With soil temperatures warming and windowsills overflowing, many gardeners are desperate to begin sowing directly outside during April. You’d think that making a seedbed would be a simple task, and it is – but if you want a perfect bed you can’t rush it. Seeds that are sown indoors are…
© Alamy A pond adds so much to the garden on every level. It need not be massive – if space is tight you can create a patio mini-pond in a half-barrel – but your patch of land will be so much richer with one in it. Like all water…
This young late-summer-flowering clematis has not been regularly pruned, so I’m cutting back old growth to the topmost buds. It will be pruned again after flowering in autumn © Time Inc Clematis mingle well with existing climbers and wall shrubs, taking up little extra space. They can deliver flowers every month…
It’s time to be thinking about this summer’s colourful borders If you are looking for lazy, low-maintenance gardening then look no further than summer-flowering bulbs. Yes, a few varieties – gladioli and dahlias – often need lifting for winter, but even this isn’t arduous. The next few weeks are peak…
Mulch around container trees and make sure the pots are raised on feet The prime time to plant trees is during the dormant weeks of winter. This is especially important for bare-root trees, which are usually only available until around the end of February. Container-grown trees and shrubs can go…
Sow sweet peas now for flowers this summer I sowed my first batch of sweet peas back in the autumn and now, at the tail-end of winter, I am starting a second batch. Although sweet peas are hardy, I don’t want to sow them in the beds where they will…
Cut autumn-fruiting raspberry canes to ground level We had a bumper crop of raspberries last year and I’m hoping to get the same result in 2018. The summer-fruiting canes were cut back after they cropped, and January and February are the best months to give your autumn-fruiters a trim. It’s…
Crop rotation should help you get healthier plants and larger crops If you’ve ever looked at a burgeoning allotment site crammed with serried ranks of fabulous veggies and wondered ‘how did they do that?’, the answer is probably crop rotation. It’s a system that’s as old as food cultivation itself,…
Adding extra compost or manure over dug-in green manure will help enrich your soil The secrets to successful growing are healthy, nutrient-rich soil and crop rotation, so this week I have been preparing and warming my soil and thinking about what crops to grow where. Warming and enriching your soil…
We had a relatively mild autumn here in the south and my strawberry plants have kept on growing and, amazingly, producing flowers and even fruit. These need to be removed now, so the plants don’t expend all their energy on flowers and fruit that will never ripen in winter temperatures.…
