Blog

Quick Answer To make a compost bin from pallets, stack three matching pallets into a U shape on level, free draining ground, then screw the corners together with decking screws and angle brackets for rigidity. Hinge a fourth pallet to the front to act as a door. Always choose pallets stamped HT rather than MB, […]

Quick Answer An established wildflower meadow needs cutting three times a year. Cut it short in March before growth gets going, cut it again in August once the flowers have set and dropped their seed, and give it a final tidy in October before winter. Always remove the cuttings rather than leaving them to rot […]

BBC Garden Rescue designer Lee Burkhill explains how to get rid of garden weeds organically — which tools work, why homemade remedies fail, and how to stop weeds coming back.

Quick Answer Himalayan balsam grows 1.5 to 2.5 metres tall with hollow, reddish, translucent looking stems and distinctive pink to purple, helmet shaped flowers from June to October. It is not illegal to have it on your land, but it is an offence to let it spread into the wild, and its seed pods explode […]

Quick Answer Giant hogweed grows up to 5 metres tall with thick, hollow stems covered in purple blotches and coarse bristles, and umbrella shaped white flower heads up to 60cm across. Its sap contains compounds that make skin extremely sensitive to sunlight, causing severe burns and blistering on contact combined with UV exposure. If sap […]

Quick Answer Ragwort is a UK native wildflower with clusters of small daisy like yellow flowers on stems 30 to 100cm tall. It is not illegal to have it in a garden, but it is listed as an injurious weed under the Weeds Act 1959 because it is toxic to horses and livestock if eaten. […]

Quick Answer Japanese knotweed has hollow, bamboo like stems speckled with purple, shovel shaped leaves that grow in a zigzag pattern, and clusters of small white flowers from August to October. It dies back to ground level every winter and regrows from the same root system each spring. Several ornamental garden plants are regularly mistaken […]

Quick Answer A beginner beekeeper needs a hive, a bee suit or jacket with gloves and boots, a smoker, a hive tool, frames and foundation, and a feeder, which together cost roughly £400 to £650 for a complete British National setup. Extraction equipment such as an uncapping knife, extractor and settling tank can wait until […]

Quick Answer Lavender and roses feed bees brilliantly for a few weeks in midsummer, but pollinators are active in the UK from January through to November. Add early plants such as winter aconite, snowdrops, primrose, hellebores and mahonia for late winter, and late plants such as echinacea, sedum, asters, Japanese anemone and ivy for autumn, […]

Quick Answer Lavender usually fails to flower because of too much shade, soil that’s too rich or too wet, or a lack of annual pruning that has let it become woody. Check the season and variety first, then work through sunlight, soil, watering and pruning history. Most causes are fixable within a single growing season. […]