Page 36 - Latest Articles - aucklandtrees.co.uk

Person watering a potted plant indoors near a window with sunlight and a calendar on the table.

Why Watering Once a Week Is Killing Your Houseplants

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

You know that small, guilty look you give your plants as you snatch up your keys and dash out of...

Man kneeling and mulching a plant in a sunny garden with flowers and an orange tree nearby

Permaculture: three radical ideas that changed how I garden

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

After years of pushing a mower, turning over soil and waging war on slugs, I genuinely thought I’d cracked gardening....

Assorted colourful flowers in pots on a wooden balcony with a person partially hidden behind plants.

Seven shade flowers that bring colour from June to autumn

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

A north-facing balcony, a courtyard that never really brightens up, a cool corner of the garden: plenty of people give...

Tabby cat sniffing lavender plants in terracotta pots on a sunny windowsill with open windows.

Catnip on the windowsill: a simple way to keep spiders out

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

Our grandparents had a remarkably simple, eco-friendly remedy sitting on the windowsill. As temperatures rise, windows tend to stay open...

Hands with pruning shears trimming small pink buds on a green shrub in a garden setting.

Japanese quince pruning: the winter mistake that steals your flowers

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

A brief warm patch in February, a pair of itchy pruning hands and a love of neatness are all it...

Person wearing glove placing pink fish eggs into a pond near aquatic plants on a sunny day

Pink Eggs in the Garden: Warning Sign of the Golden Apple Snail

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

Home gardeners are increasingly reporting strange bright pink eggs on walls, jetties, posts and along the edges of garden ponds....

Person in gloves and boots lifting a green tarp to reveal a coiled snake in a sunny garden.

Why Garden Tarpaulins Attract Snakes in Spring

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

As soon as the sun starts to feel strong again, the best time of year begins for hobby gardeners. Beds...

Woman gardening in raised flower beds with calendar and gardening tools in a sunny backyard.

Learning to Listen to Your Garden’s Natural Rhythms

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

By the end of July, my garden looked like a group chat that had completely derailed. The lavender was thriving...

Person kneeling in garden feeding orange peels to blue and pink flowering plants on a sunny day.

How Orange Peel Helps Hydrangeas Thrive in Acidic Soil

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

Too often, the problem isn’t the shrub at all, but what it’s growing in: soil that simply doesn’t match the...

Hands holding a garden trowel on a wooden table with gardening tools, pots, and gloves in an outdoor setting.

Garden tools that you actually need (and what to skip)

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

The spade is still lodged halfway in the soil, the sun is already dropping into that late-afternoon slant, and beside...

Woman in a straw hat mixing soil in a blue bucket at a wooden table in a garden with plants and flowers.

Synthetic fertiliser getting scarce: natural alternatives for home gardeners

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

Rising energy prices and geopolitical tensions are pushing up the cost of synthetic fertilisers. Many home gardeners are already noticing...

Person pruning hanging green plant near window with several other potted plants in sunlight

Why Hanging Plants Never Get Bushy - and the Pruning Trick That Works

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

A hanging pot looks perfect in a Pinterest photo. In real life, two weeks after you hang it in the...

Hands using a garden trowel to dig soil in a raised wooden planter box surrounded by flowers and plants.

The Wooden Spoon Test for Your Vegetable Bed

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

A wooden cooking spoon sticking out of the middle of a vegetable bed is showing up more and more often...

Person gardening with a shovel near a flower bed and a wheelbarrow filled with branches in a sunny backyard.

Why Thuja hedges from the 1980s are failing - and what to plant instead

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

Those dense, dark Thuja hedges that framed so many gardens in the 1980s are now declining in large numbers. With...

Person wearing winter clothes placing a tennis ball on a small garden pond with steam rising.

The Tennis Ball Trick That Saves Birds and Hedgehogs in Winter Gardens

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

The first time you notice a bird lying perfectly still beneath a frost-dusted shrub, the whole garden seems to change...

Person lifting plastic sheet in garden to reveal a curled snake in the soil, with gardening tools nearby.

Black Plastic Sheeting in the Garden: Why It Attracts Venomous Snakes Like the Adder

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

Between the patio, the vegetable patch and the tool shed, there’s often one detail most people barely register: a sheet...

Person repotting a green herb plant into a terracotta pot on a sunny windowsill with gardening tools nearby.

The Pot Size Rule That Saves Supermarket Herbs

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

The basil looked flawless when you bought it: vivid green, full of that summer smell, standing tall on the worktop...

Woman relaxing on outdoor sofa with a cup, notebook, tape measure, and plants on a sunny terrace.

A Smarter Fence for Privacy and Outdoor Life

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

The first thing on show from the pavement usually isn’t your lounge or your kitchen. It’s that run of uprights...

Hand reaching to pick white flowers growing in a vegetable garden with fresh tomatoes in the background.

Flowering Carrots: A Simple Way to Let Beneficial Insects Control Pests

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

The neighbour’s pump sprayer whirred into life just as the sun dropped behind the rooftops. A fine chemical haze drifted...

Person tending to blooming lavender plants in a garden bed with watering can and gardening tools nearby.

Thyme carpet instead of lawn: the fragrant, drought-tough alternative

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

Recent summers have left many gardens looking more straw-brown than lush green - and that is far from unusual. Long...

Person reaching to switch on a bedside lamp on a table with a Christmas cactus, clock, and notebook by a window.

Get Your Christmas Cactus to Bloom with the Dark-and-Cool Routine

Harriet M. Ashford • August 22, 2026

The Christmas cactus is sat there, shiny and green, with not a bud to be seen. Meanwhile the days slide...