My Real Gardens

Welcome to My Real Gardens, where I share 30 years of garden making know-how as a multi-award-winning garden designer. I'm here to share what honestly works in real gardens – proper advice without the jargon to help you grow.

By Ann-Marie Powell

· Over 4,000 subscribers

Knepp’s Walled Garden

Is this rewilding, renaturing, or just very brave gardening?
Jun 19 • Ann-Marie Powell

The Longest Day Is Almost Here (And I’m Not Ready.)

Late sowings, a Tuesday drenching, and what to plant, what to compost, and what to blame the weather for before the solstice arrives.
Jun 12 • Ann-Marie Powell

Edimentals: the border plants you didn’t know you could eat

What they add to your garden. How I grew to adore them. And right now, the chefs at Borde Hill are cutting plants from my edimentals scheme for…
Jun 5 • Ann-Marie Powell

Most Popular

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026: My Very Honest Preview
May 15 • Ann-Marie Powell

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2026: My Very Honest REVIEW

What I saw, what I loved, what I’m still thinking about
May 22 • Ann-Marie Powell

Pricking Out (Not, Sadly, a Euphemism)

Thirty years in and I still hate it. Ten tips that genuinely help. Plus: live session this Sunday.
May 8 • Ann-Marie Powell

Forde Abbey: What I Saw, What I’m Stealing

A visit with Joe Swift, fifty thousand tulips, and a meadow I’d have paid the entry fee for alone.
May 1 • Ann-Marie Powell

Composting, honestly.

The secrets of success (and my dirty one too), four systems, a hotbin’s contents that once fell on my head, every niggly question answered and an…
Apr 24 • Ann-Marie Powell

Six Months In…

I miss my husband desperately, but I am not desperate. There’s a difference. A big one, actually. And the garden knew that before I did.
Apr 17 • Ann-Marie Powell

My Real Gardens