Monty Don is a real gardening inspiration for me. I’ve watched him present Gardeners' World for many years now, and seeing him at work in his amazing garden never fails to give me new ideas and enthusiasm for our own plot. I love the way his passion for gardening is so obvious, and his knack for sharing his extensive knowledge and experience in a way that always feels accessible, even to the most amateur gardener. So, as you can imagine, I was ...
Review & Giveaway: GardenSite Forest Toulouse Trellis Planter
Welcome to a new product review and giveaway, perfect for those of you who are looking to spruce up a patio or deck area. We've been trying out the Forest Toulouse trellis planter from online gardening supplier GardenSite, and I've also got one of these lovely planters worth £89.99 to give away to a lucky winner. The Forest Toulouse trellis planter has a generous container with an integral trellis for climbing plants, allowing you to ...
Container plant care with Baby Bio Pour & Feed: 3 month update
How’s your garden looking now that we’re into late summer? We’ve had a good summer weather-wise in the UK - including some crazy heat in late June - and I’ve really enjoyed my garden this year. I’ve been trying hard to water effectively, and I’ve also been learning more about dealing with plant diseases and plant pests in an effort to keep everything as healthy as possible. The regular games of football and cricket that go on in our garden ...
Tips for controlling plant pests
Have you experienced problems with pests on your garden plants this summer? Whether you garden on a large or small scale, there’s a very good chance that your plants have been affected by pests at some point. I experience this every year at the allotment, with blackfly on my broad beans and caterpillars on my cabbages, and at home in the garden there’s always an invasion of greenfly on the roses and honeysuckle at the start of the summer. You ...
Are you the UK’s best amateur gardener? Prizes to be won with Wilko!
Given that so many of my lovely readers are amateur gardeners, I thought you'd be interested in this fab competition that Wilko are running at the moment. There are some great prizes on offer! Wilko is looking for green fingered locals to enter the 2017 ‘Wilko Amateur Gardener Of The Year’ competition. Research suggests the UK is a secret haven of garden enthusiasts – with 88% of UK residents rating having a nice garden as important, ...
Tips for controlling plant diseases
Plant disease: it’s not the most glamorous of gardening topics, but it’s an issue that’s highly likely to have affected your garden at some point. To be honest, in the past I’ve struggled to understand and recognise plant diseases beyond a very basic level. Yes, I could tell when a plant has suffered from under or over watering, and recognise leaf scorching from bright sun, but beyond that I was pretty much out of my depth! I have noticed some ...
6. The 10 minute gardener – quick garden jobs for April & May
I’m feeling more than a little behind with my gardening jobs this month. Everything just grows so fast at this time of year! I’ve managed to stay on top of things at the allotment, but the garden is another story. And with all the loveliness and perfection of the Chelsea Flower Show on the horizon, it feels like I need some quick gardening jobs now more than ever. Despite this urge to gain control in the garden, I don’t think you can ever ...
Review: Qwerkity Grow Cage plant protection
Do you grow soft fruit or leafy veg in your garden or allotment? If the answer is yes, chances are you know the pain of trying to protect it from hungry wildlife! Since getting our allotment three years ago, we've tried to grow lettuces, cabbages and broccoli in our raised beds. Every year, the local pigeons have a good old feast before the plants get really established; we've tried using netting, but we've never managed to get the supports ...
Putting Baby Bio Orchid Feed & Mist to the test
You may have seen my recent post on orchid care tips, which included lots of tips for keeping orchid plants happy and healthy. In this post, I’m going to take a closer look at Baby Bio® Orchid Feed & Mist, and put it to the test against some competitor products. So why is it important to mist orchid plants? Well it’s all about creating the kind of environment that they would naturally grow in. Orchids need a high level of humidity - much ...
Orchid care tips to help you grow stunning blooms
Do you love growing orchids, but worry about how to take care of them? You’re not alone! These orchid care tips will walk you through five key areas so you can keep your plants in tip-top condition and enjoy beautiful blooms year after year. We’ll cover the best places to put orchids in your home, how to water orchids, feeding orchids, how to repot orchids, and how to make sure those precious plants bloom again and again. We’ll also deal ...