The importance of earthworms in our garden soils cannot be unstated. They are a quick and visual guide to how healthy your garden soils are, lots of earthworms in a square foot of soil is the goal to having healthy plants. Few or no earthworms in your gardens indicates a big problem and a continuing […]
Have you heard the saying about ‘synergy’–that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts? (NB, I am not promoting any particular brand of petrol!) This is what we are aiming for in garden design. In fact, my best definition of design is simply, “making synergy”. To achieve this we must have an […]
First impressions – make your property stand out If two similar neighbouring houses were for sale and one had a great designed garden, that one would sell faster. In fact, it is often literally the first thing potential buyers look at and are drawn to. It may sound like common sense, but it wasn’t that […]
You may have seen one on a garden makeover show or heard their words of wisdom on the radio, or even had your garden transformed by one… landscape designers , whilst diverse in their individual styles and in the way they present their ideas, have a shared passion for plants, landscapes and the people who […]
Taking a slightly altered quote from Shakespeare; To dig or not to dig, that is the question? This is one aspect of gardening that has not really been thought about by many gardeners. Traditionally digging or tilling the soil has been going on for about 10,000 years (more so in the last couple of hundred […]
Timing is one of the most important aspects of gardening if you wish to have fresh vegetables to eat straight from the garden during winter and colourful flower displays in your borders and containers. Timing requires that you plant about now, seeds or seedlings that will just about reach maturity as winter sets in. If […]
Weeds are both a boon and a curse to gardeners. You may ask what advantage is there in having weeds? Two aspects immediately spring to mind, weeds are a free source of organic matter for composting and mulching but must be cut and harvested before they set seeds. The second advantage is a much more […]
Bryophytes and Embryophytes are the botanical names given to mosses, lichen, liverworts, hornworts, molds, algae and slimes. These are what one could label primate plant-like forms which were the first land type plants on the planet, millions of years ago. It was as a result of these primitive plant forms that began the process of […]
