Gardening Made Simple, 3rd Edition

Gardening is a fantastic pastime for all ages. It gives you a new appreciation for nature, gets you out in the fresh air and does wonders for both your physical and mental health. However, with so many different plant varieties, and tasks that change all year round, delving into the world of gardening can sometimes feel overwhelming. In Gardening Made Simple, we have compiled a compendium of beginner-friendly tips and tricks from the archives of Easy Gardens magazine. Inside you'll find step-by-step guides and expert advice, enabling you to make the most of your outdoor space throughout the year. Whether you want to liven up your borders, tidy up with some pruning, grow your own produce, or create a haven for wildlife, this book is packed with ideas and inspiration…

What comes to mind when you think of gardening? For some it might be a chore to rake the leaves or mow the lawn, but for others gardening evokes every sense; the smell of honeysuckle on the breeze; the sound of the robin’s first call in the morning alerting the other birds he has made it through the night; picking the first dahlias you have tended to and tasting the first strawberries you have lovingly grown. It is about learning to appreciate nature and how to respond to it, noticing the changes of the seasons by the colour of the leaves or the heads of the daffodils breaking through the soil to announce the end of winter, hailing the beginning of spring. The first thing you will discover when you…

HAND TROWEL Small yet mighty, the hand trowel can be used for numerous jobs in the garden. Choose one with a handle that fits your hand comfortably. Those with stainless steel heads are more hardwearing. Narrow blade trowels are particularly good for weeding and digging up rocky soil. SPADE Spades come in several varieties, with different handles (some wooden and others coated metal) and heads and varying lengths of shaft. Before purchasing, try a few in the shop to get a feel for which suits you best. FORKS Forks are used for turning soil, compost and mulch, and are better for digging in dense ground than spades. There are several different types: garden forks are best for breaking up tough soil, digging forks are better suited to looser soil, while…

When it comes to gardening, few activities are more grounding and rewarding than planting seeds and watching something grow from almost impossibly small beginnings. It is also a very economical way to grow a greater range of flowers and produce – including some of the more unique and diverse plants like heirloom or heritage varieties. To put it simply, growing from seeds is far cheaper than buying plugs or ready-grown plants, and it’s a much more rewarding way to fill your garden with flowers and produce. With so many different varieties of seeds available you are also guaranteed plenty of choice, allowing you to be creative when deciding what to grow in your space. For example, there are over 10,000 varieties of tomato grown around the world for consumption, all…

Whether you’re redesigning your garden’s borders or planting up containers to decorate your balcony, bulbs can be grown almost anywhere. Wordsworth was spot-on when he wrote of his delight at seeing “a host of golden daffodils” – spring flowers really do look best en masse. Bringing joy to public areas and gardens alike, they are hugely popular and beneficial for the pollinators, laying dormant through the winter months and waking up to surprise us with swaths of colour. After the grey gloom of January we look forward to brighter and warmer days ahead, the beginning of spring and the instant lift a flourishing garden gives. Yet bulbs are not just for spring; they can be planted year-round, with many flowering in the autumn as well. The main benefit of planting…

Any experienced gardener will tell you that to grow beautiful, healthy plants you must first take care of the earth beneath your feet. While all soils fulfil a similar function, there are many different types, and knowing which one you have in your garden will help you to choose plants adapted to thrive in your specific conditions. Clay and sandy soils are the most common types; silty soils are less prevalent and are generally found on flood basins near rivers or where rivers have previously existed; and peaty and chalky soils are rare in gardens and exist in just a few areas of the country. Although there is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ soil, since there are plants adapted to each type, some can be more challenging to cultivate and may not…