Gardening in United Kingdom
Cool, wet and remarkably even. The growing season is long but never hot.
The numbers that decide your year
- Growing zones
- USDA 8a–9a · maritime temperate
- Last spring frost
- Late April
- First autumn frost
- Early November
- Rainfall
- 600–1600 mm depending how far west you are
Wet winters rot more plants than cold ever does. Drainage first, everything else second.
Hedge cutting is restricted during nesting season, peat-based compost is being phased out, and hosepipe bans are common in the south east.
How people actually garden here
- Mixed border
- Cottage garden
- Allotment
- Wildflower meadow
Native to this country
Plants that evolved here. They ask least of you and give most back to local insects and birds.
Reliable in this climate
Introduced rather than native, but proven in these conditions. Each links to its full encyclopedia entry.
The calendar reads your device clock and orders every job for the northern hemisphere.
The United Kingdom Gardening Guide
296 pages written for this country alone: its soil, its frost dates, its rules and the plants that reward the effort. Everything on this page, expanded and in your hands.
- The long, cool growing season
- Borders that peak for five months
- Allotment year plan
- Slugs, badgers and honest solutions
- Peat-free growing that works
- Regional frost maps