The Best of the Artisan Gardens

If you’re like me, you’ve ruined more than one pair of shoes in the garden.You know how it happens – you’re dressed to

One of the most common and essential pieces of kit for DIY in the garden and home is the claw hammer. With a long handle and a weighted head, they have a face for striking and driving in nails, and a claw for removing nails and prying apart boards. Whether you’re making a hedgehog house, mending fences or building a shed, a claw hammer is a vital tool.

Harry's Chelsea garden, The School Food Matters Garden

It’s hardly a meal in the South without green beans on the table! Fortunately, the common garden bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) is one of the easiest vegetables to grow, even if it’s your first garden. Sometimes called snap beans, garden beans are inexpensive seeds and fast growers, with some types ready in as little as 50 days. They’ll produce bumper crops so you’ll have plenty of green beans to cook fresh, freeze or pickle. With top picks fromAll-American Selections (AAS), which trials seed performance for home gardeners,  Johnny’s Selected Seeds, extension services at Clemson University, North Carolina State University, Louisiana State University, University of Georgia, and University of Kentucky, here are the best types of beans to grow in the South:

Embarking on the journey of creating and caring for a garden can be both exciting and daunting

Sometimes slow and steady does not win the race. Like all those little kid gardeners, there are occasions when even the adults tire of waiting long periods to see sprouts, or taste the fruits (or should I say greens?) of their labor.That’s where fast-growing vegetables and herbs can really co

When we talk about native plants, we’re often referring to landscaping, but what about growing your own edible native plant garden? Native plants have adapted to where you live, after all, and unlike, say, your usual tomatoes and strawberries, native edibles have new flavors and scents to try. Meanwhile, planting edible native plants helps to forge a connection between the way we live now, and the way communities in the West have existed for thousands of years. “Just growing these plants is a way to tap into the continuum of time,” says Evan Meyer, the executive director of the Theodore Payne Foundation. “By growing edible plants, your garden can become a much more meaningful place.”   

Warm weather has finally arrived! Here’s what to do in your garden now.

The parrot tulip, Tulipa gesneriana var.dracontia, is an intriguing cultivated variety with twisted, curled, and ruffled petals streaked by vivid combinations of colors.We’re all familiar with tulips and their cheerful, colorful blooms that herald the arriv

I do like a productive garden, especially when it has glasshouses and potting sheds. Those at Petworth are an object lesson in tidy order. The Vegetable Garden has been revamped so that it is decorative as well as productive – and a lot easier to look after in these days when it is no longer necessary to grow food for a household of hundreds.   This perfect corner

Why not see a few more modern gardens from some of the other shows.

After an amazing summer, autumn seems determined to compete. A group of garden journalists, including myself, were fortunate to take a guided tour of the Hillier Gardens with head gardener, David Jewell and the one-man plant encyclopaedia Roy Lancaster. Roy regaled us with tales of virtually every plant we saw, so progress was slow but hugely entertaining. Rare Beauties It is alw