Blog

I eagerly await April every year as this is the month where the majority of my garden starts to put on rapid growth. It’s a bit like each plant vying for attention to be shortlisted for that staring role! The restrictions from Coronavirus have meant as a Type 1 diabetic that I’m now in week […]

When I first started gardening many moons ago, I never saw the importance of sharpening tools like secateurs. How bad can pruning cuts be from a less-than-perfect set of secateurs? Well, I had a pretty bad experience early on in my career. After using blunt snips on one poor shrub, I subsequently lost it to […]

It’s really worrying times worldwide with the Corona outbreak but as gardeners, we know all too well that there’s plenty of tonics to be found in our gardens. This month I’m concentrating on a number of gardening activities that any gardeners, no matter how experienced can join in with. So if you’re stuck at home […]

If you’re new to gardening it can feel daunting working out where to start and if you’re doing things the ‘right way’. It’s a process all of us gardeners, whether professional or enthusiastic amateur, can relate to. Tamsin Westhorpe is the head gardener at Stockton Bury Country garden in Hertfordshire and has written an account […]

I’m a glass half full kinda guy. I try to refuse, where possible, to let myself end up in negative cycles. The media, in particular, like to theme January as the month of personal debasement. To try and amplify the parts of your life you’re not happy with. So much so there’s now a Blue […]

It’s a sad fact that an area the size of the UK is being lost each year worldwide to deforestation. Trees are being felled and cut down at an alarming rate. Now, even local UK councils are stealth tree felling claiming that their ‘maintenance’ costs outweigh trees’ environmental benefits. It’s all too easy for homeowners […]

We seem to have a bit of an issue with pruning as gardeners. I remember when I first started gardening, the thought of cutting off parts of the plants I’d spent ages nurturing felt horrific. I let them grow however and wherever they wanted. Just grateful they were growing. However, this laissez-faire approach always ends […]

The run-up to Christmas in December is usually a really busy month for me. Whilst most people are winding down my calender goes into overdrive with a mix of garden design work and social activities. Those savvy early bird garden design clients are queued up for me to start designing before the spring, my family […]

When I first started gardening many, many moons ago, I always used to garden barehanded. It gave me a real feeling of connection with the earth and the process of gardening. It wasn’t long, though, before coworkers were giving my dirt-stained hands and nails the look of horror. It looked like I’d clawed my way […]

When it comes to taking care of your lawn during winter, much of the maintenance requires preparation. Again, this isn’t an extensive amount of work, but there are a few points to take note of.  Now that the cold is seeping in, there’s no better time to hunker down with your to-do list and start […]