Garden Advice

The Hayter Osprey 46 is a rotary lawn mower designed for residential use. Hayter has been hand making mowers for the last 70 years and are renowned for their craftsmanship when making lawn mowers. They have a Royal Warrant which kind of says it all. They recently got in touch to see if I wanted to […]

This guide will show you how to make a compost bin from Pallets. This is by far the easiest method I have used over the years. Even with a small garden, if you have enough space for a palette it’s worthwhile creating a compost bin. You not only save on those dreadful green bin charges […]

Councils have faced significant budget cuts in the last few years, mainly as a knock-on effect of quantitative after the recession brought on by the banking and financial sector crisis. I’m not going to voice my opinions on that sorry state of affairs, on whether it’s true that the establishment has always propped itself up […]

We have all been there as new gardeners, watching your plants grow and get bigger each year, caring for their every need to be rewarded with flowers or gorgeous foliage. Then there is that moment, you don’t know when it happened but you look at the plant no longer looks full of the joys of […]

I don’t know of any gardener than likes cleaning up leaves, but come the Autumn months it is something that most gardeners need to tolerate. Leaf mould compost is an excellent way to rid yourself of wet slimy leaves and enrich your garden with a nutrient-rich compost. It costs virtually nothing and, if you don’t mind […]

However, there is another thought with front garden design. Why not turn this around and actually make it a space that greets you warmly as you come home, offers refuge, excitement, calm or invitation to your visitors? This guide will show you that you can have a functional, beautiful and environmentally sound space and it […]

How to mulch a garden Mulching is relatively easy to do and has loads of benefits. The aim is to either cover around the base of a plant with mulch or the entire bed. I usually mulch the entire bed to get the maximum benefit. The most important thing is that you fully weed before […]

Garden lawns are probably one of the most widely recognised garden design components. Turf has a huge variety of uses if you want to lounge on a deck chair on it, manicure it to perfection, get your mates round to have a BBQ on it or even football pitch for your children. Garden lawns and […]

Why do we need to repot plants? Root bound plants stagnate – After a few seasons or years, any container plant will eventually become root bound or root balled. This is where the roots of the plants reach the edges of the pots and carry on searching for water and nutrients by then growing back around […]

The soil type that you have in your garden can make or break your plans for a successful garden design.  Your plants will only be as successful as the preparation and planning that you, the gardener puts in! Rather than thinking of soil as dirt you need to start treating it as the life force of your […]

A gardens aspect is one of the first things I do when I’m working on a new garden design. If you ignore it you will struggle to find the correct plants, choose the best seating areas, plan paths that aren’t for example shady, damp and slippy. When designing and planting, you can accommodate virtually any aspect […]

This raised bed guide will explain exactly when and how to use raised beds for successful gardening. Raised beds can be used in nearly all gardens regardless of the condition, or even absence, of soil. It allows you to build up and choose the soil you need for the plants or vegetables you want to […]

Planting bare root shrubs and trees is a preparation method often used to package and transport deciduous and sometimes evergreen plants. Trees and shrubs are lifted when dormant and the soil is then removed from the roots and they are wrapped ready to be replanted. So why do nurseries lift and sell bare root trees? […]

Garden designing with plants for shade is often approached with a look of worry, lip biting and sometimes avoidance. Planting for shade seems to fill people with dread. However, if Beth Chatto has taught us, designers, anything about garden plant choice, it’s to work with what you’ve got. I for one love designing with shade in […]