Search - Articles

It rained on Sunday, so what better way to spend the day than planting roses? Well, I went and played Power Rangers in the bushes in Dulwich Park with 3-year-old, while my partner did the planting. She'd ordered them at Chelsea, and we'd almost

they are hunters, they cannot do any harm to the plants or their roots. I once came across an allotmenteer who was completely flummoxed when I showed him a picture of one of these centipedes. He admitted that he thought they were wireworms, and had been chopping

It boggles my mind to consider how many millions of tonnes of horticultural material must be shipped around the globe each year. And with the plants and soil come the insects. We are lucky in the UK in that we have a relatively cool temperate

After writing an article on how and why to keep a garden wildlife diary for BBC Gardener's World Magazine, I've been invited to go electronic and turn it into a blog. My handwriting is atrocious so maybe this will be a good way of keeping the diary

with anyone growing plants for their roots or tubers. Most species, though, are dead wood feeders, and they include lots of very rare species, which only occur in old woodlands, ancient hedgerows and other important wildlife habitats. Their larvae feed

they are transformed by the arrival of tonnes of imported topsoil and a bewildering rainbow of garden plants, for Gardeners' World Live.Whilst I was there I was asked to research and create a container of plants to attract wildlife, and despite the rain, it looked

supremely elegant beetle, neatly parallel-sided, shiny, cylindrical and compact. So what a delight that almost every asparagus plant now benefits from its decoration, at least, in south-east London they do.I'm mildly surprised that I don’t hear more about

worked on.Some people are very precious about trees. This is because the tree has become one of the green super-icons of the environmental movement. Very simply — planting trees is good, cutting down trees is bad. Except it’s not that simple

.I had quite happily (and rather pompously I’m sorry to say) stated that these lovely insects were never a problem in the garden, because, although they are sap suckers, they prefer wild flowers to cultivated plants. Boy did I get that wrong. I was given

completely destroying the plant.I haven't got any daffs in my garden, but the fly is quite welcome to the Spanish bluebells that come up in vigorous drifts every year. In the wider countryside it is quite at home using native bluebells too. My fond attachment