Recent Posts

Great news. I lived in East Lothian and moved to the South Coast and the advice I get here is completely different from when I lived in Scotland.

Yes, they will skim it off your private pension. They are doing the same to me ... and I don't even owe any tax. I'm not sure whether, having now changed my tax code back again, they can put back what they've taken or whether I have to claim it. They keep telling me to log in to see and I...

Personally I prick all seedlings out into those cell trays, the ones I don't are things like onions which I sow three or four seeds to each cell and plant out the whole cell when it comes to that time.I don't think you will find any hard and fast rules how you do things, people often find...

Idk for mature plants but the coir plugs in those teabags are very consistent and cheap for producing stuff from seed or tiny cuttings and it has holes for small roots so you can uplant it easily, the issue is that material degrades way too slowly.There is big demand for things that biodegrade...

I can understand why you need a path now @Dan1981, clay based lawns are a challenge. I'd try to locate the path on the shady side of your garden, if there is one, allowing the lawn and plants in the borders to get as much sun as possible.

I blame TV gardening shows, they have no relation to real gardening and growing. Instant effect, not keen on garden designers personally.

The variegated Pittosporum Elizabeth could work well - one of my neighbours has a very attractive hedge of this. I liked @Plantminded's suggestion of a flowering climber for the arch itself, too.

That one’s a good vibrant blue @Clare G, now on my list .

Some more spring flowers from around the garden today: Self seeded violaPulmonariaCornus masmore crocusdaffodils have started to bloomHappy gardening!

First bloom of 2026, Hibiscus Red Pagoda ...There s a Standrad Red and an April Yellow to open soon.

Someone in england managed to breed s red podded sugar snap by crossing yellow and purple podded varieties and stabilising that took 5 years, but she seems to have dissapeared without releasing them sadly.If you can garentee the space to work for many years its a good project to breed...

I think I poked them vertically into the compost. If I remember rightly they're quite big and easy to handle individually. If you have lots of seed you could try different ways and see what works for you.

When I first saw these AI designs I thought they were striking because they are so unusual. If that’s the look you’re after, go for it! Just bear in mind that having the lawn as such a dominant feature, maintaining it to a high standard to retain that pristine look will take time and patience...