Advice & Inspiration For Your Garden

how to plant, grow & care for verbena

If you want to attract pollinators all summer long verbenas are the plants to go for. Their rich nectar is particularly popular with hover flies which are so useful at controlling aphids in the rest o

how to plant, grow & care for antirrhinums

I love all the antirrhinums, from the rich venetian colours of the Liberty series to the more pastel shades. They all last really well in a vase and are so versatile. You can sow antirrhinum seeds eit

how to plant, grow & care for hellebores

With a good mix of varieties, you can have hellebores brightening your borders from Christmas through to Easter. The colours range from purest white through cream, yellow and lime green, then all the

how to plant, grow & care for poppies

Who couldn’t love poppies? They are the sweetest, simplest flowers that, if they like your garden, will return year after year as they seed themselves about. They come from a huge geographical area fr

how to plant, grow & care for salvias

Salvias are one of the best plants to bring summer colour into the garden and build in stature and intensity right through to late autumn. There is a huge range to choose from with delicate annual sal

how to plant, grow & care for lettuce

If you choose your varieties carefully you can have delicious fresh lettuce leaves of every colour and form available to pick from May right through until October. If you have a polytunnel or greenhou

how to plant, grow & care for onions

Onions are the basis for so many of our recipes and are easy to grow from sets or seed. Onion sets are easy to grow, with a small set turning into a full-sized bulb without much attention from you dur

how to plant, grow & care for artichokes

I love globe artichokes both for their thistly good looks and their amazing taste. It's worth planting a few different varieties so you get a good successional system going. They can be picked, cooked

how to plant, grow & care for rhubarb

As the last of the pears and apples get eaten, rhubarb takes over and gives us delicious things for pudding until the strawberries start. Once established, rhubarb will grow happily in the same spot y

how to plant, grow & care for chillies

Chillies can be as good to look at as they are to eat. They can be elegant tabletop companions all summer and autumn, thriving on minimal TLC, or you can keep them in the polytunnel or greenhouse wher

classic onion tart

This is the most delicious tart. It has more onions than usual – and lots and lots of nutmeg.serves 6-8 For the pastry: 180g flour Pinch of salt 50g lard 50g butter 1 tablespoon grated Parme

beetroot and mint falafel with super-nutritious tzatziki

Falafels are usually fried, or even deep-fried, but these are baked in the oven for a lighter, less calorific version. Ideal served with our super-nutritious tzatziki, some pitta and plenty of s

how to plant, grow & care for nerines

A welcome burst of colour at the end of the year, nerines will bulk up in the garden or in pots to provide a long-lasting display. Their flowers come up ‘naked’ in the autumn, followed by long strap l

how to plant, grow & care for broad beans

There are some vegetables which, on a blindfold test, I don't think you could tell if you'd grown them, but this isn't true of peas and beans. Almost inevitably, shop-bought broad beans are too big. T

how to plant, grow & care for snowdrops

Snowdrops have become increasingly fashionable over the years, with rare cultivars fetching very high prices. Now you can find a wide range of singles and doubles with green dots and dashes that, shou

how to plant, grow & care for fritillaries

Imperial fritillaries are the first whopper garden bulb to flower in spring. You've got alliums, lilies and eremurus later, but it's the good old crown imperial which gives you drama early in the year