One of my sanctuaries over the past year has been my garden. I’ve always loved being outside and enjoying the beauty of the garden, but in the last 12-months, I’ve been excited about developing the space, adding more colour, growing my own vegetables, nurturing a cut-flower garden, and generally making it more my own. When you stay home more, you realise what you want to look at.
One of my goals this year is to push forward with my garden plans, creating a vegetable garden, raised beds to produce cut flowers, a vibrant border next to the patio, as well as a cottage-style front garden and a meadow area. That’s on top of growing my own vegetables and flowers from seed, tidying up the rest of the garden, and finding the ultimate corner sofa to relax in after all the work is done.
To help me out I’ve bought into some monthly garden subscriptions – to inspire me, help me grow more flowers, as well as encourage me to look into different plants. I always love how each time a magazine or plant box comes it is a dose of joy in the post.
9 Garden Subscriptions To Try
I have curated myself a monthly drop of magazines to inspire and help me grow my skills, a plant delivery to add something new each month, and a seed subscription to keep me busy in the new greenhouse and I thought I would share what I have bought as well as other subscriptions to try.
Magazines
When it came to inspiring my garden, I started with magazines, and I currently subscribe to two – Gardens Illustrated and Gardener’s World. Both are very different. Gardens Illustrated showcases the most inspiring gardens alongside detailed plant guides, while Gardener’s World is filled with practical advice on plants, tools and design, as well as offering discounts and the occasional seed packet.
Looking to focus more on growing vegetables check out Grow Your Own, which is packed with tips and tricks to grow award-winning produce. I really like its detailed step-by-step growing guides and the fact you get seeds with every issue, so you can try something new.
All About Seeds
Gardening subscription boxes can help take some of that stress away when it comes to choosing and growing seeds especially, and I have three that you will love.
The Seed Pantry monthly grow club delivers you seeds at the right time to grow, whether you want to grow vegetables or flowers, and each box comes with easy grow guides. The discovery box costs £12.99 a month and you get to select 6 seed packets, or the pro-box, which offers 10 choices for £19.99 a month. The best bit is that the seeds have been selected to grow in any garden spaces including pots, containers, borders and veg patches – so even if you just have a balcony you can get involved. Plus, you can skip, pause or cancel your monthly box anytime.
Another great seed subscription is Gardeners Box, which offers a hand-curated box monthly to help your garden thrive all year round. Each month it basically sends you seeds based on the season, whether perennials, annuals, groundcovers, trees, shrubs, herbs, fruit or vegetables, alongside expert tips to ensure optimal germination and plant markers. Go monthly for £9.99 or yearly for £109.
Dream of growing your own cut flowers, one of the best subscriptions has to be The Floral Project’s Flower Club, which sends out five flower seed packets each month. Each variety has been selected as easy-to-grow, and perfect for vases and posies. A monthly subscription is £14.95.
Plants and Bulbs
Lockdown forced me to buy plants online for the first time and that’s when I discovered YouGarden, I love the extensive selection and price, and I recently subscribed to its Pete’s Garden Club. This is basically a monthly mystery box filled with plants, bulbs or garden essentials worth £25 but you only pay £15 including free delivery. Each plant is described as easy to grow and care for, and each comes with free planting advice. I have had two months so far, the first I got a cool pineapple plant that it is thriving in my conservatory, and this month I got 300 summer bulbs and 10 strawberry runners.
Want to add colour to your garden, check out garden designer Jo Thompson’s Colour My Garden flower-bulb subscription service that provides a year’s worth of bulbs delivered to your door four times a year at the ideal planting times – March, May, September and November. Choose from ‘Patio Garden’ (£199 a year) up to ‘Medium Garden’ (£599).
Want to take the hassle out of choosing plants, you might want to consider a seasonal outdoor plant subscription from Lazy Flora, which has been designed for gardeners and non-gardeners alike. You can select the frequency, every 1, 2 or 3 months, and choose from 8 or 16 plants, with or without compost. You will get plant IDs and care guides, as well as tips on planting up. Pay monthly prices start from £45. The service also does a subscription for indoor plants or a combination of indoor and outdoor as well.
