What's new, what's growing, what we're learning. Updates, guides and stories for people who take their garden seriously.
Most perennials are modest feeders, and too much fertiliser harms more than too little. Here is how to feed your perennial bed with compost and mulch, without overloading it.
Freshly picked, the medlar is rock hard and bitter. Only bletting makes it sweet. Here is how to harvest, store and use this forgotten autumn fruit the right way.
The Turkish hazel is not just a bigger hazel bush but a sturdy tree: a wind-firm street tree, the classic grafting rootstock for hazelnuts and, come autumn, a handful of nuts as well.
In a pot, the pomegranate is above all a rewarding flowering plant. With the right variety, a sunny spot and a frost-free winter quarter, the bloom almost always succeeds and the fruit becomes a lovely bonus.
The sweet chestnut is not the horse chestnut: it gives you edible marrons, wants acidic, warm soil and needs a second tree for pollination. Here is how to get the site, care and the prickly autumn harvest right.
Hostas solve the shade problem elegantly, if you mind one thing: the slug. With the right spot and the right variety choice, you enjoy their foliage for years.
The pit gives you a beautiful plant, but rarely a harvest. How to grow an avocado in a pot, overwinter it bright and cool, and why waterlogging is the most common killer.
Apricot, peach and almond bloom in March, when night frosts are still normal. Here is how to protect the blossom with the right spot, fleece and overhead irrigation, without the panic.
A tough root, a flavourful variety: grafting turns two tomatoes into one. How splice grafting works at the kitchen table, and who it actually pays off for.
