Gardeners' Heaven

There’s no need to shut yourself away indoors for the winter. Even out of season, there’s nothing like a changing sequence of flowers to tempt you outside to discover what’s looking good today – and since winter flowers are subtle rather than loud, you really do have to walk round to satisfy your curiosity. Witch [...]

by Alan Titchmarsh One of the first rituals in the run-up to Christmas is choosing your tree. Some families like to make an outing of it, visiting a forestry plantation to pick their favourite ‘on the hoof’. Others find an excursion to the local nursery or garden centre is great fun, now they’re in full [...]

Turkey, baked ham and rich sausagemeat stuffing may be the mainstay of your Christmas dinner, but a strong supporting cast of vegetables helps to make the occasion. A traditional feast features mountains of veg, so instead of the usual varieties that you can have at any time of year, it’s worth sourcing specially tasty ‘gourmet’ [...]

When there’s a seasonal lull in routine work round the garden, it’s a good time to catch up on admin. Oh, I know that’s not the sort of advice you’ll find in any gardening book, but believe me it’ll pay you hands down and save you hours of fruitless aggro. Hunt out all the instruction [...]

If like most of the population you work some form of regular hours then you will also have the same issue as me…missing your flowers bloom whilst you are stuck in the office. But what if you were to design your garden around the times you are there to enjoy it; the evening. If designed [...]

by Alan Titchmarsh The art of making Christmas shopping fun is avoiding the usual frantic last-minute rush, and if you prefer doing the entire job from the comfort of your armchair it pays to start early to allow for delivery time, so you aren’t a nervous wreck come Christmas Eve. Oh, it gets harder each [...]

The Poppy flower is recognised world over as a visual pledge to say ‘we will remember them’. On the 11th Hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 the First World War ended, now every year the humble weed adorns the lapels of citizens of the UK, America, Canada, New Zealand and [...]

Thousands entered, but only one was crowned RHS Photographer of the Year 2011. Stephen Webb, from Woking, took the prestigious title and a cheque for £1,000 after capturing this spectacular image of a carpet of crocuses in the early evening light. Chris Young, competition judge and Editor of the RHS magazine, The Garden, said: “This [...]

So the first hard frost of winter has hit the country and already some transport links are in chaos.  The Manchester Evening News reports that Metrolink trams across the city were “severly disrupted” by the overnight temperatures which dropped to around minus 3 degrees. Whilst the thermometers outside were dropping, indoors the BBC dedicated a [...]

by Alan Titchmarsh Plants perform a lot of valuable services to mankind, but one of the strangest is by helping geologists and prospectors find deposits of mineral ores including gold, copper, or even uranium all round the world.   Most  ’indicator plants’ are uncommon wild species, though you might have a few growing in your garden. [...]