Making a compost heap is such a positive thing to do. People with compost heaps enjoy fabulous compost delivered straight to their gardens and allotments, for free! Save money on council green bins and spare yourself weekend trips to the tip by starting a compost bin. Homemade compost enriches our soils and benefits nature and the environment.
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.
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.
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.
Many of the edible plants we can grow from seed need to be grown in a bright location where they bask in the sunshine in order to generate strong and healthy growth and enable these edibles to really flourish; however, we are not all blessed with sunny gardens. If your garden is shaded, or if you’ve struggled to grow your own edible plants in the past, I’ve got two fabulous suggestions of seeds that germinate readily, can be sown directly in the soil or in containers of peat-free compost on a patio, balcony, or window box now.
Ilex aquifolium is the botanical name for our beautiful, British, evergreen holly. Holly’s vibrant, scarlet berries and glossy, undulating, spiky leaves delight us at Christmas time, yet these handsome plants retain their good looks throughout the year and enhance our gardens, woodlands, and wild landscapes. This holly species is a vital caterpillar food plant for the Holly Blue Butterfly. Hollies are evergreen, they shed a proportion of their oldest leaves in summertime.
When we think of Rhododendrons and Azaleas, we tend to imagine lush, leafy plants adorned with an abundance of large and blousy, colourful flowers in May. May is undoubtedly the main flowering season for Rhododendrons and Azaleas and we celebrate these magnificent plants in all their glory now, making this the ideal time to visit Millais Nurseries, our local, award-winning Rhododendron and Azalea growers.
Rather than traipsing around the shops and frittering the weekend away in seemingly endless queues to buy gifts this December, I’d like to encourage you to head out into the garden to propagate your favourite plants and share the joy of home-grown gifts this Christmas!
Mint is a fast-growing and spreading plant. I always recommend growing mint in containers to prevent this plant’s naturally assertive growth from taking over your garden, patio, and any nearby countryside!
Butterfly Conservation report that in the UK, long-term trends show that 80% of our butterfly species have decreased in abundance or distribution – or both – since the 1970s. Do you see many butterflies and moths in your garden? I hope to inspire everyone to help butterflies and moths. Please don’t allow any pesticides, insecticides, or herbicides to be used on your garden, allotment, or indeed on any area in your locality, as these products obliterate our bees, butterflies, and moths.
I adore mint and relish this herb’s energy. Freshly harvested mint leaves can be used to make enticing cocktails, herbal teas, and an array of delicious savoury and dessert recipes. Most people are familiar with peppermint or spearmint, but have you tried any other varieties?
A whole world of different flavoured mints is available to those who grow their own plants.
Whether you garden in sunshine or shade, there are plants that will be perfectly suited to growing in your garden – it’s just a case of finding them! In 2019, my Vegepod was moved from a sunny spot, to a new enclosed, deeply shaded area of my garden. I am not exaggerating when I say that in its new position my Vegepod truly was shaded – my Vegepod was sandwiched in a tight space, wedged between a tall conifer hedge, a two storey high wall, a tall fence, and an 8ft tall pergola that was smothered with climbing plants – the plants growing in my Vegepod did not receive any direct sunshine whatsoever.
In case you missed it, last week I posted my latest Compost Trial Report. The top-performing composts in this trial were Heart of Eden All Purpose Natural Compost, Harmony Gardens Multipurpose Compost, and Bathgate Horticulture Peat-free Multi-Purpose Compost; these are all peat-free growing medias. I’d urge everyone to use peat-free compost. Peatlands are unique wetland nature reserves and habitats for rare plants and wildlife.
Over 430,000 acres of the UK is segregated into gardens; precious sanctuaries where we indulge our horticultural desires and celebrate nature. We are our gardens’ curators, creating personal oases, but have we included the essential habitats that wildlife need to survive?
After the punishing drought and intense temperatures this summer, many trees are dropping their leaves early. Standard gardening advice recommends removing aquatic plants’ foliage in autumn, to prevent decaying leaves enriching the water.
When midsummer passes us by, rhubarb production naturally slows down. Unless you’re growing a late summer and autumn cropping rhubarb (like ‘Livingstone’), stop picking rhubarb now to allow your plants to build up their strength for next year’s harvests. Rhubarb thrives in wet summers. After heavy rain (or a thorough watering), spread a mulch of well-rotted manure or homemade garden compost over the soil around your plants.
To celebrate Compost Week, I’m sharing tips to help you make top-quality compost in your garden, allotment, or neighbourhood.
Why Compost?Making a compost heap or setting up a compost bin is such a positive thing to do. Even if you don’t really care about getting fabulous (free) compost delivered straight to your garden, or you’re not interested in improving your garden soil, if you compost your grass cuttings, prunings, and vegetable peelings, you’ll save yourself time and energy, and spare yourself the need to make trips to the tip to get rid of your garden or kitchen waste at weekends.
Spring is such an uplifting time in the garden. As the days lengthen and spring flowers come into bloom, the anticipation of the wealth of flowers we’ll admire in our countryside and gardens over the coming seasons provides me with an abundance of reasons to be thankful. If your garden is looking a little lacklustre at the moment, don’t worry – there are some delightful spring-flowering perennial plants available at nurseries and garden centres, which will brighten up our gardens this spring and in the years that follow.
Clematis are divided into three groups. We assign each clematis to a group based upon the time of year the plant flowers, and when the growth that holds their flowers develops. By evaluating our clematis and assigning our plants to a specific group, we can establish the optimum time to prune our clematis.
We urgently need our leaders to take responsibility and introduce laws and treaties that will protect our environment. There is so much to be done that could help our planet and not enough action being taken. Many of the messages and promises that were shared at COP26 are statements that have been shared many times before but are yet to be acted upon.
Happy new year! I want to help you create a positive and uplifting garden where you can relax, grow your favourite plants, and make real connections with nature.
Do you have a compost heap in your garden? How about in your college or office garden? Composting is such a wonderful thing to do; it’s great for the environment, good for wildlife, produces amazing compost, and saves money!
Winter provides us with a wonderful opportunity to plant trees. What could be a better Christmas gift than planting a tree with your family? I’m a particular fan of planting bare-root trees: trees that are grown in the ground (not containers) and then lifted, dispatched, and planted while they’re dormant. Bare-root trees are grown in the soil, they’re naturally peat-free, require less watering at the nursery, and can be grown plastic-free – as there’s no need for containers.
