Some of you may be aware that as well as contributing to these pages and making television programmes about gardens and gardening, I also write books. In fact, I probably spend more hours of my working life writing books than everything else put together. The book I am working on at the moment - which will not come out until September next year - is a first gardening book. Aimed not at children but adults who are perhaps not readers of this publication (yet) and do not watch Gardeners' World but have, for the first time, access to their own plot and want to make it nice.
People criticise ‘nice' as a weak word, but I use it advisedly because when you start out with a garden, with no previous knowledge or experience, you don't really know what you want or what is possible, where to begin or where it will all end. ‘Nice' is a pretty good option under those circumstances.
First things first
This point in the year is the perfect moment to start. It is tempting to head off to the nearest garden centre and buy bits and pieces you like the look of, perhaps plonk them into the one cultivated bit of ground there is - or dig a hole in the grass and stick it in- but you need to get your planning done first. Plants are the easiest bit of any garden and, in some ways, the least important. Most can be endlessly moved and adjusted over time. But the layout and design of a garden is much harder to change and yet will influence everything. So that is where you begin.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 2022 من Gardeners World.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة April 2022 من Gardeners World.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
We love June
We're cruising towards midsummer: this is a month full of love and abundance. Wherever you look there will be something in your garden that lifts the spirits and makes you glad to be alive. We have colour to cheer us, we have leaves that still have the bounce and freshness of small puppies, we have the first berries fattening up, there are birds frantically parenting very demanding broods of chicks, the bees are all over the place, it's prime barbecue and picnic season, and we have lawns as lush and green as billiard tables. What a month to fall in love.
Your wildlife month
The female will usually lay one clutch of up to eight eggs
An edible garden in pots
Join Lucy Bellamy in creating an edible container garden for all seasons, as she harvests what's ripe now and starts later-season crops
Garden craft with kids
Fill the summer holidays with fun nature makes for kids, including botanical printed t-shirts, seed sowing in upcycled food containers and a hanging home for beneficial insects. Jaime Johnson and family show you how
Secrets of a COLOURFUL GARDEN
Using a colour theme is an easy way to give any garden a strong, unified character - Nick Bailey shows you how
Indoor plants, outdoor treats
Break the rules and give your house plants a summer holiday, with Michael Perry's mixed pot display ideas
YOUR PRUNING MONTH
The first few weeks of summer are a good time to get spring-flowering plants in shape. Follow Frances' guide for best results
Gardening for wellbeing
As the pressures of modern living bear down, our outside spaces can provide soothing respite for our minds and bodies, says Arit Anderson
Your greenhouse guide to A fruitful summer
Get the best from your greenhouse fruit and vegetable crops this summer, with these tried and trusted growing tips from Adam Frost
Stars of the show
Agapanthus is the perfect midsummer plant, flowering with spectacular blooms from June onwards and, as Monty explains, it loves to grow in a pot
