Search - Articles

What a spring we're having. Provisional Met Office reports suggest April was the warmest on record. It was also the 11th driest, based on average rainfall across the UK. Scotland's rainfall has been 110% above normal levels, while the South-East has

in urban areas where parking spaces are at a premium and there's a lack of availability of public transport. The popularity of low-maintenance gardens among the time-poor is also a factor. The RHS estimates around 12 square miles of London are lost

in the rain, so I get to see them, eat my lunch in the morning to avoid time-wasting lunch queues. There's no point in dressing up and trying to look pretty, it only ends in tears by about 11.30am. Sensible shoes and a sturdy rucksack are the only way to go

magnet for bumblebees.There are a few green manures to sow now, suitable for a range of soil types:1. Grazing rye (Secale cereale) improves soil structure. Sow from August to November and dig in the following spring.2. Winter field bean (Vicia faba

not buckled under the weight of rain-sodden compost, nor the trampling of pigeons. It won't be visited by black redstarts, but I can't wait to see the first bee, visiting a flower that would otherwise not have been there.

long. Then I'll sow grass seed in the dead patches. I'm also cultivating a small wildflower meadow among the long grass, so I'll transplant some self-sown field poppies here and remove some ragwort I accidentally transplanted the other week.If it rains