Nurturing seedlings into vibrant blooms awash with bees and butterflies, caring for lush emerald foliage and encouraging a swathe of even lawn is pure joy, in my book. But gardening is not without its challenges. Luckily, from slugs decimating tender crops to bare batches of grass, our team of gardening experts have seen it all — and, crucially, know how to help.
So today we're inviting you to ask our experts anything related to gardening and lawn care, completely free of charge, right in time to make this summer the best year yet for your outside space.
Need some advice on reseeding your lawn? Just post a comment in the 'Live Q&A' box below. Thinking of installing a pond or water feature but not sure where to begin? Let us help. Can't choose between a robot lawn mower vs a manual? Drop us a comment. We will reply to each and every question we receive when we open up our Live Q&A on Wednesday 20 May at 7am-12pm ET.
Answering your questions will be Camilla Sharman, our homes and gardens writer and gardening aficionado; Cynthia Lawrence, our Homes editor; and Jonathan Davis, lawn care expert at Lawnsmith. Between them, I'm confident there's nothing they can't answer.
Ask a question with or without photos
As active followers of waaay too many gardening Facebook groups, we know that sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words in conveying your garden dilemma. Because of that, we're happy to accept photos via the Comments section on this article. Just submit your photo and some words to explain what you want help with, and we'll post our response in next week's Live Q&A article. We'll include your photo and our advice side-by-side, as it may help other readers to see the full story.
On that note, when the Live Q&A launches, feel free to chime in if you've found a hack that could solve someone else's problem. We can't get enough of supportive contributions from our community.
All questions must be related to gardening and lawn care, and we're encouraging everyone to ask questions in the run-up to next week's event (make sure to leave a comment in the Live Q&A box above, or in the Comments below if you're sharing a photo as well). Your question won't be visible to you or others until we flick the switch to make the session go live — but don't worry, we'll have received it so there's no need to send it again.
It goes without saying that we won't answer any questions with inappropriate or offensive language or photos. This Live Q&A is designed to be an open space for anyone looking for help, no matter how "silly" you think that question may be.
Please include as much information about your backyard as possible, to help the experts to give you a really useful answer. Considerations such as where (approximately) you live will be crucial in suggesting plants that grow in your climate, for example. Things like the size of your garden, which direction it faces and the soil type (if known) may also be useful!
If you've never left a comment on our site before then you may need to sign up to post your first question. It's free to sign up and will unlock a host of other Tom's Club member benefits, such as exclusive rewards and savings, the ability to earn badges and enter giveaways, join in with popular conversations and all Live Q&As, and reveal hints for our quizzes and puzzles.
I'll go first
I'm in the middle of renovating my 1930s home and can't wait to tackle the garden once the builders are done. I have a long and narrow garden in Bristol, South-West England, which is on a steep hill. As you can see in the photos below, there's an old concrete path running down one side, and because the plot is on a hill, the path is raised at the point nearest the house.
It feels unsafe for my kids to ride bikes down as it's fairly narrow and raised about a foot off the height of the lawn at its highest point. I also hate how it makes our narrow garden feel even narrower (admittedly the relatively wide borders don't help with that either!)
My question for the experts is if and how I should remove the path, to replace it with a more naturalistic walkway — or if it would be better to build up the height of my lawn to make it safer and hopefully blend it in a bit, visually?
We can't wait to hear from you — let us know what you'd like help with now.
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