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
Grow Outdoors
Start growing your own food with practical, UK‑focused outdoor gardening guides that help you. 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. As a Gardener, I use a wide range of tools and brands every day.
Solar Power
Learn the basics of small-scale solar power for gardens, sheds, and off-grid projects, with practical UK-focused guides and tools like our Solar Power Calculator.
Free Tools & Planners
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.
Latest Posts
The latest practical guides and seasonal updates — tested in real UK gardens.
Introduction April marks the real start of spring harvest momentum in many UK gardens. The days are noticeably longer, the soil begins to warm, and
Introduction March sits right in the middle of the UK’s “hungry gap” — that stretch where winter crops are winding down but true spring abundance
Introduction This UK harvest calendar shows you exactly what to harvest each month in the UK, whether you’re growing on an allotment, in a back
Introduction If you’ve ever stood on your allotment wondering what you should be doing right now, you’re definitely not alone. Most UK gardeners don’t need
Introduction: It’s not just you If you’ve ever opened an allotment planner and felt instantly overwhelmed, you’re definitely not alone. Most gardeners — especially those
Introduction: What This Bag Is Really For If you spend more time harvesting food than hiking miles, the Barebones Harvesting & Gathering Bag quickly starts
Introduction If you’ve ever balanced on the top rung of a ladder trying to tame an overgrown hedge, you’ll already understand why long‑reach pole hedge
Bosch Universal HedgePole 18 Review: Clean Cuts Without the Ladder If you’ve ever juggled a ladder, a trailing cable, and a top-heavy hedge trimmer, you’ll
Terratek Cordless Pole Hedge Trimmer Review Keeping tall hedges tidy often starts as a simple garden job. However, it doesn’t always stay that way. Before
Einhell GE-HH 18/45 Li T-Solo Cordless Hedge Trimmer Review If you’ve ever battled tall hedges, deep garden borders, or those hard-to-reach spots your regular trimmer
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.