8 Household Projects You Should Never DIY, According to the Pros

When you’re in a deep-cleaning frenzy, it can be tempting to tackle everything with soap. But soap isn’t the best fit for every item in your home, and it can even cause further damage in some cases. Here are some common household objects that shouldn’t be cleaned with soap (and how you can wash them instead).

A surprising number of annual crops benefit from the support of a trellis. Because we love trellised crops and because we’ve been trialing a ton of varieties, we started carrying a selection of Renee’s Garden seeds in our shop! Here is a short list of some of our favorite crops and varieties to grow vertically in the garden and links to our store where you can find our favorite types:

Heaths and heathers are easy to grow if you give them the right conditions. They only loathe clay soil and summer humidity (although you can find exceptions), and you can’t do much about those. Other than that, you can provide the conditions or find the species or cultivar that suits your spot. The best source for in-depth information is Gardening with Hardy Heathers by David Small and Ella May T. Wulff.

On day 12 of advent we’re offering the chance to win a hand painted fern bin and tissue box from Master the Art, worth £180.

Gift-wrapping season is here, and with it comes those awkward scraps of wrapping paper that you're not quite sure what to do with. But if you have a bunch of wrapping paper that doesn't fit any gifts, there's solution that’s so adorable you just might end up wanting to save every scrap of leftover wrapping paper you’ve got: turning it into ribbon for your gifts.

Day 10 of our advent prize draw gives entrants the opportunity to win a DNA’24 DB26 Bread Knife from Savernake worth £199. Please note you must be over 18 to enter this prize draw.

Who doesn’t love a gorgeous arrangement of snapdragons in the spring? Not only do these flowers keep their blooms for several months, but they often come in beautiful bold colors and gentle ombre varieties.

Before you consider discarding those seemingly unimportant leaves from your plants, pause for a moment and check out this list from top to bottom. They can grow into a new plant!

If you're curious about whether your home's boiler room—which contains your furnace and water heater—can serve as a storage space for common household items, the answer in most cases is no, pros say.

During winter your garden and yard might be out of sight, either dead or under a blanket of snow, but spring will come again and everything will be in bloom once more. Though you've likely assumed you're probably just do the same thing next year with your outdoor green space, look to the 2024 yard and garden trends experts are predicting for some ideas of how you can switch it up.

Boasting some of Britain’s most beautiful countryside, the Lake District, in the north-west corner of England, is a draw for anyone with a love of the outdoors. Its hills and mountains, including England’s highest, Scafell Pike at 978m, attract walkers and climbers, while in the valley bottoms, vast lakes, such as Windermere and Ullswater, invite quiet contemplation.

Robins can lose up to 10% of their body weight keeping warm over a single winter’s night. With reports that the La Nina weather system may bring harsh cold spells in winter 2022-23, added to the problem of disappearing food sources and habitats over the UK, robins – and other garden birds – could do with some support this season.