@themichaelgriffiths

What to do in the garden in November 🍂 🌷 Get the last spring bulbs into pots 🌸 Lift dahlias before the frost 🪴 Refresh pots for winter colour 🍂 Bag leaves for free leaf mould 🪑 Clean and cover garden furniture 🌱 Mulch beds to protect the soil #gardening

How to make leaf mould for free 🍂 Those bags of leaves your council's been collecting? Ask nicely and you might be able to take them. Choose bags from a quiet street away from main roads, wet the leaves, poke a few holes and leave them somewhere dark if they're not in a black bag. In a year you'll…

How to stop your pumpkin rotting before Halloween 🎃 Mould is what turns them soft and saggy. A quick wash and a weak bleach spray stops it getting started, so carved ones last days longer and uncarved ones can go for weeks. Once you're done, compost it rather than leaving it out. Pumpkin upsets…

What to do with pumpkin seeds after carving? Grow them 🎃 No soil, no garden, just a plate and some kitchen roll. In a week or so you've got fresh pumpkin microgreens. A great one to do with the kids after Halloween. Save this for carving night 👇 Would you try it? #gardening

What to do with fallen leaves this autumn? Leave them. 🍂 Leaves on your borders protect the soil, feed it as they rot down, and give hedgehogs, frogs and overwintering insects somewhere to shelter. Anything on the lawn or paths, rake onto the beds or bag up for leaf mould, the best free soil…

October gardening jobs 🍂 Plant hyacinths, crocuses, daffodils and alliums now, but hold off on tulips until late October to help avoid tulip fire 🌷 Last chance to aerate, scarify and overseed your lawn. Divide perennials for free plants, swap summer pots for autumn colour, and stack empty pots…

How to make soap from conkers 🌰🧼 Sorry, they don't scare spiders, but horse chestnuts are full of natural saponins that foam up just like soap. 300g conkers, bash and chop, boil in 500ml of water, simmer, cool, strain. Done ✅ Works for hands and clothes. ⚠️ Conkers are poisonous to eat, so label…

What to plant in pots in autumn 🍂 Don't leave your summer pots empty! Violas, pansies, heathers, cyclamen, conifers and ivy will give you colour right through winter. My tip: go for one bold colour, like all white, all red or all green 🤍❤️💚 And yes, pre-planted pots count. Nobody has to know 🤫…

It's not cold enough for tulips yet — but you don't have to wait to get planting 🌷 here's a bulb lasagne without them The rule is simple: biggest and latest at the bottom, smallest and earliest at the top. 🧅 Bottom layer, 15–25cm deep — alliums, on a bit of compost 🪴 Cover with compost 🌼 Middle…

Your September gardening jobs — save this one 🌿 September is the month that decides how next year goes. Do these now and spring does the rest: 🌱 Lawn maintenance can start again — but if yours still looks rough after this summer, give it a fortnight to recover first ✂️ Once it's green and growing…

The easiest way to plant bulbs in a lawn 🌼 and the trick is to stop trying to be neat 🎲 Don't plant in rows. Rows look man-made. Take a handful of bulbs and gently toss them across the grass — where they land is where they go. Some will cluster, some will sit on their own. That's exactly how it…

Bare patches in your lawn? Fix them with a bucket, some seed and compost 🌱 The trick is making a seed paste — it holds moisture, feeds the patch, and stops the birds having it away, which is why bare-sown seed so often fails: 🧤 Scrape out all the dead grass — every bit of it — and loosen the soil…

Thin, patchy lawn after this summer? Autumn is the best time of the entire year to overseed 🌱 Warm soil, returning rain, and far less weed competition than spring. Here’s how: ✂️ Mow first — you’ll see exactly where the bare bits are (scarify and aerate too if your lawn’s strong enough; if it’s…

Your September gardening jobs, save this one 🌿 September is the month that decides how next year goes. Do these now and spring does the rest: 🌱 Lawn maintenance can start again, but if yours still looks rough after this summer, give it a fortnight to recover first ✂️ Once it’s green and growing…

Water sitting on your lawn? Grass thin and struggling? Moss creeping in? 🌱 After the summer we’ve had, the likely culprit is compacted soil — the ground is so hard that rain runs off or sits on top instead of reaching the roots. Which is why your lawn can look no better after a week of rain than…

What to do with your hydrangea in autumn 🌸 and it depends entirely which type you’ve got My honest answer for most people: leave them alone. Those faded heads give you beautiful winter structure, they look glorious with frost on them, and they shelter next year’s buds from the cold. But if you…

Your August gardening jobs — save this one 🌿 August is quietly one of the most useful months of the year. Do these now and autumn does the hard work for you: 🌱 Prep your soil now if you’re sowing seed or laying turf in September/October 💜 Prune lavender once flowering’s over — and turn those…

Water butts don’t have to be ugly 💧 After the summer we’ve just had, now is the perfect time to set up rainwater storage — and it’s genuinely easier than people think. All you need is a diverter kit: 📍 Move your butt into position and make sure it’s level (this bit matters more than people…

5 plants that barely need watering 🌿 after this summer, that matters If you’ve spent the last few weeks dragging a watering can round the garden, plant these instead. Once they’re established, they’ll cope with almost anything: 🌿 Mediterranean herbs — rosemary, lavender, thyme, sage. They evolved…

Hosepipe ban? You can still use a hose — if you do this 💧 Water butts are brilliant, but let’s be honest: that trickle out of the tap means endless trips with a watering can. Here’s how to get proper pressure out of one: 🔌 A stick pump — for butts or any water with a big opening. Drop it in…

Your August gardening jobs — save this one 🌿 August is quietly one of the most useful months of the year. Do these now and autumn does the hard work for you: 🌱 Prep your soil now if you’re sowing seed or laying turf in September/October 💜 Prune lavender once flowering’s over — and turn those…

Prune your lavender NOW 💜 leave it till autumn and you get leggy, twiggy lavender 👇 ⏰ Watch the plant, not the calendar, prune as the flowers go past their best ✂️ Go as hard as you like — ONE rule: always leave new growth below your cut 🚫 NEVER cut into the old dark wood — it won’t regrow, that’s…

Don’t throw away last year’s compost 🪴 it’s not done — it’s just hungry 👇 🪴 Tip it out, break it up till crumbly 🌱 Pull out old roots, weeds & stones ✊ Handful of general-purpose fertiliser — brings it back to life 🔄 Mix 1 part fresh compost to 2 parts old 💪 Blend… ready to go again Half the…

Salad in 7 days — grown in a takeaway tub 🥡🌱 no garden needed 👇 🥡 Old takeaway tubs + a bit of compost 🌱 Empty a FULL packet of seeds in — sow it THICK, overcrowding is the point 🥗 Radish, pak choi, broccoli, kale — pick flavours you love 💧 Light water, then STACK the tubs — the weight = stronger…

Hosepipe ban? You can still water your garden 💧 here’s what’s actually allowed 👇 It’s a HOSEPIPE ban — not a watering ban: ✅ Watering can — fine (yes, even filled from the tap) ✅ Water butt rainwater — fine ✅ Grey water — fine (use it fresh, off the leaves of edibles) ❌ The hose — that’s the ban…

Water your plants while you’re on holiday — with a bucket, string and a rock 🪣🌱 no gadgets, no neighbours 👇 💦 Soak cotton string fully (dry string won’t wick!) 🪨 Tie to a rock, drop in the bucket ⬆️ Bucket HIGHER than the pots 🪴 One string into each pot’s compost The wicks water them only when the…

Wisteria all leaves and no flowers? 🌸 This summer prune is the fix 👇 Left alone, wisteria throws all its energy into leafy growth. Here’s what to do now: 🌱 Tie in any new shoots you’re still training ✂️ Cut the long whippy shoots back to ~5 buds from this season’s growth ✂️ Snip off the seed pods…

Crispy brown edges on your Acer? 🍁 Don’t panic, it’s fixable, and it’s almost always one of these 3 👇 ☀️ Too much sun — they’re woodland trees, they want dappled shade. In a pot? Move it 💧 Drying out — the big one. Potted Acers can dry out in a single hot day. Never bone dry 🌬️ Wind — exposed…

You’ve been deadheading wrong 🌸 here’s the mistake almost everyone makes 👇 Pulling the dead petals off isn’t deadheading — and it won’t give you more flowers. The bit that matters is behind the flower: that little swelling is where the seed forms. Leave it, and the plant keeps feeding the seed…

July gardening jobs 🌿 save this before you forget 👇 A few quick wins for a better garden all summer: 🌱 Mower up high — longer grass beats the heat 🌸 Summer-prune wisteria (best shot at a second flush) 🌹 Free roses — take semi-ripe cuttings 🍓 Peg strawberry runners for free plants 🌼 Support + feed…