One of the most common questions I get asked is how to make a garden more colourful and interesting. I personally think that regardless of budget or the amount of time you have to redesign your garden, one of the best ways to add beauty is through your flower beds.

How Queen Victoria and Prince Albert used the symbolism of flowers to express their love for each other and their families is one the many themes explored in a new art exhibition on display at The Queen’s Gallery in Edinburgh…

One of the jobs I was asked to do when gardening this week was to find clumps of Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera) in a lochside garden and pull it out of the ground before the flowers went to seed.

Summer is the perfect time for a spot of outdoor entertaining. While July may have been a bit of a wash out, there’s guaranteed to plenty more sunshine on the horizon over August and September so now is the time to get organised for your next outdoor bash.

Following a very inspirational year at Gardening Scotland – the country’s national outdoor living show at Ingliston, which took place at the start of June – it’s good to know there’s still another fabulous gardening event on the horizon for us Scots to look forward to.

Over the next three weeks (15 July – 7 August) we should all put aside 15 minutes to monitor the number of butterflies in our gardens – taking part in the UK’s Big Butterfly Count.

This weekend (18-19 June) sees the Power of Food Festival return to Edinburgh for a second year. Sixteen community gardens will be welcoming the public through their gates

Visitors attending Gardening Scotland this weekend have decided on the well-deserved ‘People’s Choice’ winners for the 2016 show.

Following all the television and media coverage around the Chelsea Flower Show last week – particularly its very decadent show gardens – I’m getting very excited about Scotland’s equivalent – Gardening Scotland.

I’ve always wanted to visit the Royal Gardens at Highgrove, so when I discovered Prince Charles talking about the gardens on the BBCs Gardeners Question Time I was very excited indeed.

While I love nothing more than a beautiful garden, I think it’s equally important that an outdoor living space is beneficial for birds, animals and insects. As an avid nature lover, I wanted to share this latest guest blog from a company called Living With Birds – an online supplier of wild bird food, bird feeders and wildlife supplies.

This week (11th-17th April) is National Gardening Week– an initiative set up by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) in 2011 to celebrate all things related to gardening.

Whether your outdoor space consists of a large back garden or a small sunny window sill, why not put it to best use by growing some simple vegetables to make your own salad?

March is the month for snowdrops, which is terribly exciting for us gardeners as these little white flowers signify the arrival of spring.

If you’re keen to transform your garden but don’t have the resources to invest in a garden designer then I may have a solution for you.

When I got my allotment I knew I’d struck lucky when I saw it had a large shed in it. While it may have been made of old wood which looked a bit sad and grey, it was a great size, had a large panel of glass at the front…

When it comes to nourishing your soil and giving your plants the nutrients they need to grow into strong and healthy specimens, the most cost-efficient and effective way is to produce your own compost.

Snowdrops and star gazing, stunning views of the Highlands, inner city allotment veg patches, scenic Scottish burns and sensory flower borders are some of the horticultural highlights in 66 new gardens opening to the public for Scotland’s Gardens in 2016.

Autumn officially started this week and the beautiful tomato-like rosehips are starting to ripen on the wild rose hedgerows which line the canal near my house.