Real questions from readers, with answers from Tomasgreen. Browse published garden cases or ask a question of your own.
Ask your own question →103 results
Your pink mallow is still flowering freely, so the seeds are probably not ready. The deciding feature is not the flower, but the little capsules left after the petals fall.
Read on
Grey-green, crinkled leaves and blue-violet flowers point clearly towards one plant. What matters is not just the name, but how it behaves late in the season.
Read on
There are still green and orange tomatoes, but the leaves are yellowing and drying out. Here is how to distinguish the natural end of the season from added stress caused by feeding and watering in late August.
Read on
The photograph shows many green, still-moist nasturtium seeds among dry seed pods. Colour and feel matter more than size when deciding which can be stored without going mouldy.
Read onYou said you want a larger bush, low maintenance, and full sun outdoors. That rules out some popular dry-garden shrubs and puts the focus on which ones stay reliable through longer dry periods.
Read on
The low, yellow-flowered shrub in the photograph is still blooming well late in the season. That helps explain why it is so often planted in public beds and alongside paths.
Read onYou have newly planted lavender in a sunny, well-drained border and want to know how sparingly to water during its first summer. The key is what the soil near the roots tells you, not a fixed schedule.
Read onIn late summer, a newly planted lavender still needs help to establish, but too much water is the bigger risk in free-draining soil. The key is when to ease off and what “deep but infrequent” actually means in practice.
Read onYou want flowers that keep going outdoors in full sun without sulking in a dry spell. A few plants really do this well in UK gardens, but only if the soil suits them.
Read on
Small young spruce seedling reportedly taken from the forest and placed in a pot outdoors. Image shows a thin stem with sparse needles on the top and some needle loss lower down. User says they repotted recently and water a few times per week.
Read on
The lingonberries are bright red on the plants, and you describe them as firm but not hard. That combination tells us more than colour alone about whether they are worth picking now.
Read on
The white-variegated hosta in the photograph does not need digging up in Hartungviken. What matters is when you cut it back and how much protection you actually add.
Read onFor everyone who loves plants, has questions and is looking for inspiration throughout the year.
Find something to grow with