This archive brings together practical, experience-led articles from The Backyard Farmer, covering gardening, DIY, indoor growing, foraging, reviews, and sustainable living. Each post is written with real-world use in mind — focusing on working with nature, building practical skills, and making sustainable choices more accessible.
Introduction If you’ve grown garlic before, you’ll know this is the point where it either comes together nicely—or goes slightly sideways. Harvest too early and the bulbs stay a bit small. Leave it too long and they start splitting, skins break down, and they won’t
Introduction If you want better results from your garlic, timing does matter—just not in the neat, textbook way most guides make it sound. In the UK, the usual window to plant garlic is October to November. That gives cloves time to root before winter sets
Introduction Getting the timing right is the difference between plants that crack on… and ones that just sit there doing nothing — or get eaten overnight. In the UK, when to plant courgettes isn’t really about a date on the calendar. It’s more about warm
Introduction Courgettes are one of those crops that go from “not quite ready” to “way too big” almost overnight. One day you’re checking a few small fruits; the next, there’s something closer to a marrow hiding under the leaves. It happens fast—and if you’ve grown
Introduction Growing tomatoes in the UK isn’t as simple as waiting for them to turn red and picking them. Some years it works like that — but more often, the weather gets involved. You get cool nights, random heavy rain, and those stop-start summers where
Introduction Growing courgettes in the UK is one of the quickest ways to get a decent harvest without loads of space. That said, it’s also one of those crops people think they’ve nailed—right up until something quietly knocks the yield back. On paper, growing courgettes
Introduction Most gardens don’t fail because of what you plant — they fail because of how they’re laid out. If you’ve ever stood in your garden and thought, something’s not quite right here, you’re not alone. I see it all the time — decent plants,
Introduction Knowing when to harvest onions in the UK can feel like a bit of a guessing game — especially if you’ve been told to just “wait until the tops fall over.” That advice works sometimes, but in real gardens it’s rarely that simple. I’ve
Introduction Knowing when to plant onions in the UK makes a bigger difference than most people think. Get it right and they’ll grow away nicely. Get it wrong, and they can just sit there doing nothing — or worse, rot off before they even get
Introduction If you’ve ever tried growing onions in the UK and ended up with tiny bulbs, plants that bolt early, or sets that seem to disappear into the soil — you’re not alone. Onions often get labelled as one of the easiest crops to grow.
Why I Was Invited to Speak Recently, I was invited to give a talk at the Cheshire Smallholders Association after being featured in the NAS (National Allotment Society) magazine. The Chairman’s father — a previous chairman himself — had read the article, tried the allotment
Introduction If you’re wondering when to plant potatoes in the UK, the simple answer is March to May. In other words, that’s the typical potato planting window in the UK you’ll see in most guides. However, once you speak to experienced gardeners — or spend