In spring, a beautiful eastern redbud tree (Cercis canadensis), its branches clothed from trunk to tip with cerise-purple flowers, steals the show at Sue Martin’s cottage garden in Cranbrook, Kent. It

REAL readers' gardens!

Steve Newland looks back on his allotment history -and his growing obsession with unusual tomatoes

There are some vegetables that thrive in the cold, but unless you aspire to self-sufficiency Tom Coward recommends caution when sowing very early in the year. “It’s a mistake, although we always do it

As the long nights shorten, Mounton House garden quietly emerges from winter with delicate sprinklings of white narcissi, Scilla siberica and crocuses through the lawns. Daphnes fill the air with frag

Some 68 per cent of British adults visit a garden centre each year with the hope of a brighter summer, according to the Horticultural Trades Association. We’ve all been there; filling the trolley with