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Gardening
Forget all those expensive gardening books: everything you need is here on the Web, if you know where
to look. Here's a carefully hand-compiled list of over 400 of the best gardening pages
I've found, helping you to do everything from choosing plants to
laying a lawn—all on one handy, uncluttered web page!
I've included several different guides to most topics, so you can
compare the advice and choose the approach you like best.
If you want more general DIY advice (things like plumbing, building, home decorating, and woodworking), check out our home page.
How does your garden grow?
If the answer is a) Not quite as I'd
like; b) Could be better; or c) Not at all, you've come to the right
place! We'll help you turn your garden around and turn it into
something you can really be proud of.
Before we go any further, it's worth pausing for a moment to
consider just what you're looking for from your outdoor space:
- Do you want a garden that reflects the natural world beyond?
- Are you trying to express more of your creative side than your home and work life normally allow you to do?
- Will your children be helping you in the garden? Maybe you see it as a place for them to learn about plants—or perhaps it has to work as
their play space, as well as your "my space"?
- Do you want a productive garden that can feed your kitchen with vegetables and your home with flowers?
- Do you want a stunning setting to your home?
- Do you simply want a new outdoor hobby—one that's fun and healthy?
If you understand what you're trying to achieve from gardening,
you'll stand a better chance of getting exactly what you want. That's
not to say you have to kill the surprise and spontaneity
by planning everything to the tiniest detail; simply that, if you know
your garden is going to have footballs kicked around it non-stop for
the next ten years, you might be more realistic about your hopes for
winning the Chelsea Flower Show at the same time. Similarly, if you
want your garden to be a stunning complement to your home, maybe you
should concentrate on putting the flowers and shrubs there—and get
yourself an allotment down the road to use as your vegetable production
line? One of the great joys of gardening is that nothing is fixed;
everything is always in flux. You can't always change things at a
moment's notice. You don't always have a blank canvas to start from.
But there's always scope for improvement. It's a
never-ending journey you can enjoy without ever, necessarily, reaching
an ultimate destination.
Like other great adventures in life, learning to be a gardener is a
voyage of discovery that you can undertake just as you please. If you
want to learn by doing, that's up to you. But if you're ready and
willing to benefit from other people's experience, you'll get a huge
head start—and that's what this web page is all about.
Like gardens, we think the best web pages are lovingly
compiled by hand by people who are passionate about what they're doing.
This one is no exception.
In gardening as in life, you reap what you sow. We hope the pages
you'll find here help you achieve brighter borders, bigger harvests,
and more pleasure than you ever thought possible. Happy gardening!
The links on this page are regularly checked to keep them all fresh and
working.
We hope you find the information here helpful!
Please be sure to read the site disclaimer and privacy policy.
Update status
Last updated: 13 March 2012. All links checked, revised, and corrected.
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Contents - what's on this page
Safety advice: before you start
- Gardening safely: A basic rundown of safety advice from the BBC.
- Bad
backs:
How to avoid back problems while you're gardening, also from the BBC.
- Gardening
safety: Tips from the Better Health Channel.
- RoSPA DIY safety advice: A short summary of safety tips for the home and garden from the leading UK safety organization.
General guides
Basic guides: gardening 101
Understanding your garden climate
Understanding your soil
Know
your plot: soil types: A basic guide from BBC gardening explains
the six basic soil types (clay, sandy, silty, peaty, chalky, and loamy)
and lists suitable plants for each soil type.- BBC
gardening basics: soil: Scroll down the alphabetical list to "Soil" and then click to reveal various soil-related pages.
- Royal
Horticultual Society Advice: Soil types: Hard to make a direct link to this one. Go to the advice page, select topic "Soil", and then various soil-related articles will appear.
- Soil
types and testing: An introduction to soil types.
- The dirt on
soil: Everything you ever wanted to know about soil, including pH
(acidity/alkalinity), using mulch, and improving your soil, from
about.com.
- Clemson University: Soil advice: The excellent Clemson site has three fact sheets filed under "soil": changing soil pH, soil testing, and fertilizers
Making compost
- How
to make compost: A comprehensive guide from Henry Doubleday's
Garden Organic website, explains the different things you can compost,
how to make compost, and answers common questions.
- How
to build a compost bin: A clear, illustrated guide from The
University of Missouri.
- Make a
compost bin: Another good intro from Backyard Gardener.
- Compost guide:
A complete guide to composting.
- Soil pH: A
guide from The Garden Helper, explains how to test soil pH (acidity or
alkalinity) and what to do if it's too acidic or alkaline.
- Organic
fertilizer: A guide from Extremely Green.
Tools and other gardening equipment
Introductions
Buying guides
These handy buying guides come from the UK DIY store
Homebase.
Designing a garden
Basic garden design
- BBC guide to garden
design: Includes a virtual guide, planting recipes, and more.
- Garden designer: A feast of gardening design tips and ideas.
- Garden design:
Click on the "Garden design" button in the green column, then pick out the articles that interest you.
- Garden Advice: Home of gardening knowledge: information about plants, design, soil,
and much else.
- Garden Design:
Website of Garden Design magazine, with many online articles, Q&As,
etc.
- RHS: Garden Design: Sources of Information: Where can you find out more about design?
- Gardening:
A guide to garden design from About.com.
- Garden
design:
Short, introductory article from Wikipedia.
- Gardening
hints and tips:
A collection of articles from Judy Fenyveski.
- Garden
design and designers:
A directory of UK garden designers, listed by region.
Preparing a new garden
Changing an existing garden
Drawing garden plans
Garden design software
Designing your planting
- Planting styles: Click on the "Planting Styles" section for simple BBC guides to woodland, cottage garden, jungle garden, and lime-tolerant planting.
- BBC plant
finder: "Look up detailed information about thousands of plants
using a searchable database."
- Planting design:
This article by Hugh O'Connell shows
"how detailed planting design can make a great difference".
- Planting design:
A short introductory article from the free Wikipedia encyclopedia.
- Planting
design fundamentals: A longer introduction from Mississippi State
University.
- Choosing
native plants: Tips from the helpful gardener on how to make your
garden more in-tune with its environment.
- Plants
or design?: Which is most important? A BBC debate.
Some styles of garden to inspire you
Landscaping and major structures
General overviews
Make a garden path
Build raised beds
Build patios and decking
Build garden steps
Make a garden fence
Make a gate
Make garden furniture
Lawns
General
- Making a lawn: A simple overview from Crocus.
- All About Lawns: A huge range
of advice about lawns. A great place to start for our US readers.
- Lawn care: Lots of lawn advice from doityourself.com covering everything
from lawn repair to feeding and weeding.
How to make a new lawn from seed or turf
Lawn care and mowing
Lawn weeds
Plants
Trees
- RHS: Gardening Advice: Trees: Tons of tips from the RHS.
- Crocus: Choosing
garden trees: An interactive guide. Type in your requirements... and it suggests trees for you
- Choosing and
buying trees: Things you need to consider before you buy. Advice from Rushcliffe Borough Council on trees to pick and ones to avoid (for the UK).
- Trees
at home: A guide from BBC gardening. Includes tree suggestions and
details of when to plant them.
- Tony's
top tree tips: BBC video clips showing how to plant, prune, and
mulch, how to propagate apples, how to treat aging trees, and how to
tackle fungal attacks.
- How to:
garden trees: Tips from Garden Advice, including how to do a health
check of your trees.
- How to
transplant a tree: Step-by-step advice from North Dakota State
University.
- How to plant a tree: A simple guide from Homebase UK.
- How-to plant a tree from a container: A short video guide, also from Homebase UK.
- Tree Help: How to plant a
tree and many other factsheets. Also includes photos and care
information for many different species.
(Trees covered include: Ash, Arborvitae, Aspen, Baldcypress, Beech,
Birch, Buckeye, Catalpa, Cedar, Cherry, Citrus (all), Cottonwood,
Crabapple, Dogwood, Douglas-fir, Elm, Fir, Ginkgo, Goldenrain,
Hawthorn, Hickory, Holly, Horsechestnut, Juniper, Kentucky Coffee Tree,
Linden, Locust, London Planetree, Magnolia, Maple, Mulberry, Oak, Palm,
Pear, Pecan, Pine, Poplar, Redbud, Rose, Spruce, Sycamore, Tuliptree,
Willow, Wisteria)
- My garden guide:
Lots of detailed, downloadable PDF fact sheets from Bartlett Tree Care
Library.(Trees covered include American holly, Austrian pine, Azalea,
rhododendrons, Beech, Blue oak, Boxwood,
Camellia, Citrus, Coast live oak, Crabapple, Dogwood, Elm, Evergreen,
pear, Flowering cherries,
Green ash, Hemlock, Honeylocust, Japanese black pine, Japanese maple,
Juniper, Live Oak, Texas, London plane tree, Monterey pine, Mountain
Laurel, Norway maple, Pecan, Texas, Pecan, Pieris, Pin oak, Red maple,
Red oak, Redbud, Rose, Southern magnolia, Taxus, White barked birch,and
White pine)
- Instructions
for planting and pruning trees: Introduction from Bluegrass Gardens.
Hedges and topiary
- Topiary: A good basic introduction to the history and culture of topiary, from Wikipedia.
- How to
plant a hedge: A good step-by-step intro, with simple-to-follow
diagrams.
- Hedge
plants: General advice from About.com.
- How to plant a native hedge: A short article from BBC gardening, mainly about wildlife value of hedges.
- How
to grow a hedge: An article by Neil Newman.
- Hedge
laying: A detailed manual from BTCV, mainly intended for serious conservation volunteers, but of wider interest too.
- Eugene's Beginners Guide To Topiary : A short, step-by-step guide from RTE Ireland.
- Topiary:
An introductory article from Wikipedia. At the time of compiling this
page, the page was mainly about topiary history and culture.
- How to plant a hedge: A simple introduction from Homebase. Includes a useful table that lists the different types of hedges, whether they're evergreen or deciduous, how strong they grow, and how far apart to plant them.
- How to Make Your Own Topiary: A quick, clear, basic intro from Gardening Know How.
Shrubs
Roses
Perennials
- Gardening with
perennials: A nice little site from the University of Illinois, includes details of common perennials, plant care guides, information
on how to divide perennials, and lots more.
- Heritage Perennials: Includes a
huge searchable encyclopedia of perennials.
- Perennial Resource:
Includes a library, photos, guide to growing perennials. Growing guide
covers how to get started with perennials, landscape uses and garden
planting, designing with perennials, planting information, and care.
- Plant
perennials: A guide to achieving "glorious colour all season long"
from Flower Gardening Made Easy.
- Open Directory Project: perennials: A human-compiled list of sites about perennials.
- Perennial Stars: As chosen by Paul James for Home and Garden TV.
- Perennials
and bedding plants: A basic introduction from the BBC.
- Dividing perennials: A step-by-step factsheet from Clemson University.
- Taking cuttings the easy way: Tips from Jennifer Moore at Backyardgardener.com.
- How to plant perennials: A short and basic introduction from Homebase Get into Gardening.
- Perennials: cutting back,
Perennials: dividing, and
Perennials: staking:
Three quick guides from the RHS.
- Growing dianthus
in your garden: Carnations, Pinks and Sweet Williams.
- Ohio's
Famed Floral Emblem: The Scarlet Carnation: An interesting article
about carnation history, with growing tips, from Naomi Matthews.
- The Pelargonium and Geranium Society: A website for Pelargonium, Geranium and Geraniaceae
fans.
Annuals and biennials
Climbing plants
Bulbs
Alpines and rock gardens
Cacti and other succulents
- The Succulent Plant Page: A good collection of articles about how to grow different succulent
species, plant problems, and so on.
- Cacti Guide: Lots of information about different cactus genera and how to grow them.
- Cacti: A variety of introductory articles from HGTV covering indoor and outdoor cactus plants.
- Cactus,
Agave, and Succulents are short introductory articles from Wikipedia that might be worth a quick look.
Food plants: vegetables, fruit, and herbs
Beginners' guides and general introductions
Vegetables in containers
Crop rotation and intercropping
Herbs
- The Herb Society of America: "
The Herb Society of America is dedicated to promoting the knowledge,
use and delight of herbs through educational programs, research, and
sharing the experience of its members with the community." Lots of
information about herbs!
- A short history of herb garden design: by Deirdre Larkin. Includes a discussion of medieval and monastery gardens.
- Herbmed: An
interactive herbal database, herb list, and directory.
- List of
herbs and spices: An index on Wikipedia, with links to longer
articles about each plant.
- Herbal Gardens: Lots of articles about herbs in the kitchen and around the home.
Fruit
Indoor gardening and houseplants
- Caring for houseplants: A helpful
article from Lowes, includes good advice on how to tackle most common
troubles.
- Indoor Plans: A few good articles on the Homebase Get into Gardening site, including how to choose different plants to suit different rooms and what to do about your plants when you go on holiday.
- BBC Gardening: Looking after your houseplants: A very basic
introduction.
- Indoor gardening: A one-page introduction from The
Helpful Gardener.
- Creating a mini indoor garden: A large catalogue of
indoor gardening articles from HGTV.
- House Plants: Quite a few articles here from the Home and Family Network, including how to choose plants, which ones are the easiest to grow, and how to care for them when you go away.
- Indoor Gardening: Container Garden Indoors: The Helpful Gardener describes
how you can create a simple indoor garden in very limited space.
- Troubleshooting houseplant problems: Advice from
Garden Helper, including a handy list of symptoms and how to use them
in your diagnosis.
- Diagnosis of Common Houseplant Problems: By Dr.
Sharon M. Douglas, Department of Plant Pathology and Ecology, The
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.
- Orchids on the windowsill: By Dan Jewett, Colorado
State University Cooperative Extension Master Gardener, Denver County. A very short but encouraging little guide to growing your own orchids.
Gardening with children
Sheds, greenhouses, garden buildings, and furniture
Make a garden shed
Greenhouses
Build a pergola
Make bird boxes and bird tables
Water gardens
General
Bog gardens
Make a garden pond
Troubleshooting: solving garden problems
Organic gardening
- Garden Organic: Superb
website from the Henry Doubleday Research Association.
- Organic
gardening: A comprehensive BBC guide.
- Organic—it's worth it: A great introductory website promoting the benefits of organic growing from the Organic Trade Association.
- Rocket
Gardens: Supplies for the organic gardener (vegetables and
seedlings).
- Crop
rotation: Organic tips from the Helpful Gardener.
- Sustainable gardening: Many excellent articles exploring different aspects of environmentally friendly gardening, from the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
- Extremely
Green: Organic gardening supplies for US readers.
- Plants for a Future:
"A resource centre for rare and unusual plants, particularly those
which have edible, medicinal or other uses. We practise vegan-organic
permaculture with emphasis on creating an ecologically sustainable
environment based largely on perennial plants."
- Open
Directory Project: Organic gardening links: A human-compiled
directory of links.
- It's
our garden: A Homeowner's Guide To Organic Growing by Elizabeth and Crow Miller. A very interesting collection of articles documenting many years of hard-won personal experience.
- Gardening for health: Chemical-free gardening tips from the Pesticides Action Network (PAN) UK.
- Preventing pollution problems from lawn and garden
fertilizers: A quick review by soil scientists C. J. Rosen and B. P. Horgan of the University of Minnesota explains how you can fertilize in a way that will cause less risk of water pollution.
- Gardening for Life: Green gardening advice from
Woking Borough Council, UK.
Famous gardeners
Past and present... a very strange list this has turned out to be!
Great gardens to visit in the UK
