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.
Pak choi is one of the quickest leafy vegetables you can grow in a UK garden or allotment. You can harvest baby leaves in around four weeks or allow plants to develop thick, crisp stems for stir-fries and other dishes. The biggest challenge is bolting,
Sweet potatoes can be grown successfully in the UK, including outdoors, but they need more warmth than ordinary potatoes to produce a worthwhile harvest. In warmer parts of Britain, a sunny, sheltered bed can produce good results. Further north, a greenhouse or polytunnel offers more
Sweet peppers need a long, warm growing season, making them difficult to grow outdoors in the UK, particularly further north. In my experience growing in the North West, an unheated greenhouse or polytunnel offers a much more reliable way to get a worthwhile harvest. The
Horse manure is a useful way to improve vegetable beds, adding organic matter and nutrients that support healthy soil. Autumn and winter are popular times to apply it, but that doesn’t mean every bed needs a fresh covering. At Backyard Farmer, I prefer to feed
Raspberries are one of the easiest soft fruits to grow in the UK. Once established, a healthy row can crop for years with relatively little work beyond pruning, mulching and keeping unwanted suckers under control. The main thing to get right is whether you’re growing
Shallots are probably my favourite onion to grow and eat, and they’re also one of the easiest to grow in the UK. Plant them 15–20cm apart in sunny, free-draining soil with the tip just showing. Spring is the safest planting time, although suitable varieties can
White patches on courgette, pumpkin and squash leaves are often one of two things: natural silver markings or powdery mildew. The easiest way to tell the difference is to look at where the white actually is. Natural markings look like they are in the leaf,
Established free-standing apple trees are usually pruned while dormant, from roughly November to early March in the UK. The aim is not to cut everything back. Winter pruning is mainly about removing badly placed wood, opening the crown and keeping the tree productive and manageable.
Bare-root fruit is sold dormant without a container of compost, with the roots wrapped for transport. In the UK, it is usually planted from late autumn to early spring while the plant is still dormant. Plant it as soon as practical, but do not force
Pigeons can strip brassicas surprisingly quickly once they discover them. Cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli are all vulnerable. The most reliable answer is physical exclusion with supported netting. Scarers can help for a while, but pigeons usually get used to
Frost does not mean you need to wrap the whole garden. Tender vegetables, young seedlings and fresh new growth are the main priorities, while established winter crops such as kale, leeks and Brussels sprouts usually cope perfectly well without protection. The important part is knowing
You can grow a useful supply of salad leaves through winter in the UK, but the trick is getting the right crops established before the darkest part of the year. Some will give genuine winter pickings, while others slow almost to a stop before getting