Straightforward Garden Help and Advice

This site is a source of online gardening information, inspiration and entertainment for all gardeners from the expert to the reluctant, wherever you may be. For gardeners who want information and advice on choosing and growing plants, laying a patio, or decks, erecting a shed, garden office or summerhouse etc. Without wanting to become a horticulturalist or take a garden design course to get there. We don't do trendy, we do what works and what you want in your garden.

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There's nothing mystical or magical about having "green fingers". Gardening like everything else is a mixture of inspiration and perspiration, and is biased towards the second of these.

Green-fingeredness is not something you are or aren't born with, and it can certainly be learnt. Like other skills some people will be naturally better than others. If you put in the time and effort and are prepared to learn, then you can develop the verdant digits so envied by those for whom everything botanical seems to perish as soon as their back is turned. Gardening isn't a black art and can be learnt by any-one.

There are three aspects to green-fingeredness;

    Effort        Understanding        Knowledge

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    Effort - One rule of thumb I use is "don't use a trowel if you can get a spade in". People frequently garden on too small a scale, tickling the soil as it's easier, rather than getting deeper down into it. The effort can be spread over more than one day and is probably better that way so you get to look at your plants more often. Look at it like a free visit to the gym with an end result other than just a pool of sweat on the floor.

• Frequently inspect your plants so that you know as soon as possible when they need attention.
  
  
• When planting, prepare the soil well, and do it every time you plant.
  
  
• Weed frequently, dig out the roots of perennial weeds, don't just cut off the top-growth.
  
  
• Make borders wide, they look so much better.
  
  
• Dead-head frequently for a continuous show of blooms.

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    Understanding - The most difficult aspect to learn. It entails looking at life from the plants point of view, seeing why it is happy or unhappy in its current position. Thinking about the impact of flowering, pruning, pests etc. But at least it's easy because you can relax when you do it.

Plants are living things, and like other living things they have their foibles and preferences. The commonest reasons that plants fail are that they are planted in the wrong place (some-times the wrong continent) and they are not allowed to establish themselves properly. When you first get some new plants treat them like children, appropriate attention early on is worth ten times the remedial work when things have gone wrong due to a lack of care.

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    Knowledge - While it is certainly very useful to carry around a knowledge base of plants, soil conditions, pests etc. in your head, it's not necessary as long you know where to find the information AND look for it and use it.

If you can't afford a selection of books then there are plenty of web sites to get the information from, though books do have their conveniences. Another important thing is to apply the knowledge up front, think about what plants you are going to buy before you buy them, and where they are going to go before you plant them.

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