Front garden design in Clapham, London

This challenging north facing front garden is in full shade and was previously a patch of struggling lawn. The brief was to ma

How to support dahlias for borders, pots and cutting

I’ve often written that in some ways growing dahlias well is the easiest thing in the world and by equal measure, tricky

Umbilicus rupestris, navelwort

At the end of June 2016 Chris and I were in Chilham, Kent for the beautiful and dreamy countryside wedding of our friends, Sim

Allotment Month 43: priorities, supports and progress

Going into the fourth season on my allotment I’ve been pleased with how it’s shaping up. Part of the personal chal

How to prune a Cordyline australis

Here’s my guide to pruning / pollarding a Cordyline australis: chop it down to whatever height you want and it will grow

Gravetye Manor

Chris and I have been so busy this spring that we missed our 13th anniversary so we took a trip to Gravetye Manor in Sussex fo

One World stand at Chelsea Flower Show 2019

This year at Chelsea Flower Show I was lucky to be asked by One World to plant up their stand showcasing their furniture and i

Pot’s Growing On: road to our open garden

This month has been a whirlwind of finishing various garden designs, writing and planting up the One World stand for Chelsea F

14 Things at RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2019

It’s thoroughly enjoyable at Chelsea Flower Show this year. I’ve placed bets (in my head) on who will win best in show but

Long term planting on the allotment

When I was about six or seven I remember adding leaves to our houseplant pots to rot down and feed the plants, hoping I could

How to grow Persicaria runcinata ‘Purple Fantasy’

If there’s one plant I can guarantee you’ll see more of this year it’s Persicaria runcinata ‘Purple Fa

Allotment Month 42: weeding asparagus and carrots, potato, chilli and artichoke update

On Sunday I had the chance for a proper sesh down the allotment and it was marvellous! The sun wasn’t shining and it was

Life in the Treehouse

There are some things I feel people need to know about author and writer Alice Vincent. Crucially, Alice can tear up a dance f

Different ways to grow from seed

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 I̵

Pot’s Growing On? Planting sweetpeas, caring for permanent containers, ferns and dahlias are go

I’ve finally spent a good afternoon in our garden after being super busy with other people’s gardens for the last

Roundup of glyphosate weed killer research

I’m an organic gardener and avoid using chemicals, I’m particularly guarded around edible crops, such as on my all

Future Meadow: Winter One

The race to grow is primal in all living things. One of the challenges of planting a new border in autumn is that other plants

Pot’s Growing On: snowdrops and the great grass migration

February 2019 has shaped up to be beautiful weather wise with warm days of sunshine bringing out the bumble bees in our urban

A visit to Writtle University College

Imagine if this were your classroom! I’d never miss a lesson. Every time I visit Writtle University College to sit my RHS ex

Banana plants, floral arches, winter cuttings and Cordylines

I’ve been asked by my Instagram and Twitter buddies to explain how to grow bananas and to give some tips on the floral a

My allotment plan for 2019

Hello vegetable fans! Recently I wrote about why I practice crop rotation on my allotment in my Telegraph column, explaining h

Allotment month 38: don’t beat yourself up if things go wrong

I’ve just had the best day on my allotment for a long time. Zero degrees Celsius, literally freezing, but dry with the s

How our long border has evolved over time

I’ve been looking back over my old photos while planning our garden for the coming year and with hindsight the garden

How to take hardwood cuttings for free plants

Many trees and shrubs can be grown from hardwood cuttings, roses being one of the most common examples. Exactly as you’d

Looking back on a year of vegetables, fruit and edible flowers

I thought I’d share some of my favourite edibles from my allotment, organically grown this year. Despite the most challe

Reflections on another gardening year

2018 was a year in which I’ve been lucky to be washed in an overwhelming “go on you can do it” from so many

I have a shed!

When I finally settled on my allotment plan three years ago (here is an updated version) I earmarked a space for a shed. It fe

Pot’s Growing On: experimenting with tender plants outside

Over the last few years I’ve been surprised at the number of tender plants that can survive outside over winter with min

Grow your own, change YOUR world

I was reading the BBC’s seven charts on climate change article and one major thing scientists say will offset increasing

Mossy Rock (part three)

It is with some excitement and a huge amount of pride that I can now show you, a year on from the start of this experiment, Mo

8 tips to demystify growing Begonias as houseplants

When I first started going to garden events like RHS Chelsea Flower Show, the first thing I was drawn to was the begonia displ

Allotment Month 36: sowing garlic, broad beans, peas and my new compost bins

I’ve hit month 36 in my allotment journal which means I’ve now had it, almost unbelievably, for three whole years!

Rearrange: the benefit of a patio of pots!

I’ve come over all Mary Poppins this weekend and not just because gusts of wind keep blowing fallen leaves around the ga

Cassa de Serralves, Porto

Earlier this year Chris and I visited Porto, Portugal and during the trip popped to the Serralves museum of modern art. What w

Crocks in pots: what is the myth, that they do or don’t work?

For decades gardeners around the world have added crocks – broken bits of terracotta pot or polystyrene – to the b

Future Meadow: Autumn One

A seasonal journal of my new experimental planting design I’ve started something that is at one time important and anoth

A dream

Last night I had a dream about Himantoglossum hircinum, I woke up worrying and I’m not sure why. The dream was really cl

Pot’s Growing On in November? Hedging my bets

I’ve been thinking for a while that something is up with our small garden and these are the problems: Not enclosed enoug

The gardener who keeps on giving

The first time I met Penny Snell she handed me a glass of wine and a canapé at an evening garden opening to raise money for t

P!ss off fox

Glancing out of the back window I was looking at the border when my eyes zoned in on something out of place. I should have sus

Living on a prairie (part 2)

It’s been two years since I started a prairie experiment in a small border on my allotment and I have to say I’ve

Is this the year we fell in love with Symphyotrichum? Photos from Sussex Prairies

This Autumn everyone I speak to has discovered a love of Symphyotrichum. Or should I say, rediscovered Asters, as they were pr

Power of propagation, Ulting Wick (NGS)

I don’t remember when I first started following Philippa Burrough on Twitter. Philippa is the owner, gardener and plant

Amazing scenes as Porto’s streets are swallowed by Ipomoea

Earlier this year Chris and I visited the cool city of Porto, Portugal. Within the first hour I’d spotted the vivid blue

What’s wrong with Verbena bonariensis?

I was going to write about Verbena bonariensis to sing its praises in long periods of drought and then I heard something odd.

Allotment Month 34: happy herbal, apple disaster, persistent prairie

Often I beat myself up about the state of my allotment, it never quite looks as good as those picture perfect ones I see in ma

Pot’s Growing On: plant indoor bulbs for Christmas(ish) colour

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 r

How established should a newly planted garden design be?

I’ve designed about thirty gardens now of varying sizes and the request from every garden owner is for plants to be as e

Can you ever have too many plants?

Gardeners are all dreamers, I’m sure of it. We look, we imagine and somehow we become responsible for steering our littl

Dahlias and me

For me, dahlias need to look carved from gemstone rock with a richness of colour to match. The ones so deep in colour theyR