Blog

If you’re new to gardening it can feel daunting working out where to start and if you’re doing things the ‘right way’. It’s a process all of us gardeners, whether professional or enthusiastic amateur, can relate to. Tamsin Westhorpe is the head gardener at Stockton Bury Country garden in Hertfordshire and has written an account […]

I’m a glass half full kinda guy. I try to refuse, where possible, to let myself end up in negative cycles. The media, in particular, like to theme January as the month of personal debasement. To try and amplify the parts of your life you’re not happy with. So much so there’s now a Blue […]

It’s a sad fact that an area the size of the UK is being lost each year worldwide to deforestation. Trees are being felled and cut down at an alarming rate. Now, even local UK councils are stealth tree felling claiming that their ‘maintenance’ costs outweigh trees’ environmental benefits. It’s all too easy for homeowners […]

We seem to have a bit of an issue with pruning as gardeners. I remember when I first started gardening, the thought of cutting off parts of the plants I’d spent ages nurturing felt horrific. I let them grow however and wherever they wanted. Just grateful they were growing. However, this laissez-faire approach always ends […]

The run-up to Christmas in December is usually a really busy month for me. Whilst most people are winding down my calender goes into overdrive with a mix of garden design work and social activities. Those savvy early bird garden design clients are queued up for me to start designing before the spring, my family […]

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 […]

When it comes to taking care of your lawn during winter, much of the maintenance requires preparation. Again, this isn’t an extensive amount of work, but there are a few points to take note of.  Now that the cold is seeping in, there’s no better time to hunker down with your to-do list and start […]

November is a cold month which signals the end of Autumn and the beginning of winters frosts. It’s easy to think its the end of the gardening year but if you think like that you’ll miss out on some wonderful gardening treats. It’s funny how people comment on ‘putting the garden to bed’. I never […]

A neatly mowed lawn is a quintessential component of the British garden. The majority of my design clients ask for a lawn as an essential part of their garden layout showing just how indispensable they are to homeowners. However, with peoples busy lives it can feel like a bit of a chore needing to cut […]

I’m often asked by new and experienced gardeners how to prune fruit trees in summer. Many gardeners know of winter pruning before spring as housekeeping but summer pruning often gets overlooked. Maybe its the euphoria of long sunny days, flowers all around the garden and hazy nights watching sunsets. However, if you fail to keep […]