Garden Answers

Garden Answers is a vibrant and inspiring gardening magazine filled with ingenious design ideas and exciting plant combinations guaranteed to make your garden beautiful.

Meet the Contributors • “This month in the garden I’ll be…”

Welcome

Celebrate BEAUTY THAT COMES WITH AGE • Borders lose their sheen but replace it with a wonderful richness that only comes with experience

Be inspired by… • Plants, books, events & buys for the month

Pear-shaped delights • Celebrate the harvesting season of one of early autumn’s sweetest fruits

HELP MONITOR BUGS AS YOU TRAVEL

KEW LILY ENTERS WORLDWIDE WEIGH-OFF

Wish list • Try these perennial drought busters that have still thrived in 2025

Merry berries • Autumn is a time of bountiful berries on trees, shrubs, climbers and in hedgerows. Can you identify the following?

How to MAKE AN ENTRANCE • Inspired ways to make the most of your front garden

PRACTICAL & PRETTY PLANT IDEAS FOR YOUR FRONT GARDEN

The garden blazes with A FIERY FINALE • Val Bourne celebrates a sturdy flower that twinkles in the autumn sun, proving that the season’s finale can be just as vibrant as its peak

Amazing ACERS • These attractive ornamental trees dazzle in autumn with their fiery leaf tints and striated bark, says Sue Fisher

October • Autumn is ideal for planting spring bulbs, sowing hardy annuals and perking up your patio with hardy container plants

PLANT A BULB LASAGNE • A bulb lasagne is a great way to plant a succession of spring bulbs.

SOW HARDY ANNUALS • Give next year’s display a head start by starting off hardy annuals now

Perk up your autumn CONTAINER DISPLAYS • Keep garden views bright and cheerful this season with these quick and easy ideas

Dazzling NORTHERN STARS • Look on the bright side of shade with these no-fail tips for north-facing plots

Keep your pond WILD AND WELL • Adrian Thomas explains how to best look after a wildlife pond to keep it healthy and looking good

WILDLIFE GARDEN JOBS FOR OCTOBER

Rooted in harmony • When one garden wasn’t enough, this couple created two, each reflecting their own styles

Enjoying Garden Answers?

Sea breeze sanctuary • A lush seaside garden has been created over many years by a keen gardener with a lively imagination

A spectacular autumn • Bodnant is a horticultural masterpiece in the foothills of Snowdonia

Welcome to my lovely plot • October on the plot brings glowing sunsets, stubborn weeds and a harvest worth the backache – a month for reflection and plotting next year’s triumphs

Grow your own SHALLOTS FROM BULBS • Sweeter and more sophisticated than onions, shallots are an easy crop to plant now

Ask the Experts • Our experts will help you get the best from your garden

Q&A • When are onions ready to harvest? What is damaging lilac leaves? Read on…

BORDERS • Revamping your borders for beautiful displays and making them more sustainable go hand-in-hand

Fine dining for FEATHERED FRIENDS • Geoff Hodge serves up a feast of feeding stations so you can look after your garden birds

Garden answers digital subscription • We celebrate seasonal plants and achievable border schemes, feature beautiful gardens and easy grow-your-own projects designed to help you get started growing fruit and veg.

Over to you! • WRITE TO US AT Garden Answers, Bauer Media, Media House, Lynch Wood, Peterborough PE2 6EA EMAIL gardenanswers@bauermedia.co.uk

Late-summer sensations • Here’s this month’s round-up of your top garden performers… thanks for sharing!

Prize photo

Garden Answers

Fantastic free* allium collection...