Blog - Page 5: How To Guides

We all appreciate getting away for a break now and then, but no one wants to come home to a house and garden filled with sad, drooping plants or beds filled with weeds. Here are a few tips on how to keep your plants happy while you’re away.

In many ways, you can enjoy Hampton Court Flower Show, from floral marquees to show gardens, demonstrations to picnics, as it is such an incredible day out. This is one of the Royal Horticultural Societies biggest flower shows, and everyone has been waiting for it after a time without shows over the past year. It takes place from July 5 until July 11.

Water is one of our most precious resources, and as summers get hotter and drier, we need to use water wisely in our gardens. These simple tips will help you give your plants the water they need with as little waste as possible.

When you’ve chopped up that fresh pineapple for dessert, don’t throw away the top – you could use it to grow another pineapple plant! With their spiky rosettes of fleshy leaves, pineapple plants make dramatic-looking indoor plants, fitting in perfectly with the trend for growing succulents. And if you’re lucky (and very patient), you might even be able to harvest your very own pineapple.

Packed full of vitamin C and antioxidants, blueberries are both healthy and delicious. They’re also surprisingly easy to grow, and very ornamental, with pretty flowers in spring and beautiful autumn foliage. You don’t need lots of space to grow blueberries – a big pot in a sunny place will do.

Baked, boiled, chipped or roasted, potatoes are always a winner. And there’s nothing quite like your own potatoes, dug up from the ground like buried treasure. Growing your own potatoes means you can choose from a wide range of different potato types, flavours and even colours. If you’ve never grown potatoes before, now’s the perfect time to start.