Growing your own grapes - summer pruning

A few minutes is all you need to summer prune grapevines. Some simple steps in summer can help you get bigger and riper grapes when you pick them in autumn.

Plant these 5 evening scented white flowers for fragrant summer nights in the garden

If you have a bit of your garden which faces west, it will make a great place to sit and watch the sun go down. If it's a patio then it will catch the late afternoon sun, and on a balmy summer night, the stones will absorb the summer heat and slowly release it after sunset, keeping you pleasantly warm late into the evening.

 



To enhance this evening atmosphere even further, you can fill a pot, bed or border with scented plants that release their fragrance  in the evening.

Tulips - To Lift Or Not To Lift?

A "Rainbow Bed" of Tulips in April

Tulips bring a welcome burst of colour to the garden in spring before everything else really gets going. They are a great low maintenance option too because you can just plant them in autumn, leave them and wait for the show to start the following spring. But they do tend to flower less each year which means you have a choice - buy new ones each autumn to add to the existing show, or lift them and store them until it's time to replant them again in October. So is it worth the effort?

When to prune clematis - made simple!

Ever heard someone explaining when to prune clematis, and still been left with no idea what to do? Then let's make things simple...

Pruning ferns in spring

All sorts of things need pruning in spring. Magazines, TV programmes and online blogs are full of instructions, but what about ferns? They hardly ever seem to be mentioned. But pruning ferns can reveal hidden delights.

Four things I'm doing in my garden this October - and two things I'm not...

Four things I'm doing in my garden this October - and two things I'm not...

Time to cut back perennial plants

When is the right time to cut back herbaceous perennials in the garden? When you see fresh new stems growing from the base. In my garden that means now - go and have a look at yours - it's time to let spring take over from winter...

Five patio plants to bring indoors before winter

Autumn has arrived! Here are six plants I've brought indoors to save them from the cold and wet of winter...

What's eating my viburnum and what can I do?

If you have a viburnum with leaves full of holes, this is the most likely culprit! The viburnum beetle. But what can you do about it? Well I may have identified their weakness...

Six things to do in your garden during August

There is plenty to do in my garden right now. The weather is still warm, but here in South Wales we've had plenty of rain as well as some sunshine, and that combination means everything is growing strongly.

Is your garden holiday proof?

Are you going away on holiday this summer? Have you thought about how your garden will cope without you? 

Of course your plants can keep on growing by themselves but what if there is a really hot dry spell and there's nobody at home to water anything?

Simple gardening hack for problem Heucheras

Here is a simple solution to a problem with heucheras...

Buy the right Christmas tree and never have to buy one again

A tree should be for life, not just for Christmas. A real tree, in a pot, is best for the environment, and your pocket.

Tips for Growing Your Own Tomatoes

If you grow your own tomatoes, there are a few things you can do as they start to produce fruit, to increase your chances of getting as many ripe tasty tomatoes as possible.

Protect carrots from carrot fly

Carrot fly can destroy any chance of growing your own carrots, but protecting your carrot crop from this pest is relatively simple. 

Dead head daffodils in your garden (and other spring bulbs)

We're used to snipping off spent flower heads in summer and autumn. It's usually because they look dreadful, all brown and crispy or wilted, detracting from the bright colourful blooms filling the rest of the garden. But do you do the same to the spent flowers of daffodils, tulips and alliums? Well if you don't, you should.

Hardening off vegetable seedlings before planting outside

It's important to give young plants sown indoors time to adjust to life outside. To survive in the allotment, vegetable patch or kitchen garden, seedlings need time to harden off, gradually getting used to the more varied conditions they'll experience outdoors before being planted out permanently.

Look after your plants in the snow

Snow is predicted and although the garden looks like a beautiful iced cake when covered in fresh white snow, some of the plants can suffer underneath their seemingly soft blanket. It's a good idea to have a quick walk round the garden and

Has cold weather killed my plants?

Can you save a plant that's been frozen? It might look horrible now but it may not be too late. Here's how to check if your plants have survived a cold spell, and how to help them recover...

The first Grow Your Own job of the year

What's the first job of the year in the allotment? I've only got about 80 minutes per week to grow my own fruit and vegetables, so it's important to get my priorities straight...