If you want to enjoy spring flowers like daffodils and alliums in your garden next year, then this is the time to take action and get busy planting bulbs! When visiting garden centres to buy bulbs, choose plump and firm, healthy bulbs and avoid purchasing dried out and desiccated bulbs, as these won’t amount to anything.
As autumn’s whisper reverberates through our landscape, many plants begin to fade, as they respond to the changing season and wither in the ever-lengthening nights’ embrace. This is a season of salvage, protection, and celebration; it’s time to bring tender plants inside our homes, conservatories, and glasshouses, and gather in our harvest.
At this time of year, Late Blight (Phytophthora infestans) is often viciously working its destruction through our tomato and potato plants, marking leaves and stems with patches of brown and spreading rot and disease, turning green or ripening tomatoes a deathly brown.
Ox-eye daisies are one of Great Britain’s most endearing wildflowers. These charming large, white daisies with their golden centres light up our meadows; we should embrace these beauties, as they can bring just as much joy to our summer gardens! August and September is the ideal time to sow seeds.
The ox-eye daisy, dog daisy, or Marguerite is also known by the botanical name Leucanthemum vulgare.
Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count runs from Friday the 17th July 2026 through until Sunday 9th August 2026 – meaning the count ends today. It has been so hot and I’ve been too busy since the Butterfly Count started, so mainly due to the heat I’m sorry to say that I’ve only managed to do two Big Butterfly counts this year – both of them in my garden on the same day (with a gap in between each count).
Hardy annuals grow, flower, and die within the same year. Short-lived they may be, but their generosity of spirit and abundant flowering give our gardens a delightful floral boost, making these plants welcome additions to our gardens. Sowing seeds directly in the soil now requires less physical effort and is more economical than buying plants to plant in springtime. Spending under £10 on hardy annual seeds at the garden centre can produce enough plants to fill an average sized garden!
My heart is full of love for butterflies, so I’m encouraging everyone to take part in Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count, which starts on Friday 17th July 2026 and runs until Sunday 9th August 2026.
Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are beautiful, reliable plants that flower for ages, their attractive blooms provide an abundance of nectar for bees and butterflies. Plus, chives produce a regular supply of tasty leaves and flowers from May until the end of summer – they’re such great value plants! In addition to all of the above, chives flourish in containers of peat-free compost or will thrive planted in any soil (apart from waterlogged soils) in a sunny or partially shaded site.
First things first, if you’ve not sown any courgette seeds yet, don’t miss this chance – sow seeds now! I like to sow a few courgette seeds outdoors in May, then I sow a couple of extra seeds at the start June, and two more towards the end of June. Staggering seed sowings ensures a steady supply of courgettes from summer until the frosts arrive in autumn.
If you’re visiting the Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show (or watching the television coverage) this week, look out for Plant Heritage who will be unveiling their first ever Chelsea Garden when this prestigious Flower Show opens to the public on 19th May 2026! At the show, you can also meet the Plant Heritage team inside the Great Pavilion on stand GP088, selling seeds collected by National Collection holders and Plant Heritage Members.
I dedicate a substantial amount of my time and energy into running gardening trials, searching for the top-performing and best tasting vegetables. I share the results in my columns to help my readers discover the best vegetable varieties on the market. If you sow seeds I recommend and follow my gardening advice, I hope this year you’ll enjoy your most successful growing season yet!
Bluebells (known by their botanical name, Hyacinthoides non-scripta) are one of our most beautiful British native wildflowers. In April, these graceful and elegant plants bring irrepressible delight and joy to our country walks, as their nodding flower stems and sweetly scented, bell-shaped flowers form seas of intense blue beneath the trees of many UK woodlands. Experience this majesty yourself – take an uplifting walk alongside serene carpets of bluebells at Winkworth Arboretum, in Godalming or visit another magnificent part of the UK where you can see bluebells.
Nothing beats growing plants in the soil. Plants are usually happiest growing in the ground, which makes us happier too, as watering is so much easier and our soil-grown plants tend to be stronger and healthier. We’re not all fortunate enough to have access to the soil, but thankfully, patio and balcony gardeners’ dreams can be successfully fulfilled with the right choice of containers, growing media, and vegetable varieties.
I get such a thrill from writing about plants that I know are super-star performers, as I’ve trialled and tested them over a number of years. The thought of a lovely reader discovering an exquisite plant that flourishes in their garden fills me with happiness! Clematis ‘Hågelby Pink’ is a stand-out clematis from my Clematis Trial; this strong-growing, yet mild-mannered climber is incredibly floriferous.
Sweet peas are one of summer’s many prized delights! These exquisite, frilly flowers have a sweet and heady, musky fragrance, which gently envelops the garden with its charm. Sweet peas are floriferous plants that produce divine cut flowers. If you want to enjoy sweet pea flowers this summer, springtime is the ideal time to sow seeds!
Sweet peas seeds can be sown directly in the soil now, but to grow the best sweet pea plants I recommend sowing seeds in good quality, peat-free growing mediums, in deep pots.
One of the many joys of growing our own food is providing ourselves and our families with freshly harvested fruit, vegetables, and herbs, which often have a dramatically improved flavour and freshness, compared to those we buy at the supermarket.
When we picture home-grown vegetables and herbs, we usually imagine produce that takes several months to a year (or more) to deliver a harvest of vegetables, fruit, or herbs.
The best gifts of all are true love, friendship, and respect, which cannot be bought, yet are priceless gifts that we all aspire to receive. If you’re considering purchasing a gift for someone special, may I recommend seeds of a sweet pepper that I’ve trialled, tested, and found to be easy to grow, tasty, and productive. I’d also like to share with you the gift of advice: sweet pepper plants (and chilli peppers) are tender plants that are killed by cold temperatures.
The greatest gift in life is true friendship and time spent together; nothing is more important or as valuable as our love for each other and our genuine connection. However, if you’re looking to give a physical gift this Christmas, seeds are a truly special something that can be wrapped up and given or posted inside a Christmas card (NB: Remember to use a padded envelope to protect your seeds from the machinery that processes our letters at Royal Mail’s sorting offices; post from a Post Office to ensure you pay the correct postage).
Our garden plants have endured punishing conditions this year, thanks to repetitive heatwaves with record-breaking, scorching temperatures, and seemingly everlasting droughts from springtime until autumn. This had a particularly adverse effect on plants like roses that need sufficient water to grow and flower well, causing the plants to produce far fewer, smaller blooms and become frazzled, duller versions of their former selves.
Hard frosts, low temperatures, and wet weather can obliterate our borderline hardy garden plants over the autumn and winter months. To avoid unnecessary losses this coming winter, seize the moment and embrace this opportunity to increase your stock of Penstemons (and other perennials) by taking cuttings now!
Generally, Penstemon cultivars with the thinnest leaves tend to be hardiest, but even the hardier types can be lost during wet winters.
When you imagine your perfect container plant, what do you dream of?
