John’s tips

1 Think of the garden as a continuum to have interest all year round.

2 Make sure to look at the overall garden - where is the sun and shade, what conditions are you growing under?

3 Aim to get plenty of structure with taller trees and shrubs and then underplant these wherever you can. Work out which plants go with which to your liking.

4 Enrich the soil – we create plenty of compost! We always make a lot of leaf mould and do whatever we can to keep the soil healthy.