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Sowing seeds is an activity that brings joy and smiles all around to gardeners. Each year, gardeners and allotment holders around the country eagerly sow seeds of both flowers and vegetables to grow in their gardens. Sowing seeds is really cost-effective and offers gardeners an unbelievable variety of plants that you simply can’t buy from […]

Every year, right around the time the weather turns and clients start ringing me about getting their hedges sorted for summer, I have some version of the same conversation. Someone wants a hedge cut back hard, right now, and I have to explain why we’re either waiting a few weeks or checking very carefully first. […]

Whilst the weather here in the UK can be a bit temperamental, the summer often feels like a two-week affair before it disappears again. You would be surprised just how favourable our climate actually is for growing some truly awesome plants. If your garden is lucky enough to be in full sun, this list of […]

Quick Answer No, don’t water an established lawn during a heatwave or hosepipe ban. Browning grass is dormant, not dead, and recovers naturally once rain returns. With nine water companies under Temporary Use Bans across England in the summer of 2026 and more than half the country in drought, save your watering can for containers, […]

Quick Answer To build your own fire pit, dig a circle in the lawn or lift paving, lay a fireproof gravel base over weed membrane, arrange reclaimed stone or bricks around a steel fire bowl, and dress with decorative gravel. The whole project takes a day, costs as little as £30 using salvaged materials, and […]

Quick answer: Shade-loving plants survive on less light thanks to larger leaves, higher chlorophyll levels, and slower growth. Good choices for deep shade include Hostas, Epimediums, and Pachysandra, while damp shade suits Astilbe, Ligularia, and Hydrangea. Match the plant to your exact type of shade, whether deep, dappled, dry, or damp, and most borders that […]

Quick answer: The best evergreen shrubs for a low maintenance UK garden include Sweet Box, Skimmia and Winter Daphne for small spaces, and Fatsia, Photinia and Pittosporum for bigger structural planting. All hold their leaves and shape year round, need very little pruning, and give a garden winter interest without the upkeep of a mixed […]

Quick Answer Rhododendrons most often die or decline in UK gardens because of alkaline soil, which stops the plant taking up iron even when nutrients are present, waterlogged ground that leads to phytophthora root rot, exposure to drying wind or strong winter sun that scorches the evergreen leaves, or bud blast fungal disease that turns […]

Quick Answer If you have inherited a garden or never quite got round to your own, start by assessing aspect, drainage and soil, then audit what is worth keeping before you remove anything. Spend on safety and soil first, learn your garden’s seasonal rhythm, and buy the handful of tools that actually earn their place. […]

Quick Answer Mare’s tail, also called horsetail, cannot be eradicated in a single season. The most reliable organic approach is cutting or pulling shoots every one to two weeks to exhaust the root reserves, combined with smothering under cardboard or heavy duty membrane for at least a full growing season. Standard glyphosate struggles against the […]