Growing Family

UK home and garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for busy family life, written by Catherine Hughes

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Summer gardening: ten easy ways to keep your garden looking good all summer long

July 23, 2021 by Catherine Leave a Comment

pink echinacea flower

Collaborative post Summer has well and truly arrived, bringing with it warmer weather and the opportunity to enjoy our gardens more often.  Add in the fact that we’re all in the habit of using our gardens to socialise these days, and it’s definitely a good idea to keep your garden looking good at this time of year. Easy ways to keep your garden looking good all summer long If your garden could do with a boost, there are lots of easy ...

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Filed Under: Garden Tips Tagged With: Bedding plants, Garden, Garden furniture, Garden maintenance, Garden tips, gardening, lawn care, Patio, Plant food, Summer, watering, Weeds

Japanese knotweed: How close is too close?

December 19, 2019 by Catherine 1 Comment

Collaborative post Are you worried about the impact of Japanese Knotweed on your property? This article by Stuart Snape, Managing Partner at Graham Coffey & Co. Solicitors, explains what you need to look out for, how to deal with Japanese knotweed, and your legal rights should this invasive plant become a problem. What is Japanese Knotweed? Japanese knotweed - also known by it's Latin name, Fallopia Japonica - is a feared ...

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Filed Under: Garden Tips Tagged With: Garden, Garden tips, gardening, Japanese knotweed, Top Tips, Weed control, Weeds

8. The 10 minute gardener: quick gardening jobs for late Summer

August 9, 2018 by Catherine 9 Comments

sunflower in the sunshine

Welcome to the 10 minute gardener for late summer, looking at quick gardening jobs you can fit into a busy schedule. We’re at that stage of summer where all the hard work in the garden should be really paying off, in the form of healthy plants and lots of flowers to enjoy.  I think this part of the year is actually quite lazy, with an emphasis on sitting back and enjoying the view, but there are still a few jobs that are worth ticking off the ...

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Filed Under: Garden jobs this month Tagged With: 10 minute jobs, Containers, Flowers, Fruit, Garden, gardening, Maintenance, Plants, Summer, Top Tips, watering, Weeds

Perfect spring garden projects

May 11, 2018 by Catherine Leave a Comment

clematis montana

So the weather has finally warmed up, and it feels like we’re well and truly into spring: trees are laden with blossom, plants are putting on lots of new growth, and the lawnmower is back into regular action.  Doesn’t it make you feel altogether more cheerful? Warmer temperatures also make it a lot easier to motivate yourself to tackle some outdoor projects.  After months of cold weather, chances are your garden and outdoor space is in need of ...

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Filed Under: Garden Tips Tagged With: Conservatory, Deck, Driveway, Garden, Garden storage, Garden tools, gardening, Home, Lawn, Maintenance, Outdoors, Patio, Spring, Tools, Top Tips, Weeds

Putting Job done® Tough Ready to Use Weedkiller to the test

April 25, 2018 by Catherine Leave a Comment

weed control with job done spray

You may have seen my recent post on weed control, which shared my top tips for helping you manage pesky garden weeds.  One of my tips was to use a weedkiller product to deal with tough, problem weeds, and I used Job done® Tough Ready to Use Weedkiller, which proved to be very effective.  In this post, I’m going to put this product to the test against a leading competitor, to see how well it performs. In my experience, a weedkiller product is a ...

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Filed Under: Garden Tips Tagged With: Garden, Garden tips, gardening, Job done, Outdoors, Plants, Top Tips, Weed control, Weedkiller, Weeds

My top weed control tips

March 29, 2018 by Catherine Leave a Comment

weeds

Weeds: the garden problem we all love to hate, right? Whatever type, size or style of garden you have, weeds will undoubtedly be a part of it.  And dealing with those weeds will have probably had you grumbling at some point.  I do think there’s a certain amount of satisfaction in transforming a weedy patch into a lovely clear chunk of soil or grass, but if you told me I never had to do any weeding again I’d still be delighted! Unfortunately, ...

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Filed Under: Garden Tips Tagged With: Allotment, Garden, Garden tips, gardening, Job done, Outdoors, Plants, Top Tips, Weed control, Weedkiller, Weeds

1. The 10-minute gardener: early winter gardening jobs

November 29, 2017 by Catherine Leave a Comment

choisya frost

So here’s my dilemma: life with a young family is hectic and it’s never easy to carve out time for hobbies.  And my big passion is gardening, which by it’s very nature involves season-specific maintenance that, no matter how crazy family life gets, I can’t really ignore without suffering the consequences.  The last thing I want to do is turn my passion into an endless list of chores that I feel like I’m failing on.  What to do? Mulling over ...

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Filed Under: Garden jobs this month Tagged With: Birds, Compost, Containers, Family, Garden, Planning, Top Tips, Weeds, Wildlife, Winter

6. The 10 minute gardener – quick garden jobs for April & May

May 15, 2017 by Catherine Leave a Comment

clematis montana white

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 ...

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Filed Under: Garden jobs this month Tagged With: Climbing plants, Garden, Garden tips, Grass, Lawn, Maintenance, May, Planning, Plants, Top Tips, Weeds, Wildlife

How well do you know your weeds from your plants?

May 19, 2016 by Catherine Leave a Comment

co-operative insurance hub garden plant or wild flower weed quiz

When it comes to keeping your garden looking lovely, how well do you know your weeds from your plants? Most of us are familiar with the common weeds that can cause problems in our gardens, and can probably identify culprits such as dandelions, daisies, nettles, creeping buttercup and bindweed.  But there's a whole host of wild plants that could easily be tricking you into thinking they're actually cultivated varieties. So how do you work out ...

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Filed Under: Garden Tips Tagged With: Flowers, Garden, gardening, Outdoors, Plants, Quiz, Top Tips, Weeds, Wildflowers

An unruly Summer allotment

July 16, 2015 by Catherine 22 Comments

summer allotment

It's been a while since I shared any pictures of our allotment.  This hasn't been deliberate, I just haven't got myself organised! I feel like I've been behind the whole way with the allotment this year.  Last year I had the plot rotavated in early Spring, which meant I was good to go with the planting nice and early.  This year however there's a greenhouse slap bang in the middle of the plot, a few raised beds and some permanent fruit canes, so ...

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Filed Under: Grow Your Own Tagged With: Allotment, Children, Crops, Family, Flowers, Food, Fruit, gardening, Greenhouse, Harvest, HDYGG, Homegrown, July, Plants, Raised bed, Summer, Vegetables, Weeds

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Hi, I’m Catherine. Welcome to Growing Family, a top UK home & garden blog sharing ideas, inspiration and tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
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Catherine Hughes is a home & garden blogger sharing ideas, inspiration & tips for making the most of busy family life, indoors and out.
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