How do I start a vegetable garden?
How to start growing food without over-committing — where to put it, how big to make it, and what to grow in the first year.
beginner8 hr3 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 much topsoil, compost or bark do I need?
The volume sum, the conversion into bulk bags and 50-litre bags, and the settlement allowance that stops you ordering a third too little.
beginner15 min4 min readMy potatoes have blight — should I cut the tops off, and can I still eat the potatoes?
The decision once blight is in the haulm: when to cut, how long to wait, which tubers keep and which go, and why the affected crop must not be composted.
beginner20 min5 min readShould I remove the leaves from my tomato plants?
Which leaves genuinely earn removal, which ones the fruit still needs, and why stripping a plant to help ripening does the opposite.
beginner10 min4 min readWhat are the spots on my rose leaves?
Telling black spot, rust and powdery mildew apart from the marks they make and where they appear, and the cultural changes that actually reduce all three.
beginner20 min5 min readWhich rootstock should my fruit tree be on?
The rootstock decides how big the tree gets, how soon it crops and whether it needs staking for life. What each apple, pear, plum and cherry rootstock gives you, and how far apart to plant.
beginner20 min5 min readWhy are my plant leaves curling?
Reading the direction of the curl and where it starts to separate water stress from pests, heat and weedkiller damage.
beginner25 min4 min readWhy are my plant's leaf tips going brown?
Reading the pattern of browning to separate dry air, salt build-up, watering problems and scorch.
beginner20 min2 min readWhy are there holes in my plant's leaves, and what made them?
The shape and position of the hole names the culprit — edge or middle, through the leaf or grazed to a window, and what was left behind.
beginner20 min6 min readWhy did my carrot and parsnip seed not come up?
These two are the slowest, fussiest seeds most gardeners sow — the moisture and warmth window that has to be held for weeks, and the sowing method that holds it.
beginner15 min5 min readWhy does my lawn have brown patches?
A diagnostic order for dead patches — grubs, disease, drought, urine or the mower — based on the shape of the patch and whether the turf lifts.
beginner25 min3 min readWhy has my plant stopped flowering?
Too much nitrogen, too little light, and pruning at the wrong moment — the three causes behind most plants that grow well but will not bloom.
beginner25 min4 min readWhy have my tomatoes stopped ripening in hot weather?
Above roughly thirty degrees a tomato stops making the pigment that turns it red, so fruit sits green or blotchy orange for weeks. Cooling the plant, not feeding it, is what restarts it.
beginner12 min5 min readWhy is my peat-free compost dry on top and soggy underneath?
Why wood fibre and bark dry pale on the surface while the middle of the pot is still wet, and the watering change that fixes it.
beginner20 min4 min readHow do I do crop rotation on a small plot?
The four groups and why each follows the last, what rotation genuinely prevents, and the honest version for a garden with three small beds.
intermediate25 min4 min readHow do I grow vegetables in pots?
Which vegetables actually work in containers, what size pot each needs, and why container growing needs more water and feed than ground growing.
beginner3 days3 min readHow do I tell if a tree in my garden is dangerous?
The signs a householder can genuinely spot from the ground, what each one means, and the point at which a look becomes a phone call to an arboriculturist.
intermediate40 min6 min readHow much ventilation does a greenhouse need?
Why an open door on its own does almost nothing, the roof-vent area a greenhouse should have, and the low-plus-high pairing that makes air actually move through the house.
beginner15 min4 min readHow often should I water my plants?
How to tell when a plant actually needs water, why deep infrequent watering beats daily sprinkling, and the signs of overwatering.
beginner15 min2 min readWhy are my courgette leaves covered in white powder?
Powdery mildew on cucurbits is close to inevitable by late summer — how to tell it from harmless silver leaf markings, how long it costs you, and what genuinely delays it.
beginner12 min3 min readWhy are my potatoes so small?
Six causes of a disappointing potato crop, in the order worth checking — and the one that catches nearly everybody, which is water at the wrong moment.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy do my houseplants keep dying?
The four things houseplants actually need, and why watering is almost always the thing being done wrong.
beginner20 min3 min readHow and when should I feed a lawn?
Spring and autumn feeds do different jobs, applying evenly without stripes, and why more is worse.
beginner1 hr3 min readHow do I build a raised bed?
Sizing, siting and filling a raised bed, including the timber choice and the depth that actually matters.
intermediate4 hr2 min read