Sustainable wood products
From garden furniture to barbecue charcoal, we use many wood products in our gardens. With hardwood forests being torn down to provide us with our patio furniture, it makes sense to purchase from renewable sources if possible. To help you do this, the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) allows its logo to be used on approved products. This tells you that the product comes from a sustainable source. Don’t be taken in by statements such as “From a managed source” or similar, without an accompanying FSC label.

Check for the logo on your barbecue fuel, too. Best of all, try to find a local source of BioRegional Charcoal. This is FSC approved, and produced in the UK through the management of woodlands and use of local suppliers. It is an excellent way of regenerating neglected woods and forests, and reducing the impact on the environment of transporting charcoal by road over long distances.

Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society is undoubtedly one of the best authorities on all aspects of gardening and horticulture. Its aim as a charitable foundation is to promote good gardening. For instance, you can find advice on choosing plants for particular situations and how to grow them to perfection. And if you are searching for a particular plant, just try the incomparable RHS Plant Finder!
RHS >

Visit Crocus, our choice of online garden centre
You can get everything you need for the garden from Crocus, a convenient and classy online garden centre. Find special offers on plants and gardening products, advice and lots of inspirational pictures of plants to help you choose.
Crocus >

Gardening with children
It's very rewarding for a gardener to pass on his or her experience, knowledge, skills and love of gardening to the next generation. Even very small children can enjoy having a little patch to tend. Older ones will soon develop their own ideas for what to grow in their piece of garden territory. Here are some ideas for good things to grow with children, and how to plan a safe and child-friendly garden.
Do It Yourself >

Green gardening
Your garden, however small, provides you with a chance to take some control over part of your immediate environment. Here are some ideas for how you can make environmentally friendly choices, so that you protect and enrich your patch of the Earth’s surface.

Organic gardening is now in the mainstream. It means gardening without chemicals, using natural methods of fertilization and pest control. Organic gardening is regarded as healthier in the long term, both for the ecological balance of your garden, and for you. There are many sources of advice on organic gardening, both in book form and on the web.

Make your own compost instead of buying expensive, non-organic fertilizers. Compost improves the structure and drainage of the soil, and recycles nutrients. It’s a great way to use your fruit and vegetable kitchen waste. Many district councils provide information, incentives and help with starting up a compost heap, because it is an excellent means of domestic recycling.

Protect native bird and butterfly species by attracting them into your garden. Buy a bird table and nesting boxes, or introduce plants and shrubs which provide the food garden birds need or which produce nectar for bees and butterflies to feed on. Birds like plants which produce seeds and berries. Butterflies love lavender, buddleia, aubretia and golden rod.

Grow food to eat! Even if your space is very limited, you can get miniature fruit trees and bushes that will fit on a patio or small lawn.

If you don’t need your whole lawn area to consist of short, manicured grass, a patch of meadow or a wildflower lawn can be a lovely alternative. You could integrate patches of wildflower lawn into your standard lawn for added interest. Buy a packet of meadow or wildflower seeds, sow them in patches and then just mow around them. Cut once, in late summer, after the flowers and grasses have seeded.

Conserve water by collecting rainwater in a water butt. This will help your garden through periods of hosepipe ban! And many plants prefer rainwater, anyway.

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