Growing Tips
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Harvesting and Storing Garlic: From Plot to Pantry
Garlic. Is there anything better? I put garlic in literally everything. Pasta, stir-fries, roasts, soups, bread — if it’s savoury, it’s getting garlic. And growing your own garlic is one of the most satisfying things you can do on an allotment because it’s dead easy, it stores for months, and home-grown garlic is about ten…
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Building a Cold Frame for Autumn: Extend Your Growing Season with Ease
A cold frame. Now this is one of those things that sounds fancy and complicated but is actually one of the simplest and most useful structures you can build for your garden. It’s basically a box with a transparent lid. That’s it. And yet this incredibly simple contraption can extend your growing season by weeks…
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Preparing for Autumn Planting: Think Ahead for a Productive Late Season
Right, autumn planting. Now I know it feels wrong to be thinking about autumn when summer’s still in full swing and you’ve got courgettes coming out of your ears. But here’s the thing — the best autumn and winter gardens are planned and planted in summer. If you wait until September to start thinking about…
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Managing Weeds in Your Allotment: Keep On Top Without Losing Your Mind
Weeds. The one constant in gardening. Death, taxes, and weeds. No matter what you do, no matter how clean your beds are, no matter how many hours you spend on your knees pulling the little blighters out — they always come back. It’s like fighting a war you can’t win. But you can manage it.…
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Pruning and Training Summer Fruit: Shape Your Trees for Better Harvests
Pruning. Now there’s a word that strikes fear into the hearts of beginner gardeners. And honestly, it used to terrify me too. I’d stand in front of my apple tree with a pair of secateurs and just… freeze. What if I cut the wrong bit? What if I kill it? What if it never fruits…
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Harvesting Early Crops: Enjoying the First Fruits of Your Labour
This is the moment, people. This is what it’s all been about. All those months of digging, sowing, watering, worrying, swearing at slugs — it all comes down to this. Your first harvest of the season. And honestly? There is no feeling in gardening that beats pulling up your first new potatoes, or picking your…
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Creating a Pollinator-Friendly Garden: Bees, Butterflies and Beyond
Right, pollinators. Bees, butterflies, hoverflies, and all the little buzzy things that make your garden actually work. Now I know this might not sound like the most exciting topic — you’re probably thinking “Tony, I want to grow food, not run a butterfly sanctuary” — but here’s the thing. Without pollinators, you won’t GET food.…
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Planting Out Summer Crops: Time to Fill Your Beds with Sunshine Veg
This is it. The big one. The moment you’ve been building up to since about February when you first started those seeds on the windowsill. Planting out summer crops — getting your tomatoes, courgettes, squash, beans, sweetcorn, peppers, and all that good stuff out into the beds where they belong. It’s like moving day, except…
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Protecting Crops from Pests: Organic Methods That Really Work
Pests. The bane of every gardener’s existence. You spend weeks nurturing your plants, feeding them, watering them, talking to them (don’t pretend you don’t), and then you come up one morning and something has eaten half of them overnight. It’s enough to make you want to concrete the whole lot over and take up golf.…
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Building a Wildlife Pond: A Haven for Nature in Your Garden
Right, wildlife ponds. Now this might seem like a bit of an odd one for a gardening blog — “Tony, I want to grow tomatoes, not keep fish” — but hear us out. A wildlife pond, even a tiny one, is one of the single best things you can add to any garden or allotment.…