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 Growing beetroot in the UK is about as reliable as it gets — but a few small mistakes can quietly ruin the harvest. Most people don’t struggle to grow beetroot… they struggle to grow good beetroot. You’ll often see plenty of leafy tops but
Growing basil in the UK can be surprisingly frustrating. It’s often sold as an easy herb, but if you’ve ever brought a supermarket plant home only to watch it collapse within a week, you’ll know that’s not the full story. The reality is simple: basil
Introduction Growing aubergines in the UK sounds simple enough? You just have to sow, plant and harvest them right? In reality, the aubergine is one of those crops that can be tricky to get right here in Britain. You usually end up with healthy plants,
Introduction Growing asparagus in the UK looks straightforward — until you actually try it. This is where a lot of gardeners slip up early on. It’s a perennial vegetable, so once it’s established, it can crop for 10–20 years. However, that also means early mistakes
Growing ash gourd in the UK isn’t something you see on most allotments — and there’s a reason for that. It’s a tropical vine that thrives on heat, long seasons, and steady warmth… three things we don’t always get here. So the obvious question is:
Introduction Growing apple trees in the UK sounds simple — and to be fair, it can be — but most issues don’t come from the tree itself. They come from how it’s set up in the first place. Choosing the wrong rootstock, planting it in
Growing courgettes in the UK is one of the quickest ways to get a decent harvest from a small space. They germinate fast, grow quickly, and one good plant can easily give you more courgettes than you expected. That said, courgettes are also easy to
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 going.
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.
Potatoes are normally planted between late March and May in the UK. First earlies go in first, followed by second earlies and maincrop varieties. These dates are only a guide. Light, sheltered ground may be ready in March, while cold, wet or heavy soil may
Carrots are best sown outdoors in the UK from March to July, once the soil has started to warm. February sowings are possible under cloches, fleece, cold frames, or in a greenhouse bed, but unprotected outdoor soil is often too cold for reliable germination. For
Learning how to grow carrots in the UK is mostly about getting the soil right. Carrots grow easily from seed, take up little space, and do well in gardens, raised beds, allotments, and containers. They can seem tricky if you end up with forked, tiny,