Autumn Gardening

Quick Answer Plant spring bulbs in pots from September to October, and Tulips in November, at three times the bulb’s height deep. Use a pot with drainage holes, at least 30cm deep, filled with peat-free compost mixed with about 30% grit. Pack the bulbs close together, water in, and leave the pot outside over winter. […]

Quick Answer Plant spring bulbs such as Daffodils, Crocus and Alliums from September to October, and Tulips in November. Summer bulbs like Lilies, Gladioli and Dahlias go in from March to May, and autumn bulbs in July and August. Plant every bulb at three times its own height, pointed end up, in well-drained soil. Every […]

Quick Answer The best time to plant Daffodil bulbs in the UK is September and October, while the soil still holds enough warmth for the roots to establish before winter. November is fine, and you can plant as late as December as long as the ground isn’t frozen. Plant them 15cm deep, pointed end up, […]

Quick Answer Skimmia japonica is a compact evergreen shrub for shade that needs very little care. Plant it in light to full shade in moist, well-drained, humus-rich soil or a pot of ericaceous compost. Only female plants carry berries, and they need a male nearby, unless you choose the self-fertile Skimmia japonica subsp. reevesiana. Yellow […]

Quick Answer Pyracantha (firethorn) is a tough, thorny evergreen shrub that grows in sun or shade on almost any soil, flowers white in early summer and carries red, orange or yellow berries through autumn and winter. Prune it lightly after flowering, then shorten new growth in late summer to show off the berries, always checking […]

Quick Answer The easiest things to make with Damsons are Damson gin, Damson jam, crumble, fool, chutney, ice cream, clafoutis and compote. Damsons are too sharp for most people to eat raw, but their high pectin sets jam with ordinary sugar, and freezing them overnight splits the skins for gin. Pick them in September, when […]

Quick Answer For most UK gardens under 500m², a quality cordless mower now matches petrol for cutting performance, and the real decision is which battery platform to buy into. Starting from scratch, my picks are the Greenworks G40LM41K2X for an all-round medium lawn and the EGO LM1702E-SP if you want the best self-propelled performance money […]

Quick answer: For a typical UK back garden under 300 square metres on a tight budget, the WORX Landroid Vision Cloud WR303E at around £630 is the robot mower I would fit, because it needs no wire and no antenna. Larger gardens up to 800 square metres do better with the LiDAR-guided Segway Navimow i208, […]

🌿 Quick Answer The best gardening gifts are the ones a gardener will use every week: quality secateurs such as the Felco Elite, a forged trowel, Gold Leaf gloves, a foam kneeling pad, merino socks and sturdy work boots. For the gardener who has everything, try a Japanese pruning saw, a heated propagator, a plant […]

Quick Answer: Getting Rid of Chafer Grubs How do you get rid of chafer grubs? Water in nematodes of the species Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, sold as chafer grub killer, between late July and September while soil sits above 12°C. Keep the lawn moist for a fortnight afterwards. No chemical treatment is available to UK gardeners, so […]