Delight is foremost in my mind, when I consider what it is for me to be a gardener. The gardener’s delight is a wondrous thing. What it is to notice with a swoop of joy the swallow darting overhead; to glance across to the busy bees thrumming, jostling, gorging on the nectar that has been planted for them; when I notice the cheeky cocked head of my robin friend and I cock mine back in response. I delight in these moments, these noticings. When I notice the butterfly dancing i

Growing vegetables in a heatwave is certainly a challenge. On extremely hot days, young plants are often sweating out more moisture than they can draw up through their newly planted roots. How can we help them get established?

It’s been a tough year. It feels a little like our gardens form a metaphor this year for the world outside, for the political upheaval, for the stories of flash floods and forest fires. Outside of the human world and the wider environment, in the microcosm of the garden, communities of plants are also in turmoil. Some are thriving despite another hot and dry summer season. Others, just like many human communities right now, or like many of us as individuals, are facing their

In this deep winter time, when everything outside seems to take a pause, it’s just the perfect time I feel for planning new things. And...

In a natural garden, the tendency is often to assume to let woody plants live out their natural lives without intervention. While this...

One of the first things people are talking to me about out in the garden this year is what funny weather we’ve been having. Closely followed by ‘the slugs are wreaking havoc for me, how about you?!’ While heat waves have been raging elsewhere around the World, here in the UK, the summer has been unusually cold and wet. Seedlings have been slow to get started, plants have been stunted and slugs have indeed been leaving a trail of destruction in gardens everywhere. Well thought

In the unfolding drama of the British wildflower year, the subtle beauty of the Snowdrop is the star that kicks off the show. Right now,...

Chilean Guava (Ugni molinae) is a cute little shrub, with delicious berries and evergreen foliage and it has fast become one of my...

Autumn is most definitely here, with that seasonal contest between stormy showers and bright, slanting sun. As the weather shakes...

King amongst the insect visitors during no mow may are the dragonflies and damselflies. These insects are voracious predators and a sign tha

It's officially No Mow May and the great news is that even without flowers, long grasses support a whole host of wildlife garden visitors

Growing wildflowers has been a long-term passion of mine. Ever since I was a little girl, I've grappled with the challenges of growing wildf

One thing people very often ask me about is creating more space in their garden for them to sit out and simply enjoy it. This might be a...

This time of year is a great time to look at the health of the garden. I really like to take a walk around it during the autumn, to remind myself about which plants have had a difficult year, which plants or areas have done well. I like to check out areas with difficult weeds, to have a little think about whether that situation is changing at all and to revisit plants that were in trouble during previous years, to see if there has been any improvement. And then I have my litt

A decade ago, the thought that we could regularly have summers with temperatures in the 30s would have seemed ridiculous, but here we are and despite best efforts, so many plants are seriously struggling to cope. As a gardener, it's time for some difficult decisions - how far can we go in helping these plants limp through difficult conditions? At some point, we have to take a deep breath and remove some of our more sensitive plants. What can we grow instead that will stand up

We’ve just had a really dry April, with England and Wales reportedly getting only around 50% of the usual rainfall for this time of the year. And actually, I’m starting to see slightly crispy looking lawns when out and about; it seems very early for that sort of thing! So I’m taking steps in the vegetable garden to be sure my veg are set up as well as possible for a potentially dry and difficult growing season. If you’re growing veg this year and have some good tips to share,

Article by Olivia Mann With climate change bringing more intense rainfall and increasing temperatures, we need to adapt our towns and...

Permaculture is becoming more of a common term these days and along with it, I’m finding more and more people are aware of forest...

In the last of this three part series about wildlife gardening, we’ll be getting to the detail about what garden features you need to...

While this is often overlooked, one of the most important things to be aware of in our gardens is health. This is especially true for...