Aphids are the source of much frustration in the garden. Also referred to as greenfly or blackfly, these small sap-sucking insects feed on ornamental plants and edibles alike. They can cause a ... Read more

Cabbage Pests & Diseases Cabbages and other brassicas have become a very important part of the vegetable garden in our climate. Different varieties of cabbages have been bred for productivity, s ... Read more

It might seem a bit premature talking about pest control in mid March as we have very little in the ground but I think it is worth learning how to avoid some common issues before they arise. As ... Read more

Vegetable Garden Pests Seeing your vegetable crops decimated by garden pests can be a very disheartening sight and it can happen seemingly overnight if proper preventative methods aren't applied. On ... Read more

When it comes to dealing with garden pests, the enclosed space of the polytunnel can be something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, your crops are protected from the outdoors - which can make ... Read more

The unwelcome garden visitors that come back every year. Here's a rundown of who they are and how to send them away. Slugs. These garden molluscs, along with their close relative the snail, are one ... Read more

Our Top Ten list of plant protection products for the vegetable garden. Plant protection is the practice of managing weather, weeds, pests and diseases that damage or inhibit the growth of fruit, veg ... Read more

Plant protection is the practice of managing weather, weeds, pests and diseases that damage or inhibit the growth of fruit, vegetable and other horticultural crops. Proper crop protection is im ... Read more

Raised vegetable beds have a number of benefits, including protecting crops from foot traffic and creating a more comfortable working height. Another benefit is how versatile and adaptable they are. Read more

What is Meant By Organic Gardening? You will no doubt often hear the term organic gardening or ‘gardening naturally’. What it actually means - or how strict the definition is - can be ... Read more

It's always nice to see birds and other wildlife out in the garden until they start destroying crops. Shortly after sowing seeds, birds can become a problem in any garden. There are many bird scare m ... Read more

Slug control is an on-going battle for us gardeners, and it seems that you are never quite free of them. It doesn't help at all that they are hermaphroditic, or that their eggs can lay ... Read more

2024 has been another year with lots of reports of seemingly insurmountable slug problems in UK gardens. You can theorise as to why slug populations seem so robust of late. Milder winters and ... Read more

Garden pests are the scourge of many a gardener - it can feel like they’re taunting you and all your careful work as they infest, burrow into and devour crops or plants. In these kinds of s ... Read more

As we move towards the beginning of May, things really start to move in the vegetable garden. Up until this point there have been very few seeds we can sow outside or seedlings we can plant out but t ... Read more

You’ve probably seen the word 'sustainable' a fair bit, but we wouldn’t blame you if you’re not entirely sure what it means. With the way it’s used, it can sometimes seem like another word ... Read more

Perfectly healthy plants can be affected by air, water or soil borne diseases at any time. Understanding the causes, identifying them early and taking effective action will help you establish and mai ... Read more

Crop rotation is a system of moving the position of certain crops (or families of crops) around so that they are not being grown in the same place for successive years. It plays an important role in ... Read more

Everyone who has grown potatoes will have heard of potato blight, it's the most serious disease affecting potatoes and one which is almost impossible not to get. The disease is thought to have origin ... Read more

I suspect I'm not the only one but I am fighting a battle (and losing) with the quite unbelievable number of slugs I have this year. You can see them here this morning (below) having climbed my br ... Read more

Can potato plants with late blight be composted? If care is taken the answer is yes. Blight spores can only survive on living plant tissue, once the foliage has been cut it will die and so will ... Read more

I think I mentioned last week that haven't been spending as much time as I should have in the vegetable garden due to the uninspiring weather we have been having lately. I had noticed on one of my br ... Read more

Mackerel sky Before we get going, here's a photo I took on Monday morning while out walking the dog showing a pretty 'mackerel sky' which, as you know, signals a change in the weather. The old sailo ... Read more

I thought we'd start the garden update with a couple of photos taken last evening while having a walk on a local bog. The photo above is of Eriophorum angustifolium or bog cotton (oddly, th ... Read more