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Weekend Work: Time to tend to clematis

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

What to do

Get busy: Late May means all change in the garden

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

"Until all danger of frost has passed." It's a phrase you trip over repeatedly in gardening books (and columns). But when exactly will that moment happen? Sometimes the whole of May will pass without temperatures plunging below zero. Sometimes, there are killer frosts in early June, shrivelling newly set out bedding plants and kicking greenhouse heaters into action.

What To Do, See & Buy: Cherchbi; Llanelli Festival of Walks; Muller Van Severen; Topshop; Lego's Architecture range

Fri, 25 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Bags of style

Say no to doggy hair dye (because they can't bow wow out)

Thu, 24 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

I couldn't believe my eyes when I spotted a neon pink dog walking along a road with its owner near my house this weekend. I did a double take – then later heard via Twitter that the pink pooch had been spotted elsewhere in the capital. There are a number of non-toxic doggy dyes available online, but I can't believe any canine enjoys being painted. Plus, the only purpose it serves is as a statement about the owner (that they're a cruel wally).

Private viewing: Our tour of the pick of the property market

Thu, 24 May 2012 17:10:27 GMT

We hunt out the best places on offer

History meets cutting-edge design at Clerkenwell Design Week

Wed, 23 May 2012 15:34:17 GMT

The arrival of summer has co-incided with the start of Clerkenwell Design Week (22-24 May) and three days of talks, events, product launches, installations, exhibitions and parties in this design-focused area of London.

Sheditecture: designer gardens make their mark at Chelsea

Wed, 23 May 2012 12:56:46 GMT

It isn’t the rather lovely foxglove which won best plant in show, nor is it Diarmuid Gavin’s eyecatching pyramid of scaffolding. What will stay in the mind from this year’s Chelsea are the sheds.

TV gardener wins top prize at Chelsea

Tue, 22 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Joe Swift, the BBC Gardeners' World presenter who was forced to stand down from this year’s coverage of the Chelsea Flower Show after new BBC rules banned anyone involved in designing a show garden, has won a prestigious gold medal for his efforts.

Brewin Dolphin garden scoops top prize at the Chelsea Flower Show

Tue, 22 May 2012 13:22:27 GMT

A garden celebrating the popularity of topiary has scooped best in show at the Chelsea Flower Show.

Northern Ireland house prices slump by 10%

Tue, 22 May 2012 12:02:48 GMT

House prices have slumped more than 10% in Northern Ireland over the last year and "lack any movement" in the rest of the UK, official figures showed today.

The 10 Best children's beds

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

1. GLTC Fire Engine Toddler Bed

£124, gltc.co.uk

Few toddlers can resist a fire engine, so what better way to persuade them that bedtime is fun?

Chelsea Flower Show: It's the Monsters of Rock Garden

Mon, 21 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

It was a case of sex, drugs and rockeries as Ringo Starr, Roger Daltrey and Sir Cliff Richard joined other special guests to enjoy an exclusive preview of the Chelsea Flower Show yesterday.

Beat mortgage blues – rent out a room, your garage or home

Sat, 19 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The pips are beginning to squeak in middle England with lenders hiking up their standard variable mortgage rate of late. Many people will be mortgage "prisoners" unable to move to another lender and stuck waiting for the next mortgage increase; they may not have to wait too long.

Comsumer Rights: 'We don't want to fix our walls'

Sat, 19 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Q: When I bought my house there was a covenant on the lease that says we have to have a garden wall between us and our neighbours on each side and at the back. But we've been here for 15 years and our hedges have grown to make good natural barriers and the walls are crumbling. They would need to be renewed at considerable cost. Is there any way to have the covenant revoked?

If the Chelsea Flower Show is too posh for you, try the Chelsea Fringe

Sat, 19 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Chelsea clashed with Bayern Munich in the Champions League last night, and tomorrow the Chelsea Flower Show will burst into life. But there is a third institution carrying the name of London's most upmarket district: the Chelsea Fringe, a three-week festival of nearly 80 gardening-themed events which began yesterday.

The French connection: lessons from an edible garden

Sat, 19 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The French and their vegetables, huh? My sister and I are sitting in a French restaurant, and we're definitely eating soup, but its identity is eluding us. It is labelled with the musical word "topinambour", but that's as far as we get. The waitress isn't a huge amount of help; though we speak French and she speaks English, none of us possesses a specialist knowledge of vegetable translation. "It's a bit like a parsnip," she tells us finally, and we take another sip of soup, which is a weirdly frustrating experience when you don't know what exactly it is that you're eating.

Show time for the 'Gardener's Garden'

Fri, 18 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

There are five key elements that garden designer, Arne Maynard, says he has to have in a garden: topiary, old-fashioned roses, vegetables, wild flowers and fruit. All find a place in the show garden he's made for the Chelsea Flower Show, which opens next week. He's called it 'The Gardener's Garden', because there's relatively little hard landscaping and an awful lot of plants, massed in pinks and purples and blues in a big, loosely-planted border which swirls around comfortable pieces of topiaried box.

Weekend work: Stop new fruit trees from fruiting

Fri, 18 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

What to do

What to do, see & buy: Open squares; Craghopper; Jazz Covers; Tree Coat Stands; Ferragamo's Creations; Scion

Fri, 18 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Wade in

Flower Show 2012: Chelsea's other fixture

Fri, 18 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

A is for Alan Postill. Never heard of him? Well, if you're a keen gardener, you might be living with his wife. So to speak. Mr Postill is propagator at Hillier Nurseries and raised Daphne bholua 'Jacqueline Postill', named after his missus. This year, he introduces Choisya 'Aztec Gold', a new variety of the golden-leaved form of Mexican orange blossom. A is also for Alan Titchmarsh, inset, who will be presenting BBC coverage.

Horticulture: Can you dig it?

Thu, 17 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

The Chelsea Flower Show, for all its indisputable merits, is not cool. Manicured lawns, panama hats and nicely-trimmed clematis all have their place, but do they really express what it is to be a trowel-wielding, window-sill potting, urban green-fingers in 2012?

Report demands more homes to tackle housing crisis

Thu, 17 May 2012 07:54:16 GMT

More new homes must be built to tackle "the country's burgeoning housing crisis", a new report has said.

The Insider: How to freshen up your second-hand buys

Sat, 12 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

Like your homewares pre-loved – but wary of whiffy flea-market and charity-shop buys? Don't be: take tips from the pros and do a Cinderella on scabby, shabby or stinky second-hand finds...

Clean up your act: Even waste-paper can look pretty sharp in these bins

Sat, 12 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

1. Orvino waste can

Down from the mountain: The Himalayan birch creates charming mini copses in city landscapes

Sat, 12 May 2012 23:00:01 GMT

We're standing in the children's playground. At the edge, outside the fence, is a little group of trees. They are birches, white-stemmed with fresh green foliage, just opening so it looks at the moment like little flags.