Expert Gardening Tips

When will your fruit be ready to pick? A complete A-to-Z guide to fruit in the gardens of Britain

From apples to strawberries, here's when the fruits in your garden will be ready to pick.

Alan Titchmarsh: The Chelsea Flower Show needs to stop pandering to trends and remember that it's a celebration of gardening

Our columnist Alan Titchmarsh is a supporter — and a vice-president — of the RHS. But he worries that the horticulture is in danger of going missing from the Royal Horticultural Society's Chelsea Flower Show.

2023 Chelsea Flower Show preview: What to expect from the world's greatest garden celebration

Country Life's former gardens editor Kathryn Bradley-Hole writes her 2023 Chelsea Flower Show preview — and she anticipates a confident return to form at Chelsea, with mouth-watering designs for productive gardens, aromatic Mediterranean planting and even a reinterpretation of the rock garden.

Mark Gregory, the 'King of Chelsea', on how to create a garden whose plants taste as good as they look

Five-times Chelsea Flower Show gold medallist Mark Gregory recommends plants to grow in your garden that look as good as they taste.

Growing your own? The big mistake you have to avoid

An abundance might sound like success for a gardener, but if you're growing crops at home to supply your own needs, then little and often is a much better aim. Mark Diacono explains.

Anna Pavord: A natural-born-hoarder's guide to getting rid of all those plants that really must go

Clearing out plants is not for the faint-hearted, but Anna Pavord shares her hard-won tips.

To mow or not to mow? That is the question every May

Alan Titchmarsh: The plants that make me smile the most

Alan Titchmarsh admits that the plants that give him most pleasure aren't always the ones he's intended to grow.

A nursery where you'll come away having spent a lot of money — but you'll be very pleased to have done so

Charles Quest-Ritson takes a look at the incomparable hepaticas of John Massey.

Alan Titchmarsh: Spring's hoary old clichés might be trite — but they're all true

The phrase 'Spring is a new beginning’ may be a touch trite for today’s tastes, says Alan Titchmarsh, but it is 'a phrase that invades my mind each and every March'.

Blackcurrants: Easy to grow, endlessly versatile, and why home-grown is way better than you'll find in the shops

Mark Diacono makes a case for blackcurrants being one of the best — and simplest — fruits to grow in your garden.

Anna Pavord: 'I never quite remember how glorious it is going to be, that first day in spring'

The gardener and writer Anna Pavrod on the joy of rediscovery that is spring.

Grow your own tomatoes: What to plant, when to plant them and how to make sure they thrive

Nothing beats the flavour of homegrown tomatoes, whether you like them large and meaty or tiny and juicy. Mark Diacono has the lowdown on how to do it and which varieties to choose.

There are over 1,000 different citrus fruits out there — and you owe it to yourself to try something a little different

Once, there were just four types of wild citrus, but farmers and gardeners over the centuries have selected for wonderful variety and abundance, says Charles Quest-Ritson.

How to start your own cutting garden, by three of Britain's most successful flower growers

Nothing beats homegrown flowers for beauty, variety and scent. Tiffany Daneff asks three British growers for the best advice on starting your own cutting garden.

How to grow fritillaries

The exotic snake’s-head fritillary is the only British native of 130 bulbs in this fascinating family, many of which deserve a place in the garden. John Hoyland, garden adviser at Glyndebourne in East Sussex, recommends the best and shares tips on how to grow them, with additional tips from botanical artist and Fritillaria specialist Laurence Hill.

Alan Titchmarsh: The hardest thing in life is keeping a sense of perspective. In that respect, a garden has no equal

The place you'll find the world's best roses — and it's nowhere near Britain

Charles Quest-Ritson is man who literally wrote the book on roses — several of them, actually — but he'll openly concede that his best efforts in Hampshire are as nothing compared to the best Australia has to offer.

Wild Garlic: How to forage it, and how to grow your own

If you are new to foraging, wild garlic is the ideal place to start says Mark Diacono.

Alan Titchmarsh: I won't hear a bad word about privet hedges, but they're not a patch on my one-off 'country hedge'