As late as 2020, gardeners could just walk into a shop and buy neonicotinoids over the counter. A century on, we’re still paying the price. Zilla pressed the canister to her ear. ‘They’re barely buzzing – and it’s so hot again. You sure they’re OK?’ Inside the porous container, she could just make out the […]

It’s time to go low-mow to help feed our ailing pollinators, says Jean Vernon Lawns form the heart of most gardens, sometimes taking up half or more of the garden space. Generally the garden lawn has long been a leisure space, somewhere for the children to play and run, a space for the dog to […]

It is time for me to start thinking about sowing winter herbs for the glasshouse. Parsley has slowly crept into my life in a big way. It used to be a herb I shunned – a white parsley sauce has a sort of bland, milky, mildly green flavour that I have never got on with. […]

Figs really are the most curious of glasshouse fruits. These are very ancient crops developed from the wild form in western Asia where these were pollinated by a tiny Chalcid wasp that evolved to depend on the fig and vice versa. The way these wasps interact with the flowers, which are tiny and hidden inside […]

Before you go on holiday, it’s important to make arrangements for someone to look after your houseplants – ideally, someone who’s keen on gardening. If the draining board in your kitchen is not in shade, or you have a venetian blind to protect them from scorching sunshine (we live in hope!), group all your houseplants […]

I’ve just written an eco-friendly gardening book, The Living Jigsaw, and I got the chance to take part in the red-button Springwatch and was interviewed by a delightful man called Brett Westwood. I felt I already knew Brett. One of his books, Tweet of the Day, sits on my bedside table because in my youth […]

Jean Vernon turns the dilemma of ‘weeds’ on its head. The simple answer is to change your attitude to plants that you call ‘weeds’ and unless they are competing with your plants for food and water, or really taking over, learn to live with them. Most of the plants we regard as weeds are in […]

Build life into the structure of your garden – and create new, renewable habitat for its wildlife – by putting wood to work. Where would my garden be without the endless wonders of wood? While the solid framework of my terraced, edge-of-woodland patch relies on slate for its symmetry and stability, wood – in all […]