Water
Alan names and shames his personal gardening nemesis: the water feature. Dodging any responsibility for its rise to popularity through Ground Force, Alan tries to find the ones whose beauty justifies the bother of maintenance.
Containers
In a world of plastic, be more terracotta. Jane Perrone makes the case for baked earth as the ultimate container for your favourite plants, indoors and out, plus the surprisingly simple trick (involving your dishwasher) that could save a dying pot.
Flowers
Simon Lycett, floral designer to the stars, gets given the keys for some truly spectacular venues and today, he's allowing us to peek into the hidden world of event floristry. From Hampton Court Palace to St Paul's, these are parties on a grand scale.
Plant profile
So ubiquitous we are in danger of taking them for granted, the pelargonium has a long, aristocratic history. George Plumptre explores this posh plant's rise to fame and makes the case for declaring the pelargonium a feminist icon.
Listen
This week James Alexander-Sinclair and Joe Swift take on the great British garden party — and James goes full grumpy old codger about outdoor kitchens, outdoor rugs, and the terrible idea that a garden is just an extra room with a bar in it. Joe, of course, is having none of it.
Wildlife
Helen Hutchings-Cox makes the case for the importance of one of our less flashy pollinators, the hoverfly. Essential to our ecosystem but declining at an alarming rate, hoverflies need our help, and Helen gives us her top six practical tips for caring for them.
James Alexander-Sinclair has been judging show gardens in the baking heat at sandy Sandringham and talking to the BBC about how to manage the hosepipe ban, so it's fitting that his three picks for the week help us (and the trees) cope with a hot present and, potentially, an even hotter future.
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Joe Swift digs deep into a method of growing that is finally having its moment. Championed by some horticultural heavyweights over the years, sand gardening is putting itself forward as the answer to the changing climate, and Joe is very happy to fetch a bucket and spade and get involved.
Matthew Pottage knows about the importance of trees and here is his analysis of who is (and who isn't) coping with the extreme heat, the trees that will become a thing of the past, and those who might become familiar in the future.
Jane Perrone describes how heatwaves, burnout, and health struggles have turned her once-joyful garden into a source of stress, and shares five things that helped her recover and reclaim it as a source of joy.
In mid-July's pick of the week, there's courtyard styling for the heat, Annie Guilfoyle on retreat, Laetitia Maklouf's party inspiration, an iron roller's hidden history, Ben Dark's big book news and podcast, plus three events worth the drive.
Would you like to write about plants and gardens? Ben Dark joins Jane Perrone to explain how he got started in garden writing and offer up some tips for writing in an age of AI.
This month, Ann-Marie is not gardening in just any old clobber, not weeding, not lifting a hosepipe. July's dispatch is from the hammock: where Ann-Marie is recovering from a wonderful party.
Buried behind Sandra Lawrence's shed was a colossal lawn roller, a relic of Britain's lawn-mad past. Uncovering its history led her into a forgotten world of striped grass, concrete-chic gardenalia, and a time when every respectable gardener needed an impracticably heavy roller.
Laetitia shares her recipe for effortless summer entertaining. Forget perfect borders and endless jobs; the best way to garden in July is not to garden at all.
Why Alan is taking a controversial approach to grass, and he isn't even sorry about it
In order to try and nurse you along the road to blissful gardening here are ten common pitfalls and how to avoid them. Life would be so dull without a little adversity.
With our summers getting jotter how does one create more shade to hide in?
Down on your hands and knees now and see what's happening at ground level !