Soil Ideas, Tips & Guides

April is Earth Month, which means there’s never been a better time to brainstorm ways to reduce household waste and live more sustainably. Recycling everyday household items like plastic is an easy way to make a difference in your everyday life. Plus, finding creative uses for plastic items that would’ve otherwise hit the landfill can save you money on your grocery bill in the long run.

Summer wouldn’t be summer without dahlias. Their beautiful flowers come in almost every colour imaginable, from pale pastels to hot, vibrant shades. They come in a range of flower shapes, from small tight balls to lily-like blooms the size of dinner plates. They’re perfect for adding late summer colour to borders from July to October and look good in any style of garden, from a cottage-style border to a jungle or exotic scheme. They look especially good with cosmos, grasses, Verbena bonariensis or cannas.

Although growing thyme from seed isn’t difficult, it requires patience, since this versatile, fragrant herb takes a while to germinate and grow. However, with the right know-how, you can start your own thyme seedlings and subsequently grow them into mature plants. Plus, seed is much less expensive than established bedding plants, so you stand to save a lot of money by starting thyme seeds yourself. This article is going to cover starting seeds indoors and direct-sowing seeds once the soil warms up in spring. A member of the mint (Lamiaceae) family, thyme contains a chemical compound called thymol which contributes to its stron

Hollyhocks (Alcea) have long been associated with cottage gardens. Perfect for the back of a border, they grow up to 2m in height. Each stem bears masses of open, bee-friendly flowers measuring up to 10cm in diameter, from July to September. Hollyhocks are biennial or short-lived perennials. In the first year they put on root and foliage growth and in the second they flower, set seed and then die.

Sea hollies (Eryngium) have spiky leaves and thistle-like flowers in colours ranging from grey to intense cobalt blue, surrounded by a characteristic ‘ruff’. They make striking garden plants and have excellent wildlife value, particularly for pollinators. There are over 250 species of Eryngium, including plenty of cultivated varieties. As their name suggests, they grow well in coastal areas. They look wonderful in gravel gardens or mixed herbaceous borders.

One of the major benefits of gardening in a raised bed is you get to control the soil that goes into it. This is especially advantageous for gardeners with a property that has hard-packed or clay soil, issues with tree roots, or concerns about pollutants. It also comes in handy if you want to place your raised bed on a patio or driveway. Since good soil is the foundation of a healthy garden, you want to make sure you’re setting your vegetables up for success. So, what is the best soil for a raised garden bed? In this article, I’m going to share some advice on figuring out how much soil you need, what to purchase, amending a soil delivery, and more. Another raised bed benefit is that the soil will remain friable. In an in-ground garden, the soil can become hard-packed over tim

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One group of plants you can use to create a blooming bridge between spring and summer are azaleas (Rhododendron spp. and cvs., Zones 3–9). As one of the most popular shrubs in the southeastern United States, they can last for generations with proper establishment and care. On the flip side, poor cultural practices can lead gardeners to disappointment. There are many types: native, nonnative, hybrids, reblooming, evergreen, and deciduous. No matter which type you choose, many of the basics for growing great azaleas stay relatively consistent.

Here in the Northeast, rocks are just a part of gardening life, and even if you are raising vegetables in an old garden (one that’s been well tended for decades), there will still be some rocks in the soil. You (as well as the tines on your pitchfork) can’t help but encounter them. However, there are still plenty of vegetables that you can grow well in these conditions. Here are some of them.

If you’re a sun-loving gardener, finding yourself presented with a woodland garden or an otherwise shaded area of the landscape can feel a little overwhelming, and maybe even disappointing. But as soon as you discover the multitude of wonderful lush and leafy plants that actually prefer to grow in shade here in the Pacific Northwest, you’re going to start wishing you had a few more sun-deficient areas to plant up.

Annual plants are a garden designer’s secret weapon. Endlessly versatile and extremely showy, annuals add nonstop color without a high price or a lot of work. They are perfect for gardeners who crave change—from year to year or from one season to the next. And they offer instant impact for filling in bare spots between slower-growing shrubs and perennials. Summer annuals brighten gardens with flowers and foliage, while cool-season annuals bring interest to the winter landscape.

The kitchen garden at Alison Jenkins' Somerset smallholding

Succulent that grow from leaves are resilient multipliers that show the incredible adaptability of these plants! These also offer a low-cost way to expand your garden!

Straddling the seasons, rhododendrons are the buxom queens of spring, leading us into the floriferous summer months without any subtlety. They can grow into vast shrubs that, in bloom, are wondrous clouds of colour formed of handful-sized flowerheads.

Potentillas are hardy garden plants that are divided into two groups: shrubby potentillas and perennial potentillas. Both types are commonly known as cinquefoil. Shrubby cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa) has twiggy arching branches and finely divided, deciduous green leaves, from which long-lasting displays of five-petalled, saucer shaped flowers are borne in summer. Perennial potentillas are clump-forming and make a handsome summer display of saucer-shaped flowers on slender stems. Both types make excellent plants for garden borders and are easy to grow, requiring very little maintenance.

It’s unusual to find a shrub or tree with blue flowers, so if you’re looking for a shock of blue to light up your garden, look no further than a ceanothus. When in flower it’s a stunning sight, smothered in flowers in shades that range from powder blue to deep azure.

A lush, green lawn is a source of pride and joy for many gardeners but it’s often where all the action takes place in the garden. The focal point for gatherings with friends and family, it can suffer from overuse and too much wear and tear. Terrific turf needs a good lawn care regime to achieve it and while regular mowing and watering will take you so far, there are a couple of additional tasks for your to do list, which will help keep your lawn in tip-top condition. Regardless of how often you cut your lawn, over time the soil underneath the turf becomes compacted, while above ground a thick, impenetrable layer of thatch and organic debris develops around the roots. This undesirable combination prevents air, water and nutrients from reaching deep down to the grass’ root system and ultimately weakens its growth, leaving the plant susceptible to pests and diseases. Scarifying your lawn will help remove thatch and debris, but if you need to relieve compacted soil underneath the turf, it’s best to aerate it. Aeration is the process of making air holes in the lawn to create ventilation. In small lawns a simple garden fork can be used to push holes into the ground but you can also buy manual aerators, either solid or hollow tined, which require the same effort as a fork. However, if you have a lot of lawn and not much time, other types of aerator are probably the best option. Whether you’re pushing a roller covered in spikes, or using a powered machine, these aerators are a labour-saving version of the trusty garden fork, mechanically making a series of holes in the lawn.

Can You Grow Star Jasmine as a Hedge?

A pattern has emerged that I do not understand. On planting a new plum tree, it takes a couple of years to establish and then flowers and bears fruit for several years, whereupon it stops flowering altogether and just puts on growth. The same thing has happened with damsons and greengages, but apples and medlar in the same area are trouble free. My orchard sits on light, sandy, well-drained soil; the ground is manured at planting and a 1m grass-free circle is around each tree for its first five years. Have you any suggestions to get the trees reflowering? NH

The English walnut (Juglans regia) is a non-native deciduous tree that has been grown in the UK since Roman times. Although most trees are planted, self-sown trees do sometimes appear in warmer areas. Originating from southern Europe and parts of Asia, English walnut can now be found growing across the UK.

Leyland cypress (x Cuprocyparis leylandii) is a fast-growing conifer with dense, evergreen, green or golden yellow foliage. It’s a popular choice for hedging but it can easily grow out of control, reaching heights of up to 40m, and then cannot be re-shaped to a neat hedge. It’s a common source of neighbourly disputes, thanks to blocked light.

5 Reasons Your Clematis May Fail to Bloom

If you’re looking for an easier way to garden, elevated raised bed gardening may just be your new best friend. With this technique, you can harvest oodles of fruits and veggies, armloads of flowers, and endless bunches of herbs with minimal effort. It’s seriously easy to garden in elevated raised beds! To help us share the joys of this super-simple method of growing, we’ve teamed up with Gardener’s Supply Company, a Vermont-based, employee-owned company that manufactures beautiful raised planter boxes and lots of other tools to make gardening both fun and trouble-free. Introduction to elevated raised bed gardening Gardening in elevated raised beds is basically a hybrid gardening technique. It’s h

How to Propagate Fatsia from Seed

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The amount of gardening info at our fingertips these days is as exciting as it is overwhelming, and this is especially true if you’re still in the early years of planting veggies.

In the age of the internet and social media, gardening “hacks” that promise to benefit your plants and save you time and money are plentiful. However, according to gardening pros, these hacks aren’t always all they are cracked up to be. 

If you want the best cucumbers out there with a crunchy texture and juicy flesh, you need to go them a little differently. How? That’s where I come in with my bag of tips!

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How to Grow Potatoes in Straw

This is one of the busiest months in the vegetable garden with a flurry of sowing. I tend to sow most things in seed trays or modules initially, but the soil should be warm enough now to direct-sow most hardy vegetable varieties, including beetroot, chard, carrots and salad crops, straight into the ground. If doing this, use a traditional garden line to create drills and follow the spacing guidelines on each seed packet. Tender crops can also be sown under cover, in modular seed trays (tomatoes, sweet peppers and chillies) or 6-7cm pots (courgettes and squash). Pot these on as they get larger, or plant outside once the weather is warmer towards the end of May.

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Growing sage at home is a great way to add evergreen foliage to your garden, and have fragrant herbs on hand for cooking.

Ground cover plants provide a dense carpet of beautiful foliage and flowers that can be an amazing addition to simple and elegant gardens while greatly supporting pollinators, such as hummingbirds and bees. These low-growing plants usually spread quickly and are generally easy to maintain.

Potatoes are among the most productive vegetables for home gardens, and knowing how to plant seed potatoes properly ensures your success. For every pound of seed potatoes you plant, expect to harvest three to five pounds of spuds in return. That’s a great investment! Plus, with the long storage life of potatoes and the myriad of ways you can prepare them, they are a must-grow crop for many gardeners. And, to sweeten the deal even more, potatoes are a simple crop for beginner gardeners to grow. In this article, we’ll look at what seed potatoes are, how to plant seed potatoes, and how to grow them successfully—no matter how much, or how little, space you have to grow. What are seed potatoes? Seed potatoes are not actually seeds at all. Instead, they are small potato tubers that are used for plan

The carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua), also known as the locust bean tree, is a perennial tree native to the Mediterranean, where it has been cultivated for centuries. It has attractive, leathery, dark-green evergreen leaves, small scented flowers and edible pods. Carob seeds are so consistently similar in weight that they became a standard measure of weight for precious items such as jewels and gold. If a jewel balanced the scales with five carob seeds on the other side, it was said to weigh ‘5 carobs’, which became ‘5 carats’. This figure is still used today, with one carat equal to 200 milligrams.