Gardening & Homestead

The garden has wound down, the to-do list has shrunk to mulching and waiting, and it's the perfect time to actually read about gardening rather than just do it. These five books are worth picking up this autumn and winter, some for practical advice, some for planning inspiration, and one or two to read cover to cover on a rainy Sunday.

Chamomile is one of those plants that earns its space twice over. It's easy to grow, it smells wonderful, and once it starts flowering you'll have more than you can deal with. Here are ten genuinely useful things to try with the harvest.

It is not beautiful to garden in. I don’t do my best work in the heat, so we’ve mostly been hiding indoors, and now the cloud’s rolled in I can finally get back out and do something useful.

Shop-bought citronella candles are usually paraffin, they don't smell great, and half of them barely work. Making your own takes about an hour and the result is genuinely better. Here's the recipe I've settled on after a fair bit of trial and error.

Autumn wreaths have got a bit out of hand on Pinterest, and half the ideas you'll find there are either wildly complicated or look nothing like the photo once you've made them yourself. These seven ideas are the ones that actually work, buying, making, or somewhere in between.

Vegetables don't get much credit for protein, and most of the time that's fair. But some of them do contribute something real, and if you're trying to eat less meat, it helps to know which ones. This isn't about replacing a chicken breast with a courgette. It's about knowing where the useful grams are.

By late July the garden is practically throwing food at you. Courgettes the size of cricket bats, more tomatoes than you can eat fresh, and berries and currants that'll go off before the week's out. Here's how to deal with all of it before it ends up in the compost.

August feels like the tail end of the gardening year, but there's actually a decent window of planting left before the cold sets in. The soil is warm, which helps new plants establish faster than they would in spring. Here are eight plants worth getting in the ground this month.

Rustic bench surrounded by flowers showing cosy garden corner ideas.

Looking for the easiest vegetables to grow? Here are the vegetables I've found give the biggest harvest as a beginner gardener, along with the lessons I've learned.

Wondering when to harvest potato plants? Learn the signs your potatoes are ready, when to lift first earlies and maincrop potatoes, and how to store your harvest.

Try this homemade vinegar weed killer recipe using simple household ingredients. Learn how it works, where to use it and how to get the best results.

The funny thing is that many people think growing beautiful summer flowers is difficult. It isn't. Some of the easiest plants you can grow will reward you with months of blooms, and once they're established they often need very little attention.