Shady spaces don’t have to be forgotten corners of the garden. By choosing shade-loving vegetables, you can maximise your growing area, enjoy a longer harvest season, and reduce the stress of keeping crops cool in summer. 

Perennial vegetables are a brilliant way to make your garden more resilient, sustainable, and rewarding. With just a little planning at the start, you’ll be harvesting year after year without the constant replanting and digging. 

Whether you grow in the garden borders, a raised bed, or an allotment plot, the ecosystem is complex and companion planting can make a huge difference. In essence its a way of getting plants to support each other to deter pests, enrich the soil or even just make a space more productive. 

Nestled away in the countryside near Hertford lies Rochfords Nursey, home to the Rochfords International Rose Trials.

We’ve all been there - and here are my fixes to the top mistakes we’ve all made as beginner gardeners.

There has been quite some time between my writing in November that I was going to prune my fruit trees and today (72 days later) when I actually got around to doing it.

I have so many ideas racing around my head but one thing I know for sure is that next growing season will be better planned. It’s time to get out the graph paper and get planning!

January 2024 - that is when I received the call letting me know that some allotment plots had become available at a site just 5 minutes walk from my front door. I was beyond excited! Trepidatious, but excited.