THE starting point in any garden, certainly in my mind is the soil, writes Tom Attwood. This is something far more significant and influential to the long and short term success of the plants growing within it. The best designed garden space is nothing without a strong backbone of good quality or at least well nurtured soil. I spend a lot of my time talking to gardeners and advocating the notion of ‘feeding the soil’ using organic matter. Your garden might never have the kind of soil you see on a Friday night on Gardeners World when Monty’s spade excavates a two-foot space in what looks like ground coffee. If like our own garden on the nursery you have a few scant inches of natural top soil depth before hitting something like limestone (as we have) or a mass of clay then all the more reason to nurture what you do have. Whether you’re a vegetable grower or someone with a penchant for cut flowers your plants will respond accordingly. The other thing to try to embrace is the idea that your soil is something that has a structure worth preserving and to avoid walking around on it. Every time soil is compressed by additional pressure it has a detrimental effect on the structure. This is why compacted soil around the bases of mature trees can cause them such problems and why in recent years significant efforts are made to alleviate this in larger public spaces by mulching round the bases of trees concentrating on the immediate root zone. A natural ‘cushion’ is then created helping to spread the weight of every visitor who happens to walk under that tree. Water and air can then easily get down to the roots where they are most needed.

One last note while on the subject of soil, when you are ever in the position of needing to source additional soil for your garden get the best quality you can. Much is peddled as top soil that is far from ideal and the real McCoy is worth every penny.

Abi and Tom's Garden Plants at Halecat

Halecat, Witherslack