BrainCan - gardens

gardening is the best medicine for the mind

Since I had a nervous breakdown,nothing has lifted my spirits more, or has made me feel saner, or...

how does your garden grow: charles dowding,...

‘I left Cambridge with a well-behaved degree and was expected to derive a well-paid job. Instead I...

gardens: want spring bulbs for easter? then cheat

Just because you didn’t get round to planting spring bulbs final autumn doesn’t mean you can’t...

green shoots: gardening provides welcome relief...

Finding a lifeline in the garden when IVF has failedI have just got domestic from work,walked into...

how does your garden grow? ewan williams, catford,...

I enjoy the monotonous tasks of weeding,digging and wheel barrowing, not to mention chopping...

star magnolia: darling of the garden centre,...

Star magnolias capture the hearts of gardeners each spring,but in the wild they need saving from...

its time to power down our greenhouses

Amid growing climate chaos,can we really afford, financially, or ecologically,or morally, to be...

gardeners: ditch the camellias, embrace the...

It’s puzzling why we Australians are not more passionate,proud, curious, and even evangelical...

how does your garden grow: doxie odle, lewisham,...

‘One day contractors hacked back my strawberries and left the weeds. Since then,they crop the...

us flower growers fear bloom is off the hobby

Horticultural enthusiasts watch flower societies plunge from favour as pressures of modern life...

tom hart dyke, plant hunter and world gardener,...

‘In the shelter of a Victorian walled garden,we laid out the world garden’My garden had...

gardens: why alpines are popular again

These amazing plants will breeze through even a bad British winter and many flower much earlier than...

it wont stop raining - so i am weatherproofing my...

Protecting the plot from extreme weather is one of the main challenges gardeners face today. Kim...

natural swimming pools: i love mine, but try...

Tom Hoblyn installed a natural swimming pool in his garden as a way of promoting the opinion to his...

how to fill a border on a budget

Feeling a bit thrifty but gain a sizeable garden to fill? That was Lucy Chamberlain’s dilemma this...

me and my garden: it s like paradise, surrounded...

David Leake on looking after the plot at Corpus Christi college,OxfordWhen I left school at 16, in...

we need a cure for plant blindness

Let’s elevate plants from their throwaway status and recognise their vital role in keeping us all...

how does your garden grow? ann pickering, crook,...

‘If someone throws something out,I take it. Stones, wood, or brick,baths for rainwater’I was...

chris cotterell, horticulturist, laverstoke mill,...

‘When you walk in,you are transported to another part of the world’When I started working here,...

how does your garden grow? gemma wood, wye valley...

When I returned home 20 years ago,I wanted to add structure to the garden, so I rented a JCB. My...

hello, petal: celebrating cherry blossom time

glorious and brief,cherry blossom season is one of the highlights of the gardening year. Jane...

where to spot cherry blossom this season

Beautiful and brief,cherry blossom season is one of the highlights of the gardening year. Jane...

kim stoddart | recycled garden treasures

With the Christmas shopping frenzy in full swing,badly behaved gardener Kim Stoddart’s thoughts...

will giles obituary

My friend Will Giles,who has died of cancer aged 64, was an artist who specialised in drawing plants...

how does your garden grow? hetty ninnis, eden...

Eden celebrates its 15th birthday this month. It’s starting to create its own ecosystem,developing...

nhs special: sow, grow, repeat winter

What does the NHS have to attain with horticulture? We’re finding out in this week’s podcast,as...

gardens: blueberry fields forever | james wong

The small,black ‘Rubel’ blueberry is highly nutritious – unlike many supermarket...

pastures new: dan pearson s journey from city to...

Five years ago Dan Pearson took a farm in Somerset and has been bringing it to vibrant life. In the...

perennial vegetables: sow, grow, repeat winter

From good king henry to three-cornered leek,there’s a whole original world of tasty, easy to grow...

plants for free: take cuttings now to barter in...

Bartering plants is a great way to save money,but it’s also a great way to gather to know other...

harlow carr: a wonderful winter garden walk

The winter walk is a delight for eyes and nose – and provides inspiration for gardeners’ own...

sow, grow, repeat: best gardening books of 2015

Books editor Claire Armitstead and a panel of experts join Jane Perrone to leaf through their...

how gardening helped my autistic son to blossom

Gardening has the potential to empower those with autism,building their confidence to manage with...

gardens: winning ways for winter

Gardens can bring delights in colder months. Here’s hownear winter,the crutches that we rely on to...

how does your garden grow? jamie warde aldam,...

‘Snowdrops,daffodils and aconites start the year, arriving just when you need them. Winters can be...

dont let my low carbon community farm die

Joanne Mudhar first chronicled her tender to create a low carbon farm in Suffolk on this blog. Five...

how to help garden wildlife survive winter

Winter is often a tough time for birds and animals,but there are lots of things gardeners can do –...

gardens: transform your plot into a mini prairie

Prairie plants proceed to sleep in winter,but their beauty still shines in this Sussex garden....

gardens: eat seeds and leaves

Even the tiniest urban garden or balcony can offer up a larder of edible treasures. One expert...

the siren song of the garden centre

A trip to the local garden centre for one bag of compost can quickly turn into a spending spree. But...

how does your garden grow? bernard tickner,...

I drove around with the tractor to accomplish paths and made beds which felt natural to my eye....

gardens: are blackcurrants the new blueberry?

They are packed with nutrients and a doddle to grow. The humble blackcurrant leaves more celebrated...

maggie butt, allotment campaigner, wotton under...

‘We are looking at ways to withhold the land as allotments,but it is not easy’On 25 March this...

how do we spark a gardening revolution?

How conclude we inspire the next generation of gardeners? Daniel Richards reports back from a panel...

how to be a back garden plant conservationist

Saving plants from extinction doesn’t just happen in botanic gardens and seed banks - we can come...

soaring ambition: our plans for the peckham coal...

A solitary birch tree inspired our vision for an elevated park high above the streets of south-east...

goodbye sad, hello spring

After the gloomy days of winter,Tom Smart welcomes the lighter, brighter days of spring and waves...

thousands of trees planted and lakes restored for...

Major restorations under way at British castles and palaces to impress 300 years since birth of...

climate change gardening - building resilience...

Kim Stoddart is on a mission to protect her garden against future weather extremes. This month she...

cutting corners, gleefully: introducing the badly...

Kim Stoddart tears up the gardening rule book in pursuit of a more relaxed style of gardening. In...

orchids: sow, grow, repeat winter

From the plastic-wrapped Phalaenopsis crammed on the shelves of your local supermarket to the...

great plains: my prairie garden

Garden designer Tom Stuart-Smith raised his own prairie garden from seed and was delighted to find...

gardens: alys fowler s top 25 indestructible...

Fill tricky spots and barren corners with a blanket of blooms all summerNo more excuses,no more...

don t moles have a right to life too? | patrick...

John Clares ‘tiny hermit’ may be a hero of children’s literature,but adults fortunately expend...

gardens in art: sow, grow, repeat winter

A unusual exhibition of modernist paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts puts plants and gardens at...

orchidelirium: orchids at the new york botanic...

Susanne Masters visits a new prove that celebrates the orchid in all its formsThe orchid that...

sweet peas: wild at heart

Sweet peas may be popular as ever in our gardens,but their wild relatives are under threatIt’s...

spiky island: an exotic garden on a hill in essex

How one man created a garden of hardy exotic plants [br]If your dream is to create an exotic...

raring to grow? how to get your gardening year...

If you begin with some weather-wise tasks,you can sow your way into a distinguished start for 2016...

national gardening week: the answer lies in the...

National Gardening Week is a chance for all of us to celebrate the ways gardens can make us...

gardens: want a burst of colour in autumn? try...

Hold those shorter days at bay with blooms – and preserve pollinators happy,too[br]There’s a...

how does your garden grow: wesley kerr, north...

‘My garden has many influences: my foster parents and foster sister,my slave ancestry, and my...

lets preserve the natural history museum wildlife...

The one-acre wildlife garden at the Natural History Museum is an irreplaceable resource for...

gardens: what to do this week

Visit Knoll Gardens,give your houseplants some love, and plant a floribunda roseIf you want to...

international garden photographer of the year - in...

The International Garden Photographer of the Year is one of the world’s premier competitions...

why i changed my mind about peat

Everything from carnivorous pitcher plants to acid-loving blueberries can be grown without peat. No...

mount emei balsam: safety in numbers

In the wild,Mount Emei balsam is threatened with extinction, but it’s thriving in our gardens, or...

kylemore abbey in connemara, ireland

previously a school and a palatial private estate,Kylemore Abbey sits at the base of a steep hill...

art director s cut, march 22

The things our art director,Chris McGee, hated to leave out of the current issue of LAM. From...

is crowdfunding the future of horticulture?

Gardeners are a generous bunch,but in horticulture the average income is under £10 an hour. Will...

what to do in the garden this week

Recycle plastic pots,keep an end to brown spots on the lawn, plant a penstemonMany plastic garden...

lamcast: planting aesthetics at berkeley

As landscape design coalesces increasingly around an infrastructural and regenerative...

pupils and potatoes: how gardens enrich education

Gardening is about as current with most head teachers as showing DVDs on a Monday morning. But...

video: autumn comes to stourhead landscape gardens

Watch time-lapse footage of the changing of the seasons at the National Trust’s Stourhead...

hepaticas: early spring jewels

Hepaticas are magnificent woodland plants,with a fascinating history as a medicinal plantAlongside...

robbie blackhall miles | the story behind the new...

There’s more to this award-winning photograph than a stunning scene full of flowersThis is the...

box tree caterpillars: why we might have to get...

This east-Asian bug can devour an entire hedge by itself and has become the blight that British...

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