Two Hour Gardening Project: Stage 19 Helleborus Niger and Bug Hunting

There’s a whole galaxy of colourful plants available today among the herbaceous perennials. The roots you buy may seem small, but month by month, year by year, they grow into clumps of hardy, trouble-free flowers. You

Two Hour Gardening Project: Stage 20 Tubs and Container Gardening

We take time off to tell you about tubs. Maybe you’ll use them next year – it’s too late for this year, or maybe you had the sense to look ahead and find this page earlier. The time to plant tubs is when you put your

Two Hour Gardening Project: Stage 21 Making Christmas Present Plants

With Christmas coming up, it’s time to remember that plants make lovely presents. Trouble is, many people find their flowers beginning to fade all too soon, so we give some tips on keeping these plants healthy. Garden

Two Hour Gardening Project: Stage 22 Rock Gardening

In the dead, dull days of winter it’s time to take a look at house plants, and think about decoration in the garden. Many plants, indoors and out, can be increased by cuttings, and now’s a good time to learn about tha

Two Hour Gardening Project: Stage 23 Principles of Pruning

Pruning is one of those essential gardening activities that too many people just shy away from. But there’s no mystery to pruning: just good common sense. We illustrate the basic principles of pruning, but as you move

Two Hour Gardening Project: Stage 24 Propagation and Growing Herbs

Waste not want not is a motto every good gardener should take to heart. Propagating your own plants, swapping bits with other gardeners, helps extend your garden flower-power. Plants reproduce largely by seed: here we

Two Hour Gardening Project: Stage 25 Getting To Know Your Garden

The gardening cycle is complete. At this stage we are back at the same time of year we started with Stage 1. We’re back to the time to sow our first annual seeds for this year – this time sweet peas. We also take a lo

Two Hour Gardening Project: Stage 26 Climbing Plants and Pergolas

One first-rate climbing plant, a look back over one year in the garden, and a glimpse of the future wind up the first part of this 2 Hour Garden section. If, what you have learnt over the year has encouraged you to ap

The Gardening Challenge: After 12 Months

After 12 months and a mere 104 hours work, does your garden look anything like you planned for it to look? So you may feel just a little disappointed because there may be less colour in the garden now than there was a

Discovering Gardening for the First Time

Branching Out on Your Own You may not know all there is to know about gardening – you probably never will and if you ever did you’d die of boredom – but after the 26 stages you’ve worked your way through spread

The Indoor Garden

Indoors is a peculiar situation for plants, because the ‘climate’ of homes is not really like that of a natural habitat, even for a shade-loving species. Moisture/humidity, temperature and light are crucial factors. M

The Conservatory Garden

A conservatory differs from a greenhouse in being a part or an extension of your home. It offers scope for the imagination. You can take your cue perhaps from the colonial atmosphere captured in a Somerset Maugham pl

The Everlasting Garden

Many flowers have everlasting features – their stems, leaves or seed heads often persist well after the plant itself has died; but some are so striking they are specially grown for indoor decoration. Grasses: until re

The Perfumed Garden

The scents of most flowers are volatile oils, most fully appreciated in a sunny, wind-free corner as dusk falls and the fragrance wafts on the still, warm air – so a comfortable seat is the first essential of a perfum

The Vegetable and Fruit Gardens

The Vegetable Garden Vegetables do not have to be grown at the end of your garden out of sight; Many are decorative and can be bedded in patches among the ornamental plants. Long straight rows of one vegetable are mor

Cultivating New Gardens

Tackling new or neglected land New ground is usually inherited when you move house. It may be a bare patch attached to a new house or an overgrown garden that has been neglected for years. Both allow you to create a g

Growing Plants in Walls

Colour in the cracks Plants which tolerate dry, and often poor, conditions are ideal for growing in walls. They need little attention, give a reliable, colourful display and bring a sparkle to the nooks and crannies o

Creating a Blue Garden

Give your garden ‘the Blues’ You can create an unusual and striking garden by growing plants of the same colour together, and blue is particularly effective. Use blue hues either in strategic groups or devote th

The Flower Garden in Early Spring

In early spring, there is a good deal that you can begin to do in the flower garden, unlike the kitchen garden, where the real work does not start until mid-spring. This season is one of the best for planting and tran

Early Spring Jobs in the Flower Garden

Jobs to do Preparing the soil for outdoor sowing The soil in beds and borders should be prepared for sowing seed as soon as it becomes workable. Drying winds and sun will hasten this condition and, when you find that