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Root vegetables such as carrots and parsnips don't like my garden. I can understand why: the soil is full of rocks, which can lead to the formation of forked roots. It also has a fair amount of clay, which causes the seeds to rot before they've even

I love mulching, and my soil loves it too. Not that I'd admit this in public, but I think it's partly the lazy gardener in me that chooses mulching over digging - it's a far easier way to incorporate bulky organic material into soil.Yes, there's a

manures, sown onto beds and borders and forming a green carpet that can be dug directly into the soil, improving its organic content. Where areas aren't required for crops or bedding for a couple of months I put the area to good use by sowing green manures

view to nesting sometime soon. It would be great to have a little family to keep an eye on while I'm weeding.Although the soil is warming up nicely I'm determined not to sow seeds too early. It's easy to get lulled into a false sense of security

Once again it poured with rain at the weekend, so my heavy clay soil was too wet to be worked. Instead, I made for the greenhouse, to do a spot of cleaning.I spent a thoroughly productive couple of hours, jet washing the glass inside and out

I think we have foxes living under our garden shed. I first noticed the scratching in the soil a week or so ago. It didn't look like very much excavation had occured and the hole didn't appear to go very far. But now we have more earth-moving going

A plant that favours chalky or calcareous soils.

Plants that grow in the soil, land plants.

A chemical trace element found in soil.

A plant that cannot tolerate alkaline soil. Described as ericaceous, calcifuges grown on alkaline soils will exhibit symptoms of iron deficiency.