How to Make a Garden

There is little that is more pleasurable than relaxing in a well kept garden on a warm sunny day when our senses come alive with all that is happening around us.

In the garden, you can breath in the fresh air that is heavily laden with the scent of blossoms that change throughout the seasons. You might enjoy the rustling of the leaves on the trees in the gentle breeze. There are the whistles and tweets of the birds – all different from each other yet all blending perfectly together in a unified song.

Perhaps your particular pleasure is watching the wildlife that gathers in the garden, with bees and butterflies flitting from flower to flower, or perhaps you are fascinated by the occasional visitors passing through your garden in search of a tasty morsel, such as hedgehogs, foxes or rabbits.

Children can play safely in the garden, under supervision but with far more freedom than anywhere else to explore and satisfy their curiosity about nature.

Although most people enjoy such pastimes, many of us struggle with exactly how to garden:

• Where do you begin with the design?
• How do you choose the right plants?
• Can you make your garden friendly to wildlife?
• What are some of the techniques you need to master?
• Are there any safety issues you need to consider?

If you want to be able to look after your garden but don't consider yourself to be a gardener, then you are in the right place. Even if you know a thing or two about gardening but need to brush up on a few weak areas, then we have something for you too.

Although creating and maintaining a beautiful garden may seem to be a mysterious art, it is really just a little bit of know-how along with a willingness to get your hands dirty while putting in some hard work.

We aim to present the essential tasks for maintaining a modest garden, expressed in simple language that removes the mystique and gives you the confidence to have a go.

If you work in a methodical manner and use your common sense, you are unlikely to do much harm that cannot be put right relatively easily, so browse the site and then tackle that job you have been intending to do for years.

Using these Pages

Most topics can be accessed from the main menu across the top of every page, with sub-menus embedded at appropriate points within the body of most pages.

If you can't immediately spot what you are looking for, then there is a site map that pulls together all the topics on one page or you can use the search box.

However you choose to use it, we hope you enjoy our website and that you will call by often to see what is new.