Adam White After a winter outdoors, patio furniture looks grim. Green algae, grey weathering, rust spots, and general grime make last year’s purchases look decades old. But before you throw anything away, give it a proper clean — most patio furniture responds remarkably well to the right cleaning method for its material. Cleaning by Material Plastic and … Read more
Hanging a door is one of those jobs that seems like it should be straightforward. It’s a flat piece of wood that goes in a rectangular hole — how hard can it be? The answer, as I discovered when I hung my first door, is: harder than you think, but absolutely doable once you understand … Read more
A new fence looks great for about six months. Then the weather gets to it — UV fades the colour, rain soaks in and raises the grain, and before long you’ve got a grey, rough, tired-looking boundary. Staining a fence protects the wood and restores its appearance, and it’s one of the most straightforward outdoor … Read more
A dull lawn mower blade doesn’t cut grass — it tears it. The result is brown, ragged tips that make your lawn look unhealthy no matter how well you maintain it. Sharpening a mower blade is a straightforward job, and you can even do it without removing the blade from the machine. Why Sharp Mower … Read more
Expanding foam is one of those products that seems idiot-proof until you’ve used it. You point the nozzle at a gap, press the trigger, and — before you know it — there’s a rapidly growing mushroom of sticky foam bulging out of the hole, creeping across your fingers, and bonding permanently to your favourite jumper. … Read more
You don’t need a garden bed, an allotment, or even much space to grow brilliant strawberries. In fact, growing strawberries in containers can actually give you better results than growing them in the ground — fewer slugs, no soil-borne diseases, and you can move them to catch the sun. I started growing container strawberries because … Read more
Here’s the truth about painting a room: the actual painting is the easy bit. What separates a professional-looking finish from a patchy, streaky mess is the preparation. Every decorator I know says the same thing — 80% of the work happens before you open a tin of paint. I’ve painted more rooms than I can … Read more
A cold frame is one of the most useful structures in any garden — and one of the cheapest to build. It’s essentially a bottomless box with a transparent lid that creates a protected microclimate for starting seeds, hardening off transplants, and extending your growing season by weeks in both spring and autumn. Build one … Read more
Draughts account for up to 20% of heat loss in an average UK home. That’s hundreds of pounds per year escaping through gaps around windows and doors that you can feel with the back of your hand on a windy day. Draught-proofing is one of the cheapest energy-saving improvements you can make — most materials … Read more
Walk into any tool shop and ask for a chainsaw, and the first question you’ll get is: “What size do you need?” If you don’t have a confident answer, you’ll probably end up with whatever the sales assistant fancies shifting that week — and that’s how you end up with a 20-inch petrol beast when … Read more