Your gardening questions answered: Is a polytunnel too much work?

In an age where sustainability and environmental consciousness are paramount, integrating  solar panels  into your garden emerges as a smart and responsible choice. These innovations not only enhance your garden’s aesthetics but also align with your eco-conscious values.

Do you have a gardening question you’d like Adam Frost to answer – perhaps there’s a plant you’re struggling to grow or an area of your garden you’re not sure what to do with? Submit your question here, and Adam will answer a selection, exclusively for subscribers. His answers will be revealed in your January edition of GardenersWorld.com/premium, when Adam will be our guest editor.

Imagine harvesting vibrant, violet-hued pods that are not only a visual feast but also packed with nutrients and flavor. Whether you’re spicing up a stir-fry or looking to add a splash of color to your garden, Purple Beans are your ticket to an extraordinary experience.

Could you please help to settle an argument between my friend and I about whether it’s a good idea to feed garden birds? My friend is of the opinion that they’ll survive just fine without our help, and that feeding them only increases the risk of spreading disease. RS, Dublin

And just like that, it’s autumn.

Q: I bought some beautiful blue mophead hydrangeas last year that I planted in my garden, but I was really disappointed to discover that the plant’s flowers are pink this year instead of blue, and there aren’t very many of them. What’s happened? Is there any way for me to fix it? FL, Co Laois

I am bored of rain. Fed up with cloudy days. Sick of the grey drip-drip-drip of this cool, showery, sun-starved, stormy summer, and the monotony of a weather forecast that only predicts more of the same. But even so, I’m forced to admit that the silver lining to what’s been a very sodden growing season is that many of our most beautiful, late summer-autumn flowering garden perennials and shrubs are loving the biblical quantities of rainfall in recent months, a high note to what’s otherwise been a forgettable year.

Join us for an exclusive conversation with Gardeners’ World TV presenter, Frances Tophill, recorded at BBC Gardeners’ World Live in June 2023. Hosted by presenter and broadcaster, Nicki Chapman, the audience listened in as Frances discussed what it’s been like taking on a new garden of her own. You can buy tickets for the next live show, BBC Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair here.

In a typical year, I do my garden planning before Christmas. But last year wasn’t normal, and normality (whatever that means) has yet to return. I thought I’d thought about it, but it turns out – not so much.

One of the stories that I read as a child that has stayed with me is The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett. For a long time I had a copy on my bookshelf, but when I had the urge to read it last week I discovered that was no longer the case. Fortunately it’s easy enough to find a free copy, particularly as it’s part of the new range of free Amazon Kindle Classics, which you can read via the free Amazon Kindle app – you don’t need an actual Kindle.

2017 is the 100th anniversary of the start of the Cottingley fairies story, a hoax which entrances the UK to this day. Cousins Frances Griffiths and Elsie Wright faked photos of fairies at the bottom of the garden, intended to be a practical joke on their grown-ups. When Elsie’s mother showed the photos to the local Theosophical Society, she set in motion a chain of events that led Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to declare the photographs to be authentic. He wrote an article on fairy life for The Strand magazine in November 1920, and fairy fever gripped the nation. Conan Doyle later wrote a book on the subject, The Coming of the Fairies – The Cottingley Incident.

I was out in the potting shed yesterday morning and sowed the first seeds of my 2019 gardening season – sweet peppers, leeks, purple sprouting broccoli and some salads. They’ll all be inside for the next few weeks, as although the weather is unseasonably warm, it cannot be relied upon.