Hazel catkins, the little lambs' tails heralds of spring - the longer they are, the closer the spring. Plant it now for next year. Narcissus 'Cheerfulness' for its powerful scent and the double flowers are utterly charming. Plant them in the Autumn (we’ll remind you!) Prunu...

Our monthly round up of the current stars in the garden. These are plants that you absolutely should NOT BUY NOW. April is the worst possible month to plant them as they are putting all their energies into flowering. Much better to admire them - for real if possible - and then put them on your p...

Jobs for October  Hedging Deciduous Hedging Bare-root hedging can be planted all through the winter.  Unless it is already wet, younger existing and newly planted deciduous hedges could do with some watering and a quick weed at the base if you have not used a mulch mat. Conifer...

Gardening in June is fun  With the longest day approaching warm sunny days and long balmy evenings should be making your garden a joyous place to be. All this heat and light means that it is full to brimming, with plants displaying fresh foliage and perfect new flowers. Although the garden ...

NOVEMBER IN YOUR GARDEN  Hedging It will come as some relief to know that from now until spring you can leave your evergreen hedges well alone (apart from box and that is for December). But if you have just planted an evergreen hedge do make sure that it is protected from the elements. A...

DECEMBER IN YOUR GARDEN  Hedging  December is a great time to re-evaluate the structure of your garden. Deciduous leaves should have fallen by now and the herbaceous borders will be tidied up so you can gain a proper perspective on how your garden looks without all the froth of flow...

JANUARY IN YOUR GARDEN Just because the weather has been warm....  Please do not be too confident it will stay that way. The wet weather we are having can turn to snow with only a relatively small drop in temperature. While this is more likely next month, January can be pretty sharp when i...

FEBRUARY IN YOUR GARDEN  Hedging This is a tip that will be repeated several times here and next month. The best months for planting most bareroot hedging, if you did not get it in in November are February and March. Spring kicks the plants into growth and they do not spend too lon...

APRIL IN YOUR GARDEN  Hedging  Our cold store is now crammed with bareroot hedging for planting over the next four weeks. As long as you can water them, any hedge plants will do well planted now and this is now probably the best time of all to plant beech hedging. However...

Michael’s Early Spring Wildlife Garden Tips  1. Get a balance of tidiness in your garden - fallen leaves provide good habitat for insects. Not only will the invertebrate life benefit but remember almost all birds feed their young on insects. Just don’t do this in rose borders an...