Summer Gardening

No matter what size garden you have, encouraging wildlife will help create a diverse environment on your doorstep. This will not only benefit your plants via increased pollination but also welcome a host of wonderful creatures from insects, butterflies, bees, birds and mammals. Building a DIY bug hotel can also help encourage your children to […]

Pruning is one of the key parts of creating and maintaining a gorgeous garden. However, many gardeners avoid pruning due to a lack of confidence or a lack of understanding of how to prune. This guide explains why you need to prune in the garden and how to prune plants perfectly! With a sharp pair […]

Comfrey is an incredible plant as it tolerates nearly all soil conditions and will live in both full sun and shade. Meaning you can grow Comfrey pretty much anywhere no matter what garden soil you have. Comfrey has long been used to help activate compost heaps, brew liquid plant food and help improve vegetable beds […]

July is often considered the pinnacle of gardening activity, when summer blooms are at their best. August is often discussed as the poor cousin, often without any real supporting evidence! With careful plant choices and selection,s nearly every month of the year can have something extraordinary growing or producing. In this month’s garden tour, I tackle […]

July is usually one of the warmest months here in the UK. As with all weather expectations, it’s not always that predictable and we’ve had our fair share of rain this month. However, I’m a glass-half-full kind of person so at least my wildflower meadow hasn’t needed watering as much! Either way the garden is […]

June is the month in the garden where nearly everything is looking its best. Roses should now be in full bloom (especially if you’ve followed my rose pruning guide in the winter), ornamental grasses will be swaying in the breeze and your herbaceous perennials will all be bursting into flower. It’s typically a month where […]

We seem to have a bit of an issue with pruning as gardeners. I remember when I first started gardening, the thought of cutting off parts of the plants I’d spent ages nurturing felt horrific. I let them grow however and wherever they wanted. Just grateful they were growing. However, this laissez-faire approach always ends […]

I’m often asked by new and experienced gardeners how to prune fruit trees in summer. Many gardeners know of winter pruning before spring as housekeeping but summer pruning often gets overlooked. Maybe its the euphoria of long sunny days, flowers all around the garden and hazy nights watching sunsets. However, if you fail to keep […]

Everyone has their preference when it comes to colour. I’m a sucker for the reds, orange and yellows of the colour wheel. I absolutely love planting up red hot colours for garden design clients bringing that feeling of summer to a border. When I started to design the #explodingatomgarden the red hot central core was […]

High impact borders can bring the wow factor to your garden. It doesn’t matter whether you have a postage stamp sized garden or a few acres, the principles are the same. Here in the Exploding Atom Garden, I’ve been planting up what I’ve nicknamed the ‘Moody Goth Border’. The aim for this border is to […]