Autumn Gardening

Are you dreaming of a stunning garden that doesn’t require endless hours of toil and trouble? You’re not alone! Many garden enthusiasts are embracing the concept of low-maintenance, high-impact garden designs. (Though most guides for a low-maintenance garden only show boring, shrub-heavy gardens that are less than inspiring for homeowners). I will spill the secrets […]

When it comes to selecting trees for your garden or landscape, one crucial factor to consider is the rootstock size. The rootstock serves as the base or foundation onto which the desired tree variety, known as the scion, is grafted. Fruit trees and some ornamental trees are grafted to control their growth making them suitable […]

If you’re considering starting a meadow, no-mow zone in your lawn or mini meadow in your garden, the yellow rattle is a vital plant ally you need to grow! This plant will help reduce the competition and vigour from native lawn grasses, enabling plants to flourish that otherwise would be overshadowed in the garden. So […]

Planting Allium bulbs in your back gardens, flower beds, containers, or balcony gardens is a great way to add some early summer drama to your planting schemes and also help out the bees. These bright purple flowers stand tall and strong in our flower beds, often acting as a focal point in our gardens. When […]

Recycling is a key part of the Garden Ninja ethos when it comes to gardening. So I was pleased to hear from my good friends over at J.Parkers, one of the North West’s oldest nurseries and online plant suppliers, about a number of recycling tips they had. Here’s the advice they have to help improve […]

As small garden trees and fruit trees start to grow each year the chances of lower branches becoming too heavy to support the fruit is a real issue. If you leave these lower branches to continue to grow and bear fruit the likelihood is they will start to droop to the flower and could tear […]

No matter what size garden you have at some point plants will finish for the year and need removing. Whilst shrubs and trees provide structure and height, the herbaceous perennial plant group (plants that die back each year to the ground) will need cutting back once they’ve set seed. Usually, this task is done in […]

Long before online shopping and plants by mail, splitting and dividing plants was one of the best ways of propagating your garden plants. It’s also been used for years as a way to help share and spread plants amongst communities without having to grow new plants slowly from seed. Furthermore, by getting down and dirty […]

Scarification of a lawn is often used to revitalise and keep an existing lawn in check. Scarification involves using a machine, a bit like a lawnmower but much sharper, with a rotating set of blades that slice down into the topsoil. This acts to cut the grass rhizomes, drag out debris and furrow the soil. […]

When I first started gardening many, many moons ago, I always used to garden barehanded. It gave me a real feeling of connection with the earth and the process of gardening. It wasn’t long, though, before coworkers were giving my dirt-stained hands and nails the look of horror. It looked like I’d clawed my way […]