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

#WindowBoxoftheYear 2019

Everyone can grow a beautiful window box. Even if you’re renting or in full shade, it’s easy to plant up a snazzy

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

Pot’s Growing On: addicted to crazy leaves

Hello loyal reader! (Ignore if first visit or you plan on never returning). In the run up to our September open day I was worr

National Dahlia Society Annual Show 2018, RHS Wisley

Is it just me or are there fewer yellow dahlias at the National Dahlia Society Annual Show this year? “Bryn Terfel”

An inspiring friend (Scampston Hall, Yorkshire)

Reuniting with a friend at Scampston Hall and being inspired by shrubs and views as much as perennials and detail.  Recently

Control meadow grass using parasitic yellow rattle, Rhinanthus minor

Many meadows have one problem: overly vigorous grasses. If soil is even a little too rich or too moist, grasses enjoy the cond

Good husbandry goes a long way in small gardens – The Watch House, Broadstairs

A few weeks ago, the day before we jetted off to Portugal, Chris and I hopped on a train to the most easterly point of Kent, S

Outdoor mini aubergines for pots and containers in small spaces

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!

Video of giant dahlia ‘Emory Paul’

One of the first dahlias we grew was ‘Emory Paul’ and it’s come back every year better than ever. This year

Why I just chopped off every single dahlia flower

Oh no! What have I done?! Just as my dahlia trial beds on my allotment were pulling through from the drought and finally start

The law of limiting factors

Everyone is talking about the weather as though we haven’t only just entered mid-Summer. Don’t allow a few rainy d

Allotment Month 33: today is a good day

This was the best day on the allotment all year, a breeze and drizzle, the air warm, everything quiet and the world relaxed.

From the streets: Porto – city of fusion

Chris and I have been staying in Porto, neither of us having been to Portugal before. An old but very modern city with the riv

Real millennial gardens

Some of my biggest gardening inspiration comes from friends who I wouldn’t have expected to love growing stuff. They lov

Pot’s Growing On: creating space, sunflower for foliage and ornamental aubergine

Stepping out into our garden one morning this week was different. Not least because we had 1.2cm of rain last weekend, literal