Propagating & Growing Plants

I always remember standing in my own garden one May morning a few years back, coffee in hand, looking at a potting bench absolutely groaning with tomato plants, sweet peas, dahlia tubers and courgette seedlings, all waiting to go out. The garden felt like it was holding its breath. By the end of that weekend, […]

If there is one piece of advice I give almost every client who comes to me for a garden design consultation, it is this: fill your borders properly. Not half-heartedly with a few lonely shrubs surrounded by a sea of bare earth, but densely, intelligently, and with plants that work brilliantly together. Ground cover plants […]

Quick Answer The fastest growing plants for UK gardens include flowering shrubs such as Buddleja, Lavatera, Forsythia, and Photinia ‘Red Robin’, which can add 60cm to 1.5m per year. For ground cover, Vinca, Ajuga, and Geranium macrorrhizum spread rapidly with minimal effort. Fast-growing small trees including Amelanchier lamarckii, Sorbus aucuparia (Rowan), and Prunus ‘Amanogawa’ deliver […]

Many of the plants that define the classic English country garden style thrive specifically because of alkaline conditions, meaning that if you live in a very chalky garden, there are plenty of plants to choose from. Trust me, as the garden design expert, having all kinds of soil still lets you have flower beds full […]

From designing hundreds of client gardens across the UK, I can tell you that the gardeners who stop fighting their soil and start choosing plants that genuinely love it are the ones who achieve the most spectacular results. Acid soil is home territory for some of the most beautiful plants in cultivation. In this guide […]

Quick Answer Plant fertilisers supply the three key nutrients plants need: nitrogen (N) for leaf and shoot growth, phosphorus (P) for root development, and potassium (K) for flowers and fruit. Remember the mnemonic shoots, roots and fruits. Organic fertilisers such as compost, seaweed, and chicken manure pellets are always preferable to synthetic alternatives, as they […]

Quick Answer To plant a successful flower bed, first choose your site and test your soil, then prepare the ground by removing weeds and adding organic matter. Design using three plant layers (ground cover, mid-layer, and tall), pick a unified colour scheme, and use repetition of plants in groups of three or five. The whole […]

Once you’ve grown a few plants from seed, you suddenly open up your gardening skills. That knowledge builds quickly and sticks because you earned it by putting in the effort to really understand your plants. There is also the cost saving from growing your own. A single packet of seeds for a pound or two […]

After all my years of gardening and teaching others how to grow things, I can tell you that strawberries are absolutely one of the most rewarding plants you can grow at home. There is something magical about picking a sun-warmed strawberry straight from your own garden and eating it there and then. The taste is […]

The reason vine weevils catch so many gardeners off guard is that almost all the damage occurs underground and at night. The adult beetle is nocturnal and hides expertly during the day. The larvae live entirely within the compost or soil, feeding on roots for months before the plant shows any above-ground symptoms. By the time […]