The Complete Gardener: A Practical, Imaginative Guide to Every Aspect of Gardening

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It is also one of the easiest of all plants grow and freshly harvested, home grown lettuce always tastes wonderful. Don has owned many dogs throughout his adult life. Two that he currently own are Ned, a Golden Retriever, and Patti, a Yorkshire terrier; which are seen on camera with Don on Gardeners' World. [63] Nellie, another Golden Retriever died in October 2023. [64] He also owns dogs that are not featured on the show. [65] The coppice at Longmeadow holds the graves of Dons' many pets, including dogs Nigel, Nellie, Beaufort, Red, Poppy and Barry, and cats Stimpy and Blue. [66] Don also has a sheep farm, on which he keeps 500 ewes. [61] C4 secures sponsorship for two new programmes". Marketing Week. 4 November 1999 . Retrieved 12 August 2020.

Grounded in his own experience, Monty’s straightforward gardening advice is paired with extraordinarily beautiful photographs taken over the course of a year in his own Herefordshire garden, taking you on a tour of his flower garden, herb garden, kitchen garden, and more.

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It is not so much the absolute temperature as the variations between night and day that they must become used to. Put them outside in a sunny but sheltered spot and have some horticultural fleece to hand to cover them if their is a cold night, but let them get used to the changes in temperature and exposure to wind and rain that they have not had to face over the past few months for at least a week - and preferably two - before moving them to their final position after the risk of any frost has passed. Planting Lilies In Pots Most lettuce take about 6 to 8 weeks to grow sufficiently large to eat and will be good for another month or so if kept watered and cool. Lettuces grow best in mild, moist conditions so a hot, dry summer is as big a problem as a cold winter. However many lettuces are happy in some shade as this will keep them cooler. To avoid a glut or, worse, your lettuce all running to seed at once in very hot weather, the secret is to have good succession - which essentially means maintaining a small but constant supply of plants rather than one big harvest. To do this sow some new seed every 3 or 4 weeks and as one batch goes over another will be ready to eat with a third growing on as young seedlings.

Add all clippings to the compost heap but mix it well with dry, brown material like straw or cardboard which will stop it becoming a wet, green sludge. Don has described himself primarily as a writer, "who happens to have lots of television work." [9] By the early 1990s, Don had written two unpublished novels, The Clematis Affair and An Afternoon in Padua. He later described them as "excruciatingly bad". [47] In January 1994, Allan Jenkins, then editor of The Observer, invited Don to write a weekly gardening column for the newspaper. The column began in February of that year and lasted until May 2006; Jenkins was his editor for seven years. [9] In a piece from 2004 to commemorate the tenth year of the column, Don wrote: "It has been more life-changing than any other work I have done in my adult life." [48] Don has written articles for the Daily Mail and Mail Online since 2004. [ citation needed]

I’m a big fan of the RHS and their precision guidance. Sometimes though, I enjoy simply reading in great detail how other gardeners have succeeded, because nature never plays by the rulebook. This April green is nature at its most potent. There is a sense that every cell of every living thing is burgeoning and growing and breaking into the freshest most vibrant green possible - regardless of ice, snow, wind or rain. As I get older this becomes more precious, more miraculous. From 1st July 2021, VAT will be applicable to those EU countries where VAT is applied to books - this additional charge will be collected by Fed Ex (or the Royal Mail) at the time of delivery. Shipments to the USA & Canada:

Peskett, Matt (19 January 2018). "Monty Don's Paradise Gardens review – More Than Just Gardens". Grow Like Grandad . Retrieved 20 January 2018. Don has suffered with depression since his mid-twenties. [48] He first wrote about his experiences with it, and its effect on his personal life, in a piece for The Observer in 2000. [16] His editor recalled that it "changed the way that people saw him" and Don himself said the article generated "a very immediate response" from readers. [9] Don recalled "great spans of muddy time" in his life and realised that gardening "heals me better than any medicine". [2] This quote served as the inspiration for William Doyle's 2021 album Great Spans of Muddy Time. [75] It requires no materials, no bought in compost, less watering and minimal preparation. It also is likely to produce healthier plants because from the word go the emerging seedlings form a relationship with the microbes in the soil on which almost all their health depends. One word of caution. The aim is to grow strong, healthy individual plants so if you buy a pot with lots of seedlings I think it better to divide each pot into two or three. Then plant these sections at the base of each support so they have less competition and you should end up with more flowers.Do not feed plants any more than is absolutely necessary and always feed the soil not the plant. This will avoid a spurt of soft, sappy growth that slugs love. Without stressing them with sudden temperature or cultivation changes, grow your plants as ‘hard’ as possible which means do not mollycoddle them . a b c "Digging Monty Don: TV's favourite gardener on turning 60". Belfast Telegraph. 6 May 2015 . Retrieved 22 April 2016. About the Author: Monty Don is the lead presenter of Gardeners' World. He is a horticultural writer and speaker, Sunday Times bestselling author, and has presented several programmes on gardening and outdoor living, including Around the World in 80 Gardens and Italian Gardens, for which he wrote the accompanying books. He was The Observer's gardening columnist from 1994 to 2006. His books include The Complete Gardener, The Jewel Garden and The Ivington Diaries.