The Backyard Farmer
Practical growing, DIY projects, and tools that work
Straight‑talking guides for growing your own food, building useful DIY projects, and choosing garden tools that actually work in real UK backyards.
I’m a time‑served gardener based on the Wirral. I spend my days growing food outdoors and maintaining gardens, while my evenings go into building websites, tools, and practical projects that solve real, everyday problems.
This site is for people who want to grow more food at home, build what they need, and rely less on throwaway solutions — without gimmicks, hype, or empty promises.
Start here
New to the site? Start with one of these, depending on what you want to do:
Grow indoors
Built tools & planners
Alongside the guides, I build simple, practical gardening tools and planners to solve everyday growing and DIY problems — the same tools I use myself. Whether you’re planning crops, checking UK planting dates, or sourcing materials locally, you’ll find those tools collected here.
Grow Outdoors
Start growing your own food with practical, UK‑focused outdoor gardening guides that meet you where you are. From soil basics and crop planning to seed‑saving, this section helps you build confidence season by season.
DIY Projects
Build it, fix it, or make it yourself. These DIY garden and home projects are designed to save money, solve real problems, and make better use of what you already have.
Foraging
Learn how to forage safely and seasonally in the UK. From wild plant identification to responsible harvesting, these guides help you turn hedgerow finds into something genuinely useful.
Explore more
If you’re happy browsing, you can explore the full archive of UK gardening guides, DIY projects, reviews, and tools.Browse the full archive of growing guides, DIY projects, reviews, and tools.
Reviews
Hands‑on, experience‑led garden tool reviews and buying guides, focused on what actually works in real UK backyards.
Welcome to the Tool Shed
The Tool Shed is where I keep the free tools I’ve built to solve real, everyday problems — planners, calculators, and finders I actually use myself.
Free Square Foot Allotment & Companion Planting Planner (UK)
Welcome to the Free Allotment Planner Looking for a free allotment planner UK gardeners can rely on? This interactive vegetable garden planner UK helps you design raised beds, plan layouts, and organise companion planting combinations with ease. Built around the square foot gardening method, it’s
Where to Find Free Pallets Near You (Free Tool & UK Guide)
Where to Find Free Pallets Near You (UK Guide) Planning a garden project, firewood rack, compost bin, or any kind of DIY masterpiece? Then you know how important it is to source materials cheaply — or even better, for free. Fortunately, one of the most
How to Find Local Garden Centres Near You (UK Guide)
Introduction to Find a Garden Center Near You Looking for a local garden center but tired of endless searches and outdated results? Whether you need fresh plants, gardening tools, or expert advice, finding the perfect garden center shouldn’t be a hassle. That’s why we’ve developed
Free & Cheap Firewood Near You (UK 2026) – Find Logs with Our Firewood Finder Tool
How to Find Free Firewood Near You (Legally and Easily) There are plenty of legal ways to source logs locally in the UK — whether you’re after cheap logs near me, free seasoned logs, or even bulk firewood delivery near me. This guide shows you:
Latest Posts
Free Vegetable Garden Planner for Washington
Intro: Why This Planner Exists I’m a working gardener based in the UK, and I built this free vegetable garden planner for a simple reason: I needed a practical, reliable way to plan real food growing — not just tidy diagrams that look good on
Free Vegetable Garden Planner for Oregon
Intro: Why This Planner Exists I’m a working gardener based in the UK, and I built this free vegetable garden planner for a simple reason: I needed a practical, reliable way to plan real food growing — not just sketch tidy diagrams that look good
Free Vegetable Garden Planner for California
Intro: Why This Planner Exists I’m a working gardener based in the UK, and I built this free vegetable garden planner for a simple reason: I needed a practical, reliable way to plan real food growing — not just sketch tidy diagrams that look good
Where Has the BBC Virtual Garden Planner Gone?
Introduction If you’ve landed here because the BBC Virtual Garden Planner is no longer working, you’re not alone — and you’re definitely not doing anything wrong. For years, the BBC Virtual Garden Planner was a familiar starting point for UK gardeners looking for a simple
Join the Movement
The Backyard Farmer isn’t just a blog — it’s about doing things for yourself, learning useful skills, and enjoying the process along the way.
Grow your own. Make your own. Live your own way — one backyard at a time.