The Best Tall-Potted Plants for Privacy - Fantastic Gardeners

Apricot (Prunus armeniaca) trees produce delicious fruit in summer and growing your own means the fruit can be enjoyed when they are sweet and meltingly ripe, unlike shop-bought fruit, which must be harvested early to be transported while firm. Apricot trees can be grown successfully outside in warmer parts of the UK, notably the south-east of England. Elsewhere, because the beautiful pink blossom is borne in early spring and is therefore liable to frost damage, only grow apricots in large pots and keep under cover for the colder months. When planted in the right conditions, an apricot tree should start producing fruit within two or three years and live for decades.

When to Plant Succulents in the Northwest

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.

The Society of Garden Designers has announced ten finalists across three award categories, in its annual SGD Student Awards, including the recently introduced urban sustainability award.  The shortlist was chosen by a judging panel that includes SGD Fellows Sarah Morgan FSGD and David Stevens FSGD and Tom Massey MSGD, who was a recipient of two of the first SGD Student Awards in 2015.

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.

Our eleventh prize is a Gold Smokebox, worth £105 from Lambton & Jackson.

Looking for a greatgardening book to read or gift this Christmas? Here’s my pick of the crop from this year’s harvest.

Day 9 of our Christmas advent prize draw gives you the chance to win WOLF-Garten’s Bypass Loppers worth £119.99.

The Isles of Scilly are like an idealised version of England – where the sun always shines, the food is wonderful, there’s no traffic and no one locks their doors! To say the sun always shines is an exaggeration, but they’re among the sunniest and mildest places in the UK – sea breezes mean it’s never too hot or humid and thanks to the Jetstream, they almost never have frost.

Hidden behind the door for day 8 of our advent prize draw is a bundle of tools from gardening brand Wilkinson Sword, worth £114.97.

Enter our day 7 prize draw for your chance to win ‘his and hers’ Buckingham wellington boots worth £109.98 from Harbour Lifestyle.

Offering some of the closest beaches to London, Essex has a reputation for kiss-me-quick resorts and dormitory commuter towns. The truth is that this flat county, defined by slow-flowing rivers, estuaries, salt marshes and oyster beds, abounds in subtle charm. The Romans settled in Colchester and evidence of their occupation can be found in many coastal settlements. In the 1560s Flemish protestants brought their silk-weaving skills to the town, while the Dutch reclaimed swathes of land for farming.