Features and Advice

We all know how to secure our homes and protect them from burglary, but what about our gardens? An outside space can be easy to access and provide a sheltered and protected route to our homes.

Here are five houseplants that are easy to grow and hard to kill, including African violet, begonia, coleus, alocasia and hydrangea.

If you are looking for some small, but great value ideas for the gardener in your life, Jean Vernon suggests some lovely stocking fillers for garden lovers.

Sometimes plants don’t like where you planted them, or you simply change your mind. It’s OK to move them, Martyn Cox explains.

The shops are brimming with some beautiful Christmas houseplants at the moment – but some are better than others. Here’s how to get the pick of the pots.

As the seasons change the garden birds become more animated in our gardens. Jean Vernon suggests ways to attract more garden birds.

Are you looking for the perfect gift for a gardener? Jean Vernon suggests some seasonal presents ideal for gardening loved-ones.

Martyn Cox continues his beginners guide for gardeners. This week he has plenty of advice on buying plants for your garden.

Whatever your feelings about the autumn tidy up, there is one job that does need getting on with – clearing away all those fallen autumn leaves.

Geoff Hodge talks pros and cons of lifting dahlias or leaving in the garden. As well as lifting begonia tubers.

Are you planning to make a new lawn? Is it better to lay some turf or sow some seed? Martyn Cox helps unravel the conundrum.

If you want to have a go at growing your own fabulous cut flowers, try ranunculus, otherwise known as Persian buttercups.

Anemone Mistral is a beautiful, Italian bred anemone that makes a fantastic cut flower and is so very easy to grow

Geoff Hodge offers his timely advice on how to get the best from your Christmas tree.

The Christmas tree is the centrepiece of most people’s Christmas festivities and a real Christmas tree not only looks great – but smells wonderful too.

When it comes to buying your real Christmas tree, make it the best you can buy. Jean Vernon has plenty of advice.

Feeding the birds brings your garden alive, adding a delightful, animated and colourful dimension to your garden, says Jean Vernon.

Autumn is the right time to buy and plant up trees and shrubs. Martyn Cox explains more in his new series for beginner gardeners.

Geoff Hodge unravels the mysteries surrounding garden secateurs to help you get the best from these useful pruners.

While they can be entertaining and fun to watch, most gardeners don’t feed the birds to fatten up the squirrels.

As the garden starts to slow, there are still plenty of edibles to pick, store and grow for winter, says Martyn Cox.

Top tips and tricks for making the most of a small garden space from Michael Perry.