What's new, what's growing, what we're learning. Updates, guides and stories for people who take their garden seriously.
Winter-ready does not mean stripped bare. What to do from CW 40 onward, why leaves stay put, and how to make water, pots and tools frost-proof, week by week.
Pole beans use the airspace nobody else plants into. How to build a sturdy bean tepee, why beans always climb anticlockwise, and how steady picking keeps the harvest going for weeks.
Drought and heavy rain are two sides of the same coin. Here is how to ready your garden for both extremes: humus-rich soil that acts like a sponge, keeping rain on site, and drought-proof planting.
Foraging wild garlic is easy once you know its poisonous look-alikes. Here is how to tell it apart from lily of the valley, autumn crocus and lords-and-ladies, and how to gather it hygienically.
Black stars, a white veil, orange dots: three leaf pictures tell you which rose disease you are facing, and how to cure it with a rake and secateurs instead of a spray bottle.
When your compost heap just rots into slime instead of turning to humus, it's almost always one of four usual causes. Here's how to make the diagnosis, kick-start decomposition with turning and a nettle starter, and avoid the classic mistakes.
The hour you harvest and drying below 40 degrees decide the flavour. Here is how to turn your garden surplus into a fragrant tea stock that lasts until the next harvest.
Turn calendula and ribwort plantain into your own little apothecary: homemade calendula salve, plantain syrup and tinctures, with clear limits and plenty of cleanliness.
Why daily watering weakens your plants and why deep, infrequent watering almost always wins. With clear amounts for beds, pots and lawn, the finger test, and tricks that save you watering rounds.
