What can I grow in an unheated greenhouse over winter?
The crops that genuinely produce in a cold greenhouse from November to March, why light rather than temperature sets the limit, and how to stop everything rotting.
intermediate45 min5 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
What does soil pH actually do to my plants?
pH does not feed a plant — it decides whether the food already in the soil can be reached. Which is why the fix for yellow leaves on chalk is not more fertiliser.
intermediate15 min3 min readWhat garden jobs have to be done before the first frost?
The short list of jobs with a genuine deadline rather than a preference — what the first frost destroys, in the order it destroys it, so nothing is lost to a night you did not see coming.
beginner3 hr4 min readWhy are my apples so small?
Four causes account for nearly every case of small fruit — too many of them, too little water, too little light, and an old congested spur system — and all four are fixable.
beginner30 min4 min readWhy do my flowers open and then drop off without setting fruit?
Flowers that open, wither and fall with no fruit behind them are a pollination or a temperature problem far more often than a feeding one.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy do my leeks have orange streaks on the leaves?
Allium rust is disfiguring, common in a wet British summer and rarely fatal — how to confirm it, whether the crop is still edible, and the four things that reduce it.
beginner12 min3 min readCan I grow food from kitchen scraps?
Which scraps genuinely regrow something worth eating, and which are an interesting science experiment and nothing more.
beginner30 min2 min readCan I grow tomatoes and cucumbers in the same greenhouse?
The old advice says never. The real answer is that they want different humidity and shading, and there are three practical ways to keep both happy in one house.
beginner10 min3 min readCan I sow seeds during hot weather?
Some seed refuses to germinate above a certain soil temperature rather than merely germinating slowly. Which crops are affected, and the techniques that get a summer sowing to come up.
beginner15 min4 min readDo I need crocks or gravel in the bottom of a pot?
Why a layer of gravel or broken pot in the base makes drainage worse rather than better, and what actually controls how a container drains.
beginner10 min3 min readDo coffee grounds, eggshells and banana skins actually do anything for the garden?
Six kitchen-waste garden remedies assessed honestly — what each one genuinely contributes, which claims are wrong, and where they all belong instead.
beginner15 min5 min readGrowmore, blood fish and bone, or chicken manure pellets — which should I use?
Three products that do the same job by different routes — what each one actually releases, how fast, and which suits your soil and your patience.
beginner15 min4 min readHow and when do I prune a grape vine?
Rod and spur pruning explained — the permanent rod, the spurs cut back to two buds every winter, the summer stopping, and the one deadline that must not be missed.
intermediate1 hr 30 min4 min readHow do I compost when there is no room for a heap?
Five systems that fit a courtyard, a balcony or a strip of paving, what each one can and cannot take, and how much waste each actually absorbs.
beginner1 hr4 min readHow do I fix a window box so it cannot fall?
Why a sill slopes and what that means, the three ways to restrain a box, and the rules that change once the box is above head height or over a shared path.
intermediate45 min4 min readHow do I get rid of moles in my lawn?
Why molehills appear in flushes, which deterrents genuinely do nothing, and the realistic options for a lawn.
intermediate1 hr3 min readHow do I grow flowers for cutting?
Choosing varieties that produce repeatedly, and the cutting and conditioning that makes them last in a vase.
beginner1 hr 30 min2 min readHow do I grow rhubarb, and when should I stop picking?
Planting a crown, the first-year rule that decides how long the plant lives, and why picking stops in midsummer.
beginner1 hr3 min readHow do I grow sprouting seeds and microgreens indoors?
Two different indoor crops that get confused — jar-sprouted seeds and compost-grown microgreens — with the hygiene that matters for one and not the other.
beginner15 min4 min readHow do I heat a greenhouse cheaply in winter?
Deciding what temperature you actually need, insulating before heating, and the running costs of the realistic options.
beginner2 hr4 min readHow do I improve the soil in a border I cannot dig?
Everything worth doing to a planted border happens on the surface — the annual routine, the timing that avoids damaging emerging growth, and a realistic timescale for the change.
beginner1 hr 30 min4 min readHow do I make leaf mould?
Turning autumn leaves into the best free soil conditioner there is, with almost no effort.
beginner1 hr2 min readHow do I pick herbs so the plant keeps growing?
Where to cut on each kind of herb so it branches instead of stalling, why picking regularly produces more than picking carefully, and when in the day the flavour is strongest.
beginner10 min4 min readHow do I prune a blackcurrant bush?
Blackcurrants fruit on last year's wood, so pruning means taking out the oldest third at ground level every winter — the opposite of how gooseberries and redcurrants are treated.
beginner45 min4 min read