How 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 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 deal with garden pests?
Identifying the common garden pests, deciding whether they matter, and the controls that work without wrecking everything else.
beginner1 hr2 min readHow do I deal with weeds without chemicals?
The methods that work by weed type, and why timing matters more than effort.
beginner45 min2 min readHow do I get rid of weeds?
How to deal with annual and perennial weeds differently, why mulching beats weeding, and what to do about the difficult ones.
beginner2 hr2 min readHow do I help a plant recover from heat stress?
What heat stress actually does to a plant, how to tell it from drought and from root damage, and why the correct treatment for most of it is patience rather than intervention.
beginner20 min7 min readHow do I plant a pot so it does not dry out?
Pot size and material, the watering gap people leave out, and the mistakes that make a container need daily attention.
beginner40 min5 min readHow do I tell when each vegetable is ready to pick?
Crop by crop, the physical sign that says ready — and the general principle that most vegetables are best picked earlier and more often than people think.
beginner20 min4 min readHow do I work out what's wrong with my plant?
A diagnostic method for sick plants — what yellowing, wilting, spots and holes each tend to mean, and what to check first.
beginner30 min2 min readWhen and how do I prune a hydrangea?
Which hydrangea you have decides everything — mopheads and lacecaps are barely cut, paniculatas and annabelles are cut hard, and mixing the two up costs a year of flowers.
beginner45 min3 min readWhy are my tomato flowers falling off without setting fruit?
Tomato flowers abort at both ends of the temperature range and when pollen never moves. Which of the four causes you have, and what actually shifts it.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy does the moss in my lawn keep coming back?
Moss is a symptom of six different conditions, and killing it treats none of them. How to work out which cause you actually have before spending another autumn raking.
beginner45 min5 min readWhy is my plant wilting?
Why too much and too little water look identical, and the checks that tell them apart in two minutes.
beginner20 min2 min readHow do I keep houseplants alive?
The four things houseplants actually need — light, water, drainage and the right pot size — and how to diagnose an unhappy plant.
beginner20 min3 min readWhy do my carrots have rusty brown tunnels through them?
Carrot fly larvae, and the barrier that works because of how the adult flies — plus the thinning habits that bring it in and the timing that dodges it.
beginner20 min4 min readCan I cut my hedge during nesting season?
What the law actually protects, why March to August is a guideline rather than a legal date, how to check a hedge properly, and what to do if you find a nest mid-job.
beginner20 min4 min readHow do I choose plants for my garden?
Matching plants to the conditions you actually have — light, soil, moisture and exposure — rather than fighting them.
beginner45 min2 min readHow do I get rid of bindweed?
Why digging spreads it, the cane technique that targets treatment, and the persistence it genuinely requires.
beginner1 hr3 min readHow do I improve a waterlogged lawn?
Telling compaction from a drainage problem, aerating properly, and when the answer is not a lawn at all.
beginner4 hr3 min readHow do I maintain a lawn?
The seasonal jobs that make the biggest difference to a lawn — mowing height, feeding, scarifying, aerating and dealing with moss.
beginner3 hr3 min readHow do I plant bulbs?
When to plant spring and summer bulbs, how deep to put them, and why most bulb failures are drainage rather than technique.
beginner1 hr 30 min3 min readHow do I prune a hedge properly?
Cutting the batter so light reaches the base, the timing that keeps a hedge dense, and the species that will not regrow from old wood.
beginner3 hr3 min readHow do I renovate a tired lawn without digging it up?
The autumn renovation sequence — scarify, aerate, overseed, top-dress, feed — in the right order, in the right weeks, with realistic expectations of what one season achieves.
intermediate8 hr5 min readHow do I repair a lawn after a drought?
Most brown lawns recover on their own within weeks of rain returning. What to do about the parts that do not, why autumn is the moment, and the repairs that fail if attempted too early.
beginner40 min5 min readHow do I revive a plant that has dried out completely?
Why water runs straight through bone-dry compost, the soak that actually rehydrates it, and how to tell whether the plant is still alive.
beginner1 hr4 min read