There’s no time to waste; let me, Lee Burkhill, show you how to use this site to go from zero to Garden Ninja in a matter of helpful guides and gardening videos. If you want to become a fantastic gardener, then let me help train you at your own pace! I’m an award-winning garden designer […]

Quick Answer Prune apple trees between November and late February while they are dormant. Remove dead, damaged or crossing wood first, shorten this year’s new growth by a quarter, take out any double leaders, then thin congested growth back to an outward facing bud to keep an open goblet shape. Every garden should have at […]

Quick Answer Cut hedges with sharp, clean tools working from the bottom upwards in a sweeping motion, keeping the sides slightly narrower at the top so light reaches the base. Most hedges need trimming twice a year, in spring and late summer, and UK law protects nesting birds, so always check the hedge for nests […]

Quick Answer The best hedges for windy and exposed UK sites are tough, dense growers that filter wind rather than block it. Hawthorn, blackthorn and field maple make unbeatable native windbreak hedges, hornbeam and beech are the strongest formal deciduous options, yew is the classic formal evergreen, and Escallonia, Griselinia, Elaeagnus and Portuguese laurel handle […]

Quick Answer To make a compost bin from pallets, stack three matching pallets into a U shape on level, free draining ground, then screw the corners together with decking screws and angle brackets for rigidity. Hinge a fourth pallet to the front to act as a door. Always choose pallets stamped HT rather than MB, […]

Quick Answer An established wildflower meadow needs cutting three times a year. Cut it short in March before growth gets going, cut it again in August once the flowers have set and dropped their seed, and give it a final tidy in October before winter. Always remove the cuttings rather than leaving them to rot […]

BBC Garden Rescue designer Lee Burkhill explains how to get rid of garden weeds organically — which tools work, why homemade remedies fail, and how to stop weeds coming back.

Quick Answer Himalayan balsam grows 1.5 to 2.5 metres tall with hollow, reddish, translucent looking stems and distinctive pink to purple, helmet shaped flowers from June to October. It is not illegal to have it on your land, but it is an offence to let it spread into the wild, and its seed pods explode […]

Quick Answer Giant hogweed grows up to 5 metres tall with thick, hollow stems covered in purple blotches and coarse bristles, and umbrella shaped white flower heads up to 60cm across. Its sap contains compounds that make skin extremely sensitive to sunlight, causing severe burns and blistering on contact combined with UV exposure. If sap […]