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Quick Answer The Wheel of the Year is an eightfold calendar of seasonal festivals, called sabbats, that marks the turning points of the natural year, the solstices, the equinoxes and the four cross quarter days that fall between them. For a gardener it maps almost exactly onto the growing year you already live by, from […]

QUICK ANSWER Monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana) need a sheltered, sunny spot with moist but well drained soil and room to reach 12 metres or more, so check your space before planting. Browning is usually one of three things: natural shedding of the oldest lower branches, drought stress in a pot or newly planted specimen, […]

Quick Answer Lawn care changes with the seasons. Feed and aerate in spring, mow weekly through summer without cutting too short, scarify and feed again in autumn, then let the grass rest from November to January. Follow this month by month planner and your lawn will stay thick, green and far less work than the […]

Quick answer: Get ahead of bumper crops by separating apples as they come off the tree and use windfalls and bruised fruit first. Turn a glut into apple sauce, chutney or apple butter within a few days of picking, or freeze prepared slices for later. Unblemished apples wrapped individually in newspaper and stored somewhere cool, […]

Quick Answer Most UK garden plums are ready to pick from the second week of August through to mid September, with Victoria plums typically hitting their peak in the third week of August. A ripe plum will have full colour, a faint powdery bloom, a slight give when gently squeezed and will twist away from […]

Quick Answer Prune a plum tree in September, straight after harvest, and never in winter. Plums belong to the Prunus family alongside cherries, and a winter cut leaves the wound open to silver leaf disease and bacterial canker for months in cold, damp weather. Remove dead or crossing wood first, thin any congested growth, and […]

Quick Answer Crop rotation means growing a different plant family in each bed every year, usually on a three to four year cycle, rather than growing the same crops in the same spot repeatedly. It stops pests and diseases building up in the soil, keeps nutrients balanced, and improves yields. Group vegetables into families such […]

Quick Answer A hedge witch is a solitary practitioner of folk magic who works with the plants, trees and rhythms of their own garden and local land rather than through a coven or a formal Wiccan structure. The name comes from the old English wisewoman or wiseman who lived at the edge of the village, […]

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. […]