Guides · 8 min read
Sweet Peas, Sown in Autumn
An October sowing gives you stronger plants, earlier flowers and longer stems than anything sown in spring. Here is the whole year, from soaking the seed to the last scented bunch in August.
The garden journal
Guides written the way a grandmother would explain them
Long-form, properly tested growing guides: sowing seed that comes up, a cutting garden in four square metres, saving your own seed, autumn sweet peas and lavender from seed.
Guides · 9 min read
Saving Seed from Your Own Garden
Which flowers come true, how to tell ripe seed from merely dry seed, and the storage method that keeps a packet viable for years. This is how a garden begins to pay for itself.
Tips · 8 min read
Growing Lavender from Seed, Patiently
Lavender from seed takes a season longer than a bought plant and costs a fraction as much. The trick is a cold spell before sowing, gritty compost, and never being kind to it afterwards.
Guides · 10 min read
A Cutting Garden in Four Square Metres
You do not need a walled garden to have an armful of flowers on the kitchen table every week from June to the first frost. You need four square metres, a plan, and the discipline to keep cutting.
Guides · 9 min read
How to Sow Seeds That Actually Come Up
Most seed failures happen in the first ten days, and almost always for one of five reasons. Here is how to get an even, sturdy stand of seedlings from the packets on your windowsill.