Gardening Advice

Growing Sweet Peppers in Pots & Containers at Home

Growing sweet peppers in pots and containers at home is a great way to grow a good crop of fresh peppers to enjoy. What makes it even better is that it is relatively easy to do, and the versatility that pots and containers offer, means that you can place them indoors if you don’t have […]

March Gardening Tips 2025

I look forward to March. It is when the days start to become noticeably longer and snowdrops are joined by crocus and daffodils bringing colour and hope not just to gardens and parks but to verges and roundabouts too. If you didn’t get round to planting bulbs in the autumn you can buy them ‘in […]

February Gardening Tips 2025

The days are definitely getting longer and we are inching towards spring which is a cause of celebration.  In addition, glorious pots of daffodils and primroses are arriving in our plant areas and, inside the shop, I can see seed potatoes and packs of summer flowering bulbs. So, the start of the gardening season is […]

January Gardening Tips 2025

I hope you were able to enjoy a little space in the midst of Christmas celebrations to find some peace and relaxation. Our gardens give every impression of resting at this time of year. But looking closely can reveal a world of activity going on. Feeding the birds and providing water for wildlife over the […]

December Gardening Tips 2024

December is definitely the time of year to bring some of the outside in to enjoy indoors. A wreath or garland, of deep green leaved and vibrant berried holly and white tinged Ivy, conjures up images of Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’. A bunch of mistletoe takes us back even further traveling through time to the […]

November Gardening Tips 2024

I am never keen on the clocks changing, but fall back they have and autumn is well and truly with us. For me, a reason to be cheerful is that it is still planting season, even if the gardening day is cut short. Continue to plant bulbs, especially tulips which prefer to be planted a […]

October Gardening Tips 2024

As I write this, the Maples in the car park that I can see from my office are starting to turn from green to gold to auburn and deep claret. They really are going to look spectacular in a couple of weeks. Don’t overlook the joy of autumn colour, there is so much to appreciate […]

September Gardening Tips 2024

There is a wonderful benign period in early autumn, before the nights really close in and it starts to get truly grey and chilly; when the sun still has some warmth and yet there is the unmistakable scent of autumn in the early morning when dewy mist hangs over the grass. Nature certainly has colourful […]

August Gardening Tips 2024

July started damp and cool and that was the story right up until the last few days, when the sun has made a welcome appearance. So my hopes are high for some proper summer weather in August. May we have many golden days and many golden Olympic medals. High summer should be the perfect time […]

July Gardening Tips 2024

At last, summer has arrived and we have been able to enjoy some sunshine over the past week or so. With it a host of sporting events taking place, from the Euros and Wimbledon to the Olympics, the garden can be the perfect place to celebrate with family and friends or somewhere to get away […]

June Gardening Tips 2024

Walking in the rain, or after rain, may actually be good for your body and mind – according to an article I was reading on the BBC Newsfeed. Well, that is just as well given the weather we have been experiencing pretty much all year so far. Now, I rather like the lovely scents that […]

May Gardening Tips 2024

I remember writing last month that I was hoping for some sunnier and drier weather in April. Well, that proved to be something of a forlorn hope. But never mind, surely there must be some warmer and brighter weather in store for us in May, so we can really enjoy the sights, scents, tastes and […]

April Gardening Tips 2024

After such a wet winter, surely we must be in line for some sunshine. I do hope so because April is such an exciting month in the garden. Spring colour is always the most vibrant of the year, whether it is the almost iridescent green of the new leaves on the trees, spring flowering bulbs, […]

March Gardening Tips 2024

March is a lovely month. Not only are the spring flowering bulbs in full bloom but Camellias are in flower, the Magnolia buds are swelling and blossom is on the trees. It is a month of promise with so much still to look forward to in the garden. And the days are lengthening which is […]

February Gardening Tips 2024

How lovely that 1st February is a sunny day to welcome the start of a new month, a month that really bridges winter and spring. The days are certainly lengthening – a reason to be cheerful in itself, and it is great to spot green shoots starting to emerge from the soil. I am particularly […]

January Gardening Tips 2024

The garden and the process of gardening, are definitely a source of hope in a somewhat troubled and frantic world as we enter 2024. Planting, nurturing and looking forward to harvest are acts of faith in the future. Regardless of the geopolitical situation, the seasons roll on and we know that spring will come, warmer […]

December Gardening Tips 2023

This is the time of year when houseplants really come into their own, bringing colour, texture and, in some cases, scent inside. But before we explore some of the best festive flora for indoors, what about a plant that flowers its socks off outside, from winter to early spring? I am referring to Christmas Roses, […]

November Gardening Tips 2023

I was looking out onto a rather blustery car park at our Twickenham garden centre as I began to write this, but the view was salvaged by the most wonderful autumn colour coming from the trees planted there. The Maple family has so much to offer this time of year (and in fact all year […]

October Gardening Tips 2023

So far September has treated our garden to a sizzling start and a rather damp middle. I think this has led our flowering plants to believe it is still high summer. I have never seen our Roses looking so good in September. The stars of the show are ‘Rural England’ and ‘Litchfield Angel’ either side […]

September Gardening Tips 2023

It may not have been the best weather for the school summer holidays, but if our garden is anything to go by, the plants have enjoyed the mix of warm and wet weather we have seen in August. The weather has certainly extended the flowering season of a number of plants. Our Roses are in […]

August Gardening Tips 2023

On one of our new bags for life we have the slogan ‘there’s no such thing as too many plants’. It is a sentiment that I have clearly taken to heart! Last week I bought alstroemeria ‘Summer Skies’ which is a lovely creamy yellow. I used it to fill a gap in our newish yellow […]

July Gardening Tips 2023

It has certainly been a busy few weeks. On the cusp of May and June we welcomed Adam Frost to our Milford garden centre where, hot on the heels of Chelsea, he gave some fascinating and highly entertaining gardening presentations to our customers. I also very much enjoyed my trip to the NEC for Gardener’s […]

June Gardening Tips 2023

June is a lovely month and I think we may be in for a horticultural treat this year given that spring arrived so late. Certainly, in my garden, spring and summer blooms are blending in a riot of colour because some of the plants I would have expected to have finished flowering are still blooming, […]

May Gardening Tips 2023

I like to think of May as a particularly cheerful month in the garden. This is because by about 10 May the danger of frost should have passed in our area, so all those wonderful bedding plants can be planted out without fear. I think bedding plants are an under-appreciated group of plants. They flower […]

April Gardening Tips 2023

Well, March certainly didn’t want to let go of winter this year.  We have gardening projects we have been itching to get on with but have been thwarted by the wet and cold. Even pruning the roses took days rather than hours because of rain interruptions and the fact that everything took longer due to […]

March Gardening Tips 2023

Hurrah, the days are lengthening and there is more opportunity to get outside and get gardening as March progresses. It is a good time to plant all sorts of hardy plants from trees and shrubs to perennials, roses and climbers. Lots of fabulous new plants are arriving in the garden centres from now on, so […]

February Gardening Tips 2023

I cannot say I have enjoyed the meteorological stripes of alternating very mild wet and very dry cold weather so far this winter. The plants seem a little confused by it all too and I fear there may be some losses in my garden this year from cold or waterlogging, especially where plants have woken […]

January Gardening Tips 2023

It was clearly a mistake to comment on the mild autumn in my December column. My goodness it was cold for a while last month. Perhaps it is a case of shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted but here are a few of the things we do to winter proof our garden. […]

December Gardening Tips 2022

Can it really be December already? It has been so mild that I, for one, have hardly thought about preparing for Christmas yet. But with less than four weeks to go, I had better start making lists. I am always tempted to bringing living plants into my home for the festive period and beyond, and […]

November Gardening Tips 2022

Well, it has certainly been another mild autumn. My garden looks more like it should in September than the last week of October. We have experienced autumn rains after such a dry summer so the soil is nice and moist, making digging, planting and general gardening much easier. And, at risk of sounding like the […]

October Gardening Tips 2022

After the solemn events of September, we slip gently into autumn properly in October, with the shortening days, the mists and the scent of the damp soil, grass and turning foliage. But autumn is a time of hope for us gardeners too. Nature’s time to plant – surely the most exciting of gardening activities. The […]

September Gardening Tips 2022

As a child, September was all about new school shoes and fresh exercise books as the academic year began. In a way, the garden in September can be a bit like that too. It is a fresh start after the heat of the summer and a chance to plan for the seasons ahead. You don’t […]

August Gardening Tips 2022

What a difference a year makes. Last August, I wrote ‘After a warm and rainy July maybe August will prove a little more settled!’ This year, any precipitation would be a delight and I would love experience the sweet scent of summer rain in the garden. I am old enough to remember 1976 very well, […]

July Gardening Tips 2022

There is so much flowering in the garden at the moment and I think it is important to take time to enjoy the colour, the scent and all the insect activity that a wide variety of flora promotes at this time of year. Our gardens have become such an important resource for wildlife, as pressure […]

June Gardening Tips 2022

June is such a lovely month because there is so much to enjoy in the garden. It is a great month for pottering, a little planting, a little dead heading, feeding and weeding but most of all just appreciating the abundance of leaf form and beautiful flowers which are coming into their own but still […]

May Gardening Tips 2022

I really enjoy May. There is the excitement of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show to look forward to, with its cornucopia of ideas and exuberant showcasing of the best in horticulture and garden design. And it is the month when the danger of frost recedes, so that in our region there are usually no more […]

April Gardening Tips 2022

April must be one of the most exciting months in the garden. There is plenty of colour from spring flowering bulbs and early flowering trees and shrubs, and yet there is still the promise of so much more to come.  Alpines are looking particularly attractive right now. Look out for pretty saxifrage (London Pride), aubretia, […]

March Gardening Tips 2022

Following February’s storms, Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, let’s hope for a gentler meteorological month. Of course, March can turn deliciously warm or scare us with a cold snap, stunting growth and damaging new shoots, just as it did in 2018 with the ‘Beast From The East’. But often we enjoy sufficient rain to keep the […]

February Gardening Tips 2022

So it is February already and, little by little, the daylight hours are extending – hurrah! It may be mid-winter but there has already been quite a lot of activity in our garden, helped by some dry weather. Here are some of the things we have been getting on with and will complete in February. […]

January Gardening Tips 2022

As we set foot into 2022 I do hope it will prove to be a good year for you.   Spring is on the way, promising new beginnings, opportunities and life. But until then it is time for a good old fashioned list. Planning is what January is for in gardening terms, mixed with a […]

September Gardening Tips 2021

Autumn may be on the way but there is still plenty to enjoy in the garden. Many plants are sporting a wonderful second burst of blooms. I have roses, lupins and clematis all looking striking at the moment. The star of the show is Mrs Cholmondeley a gorgeous clematis, which I would best describe as […]

Gardening Trends 2020 by Sarah Squire

I think there are three very strong trends which have been emerging over the last few years and which show every sign of becoming more and more significant. In fact, they are all very much interlinked.