Why is my garlic small with tiny cloves?
Garlic bulb size is set by cold in winter, leaf count in spring and competition — the four things that produce a small bulb and which of them you can still change.
beginner15 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
Can weedkiller in manure ruin my garden?
Aminopyralid and clopyralid residues pass through animals and survive composting — how they reach a garden, what the damage looks like, and why nothing about the manure warns you.
intermediate20 min5 min readHow close to a house can I plant a tree?
Which distances actually matter and why — soil type does more of the work than species, and the drains and the shade are more likely to cause you trouble than subsidence.
beginner30 min5 min readHow do I kill lawn weeds without killing the grass?
How selective lawn weedkillers work, when to apply them so they actually take, and the cultural changes that mean you need them far less.
beginner1 hr3 min readHow do I sow seeds indoors?
Starting seeds under cover successfully, including the light and temperature that determine whether they thrive or go leggy.
beginner45 min2 min readHow do I stop slugs eating my plants?
Which slug controls actually work, which don't, and how to protect the plants that need it without treating the whole garden.
beginner1 hr3 min readIs this plant worth saving, or should I replace it?
Five tests, in order, that settle whether a sick plant can come back — and the cases where replacing it is the right answer rather than a defeat.
beginner20 min4 min readShould I grow first early, second early or maincrop potatoes?
What the three groups actually differ in — ground time, yield and blight exposure — and which one suits a small plot, a container or a store cupboard.
beginner12 min4 min readWhat can I plant now?
How to work out what to sow whenever you are reading this, using frost dates and soil temperature rather than a fixed calendar.
beginner30 min3 min readWhat should I do to my lawn in spring?
The short list of spring lawn jobs that are worth doing, in the order the weather allows them, and the popular ones that are better left until autumn.
beginner2 hr5 min readWhere is the best place to put a greenhouse?
Ridge orientation, shade, frost pockets, wind and the services run — the five factors that decide a greenhouse position, in the order they actually matter in a British garden.
beginner30 min4 min readWhich vegetables should I sow every few weeks, and how far apart?
Three sowing rhythms sorted by how fast the crop goes over — with the trigger that actually makes successional sowing happen rather than being forgotten.
beginner15 min4 min readWhy does my courgette plant only have male flowers?
Telling male from female at a glance, why a young plant produces males first, and the conditions that delay or abort female flowers.
beginner12 min3 min readAre tree roots damaging my house?
How to tell tree-related movement from the many other causes of cracks, why the soil matters more than the tree, and the order to do things in — because felling first can make it worse.
intermediate45 min5 min readHow do I cut back a badly overgrown hedge?
The one-side-a-year method that lets a hedge recover, which species tolerate hard cutting and which are killed by it, and how to rebuild the taper as it regrows.
intermediate8 hr5 min readHow do I deal with vine weevil?
Notched leaves mean adults, sudden collapse means grubs — and the grubs in the compost are what actually kills the plant.
beginner40 min4 min readHow do I dry and cure onions and garlic so they keep?
Curing is what turns a lifted bulb into one that keeps for months — the neck test, the conditions that work in a British September, and the bulbs to eat first.
beginner30 min4 min readHow do I feed plants properly?
What the numbers on fertiliser mean, when plants actually need feeding, and why more is worse than less.
beginner20 min2 min readHow do I fill a very large planter without using ten bags of compost?
What can safely go in the bottom of a deep planter, what must never go in, how much compost depth you have to keep, and the mistake that turns a bulk-filled planter into a bog.
beginner40 min4 min readHow do I get rid of moss in a lawn?
Killing and raking out moss, and fixing the shade, drainage or compaction that let it in.
beginner3 hr2 min readHow do I get rid of weeds growing in paving and gravel?
Why weeds appear in joints that look solid, the physical and chemical options, and the jointing repair that actually stops them coming back.
beginner1 hr3 min readHow do I grow flowers from seed?
Sowing annual flowers indoors and direct, and the two stages where most seedlings are lost.
beginner3 days2 min readHow do I grow potatoes?
Chitting, planting, earthing up and harvesting potatoes in the ground or in bags, plus the timing that decides your yield.
beginner7 days3 min readHow do I keep a greenhouse from cooking in a heatwave?
The order to do things in when the forecast says thirty degrees — what actually brings the temperature down, what makes no difference, and which plants to move out entirely.
beginner30 min4 min read