Expert Gardening Tips

The best British potatoes to grow for every meal, from roast potatoes and chips to mash and salads

Mark Diacono runs through his go-to list of British potato varieties to grow — and explains how to help them avoid the dreaded potato blight.

Charles Quest-Ritson: 2020 was terrible in so many ways — but at least it was the best year I can remember for roses

Our expert columnist Charles Quest-Ritson — who literally wrote the book on roses — reveals that his 2020 crop was the greatest of his lifetime.

Your month-by-month checklist of what to do in the garden and when in 2021

Keeping on top of the gardening jobs can be daunting, and it's all too easy to let things slide in one area or another for a month or two.

Country Life's 10 best gardening tips of 2020, from which nurseries to trust online to avoiding naff plant pots

Our gardening advice blogs are always enormously popular on the Country Life website — and with writers such as Alan Titchmarsh and Mark Diacono, it's hardly surprising.

The best herbs to grow in your garden aren't the ones you use the most. Here's why.

Mark Diacono is about to embark on creating a herb garden — here's what he's going to grow.

Jerusalem Artichokes: Everything you need to know about growing and eating them

Point one: they're not artichokes, and they're not from Jerusalem, says Mark Diacono.

The best Cox's apple varieties to eat and grow — including one you'll never see in a supermarket

Steven Desmond takes a look at the various members of the Cox apple family, and suggests some to look out for.

Growing your own Christmas tree: Alan Titchmarsh on what to plant and where to plant it

Why buy your Christmas tree when you can grow your own and enjoy these handsome, statuesque trees all year round? Alan Titchmarsh offers his tips.

Alan Titchmarsh: How to plant late blooming flowers that will make your garden glow through the winter

The gardener, writer and broadcaster Alan Titchmarsh shares his tips on the flowers which make gardening at this time of year worthwhile.

Alan Titchmarsh: How the dahlia shrugged off its 'too common to plant' tag — and thank goodness it did

Alan Titchmarsh has always loved Dahlias — and he's all too glad that his fellow gardeners have seen sense in recent years.

Mulberries: Firmer than a blackberry, juicier than a raspberry, and squirtier than any other fruit

Charles Quest-Ritson lavishes praise on the all-too-easily-overlooked mulberry, and explains how to grow them in your garden. You'll thank him.

The prehistoric plants that shine indoors and out, with spectacular grandeur, grace and a feel softer than cashmere

Mark Griffiths takes a look at the remarkable Cycas panzhihuaensis, a Chinese cycad with an astonishing story to tell.

Alliums: What to grow and how to grow them, from Elephant Garlic to Babington's Leek

If you want the best alliums, you have to grow them yourself. Mark Diacono explains how to go about it.

Charles Quest-Ritson: English gardens are the envy of the world, but the countryside is even greater

Reminiscing on an encounter with a group of garden tourists gives our columnist pause for thought about the nature of horticultural beauty.

Monty Don: The point of gardening? It's to find solace, to be happy, to make beauty, have fun and muck about. How you do it doesn't matter.

Monty Don, gardening writer and broadcaster, speaks to Country Life’s Tiffany Daneff about dogs with film presence and the lockdown recording process.

Alan Titchmarsh: 'Gardeners always think that next year will be so much better than last year; farmers always fear it will be worse'

Alan Titchmarsh on the joys of the flowers that come to our late summer gardens — and the anticipation of starting to plan for next year.

'The Spitfire made everyone who sat in the aircraft’s tiny cockpit feel great, feel godly': A eulogy to the Spitfire, 80 years on from its Finest Hour

Outnumbered yet never outfought, The Few buckled on their Spitfires and rode into the Battle of Britain like knights on their chargers. Eighty years on, their true memorial is the freedom in the air we breathe.

How to grow squash: What to plant, where to plant it and the advice that is 'gardening gold, pure and simple'

In years of growing all sorts of different types of squash, Mark Diacono has formed strong opinions on the best varieties to try. Here he shares his wisdom.

Keith Weed: The new president of the RHS gives a tour of his own garden

Keith Weed, the aptly-named new president of Royal Horticultural Society, spoke to Country Life's gardens editor Tiffany Daneff about his love of plants, his new role — and showed her around his own garden.

Charles Quest-Ritson: Why every gardener in Britain should be growing philadelphus

Charles Quest-Ritson's list of flowers that every garden should own includes the usual names — rose, daffodil, clematis. But he'd also add the less-well-known philadelphus. Here's why.