September is traditionally the month of lawn maintenance, helping the grass to recover from summer and prepare for winter. Rake out the dead grass and moss (collectively known as ‘thatch’) that has accumulated over the mowing season with a wire rake. On larger lawns, hire a scarifier sharing the cost and use with friends or […]

There’s an effective response to the savage treatment of roadside verges by local authorities: say it with flowers. Revenge, the saying goes, is a dish best served cold. I’m not the only gardener to have looked on aghast at the treatment that’s been meted out to the wild flowers (not to mention the wildlife) along […]

I count an excess of basil as one of the real luxuries of owning a greenhouse. I was never able to produce much of it before, but now I have it in aromatic abundance. Outdoors it always struggled for me, and created a meagre, sickly crop that I would have to eke out with a […]

Over the years I’ve trailed and tested a whole raft of garden gadgets and equipment; there are literally hundreds of tools and accessories for every garden task. Take watering for example. The first tool for garden watering is a good watering can. I’m a big fan of watering cans because they make you think about […]

I have been gradually thinning out fruit on my apple cordons and as always, it is all a matter of judgement. Cooking apples should be around 15-22.5cm (6-9”) apart as the fruit is generally larger: dessert apples should be 10-15cm (4-6”) apart, removing the ‘king fruit’, the one in the centre, which is usually malformed. The […]

Real change in the way we garden will only come about when we break through the communication failure between the vocal earth-friendly minority and the quiet majority who keep on buying chemicals. When does change come? When do we look around and see it with our own eyes? When can we feel it in the […]

Easy in a frost free greenhouse, conservatory or as a houseplant the Fittonias are unsung heroes. If you’ve ever been on a tropical or sub-tropical holiday you probably saw them often yet did not notice them. Or did but never quite worked out what they were. Rumoured to have originated in Peru these decorative yet […]

My grape vine isn’t quite in my greenhouse, but it is in the next best place. I have a deck outside my back door, covered with polycarbonate sheeting to keep out the rain but let in the light. Here I have tried to emulate the vineries in grand walled gardens by planting the feet of […]

I get a succession of visitors to Spring Cottage and it’s rather like revealing a glimpse of your soul. My last one was young and had olive skin, golden eyes and the sort of Italian accent women dream of. A garden designer, who actually knew his plants, he adored minimalist gardens with simple green schemes […]

With summer in mid flow there’s one garden pest that is taking the starring role, the wonderful wasp. While most people consider the wasp to be a huge pest, and it can be, in gardening terms the wasp is actually a very beneficial insect. It is a predator of many garden pests and will devour […]

Unless you’re growing plants for their ornamental seed heads or saving the seed for next year, ‘deadheading’ by removing spent flower heads goes a long way to extending the flowering season and stops those that self seed freely, like ‘Lady’s Mantle’ or ‘Love in a mist’ from becoming a weed. Hybrid Tea Roses were traditionally […]