In our first year on the smallholding in some respects I should have done nothing but prepare areas, mend boundaries and get organised, instead I did none of that and…

Microgreens are young salad crops that are grown from seed and then picked and harvested as soon as the first or second set of leaves have emerged. Best grown on…

I don’t care about chillies, I find them boring. I know as a garden writer and organic vegetable grower I should find them interesting but I don’t. I might as…

Tomatoes sit atop everyone’s grow your own lists, and if they don’t, they should! Relatively easy to grow – with a few quirks – tomatoes are highly productive plants that…

I love rhubarb. I love its flavour and I love how easy it is to grow. I always recommend planting rhubarb before anything else if you plan to grow your…

It wasn’t until I started growing my own vegetables I even clocked that purple sprouting broccoli existed. In the supermarkets you can readily buy the green types and I had…

In our first year on the smallholding in some respects I should have done nothing but prepare areas, mend boundaries and get organised, instead I did none of that and…

My allotment needs a good weeding. It’s looking fairly overgrown in parts because I haven’t been down enough in recent weeks to keep on top of them, for one reason…

Where are we now, into the fifth summer on my allotment, and despite going into this year with optimism after two sun baked summers, I feel exhausted by it again.…

On my allotment two years ago I started increasing the number of ornamental plants because I found I had loads of spares, to use for cutting and to help stop…

Do you ever have the feeling you’re being left behind in gardening? You think your tomatoes are doing well when you spot Bob’s on social media are three feet taller…

Words can’t describe how much I love my allotment this year. It feels to me as though it has morphed into its own place, a destination for me to exist…

My book Wild about Weeds looks at the wildlife value of many weeds I feel are some of the most beautiful, concentrating on how to integrate these wild flower wonders…

Some people have asked why stinging nettles aren’t in my book Wild about Weeds and the answer is: 1) It’s celebrated right at the beginning on the contents page and…

At the end of June 2016 Chris and I were in Chilham, Kent for the beautiful and dreamy countryside wedding of our friends, Simon and Clara. The day after the…

One day there will come a moment when I’ll have seen all of the species of native wild orchids. I’m not sure how I’ll feel about losing that lack of…

Finally, after many years, today I came up close and personal with one of my favourite plants growing and flowering in the wild: Pulsatilla vulgaris. It was overcast and rainy,…

People tell you that magic isn’t real, that Utopia is impossible. They’re talking bollocks. I know because I’ve seen it. Little glimpses of wonder, scientifically explainable yes but magical in…

I’ve been visiting Chris’ family for the past 15 odd years or so near Hebden Bridge and always wanted to go to the Midgley open gardens near by. Now we…

I love RHS Wisley. I will always credit the garden and the teams who manage it with truly opening my eyes to horticulture. When I’d booked my ticket to visit…

Looking for maximum planty wonder without spending a penny? Then check out my fave London garden and parks below. This is a realtime list of places I’ve visited that I’ll…

Everyone has been coping with the last month in their own way, surreal is a word I’ve been bandying around a lot, it feels the most fitting to me; we’re…

Last Sunday I gave myself the morning off writing projects and decided to visit Bonnington Square on the recommendation of my friend Lucy (about 30 mins walk away from our…

I’ve been interested in visiting the Royal College of Physicians’ garden of medicinal plants for quite some time. Despite having walked past it hundreds of times without realising while working…

Our parks, streets and town centres used to be filled with displays of annual flowers, but as council budgets have been slashed over the years, annual displays largely vanished. Environmental…

This year is a difficult one for all of us in many unexpected ways, through it our garden has given me an anchor and a project to focus on. I’ve…

This is one garden I have wanted to visit for many years, Perch Hill, home to cut flower expert and grower, Sarah Raven. Based in a quiet valley in East…

I find patterns in gardens fascinating (so much so I wrote a book about them) and I find it strange they aren’t discussed more in gardening because they are literally…

On my allotment two years ago I started increasing the number of ornamental plants because I found I had loads of spares, to use for cutting and to help stop…

Regular readers may recall that about two years ago I started planting spare cuttings, divisions and seedlings of plants I’d grown into one end of my allotment. I’ve since been…

Do you have a patio that constantly has weeds coming up between the slabs? Perhaps some of them have tough chunky roots squashed into the tight cracks and it’s impossible…

This year is a difficult one for all of us in many unexpected ways, through it our garden has given me an anchor and a project to focus on. I’ve…

I really like to feel the seasons, feel them with all my senses. That’s why our garden is carefully planted in successional layers. Not only to provide continuous colour and…

I’ve been asked a lot over the last couple of years for an update on my Aeonium arboreum ‘Zwartkop’ and cuttings (read part one and part two) and I kept…

One of the Persicaria we’re not judging on the RHS Persicaria Trial Forum is Persicaria orientalis because it’s an annual while the rest are perennial (trials are on hold for…

Over the last few weeks I’ve been gradually getting ready for spring one little task at a time. I haven’t had the luxury of having a full day or even…

I don’t know how it’s happened but I seem to have used up all of my pots and seed trays. I don’t feel I’m growing more than last year, in…

When I first started going to garden events like RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the first thing I was drawn to was the begonia display on Dibley’s stand. Their giant leaves…

I’ve been thinking for a while that something is up with our small garden and these are the problems: Not enclosed enough: gaps in the jungly scene are breaking the…

It’s the time of year when you can sit back, put your feet up… and pick up a bulb catalogue cos there’s no rest for a gardener! I’ve ordered all…

Hello loyal reader! (Ignore if first visit or you plan on never returning). In the run up to our September open day I was worried. Our dependable dahlias were largely…

Here I show you the small aubergine plants I’ve been growing in pots at home and in a row on my allotment. I love them!