Dahlias are remarkably easy plants to grow once you get to know them. One of the…
Allotment plan 2022
In our first year on the smallholding in some respects I should have done nothing but…
How to multiply snowdrops like a pro – planting and dividing
Snowdrops are one of my favourite flowers in the garden, the regular Galanthus nivalis is about…
How gardening and nature help me cope with stress and anxiety
This is a topic I find difficult to put into words. I’ve been putting it off…
Adapting an established garden
When we moved to Yorkshire we inherited a beautiful mature garden and key to that is…
Review: Spear & Jackson Traditional Stainless garden tools
I was given a set of Spear & Jackson’s Traditional Stainless series of garden tools to…
Key features of our new Premiere Polytunnel
I’m really excited because we’ve been given one of Premiere Polytunnels premiere range products and I…
March gardening ideas: signs of spring
You know spring is on its way as daylight hours lengthen, temperatures warm and while the…
April gardening ideas: spring is here
In the UK, early April is my marker in the year when I know everything needs…
May gardening ideas: end of spring (month six)
May is the month when all plants start growing rapidly, resulting in lush, immaculate leaves. Everything…
June gardening ideas: summer (month seven)
Summer! Well, if the weather behaves. It often feels like summer has stop-started into action at…
July gardening ideas: mid summer (month eight)
I like to think of midsummer’s eve, the summer solstice, as the top of a mountain…
August gardening ideas: high summer (month nine)
Late-July and August will always be ‘real summer’ to me, with the hottest heatwaves, the driest…
September gardening ideas: end of summer (month ten)
Throughout my life, people have described, without fail, sunny spells in September as an Indian summer.…
October gardening ideas: autumn (month eleven)
There is no denying that autumn is upon us as the shorter days bring colder weather,…
November gardening ideas: start of winter (month twelve)
It’s a tale of two parts to November; the first half can feel a lot like…
December gardening ideas: mid-winter (month one)
You may be wondering why December is ‘month one’ in my calendar when typically it’s seen…
Banning peat composts – the facts
The UK Government is planning to ban the sale of peat based composts to gardeners in…
Atmosphere and wonder at York Gate Garden, Leeds, Yorkshire
Chris and I visited York Gate Garden on the outskirts of Leeds in Yorkshire and were…
Pot’s Growing On: six months in person, twelve in mind
We moved in six months ago but I started thinking about our new garden a year…
What we can learn from the best urban street plantings
Our parks, streets and town centres used to be filled with displays of annual flowers, but…
Review: Stihl HLA 86 telescopic, battery powered hedge trimmer
Earlier this year I was given a battery powered Stihl HLA 86 telescopic hedge trimmer to…
How to grow organic microgreens from seed
Microgreens are young salad crops that are grown from seed and then picked and harvested as…
How to collect and store seeds and why
I find the process of collecting and saving my own seeds increasingly rewarding. In fact it’s…
7 ways high altitude gardening impacts plant growth
Our London garden in Clapham was approximately 20m (66ft) above sea level, our new garden sits…
Midgley Open Gardens, near Hebden Bridge
I’ve been visiting Chris’ family for the past 15 odd years or so near Hebden Bridge…
You say native, I say indigenous?
Let’s discuss racism in gardening and science terminology, what we actually mean by terms like invasive…
Meadow species spotted
I’ve created this page as notes for myself on what species we’ve seen in our meadow…
A quick look around our new farm
In late-February 2021 we moved to our new farm and in the few months since we’ve…
5 steps to a floofy patio that controls weeds organically and permanently
Do you have a patio that constantly has weeds coming up between the slabs? Perhaps some…
Why the obsession with lawns?
Let’s break this cycle: the UK is brainwashed about lawns. If you use your lawn that’s…
Review: Henchman 4.2m tripod ladder
Henchman sent me one of their 4.2m tripod ladders to trial for an unbiased review. To…
Review: Felco No.2 secateurs
Over the last month or so I’ve been trialling the Felco No.2 secateurs, which, until other…
Review: Spear & Jackson traditional garden hand tools – hand trowel, fork and transplanting trowel
Having used Spear & Jackson’s hand tools on my allotment in London for a number of…
Peat free compost trials 2021
Over the last 7 – 8 years I’ve only used peat free compost after I switched…
Review: Stihl RMA 448 TC cordless battery lawn mower with Stihl Connect
I’ve been given a Stihl RMA 448 TC cordless battery operated lawn mower to trial in…
Why do we find botanical plant names hard to learn?
Every day I hear or read someone struggling with how hard botanical plant names are to…
How to grow dahlias organically from seed and save your own dahlia seeds
In the past I’ve grown mountains of dahlia cultivars but over the last two years I’ve…
How to suppress weeds using Mulch Organic’s biodegradable paper weed matting
Mulch Organic gave me a roll of their heavy duty organic paper mulch weed suppressant matting…
We’re moving to Hebden Bridge
I’m excited to share that after twenty years of living in London, Chris, Rumbles and I…
How to grow chillies and peppers from seed organically
Chillies and peppers are a really easy to grow, easy to use and easy to store…
Why must nature always come second?
I’m writing this because discussions online this week have kept me up all night thinking about…
My self-help guide to resisting seed and plant catalogue order overload
It’s around about now that the seed and plant catalogues for the coming year come pouring…
Allotment Month 61: December vegetables with winter salad, kale, roots and squash
My allotment needs a good weeding. It’s looking fairly overgrown in parts because I haven’t been…
10 UK weeds to grow for wildlife
My book Wild about Weeds looks at the wildlife value of many weeds I feel are…
Cornwall: rock and stone
Chris and I feel incredibly lucky to have been away to Cornwall for a week in…
Beware plastic netting in lawn and wildflower turf
One of the biggest problems in designed gardens that I and people I work with come…