Search - Articles

Living on a hillside, I’m fortunately not in danger of being flooded, but it doesn’t mean I’m not feeling the effects of the recent heavy rains. It’s difficult to walk around my sloping garden without slipping over, and the grassed areas have turned

by flooding. It’s hard to imagine anything worse happening to your home.Putting up with a wet garden could appear rather trivial in the context of major weather events, but the past few years have highlighted how variable and extreme our weather has become

by now.Grey water is recycled water from the bath, shower or washing up bowl. While no longer fit for drinking, it's generally fine for using in the garden, as long as it's not too contaminated. I avoid using water from washing up, as it can contain

it into a compost (sometimes called vermipeat) and liquid feed. However, to keep the worms contained, and prevent too many of them escaping into the garden, you need a proper worm compost bin. My worm composter forms a tower, with three trays on legs

What's in your shed? If it's anything like mine it will contain some (or all) of the following: tools (some hanging from nails, some lying around on the floor), mowers, plant pots, deckchairs waiting for a sunny day, three bicycles with flat tyres

to weed nicely contained beds where the soil is lovely and light, and I barely even get muddy.Laying carpet at the far end was a big mistake. I initially laid it over the soil to suppress weed growth, with the view to digging the area over later on

It's January. The weather outside is pretty ghastly. There is not an enormous amount in the garden worth looking at so we must be more imaginative when seeking out our horticultural pleasures.Often the mundane can be very beautiful if you look hard

into the recycling bin (hopefully your local authority does collect and recycle a good range of materials), but I'm sure there are still a few gardeners out there who could benefit from doing more.For instance, all cardboard rolls, tubes or egg boxes make great

To spray, or not to spray? That is indeed the question.A couple of decades ago it was not really a question worth asking: pretty much every gardener killed stuff indiscriminately. Aphids? Aaarghh ... squirt. Mildew? Gothcha … squirt. Worm casts

, or contain seeds that I’ll never use will all have to go. I’ll also ditch the seed tray labels that have turned brittle through prolonged exposure to sunlight, and have no space left on them for plant names.The last few weeks of damp, with the greenhouse