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.
For most UK gardeners, spring is the safest time to sow broad beans. You can start them under cover from February, or sow directly outdoors from March to April. There is another option, though. Hardy varieties can be sown in October or November and left
Cucumbers are usually sown from February to May in the UK. Start them in February or March only for a heated greenhouse, sow in April for an unheated greenhouse, or wait until late April to mid-May for outdoor growing. Plant outside from late May or
Garlic is best planted in the UK from October to November, giving the cloves plenty of time to establish before spring. You can still plant through winter if the ground is workable and well drained, while February to March provides a useful spring planting window.
Courgettes are easy to grow once the weather warms, but planting them too early can leave young plants sitting in cold soil and struggling to get going. In the UK, sow courgettes indoors from mid to late April and plant them outside from late May
Companion planting can help you use space efficiently, support biodiversity and reduce some pest pressure, but it works best as part of good garden management rather than as a cure-all. The UK companion planting chart below shows which common vegetables grow well together, which combinations
Planning a vegetable garden is about more than deciding what to plant in spring. A useful plan shows what each bed will grow through the year, when crops will need the space, what can follow them and how those crop groups can move between seasons.
If you’re looking for the best place to buy vegetable seeds in the UK, DT Brown is my top overall pick for most home and allotment growers. It offers good value, a practical vegetable range, and the sort of straightforward seed buying that suits people
Spring is the busiest season for UK growers—and for good reason. After months of short days and soggy weather, the soil finally warms, the light levels increase, and the vegetable planting calendar suddenly feels wide open. Whether you’re tending a full allotment or a few
Introduction Bring bold colour and character to your garden with Lauren’s Grape poppy seeds. This hardy annual (Papaver somniferum) is prized for its rich plum-purple petals, striking dark centres, and soft silver-green foliage. It’s just as eye-catching in a cottage garden border as it is
Introduction As March arrived in 2020, the first real signs of spring began to show in the North West of the UK. Temperatures were slowly rising, days were stretching out, and nature was starting to wake up. With that shift in the air, it felt