Toby Buckland, brand ambassador for RatedPeople.com and celebrity gardener wants to help you keep your garden in check.
A survey has just revealed that 55 per cent of Brits think negatively of their neighbours who don’t take care of their gardens, so we’ve got tips from Toby to make sure that your garden is kept in great shape.
Toby Buckland provides his top quick gardening tips:
1. Climbers might not seem the most obvious ‘must-have’ plants but they are incredibly valuable for hiding boundary walls and fences to creating an illusion of space – even in tiny plots. Many have wonderful scents and that’s important, as the best gardens don’t just look good, they smell good too
2. For fragrance during the day, climbing roses are hard to beat but if you only get to enjoy your garden after work, plant honeysuckle and jasmine as they fill the air with perfume as the sun goes down
3. The problem with small gardens is that buildings and fences often shade them so you need vegetables like salad leaves, coriander, chard, peas and runner beans that cope with part day sun
4. Growing fruit in containers is a good idea to save space and helps lift plants up into the light. Blueberries are brilliant for pots and if you plant two in separate containers (to aid pollination) with a ‘skirt’ of strawberries around the edge, you can have easy-to-pick fresh fruit right all summer long
5. Ornamental grasses are my choice for time-poor gardeners as all they require to keep them looking good is a quick tidy up to remove tired leaves in early spring. Grasses are also the simplest way to give a garden a natural and modern look, and because they tolerate both wet and dry summer weather they’re ideal for our topsy-turvy climate
