Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.
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Why you need a butterfly garden – and how to plant it
Have you considered planting your borders as a ‘butterfly garden?’ We all know it’s important to support bees, because the decline in pollinating insects is potentially such a threat to our food supply. But butterflies are an important sign of a healthy eco-system. And they, too, are pollinators. According to Jane Moore, author of Planting For…
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How to create a beautiful mini meadow garden
Do you fancy a mini meadow garden? People are increasingly interested in allowing part of their lawn to grow wild, because it looks beautiful and can help wildlife. there’s increasing interest in natural-looking meadow lawns. Unlike the London Olympics, a middle-sized garden doesn’t have half a mile to fill with meadow flowers and native grasses. So…
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Self-seeded vs weeds – can you achieve the magic balance?
I’ve been thinking about the balance of self-seeded vs weeds in my garden this year. We are open every year for the Faversham Open Gardens & Garden Market Day It’s always on the last Sunday in June. And June is the best time of year for self-seeders in my garden. So I am doing some last minutes prinking. And…
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English country garden style – what it is and how to achieve it
English country garden style is loved all over the world. But many beautiful ‘English country’ gardens are not even in England. So it can be quite a difficult style to define. I’ve asked a range of experts to say what they think English country style is, with tips on how to achieve it in your own garden.…
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Transform a shady corner of your garden with a stunning stumpery
A stumpery is an area of the garden with tree stumps and logs arranged as decoration. If you’ve got a mature tree with big roots and you can’t plant anything near it, then a stumpery is an interesting and attractive option. It’s sometimes described as ‘a rock garden created with tree stumps.’ Perfect for a shady slope or corner,…
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10 beautiful pink flowers for your summer garden
Pink flowers are at the heart of my summer garden colour. While editing my photos for my summer garden tour, I noticed that the most beautiful plants and plant combinations had pink or variations of pink in them. So here are some pink flowers and why you should consider them. Roses – the classic pink flowers…
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5 top tips on how to choose the best plants for your garden
Here are 5 top insider tips on how to choose the best plants for your garden. I visited multi-award winning nursery, Hardy’s Cottage Garden Plants to ask Rosy Hardy what the experts look for when they’re buying plants. Choose the best plants by looking at the base ‘But it’s more important to look for strong, healthy growth at the…
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Transform your garden – easy garden design tips and budget ideas
If you want to transform your garden on a budget, then Jo and Simon Rutherford have some brilliant tips and ideas to copy. When they moved into their home a few years ago, the garden was a patch of bare lawn running up to the fence line. There was a concrete flagstone path from the back door…
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The late spring garden tour of the Middlesized Garden
I’d like to take you on a late spring garden tour, because May is such a beautiful month in the garden. And I have some recommendations for good garden plants for small or middle-sized gardens in late spring. Although there are fewer flowers in my late spring garden than in June, I think the freshness…
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How to create an easy sustainable garden
We urban gardeners manage a substantial chunk of the outdoor space in any town or city. There are 30 million gardeners in the UK alone. So what we do impacts our air quality, the survival of wildlife and other environmental issues. A sustainable garden is also usually cheaper, so when budgets are tight, it is…
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