Expert Gardening Tips

Country Life's top 10 gardens articles of 2024

From the gardens of A-listers and crazed plant hunters to tips on compost, we covered it all in 2024.

Charles Quest-Ritson: Walnuts are one of the gardener's greatest pleasures — but you'll have to be ready for the squirrels

Once you are hooked by walnuts and want to grow more varieties, you find an extraordinary amount of choice. Charles Quest-Ritson explains more.

Mark Diacono: How to grow savory both summer and winter

The grow-your-own gardening expert on summer savory and winter savory, and making sure that whenever you can't enjoy one, you'll be able to call on the other.

The trees with fruits so sweet and delectable that badgers have been known to batter their way through iron gates to get to them

Garden designer and writer Isabel Bannerman doesn't normally advocate taking plants from one house to another — but her mulberry tree has been with her for years.

Rip it up and start again: RHS Wisley's daring reinvention of one of its most famous plantings

Piet Oudolf, father of the New Perennial Movement, has dug up his famous double borders at the Royal Horticultural Society’s garden at Wisley in Surrey and transformed them. John Hoyland takes a look, with photographs by Clive Nichols.

Alan Titchmarsh: Terracotta has been used for flowerpots for 2,500 years — and it's still by far the best thing to pot your plants in

Plastic pots might have conquered the industry — but look after terracotta pots and they'll last for lifetimes. Literally.

Do not fear the Spanish invaders, the English bluebell will reign supreme

Our native spring flower, sprinkled across the woodland floor, is quite safe from foreign imposters.

Rose hips: the perfect accompaniment to the gentle descent into winter

Stay the hand that itches to deadhead your spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead.

'That first taste, six months later, was a quiet revelation': Mark Diacono on how he was inspired to grow his own vegetables

Our grow-your-own expert Mark Diacono looks back on the early days of his growing, and how things he'd never heard of such as salsify and scorzonera found a place in his heart. And his garden, of course.

Alan Titchmarsh's garden: No insecticides, no herbicides, just beautiful flowers, lawns, a statue of Repton and a swing seat that's impossible to resist

It’s always fascinating to see what a high-profile gardening personality does with their own home. Tiffany Daneff visits Alan Titchmarsh’s Hampshire garden, to find a place of endless delights and charm. Photographs by Jonathan Buckley.

The incredible legacy of the 'the only man ever to get away with smoking in the RHS Library'

The impact of the trailblazing Walter Ingwersen is still felt today, says Kathryn Bradley-Hole.

Asters: what they are, which ones to try and how to grow them

These late blooming plants 'promise future spring', making them essential for any garden.

Charles Quest-Ritson: Winter buddlejas, and the plant that might just cover the VAT on your children's school fees

Charles Quest-Ritson on the buddlejas that help see him through the winter — and the plant breeding idea that could help you grow a small fortune.

The garden fruit that's a blend of strawberry, blueberry and kiwi — and it grows beautifully in Britain

The Chilean Guava was Queen Victoria's favourite fruit — so why don't we grow more of them, asks Mark Diacono.

The best bulbs to plant in your gardens, pots and pathways to guarantee floods of colour next Spring

The anticipation of cheerful spring bulbs can keep the gardener going through the dull winter months. John Hoyland advises on what to plant for every situation, from gravel to orchards, sun, shade or in pots.

The spread of Johnny Appleseed: The many many varieties of apple

They grow on our roadsides and most taste pretty ordinary. But some are 'humdingers'.

Alan Titchmarsh's Compost conundrums

No, it's not the name of a new quiz show featuring our columnist as host (although that *would* be a hit, surely) but instead it's Alan Titchmarsh on the increasingly tricky issue of getting the right kind of compost for the right kind of planting.

Alan Titchmarsh: I've been looking for the answer to peat-free compost — and now I think I've found it

Alan Titchmarsh delves into the history of compost, and has finally found something that can replace the brilliant but environmentally unsustainable peat-based formulae.

'A garden should be the cosiest of places, but with some element of awe, menace, and glimpses of the wider landscape'

Isabel Bannerman shares her thoughts on making a garden that makes people feel at home.

Pelargoniums: The flowers that'll make your garden smile

John Hoyland celebrates the renewed popularity of the irrepressibly cheerful pelargonium.