Being a teenager is tough. Here’s one way to make it a little bit easier. Our plant of the week witch hazel comes into play.
Forget a fast car… what you want a man to own is an allotment. According to a new study gardening makes us sexy.
Less is more: the lesson to be learnt from Bruce Bogtrotter
Some are born liking order; some achieve order; some have order thrust upon them.
Top tips for keeping that much loved Christmas plant alive. We've tested a plant sensor and mixed it up with some good old gardening knowledge...
What an amazing gardening-video, published by "Nowness, for the culturally curious"... Enjoy.
Almost fa-moss? There’s a new pot in town… and it doesn’t even require soil.
It’s April and that means it’s time to get sowing. But what should you start with first?
If you really want to excel at interior design, take inspiration from Marina Senabre – keep it simple, and include lots of plants.
“Hey you,” said the bad-tempered ladybird, “Want to fight?” - The Bad-Tempered Ladybird, Eric Carle
Let’s face it, everyone has something that they want to cover up in life. But only some people can do so with plants.
A pinch and a punch for the first of the month… and for not tidying up your garden in March.
You can fit all of your favourite elements of a garden into a balcony. Unless they include the horse stables.
It’s a dangerous world, out there in the garden. As it’s owner you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place (hopefully not literally as such features don’t tend to make for a very attractive garden).
Just want a nice garden, not a war zone! Let’s be clear, gardening is a pleasure, but it is also time-consuming and we do have families, careers and social lives to focus on. Added to that, we have to fight a war. We have to fight weeds.
When I was a child, we used to watch Sesame Street – each week was themed with a different letter. Well, this post is bee-themed.
Being a gardener in Spring is like being parent to a teenager. You desperately want them to grow into a beautiful person… but sometimes it’s difficult to know how to encourage that growth.
If you haven’t got room for a dog, then a terrarium is just as good an option as a goldfish.
I’m going to seed. I hope you will too. Gardening season is coming!
Sometimes you just have to accept that a weird combination works
Even in the plant world, savages can be tamed
How to garden in a changing climate. Or how to prevent water-logging in your garden.
Gardens, like children, should really come with a how-to guide.
If you are amongst 8 million people who watched the first season of the BBC’s Sherlock TV Series, you would have remembered the black lotus flower. Now you can make your own black lotus, although we went for a blue version.
The variations of cabbages are truly endless. Here are two new varieties to be used as cut flowers. As found at IPM Essen 2014.
Now that November has been remarketed Movember by men with moustaches, we’re pushing for January to be taken over by people who want their plants to be comfortable. Welcome to Janua-RE-pot!
Life as a dog can be ruff. It can be ruff-er if you’re surrounded by plants that could kill you. So it’s time to paws and check whether any of your plants are potentially poisonous to your pup – and if they are, to take the lead in doing something about it…
This post is dedicated to Lily, Lazarus, Nathaniel and all the other plants who lost their lives on that windowsill in 2007.
Is it your neighbour, your plants or a combination of both? Anyways, keep an eye on those beautiful plants around your house - they might kill your cat.
It’s about time that drab, grey offices become a thing of the past. So here are four examples of extraordinary green office design.
I never know how to feel about traditional medicine. On the one hand, it makes sense that if you knew a lot about the properties of different plants and herbs, you would be able to identify which ones would help to cure various ailments. On the other hand, I was once given a prescription by an African witch doctor to cure an ‘evil spirit’ in me by giving away a red chicken and some salt. Even the most tenuous scientific principles would struggle to explain that one.
In winter, I wear bigger boots to keep warm. Then the mud and snow sticks to them. Suddenly, when I look behind me, I’m not sure whether I’m looking at my own footprints or if I’m being trailed by the Abominable Snowman.
Great news – just 2000 years after the Messiah himself, we’ve worked out how to turn water into wine.
Brits love dogs. There are 8.5 million dogs as pets in the UK, representing around 25% of households. We also love gardens. But these two loves are not always very compatible.
Over half of adults in the UK feed birds in their garden – and lots more have nest boxes for birds. But if you want to encourage bird life in your garden, then there are four questions you should ask: What should I feed them?
For city dwellers, the thought of eating home-grown vegetables and enjoying a well-organised, tidy garden seem but a remote dream…
If we can only choose one pest that made the news this year in dramatic fashion, then it goes without saying that we’ll choose alge. During the summer, the largest ever recorded algal bloom turned the Yellow Sea in China green – over 11,000 square miles of algae was recorded, and more than 19,000 tonnes of growth had to be removed from beaches.
The days are getting shorter and darker and the wet weather is setting in… it’s about this time of year that people start to feel SAD – seasonal affective disorder. That’s the winter blues to you and me.
If you have a balcony, here are our tips for the top five vegetables to start your urban organic allotment.
There's something incredibly enchanting about bonsai trees. Perfect miniature replicas of giant trees we could never normally consider growing in our gardens, never mind keeping in our homes.
We're not all born with green fingers, in fact some of us seem cursed when it comes to looking after houseplants.
There are some facts about vegetables that we were taught when we were children, so we just presume they are true, however, even the world of vegetables is full of myth and misconception...
In this chilly weather it's great to get wrapped up warm, but winter clothes can often look a little drab. Not with this little tutorial...
Succulents are great plants to grow. They don't need much watering, so they're perfect if you're the type of person who forgets to tend to their house plants, and they're good looking too.
The beautiful red, orange and gold leaves of autumn look beautiful, but clearing them up is not much fun! Rather than simply throwing them away, save yourself a trip to the tip and recycle them!
The crocus is one of the first plants to show its face in the new year. Usually white, purple or yellow , these small plants are a sure sign that spring is on the way.
Eggplant, or aubergines can be tricky to grow. Grown outdoors they're susceptible to pests and disease, so the easiest way to grow them is to grow them indoors .
I wandered lonely as a cloud. That floats on high o'er vales and hills, when all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils
If you love your food hot and spicy, why not grow your own chili peppers? Not only will you have a crop of delicious hot chilis for your cooking, but you'll also have a great looking plant.
Tulips add a vibrant sophisticated look to any spring garden. Whatever your favourite colours, you'll be able to find a variety of tulip to match.
It's lovely to see the birds nesting in the garden, but we usually focus on the birds, watching the parents feeding the babies and waiting for the big day when they leave the nest and learn to fly, but we rarely pay much attention to the nests themselves.
Are you forever in and out of the garden watering plants? At this time of year it can seem like a constant job trying to stop the plants from wilting.
If you want an interesting ongoing project then why not plant a pineapple! It's definitely going to require patience as it can take years for you to get fruit, but a pineapple makes an interesting and unusual house plant anyway, the fruit is just a bonus!
This gravity defying creation by French designer Jean-Marc Gady is amazing.
Mashed and served with your Sunday roast, or cut into cubes and added to a hearty stew, turnips are a delicious and nutritious root vegetable that grows fast.
For something a little different to add to your salads, chicory could be a good choice.
Creating garden borders isn't hard, but it's much easier if you put a little thought into it first.
Fennel, with its' aniseed flavour is an interesting vegetable. You can eat the bulb and the leaves, perfect for adding some extra flavour to a salad or other dishes.
You can't beat the taste of home grown carrots. They're sweeter and more delicious than any you'll buy in the supermarket, and the good thing is that they're not difficult to grow.
We do like these simple but effective plant holders created by Anne Harris. If you're short of shelf space you can easily add some of these to your walls or hang them from the ceiling.
Next time you eat an avocado, don't throw the stone away, instead use it to grow your own avocado plant!
At the time of writing the sky is distinctly grey, BUT we have had some warm weekends and the forecast is good for the rest of the month. So no excuse not to be out there...
Use the cardboard inner tube from your toilet-rolls as seed-trays!
Before you rush out to buy chemical sprays to keep the mosquitoes out of your garden, why not consider growing some anti-mosquito plants!
Vegetables come in and out of favour, so why not grow some old favourites from the past, our grandparents loved them and so do we.
A sunny balcony is the perfect place for growing herbs, and it's a great use of the space. Many herbs are easy to grow and don't need too much maintenance; and of course they're great to eat as well...
It's lovely to eat the gorgeous fresh fruits of hotter countries when we go abroad on holiday, but even for us who aren't lucky enough to get much decent weather, there are still some fruits that will grow in cooler climates if you give them a bit of care and attention.
Spring onions aren't cheap if you buy them from the supermarket so this trick will save you money and it's fun to do too.
Harsh chemicals for combating garden pests can be poisonous to our pets or our children. They can easily be brought into the house on our shoes.
This delicious furry fruit is named after the national bird of New Zealand and it's ever so good for you.
If the leaves of your plant turn yellow it can be a worry, often they will then fall from the plant, but don't worry, work out why they are doing this and you can usually fix the problem.
A vertical window garden using old plastic bottles and a pump system to allow water to flow to all the containers. What a nice idea by Britta Riley.
If you're new to gardening, square foot gardening could be the ideal system for you as it's so simple.
Mulch is the (slightly weird) name for the stuff you might spread around or over a plant to enrich or insulate the soil. The word dates from the 1650s - probably from the Middle English molsh "soft, moist" (see full entymology here), which helps explain what its supposed to be for.
Why not save a little money and grow your own garlic? It's not tricky.
A plant pot that's disguised as a book created by a Tokyo based design studio.
May means growing season, and that means ACTION! Our friend Kate came up with some top jobs for your garden!
Magda Jurek is a Polish artist and her work involves making the usual, unusual.
When the Ice Saints have passed, gardeners know it is safe to put their tender plants outside and they won't be killed off by a nasty frost.
Hay fever? Use herbs from your own garden and you can have an effective herbal medicine for free.
We love this thrifty method to make one bunch of celery last a lifetime.
Wait! Before you throw away your next pair of rubber gloves think of this little tutorial. It might turn into something fun and creative (and save the live of those poor gloves).
Check out this green tutorial and create your own personal Hanging Garden of Babylon...
Giving a whole new meaning to garden furniture by letting your plants grow INSIDE your tables and chairs...
A trip to Monet's garden really is like stepping into Monet's paintings. With endless colour and the iconic bridges from Monet's most famous paintings.
Domsai terrariums by Matteo Cibic
Make your own little underwater world with stones and pine branches.
