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Sometimes Gardening

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Containers

16 articles across 4 sections: Guides, Ideas, Tools, Gifts.

Two courgette plants in a raised bed with small fruits under the leaves and a trug of picked ones
GuidesStep-by-step guide6 min read

How to Grow Courgettes

How to grow courgettes and zucchini: how many to plant, why the first fruits rot, hand pollination, and picking small enough to keep the plant producing.

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Heaps of potting compost, topsoil and garden compost side by side with grit and a pot
GuidesExplainer4 min read

Garden Soil vs Potting Soil

Garden soil vs potting soil, explained by what each one is for. Why garden soil fails in a pot, why potting compost is wasted in a bed, and what to buy for what.

Updated

Small still pond with waterlily cover, marginal planting and a sloping pebble beach edge
IdeasStep-by-step guide5 min read

Water Garden Ideas

Water garden ideas from a washing up bowl upwards. What size actually works, why most small ponds go green, and the one feature that matters most for wildlife.

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Three shallow containers of mixed salad leaves at different stages with one being cut
GuidesStep-by-step guide5 min read

How to Grow Salad Leaves

How to grow salad leaves that keep coming. Cut and come again rather than whole hearts, why lettuce bolts, and the fortnightly sowing that beats a glut.

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Strawberry bed in full crop with ripe fruit resting on straw and netting held clear on hoops
GuidesStep-by-step guide5 min read

How to Grow Strawberries

How to grow strawberries properly. Why plants decline after three years, how runners give you free replacements, and the two jobs that stop fruit rotting.

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Grouped large containers on a patio with a staked tomato, courgette, herbs and strawberries
IdeasStep-by-step guide6 min read

Container Gardening

Container gardening done properly. Why pot volume matters more than compost or feed, what to plant in what size, and how to water so nothing stalls in July.

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Potato bed with earthed up ridges in flower, a fork in the soil and a trug of lifted earlies
GuidesStep-by-step guide5 min read

How to Grow Potatoes

How to grow potatoes in beds or bags. Why first earlies earn their space and maincrop often does not, how deep to plant, when to earth up, and avoiding blight.

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Miniature garden in a shallow pan with thyme, a pebble path, a twig fence and a bark door
IdeasStep-by-step guide5 min read

Fairy Garden Ideas

Fairy garden ideas built on real plants rather than plastic: what to plant at that scale, which container to use, and how to make one with a child in an hour.

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Climbing beans on netting, a cane wigwam in a container and cordon tomatoes on strings
GuidesStep-by-step guide6 min read

Vertical Gardening

Vertical gardening done properly: which crops climb, what a wall can carry, how to water it, and why most living wall kits fail in their first summer.

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Paved courtyard with containers of tomatoes, chard and wall-mounted salad troughs
IdeasStep-by-step guide9 min read

Small Space & Urban Gardening

Urban gardening comes down to light, pot size and wind. Get those three right and a courtyard or balcony feeds you. Here is how I work out what will grow.

Updated

Cordon tomato plants trained up strings with trusses of ripening fruit and mulched soil
GuidesStep-by-step guide5 min read

How to Grow Tomatoes

How to grow tomatoes from seed to harvest. Cordon or bush, the watering that prevents split skins and blossom end rot, when to feed, and how to spot blight early.

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Small raised bed of lettuce, chard and radish in a back garden at sunset
GuidesStep-by-step guide11 min read

How to Start a Garden

How to start a garden in one season: check your light first, build one small bed without digging, plant six easy crops. Costs from $60, step by step.

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Watering can soaking dark soil around young chard and lettuce at sunrise
GuidesStep-by-step guide6 min read

How to Water a Garden

How to water a garden properly: how much plants need, how to tell when they need it, and why a daily splash does more harm than none at all.

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Narrow trowel, snips, a long spout can and a collapsible trug on a wall rail
ToolsBuying guide4 min read

Gardening Tools for Small Spaces

A short, cheap tool kit for container gardening: what you need on a balcony or patio, what to leave out, and how to store it in a metre of space.

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Forged trowel and hand fork, a large planter, seed packets and zinc labels
GiftsBuying guide4 min read

Gardening Gifts for Beginners

Gifts that make a first-year gardener more likely to keep going: the right five tools, the right seeds, and the presents that get in the way.

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Narrow balcony with railing troughs, pots of tomato and chard and a plant stand
IdeasIdeas7 min read

Small Balcony Garden Ideas

Balcony garden ideas built around the three things that actually limit you, light, wind and weight, with pot sizes, planting plans and what to grow where.

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