How do I shelter an exposed, windy garden?
Why a permeable barrier shelters far more ground than a solid one, how far the shelter reaches, and what to plant or build on an exposed site.
intermediate4 hr4 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 stop caterpillars eating my cabbages?
Why netting is the only reliable answer, the mesh size that actually excludes the butterflies, and what to do when they get in anyway.
beginner1 hr3 min readHow do I use a cold frame properly?
What a cold frame is genuinely for through the year, how to ventilate it so it does not cook, and the week-long routine that hardens plants off properly.
beginner1 hr5 min readHow do I use a greenhouse properly?
Ventilation, shading, watering and winter cleaning — the four things that determine whether a greenhouse works.
intermediate2 hr2 min readHow do I use a hedge trimmer safely?
The PPE that is not optional, the ladder rule that causes most of the serious injuries, and a cutting sequence that gives a straight hedge without over-reaching.
beginner30 min5 min readHow long does petrol keep, and what is E10 doing to my garden machinery?
Why petrol degrades, what the ethanol in E10 does to small engines, and the storage and stabiliser practices that avoid a workshop bill every spring.
beginner15 min5 min readIs my rose a climber or a rambler?
Four observations that separate the two, and why getting it wrong means either pruning off a whole year of flowers or letting a plant swallow a wall.
beginner10 min3 min readIs my soil contaminated, and is it safe to grow food in?
The site histories that raise a real question, what a home test can and cannot tell you, and the practical measures that let you grow food safely on ground you are unsure about.
advanced40 min5 min readIs this powdery mildew or downy mildew?
Two problems with similar names that need opposite conditions and opposite responses — which surface each grows on, and why one is far harder to stop.
intermediate18 min4 min readShould I cut off damaged or diseased leaves?
When removing a damaged leaf helps the plant, when it costs the plant more than the damage did, and how to trim one without making it worse.
beginner10 min4 min readShould I grow in the greenhouse border or in pots?
The border gives a bigger root run and a better crop but accumulates disease. Pots, bags and ring culture avoid that at the cost of daily watering. How to choose, and how to have both.
beginner15 min4 min readShould I sow seeds in modules or straight into the ground?
Which crops resent being moved, where modules buy you weeks, and the UK-specific reasons direct sowing so often fails in spring.
beginner15 min4 min readWhat do pot sizes like 2 litre, 3 litre and P9 actually mean?
Nursery pots are sold by volume, garden centre pots by width, and neither number tells you what you expect. What each size really holds and why one step up buys so little.
beginner5 min3 min readWhat is damping down, and how do I do it properly?
Wetting the floor of a greenhouse cools it, raises humidity and suppresses red spider mite. When it helps, when it causes disease, and the plants that hate it.
beginner5 min3 min readWhen and how do I prune a buddleia?
The hard late-winter cut that keeps a buddleia at a usable size with big flowers, why it is the textbook example of a new-wood shrub, and the two buddleias that must not be treated this way.
beginner45 min4 min readWhen should I cut back herbaceous perennials?
The case for leaving stems standing over winter, the plants that genuinely need cutting in autumn, and how to get both a tidy garden and the wildlife benefit.
beginner1 hr 30 min3 min readWhich fruit will grow in a shady garden?
What shade actually costs you in fruit, which crops accept it, and the north-wall fruits — Morello cherries, cooking apples, gooseberries — that are genuinely productive without full sun.
beginner20 min4 min readWho is responsible for a garden fence or boundary?
Finding out which boundary is yours, what you can and cannot do to a neighbour's fence or hedge, and how to raise it well.
beginner45 min2 min readWhy are my acer's leaves going brown and crispy at the edges?
Wind and sun scorch is almost always the answer on Japanese maples, and the position matters far more than anything you feed or spray.
beginner20 min3 min readWhy are my courgettes rotting before they grow?
Why small fruit yellows and shrivels at the end — poor pollination in most cases — and how to hand pollinate in a wet or cold summer.
beginner20 min3 min readWhy are my parsnips small, forked or rotting at the shoulder?
Three separate parsnip problems that get confused — a short season, an obstructed tap root, and parsnip canker at the crown — and what each one actually needs.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy are my plums and apples going brown and furry on the tree?
The rot that spreads by touch through a cluster and overwinters in the mummified fruit left hanging — and why removing those mummies is the whole of the control.
beginner40 min4 min readWhy are my seedlings collapsing at soil level?
Recognising damping off, why it cannot be cured once it starts, and the hygiene and watering that prevent it entirely.
beginner20 min3 min readWhy are my strawberries going mouldy before I can pick them?
Grey mould thrives on contact, damp and still air — so the fixes are all physical: get the fruit off the soil, get air through the plants, and never water over the top.
beginner30 min5 min read