Tasks for January

The recent flooding has wreaked havoc in gardens in the North of England with trees, shrubs and garden features washed away after Yorkshire, Lancashire and north Wales experienced a month’s worth of rainfall in just a few days. Among the casualties were a garden which collapsed into the River Irwell when it burst its banks in the Lancashire town of [...]

Get your creepers under control before they invade your house and treat them to a haircut so they're at their shapely best ready for new growth to appear in spring. Wayward climbers can work their way into window frames, doors, guttering and roof spaces if left to grow unchecked, and need regular cutting back to keep them neat. Creepers you [...]

Sow chillies now to turn up the heat in the garden this year to the max. There can be few veg which are as much sheer fun to grow as chillies. There's the fun of choosing from the many varieties on offer in our garden centre, from relatively mild Anaheim and Jalapeno peppers to fiercely hot Scotch Bonnets. There's also [...]

Look out for lorries full of gardens this summer as the Love the Plot You've Got roadshow goes out and about in our city centres to inspire and entertain you with some fantastic garden ideas. The roadshow takes a tiny patch of ground and gives you the 'before' - typical of an averagely neglected back garden - and the 'after', [...]

Plan your crop rotation for this year, working out where you'll be growing what in the vegetable garden and at the same time avoiding the worst of the pests and diseases. If you grow the same thing in the same place year after year colonies of pests simply increase from one season to the next, feeding on each successive generation [...]

Give your tools some TLC while the garden is quiet, as it won't be long before you're calling on them to work hard for you again - and you'll want them in tip-top condition when you do. Start by cleaning your tools, brushing off any dirt and oiling wooden handles with teak oil. Next, turn your attention to sharpening blades. [...]

January's plant of the month is the hellebore, always a welcome sight in early spring when their nodding bell-like flowers emerge from handsome evergreen foliage and fill the garden with shades of white, pink and rich plum purple. The most popular varieties are without doubt Lenten roses, Helleborus orientalis, rock-solid reliable and returning with their wonderfully uplifting mid-spring display year [...]