growth goes first, and the strong case for leaving the damage exactly where it is.
beginner15 min5 min readWhy do my cuttings rot instead of rooting?
Rot at the base and shrivel at the tip are opposite failures with opposite fixes — telling them apart, and the preparation faults behind each.
intermediate25 min5 min readWhy do my seedlings do badly in peat-free compost?
Four specific things go wrong when small seed meets a coarse mix — poor contact, surface drying, nitrogen drawdown and over-rich multipurpose — and each has a direct fix.
beginner20 min4 min readWhy does my hanging basket look tired by July?
Baskets peak in June and collapse in July for four specific reasons — exhausted feed, seed setting, root congestion and one dry day. What to do in each case and how to prevent it next year.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy does my lawn feel spongy underfoot?
How to measure the thatch layer, when it needs removing, and the difference between scarifying, solid tining and hollow tining.
intermediate3 hr3 min read