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Sometimes Gardening

Topic

Planting

13 articles across 2 sections: Ideas, Guides.

Large drifts of native grasses and perennials with a crisply mown strip along the front edge
IdeasStep-by-step guide5 min read

Native Plant Garden

A native plant garden without the purism. Why native means local rather than national, how to find your own list, and where non-natives still earn a place.

Updated

Sunny border with separate drifts of salvia, penstemon, agastache and monarda in flower
GuidesStep-by-step guide5 min read

Hummingbird Garden

A hummingbird garden built on planting rather than sugar water. Which flower shapes they can actually use, feeder rules that avoid harm, and how to plan for territoriality.

Updated

Tall wire mesh deer fence with aromatic planting inside and a guard on a young tree trunk
GuidesStep-by-step guide4 min read

Keeping Deer Out

Keeping deer out of a garden honestly. Only a tall fence reliably works, deterrents fade, and no plant is truly deer proof. What to do at each budget.

Updated

Beds under coarse bark and gravel mulch with a sunny wall top and long grass beyond
GuidesStep-by-step guide4 min read

Cat Friendly Garden

A cat friendly garden covers two problems: keeping your own cat safe, and keeping other people's cats out of your seedbeds. Both have practical answers.

Updated

Divided herb bed of silver mugwort, wormwood, sage, lavender and thyme with gravel paths
IdeasStep-by-step guide5 min read

Witches Garden

A witches garden is a historical herb garden. What was actually grown and why, which plants are genuinely dangerous, and a safe planting plan that still looks the part.

Updated

Timber bench set into dense lavender and grasses with a small tree behind and a flat stone
IdeasStep-by-step guide5 min read

Memorial Garden Ideas

Memorial garden ideas that hold up over decades: choosing a spot, planting with meaning and low upkeep, and what to know before scattering ashes.

Updated

Sunny border of marjoram, catmint and single dahlias in flower with bees working them
GuidesStep-by-step guide5 min read

Pollinator Garden

A pollinator garden that actually works: flower shapes bees can use, a plan that covers March to October, and why water and bare soil matter as much as flowers.

Updated

Shaded border of hosta, shuttlecock ferns and golden hakonechloa in bold groups by height
GuidesStep-by-step guide5 min read

Shade Garden Plants

Shade garden plants chosen by the kind of shade you have. Dry shade under trees needs a different list from damp shade, and that distinction fixes most failures.

Updated

Border of bearded irises in flower with rhizomes visible on free draining gravelly soil
GuidesStep-by-step guide4 min read

How to Grow Irises

How to grow irises: bearded irises want their rhizomes baking on the surface, not buried. Which type suits your soil, when to divide, and why yours stopped flowering.

Updated

Established rhubarb plant with thick red stems and large leaves, pulled stems on the soil
GuidesStep-by-step guide6 min read

How to Grow Rhubarb

How to grow rhubarb from a crown: where to plant it, why you pick nothing in year one, how to force it for early stems, and when to divide the crown.

Updated

Established beech hedge holding copper winter leaves with a mulched strip at its foot
GuidesStep-by-step guide6 min read

Hedging Plants

Hedging plants compared by growth rate, cost and upkeep. What to plant for privacy, how many per metre, and the two mistakes that cost you a whole season.

Updated

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.

Updated

Raked gravel, three set rocks, clipped azalea mounds and one maple behind a slatted screen
IdeasStep-by-step guide5 min read

Japanese Garden Ideas

Japanese garden ideas built on the actual principles: asymmetry, borrowed scenery and restraint. What to plant, what to leave out, and a plan for a small corner.

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