Online gardening is growing. Hints, advice, tips and tricks are just a click away, from how to prune your privet to perfecting your planting. Whether you’re an amateur enthusiast or a seasoned grower, why not dig for inspiration through our pick of the crop of gardening blogs:
A blogging collective with posts from gardeners, designers, allotmenteers and cooks, Fennel and Fern covers every type of gardening imaginable. From growing your own to planting tutorials and even recipes, it’s like having your own panel of experts at your fingertips, with glorious gardens featured from across the globe for international inspiration.
Not sure what to plant, and when? The Avid Gardener will help your space to thrive. Seasonal planting tips, what to buy for instant colour, even a list of those crucial Winter outdoor chores that set you up for Summer, it’s a cheery, easy to follow blog written by a ‘passionate plantsman’ who loves to share the knowledge and experience that comes from working with plants and flowers daily.
The perfect antidote for urban garden woes, The Middle Sized Garden blog is lovingly tended by Alexandra Campbell: journalist, author and owner of…a middle-sized garden. She knows the challenges not-too-big and not so little spaces create, and she’s here to share her tips with you. So if you want a gorgeous garden but don’t have the space, time or even budget, dig in…
A labour of love so that we can all reconnect with our own little patches of land, whether it’s a garden or allotment, Woolly Green is a charming blog with an almost illustrative, storybook feel that aims to spread serenity through green fingers. With ‘easy peasy’ horticulture help and thorough explanations to empower us to understand how to garden, with the help of Woolly Green we should all get more from our efforts.
A weblog which first sprouted in 2008 as a gardening diary, The Patient Gardener is a learning journal by an amateur horticulturist Helen Johnstone, who shares her passion for plants and gardening. The ‘End of the Month View’ is especially useful if you’re a tentative tenderer, which focuses on particular parts of the garden you should be paying attention to, throughout the year, along with the ‘My Garden’ section which takes you on a journey around her garden and its different themed areas.
How can you write a gardening blog when you have no garden? This is exactly how Through The Garden Gate began in 2011, written by gardening journalist Veronica Peerless, who at the time had no outdoor space to call her own. So instead, she wrote about gardens she encountered in daily life. It’s now blossomed into a blog that is all about other people’s inspirational efforts, gardening projects big or small and the lovely things she sees whilst out and about. From whimsical wooden window boxes in the heart of London to peculiar plants and flowers, it’s a treasure trove to explore and really makes you look with fresh eyes at the forgotten natural beauty that’s all around you.
Follow the adventures of Mark and Gaz as they attempt to turn their UK garden into an exotic paradise. Influenced by their love of travel, their garden uses hardy plants that can thrive in the British weather yet still give the taste of the tropics, and includes their ambitious project to create a large, 8,000 gallon Koi pond. If you want to create your own personal oasis from those who have been there and are doing it, this is the blog for you.
An allotment blog from the heart, Real Men Sow is the creation of Jono, a chap who took on a redundant allotment with the help of his gardening-mad mum back in 2007. Eight years on he’s tucking into an abundance of fabulous fruits and vegetables, which he now grows in his back garden. And he’s here to share just how he does it, spreading the joy of growing your own food and living within the seasons. ‘Patch from Scratch’ is a wonderful first stop if you want to grow your own, as Jono explains how to make a veg patch and what to plant.
A feast of a blog that follows the fortunes of two amateur gardeners, it merges the worlds of ‘digging and swigging’ – the veg plot and the brewing shed. From beers and ciders to growing tips, it’s all about what nurtures the soul both inside and outdoors. Featuring interviews with experts, an abundance of practical and useful advice on growing what’s edible, even how to best water your plants, it’s a tasty blog for the senses.
An Instagram-style photo board of blog posts, GardenGrab collates the best of the blogs from all over the world. If you don’t know where to start, you’ll find inspiration from every corner of the globe here, snapshots of gardening glory that you can dip into at your leisure. Created by Fennel & Fern, they’ve done all the digging for you with GardenGrab, so what will catch your eye?
If you have any questions about this topic, or anything else relating to your garden, please tweet us @best4hedging and we’ll be happy to help.
