Every week, Amateur Gardening is the first choice for both beginners and knowledgeable gardeners looking for advice and easy-to-follow practical features on growing flowers, trees, shrubs as well as fruit and vegetables. Be inspired, by our beautifully illustrated features covering plant and flower groups, both home grown and exotic, and take a sneak peek into some of the most beautiful private gardens around the country. Plus, every week we feature expert opinion and tips from some of gardening’s most influential exponents including Toby Buckland, Bob Flowerdew, Anne Swithinbank, Peter Seabrook and Jo Whittingham.

Editor’s note

The 12 jobs of Christmas • Take some time out of the festive hurly-burly to keep your garden ticking over (and work off some of those mince pies)

Team AG recount their gardening year • More time to toil has meant bumper crops and very satisfied gardeners!

Finding peace and produce down on the allotment

The sun shone on Wendy’s gardening

Kitchen sink dramas and top bananas

So much goodness!

AG readers’ best tips of 2020 • After sifting though her postbags, Letters editor Wendy collates her pick of the tips

Have a happy Christmas! • New fruit and veg cultivars are on the way

Peter’s top tips

Bumper festive seeds • Sow these stunning plants for sun and shade

Bird Watch: The European robin (Erithacus rubecula) • These pugnacious birds are a festive stalwart, as Ruth explains…

Lessons learned • This has certainly been a year for the books, but what can we learn for future gardening? Bob takes stock…

Bob’s top tips for the week

Miner menace • Val looks at a relatively new pest affecting her leek crop

Focus on…Parsnips • Lucy’s guide to growing greater ’nips!

Grow yourself a Festive favourite • Central to the holiday season, holly and ivy are great plants that will perform well in any garden – while mistletoe is certainly worth trying. Graham Rice recommends varieties

Create festive cheer with Christmas containers • Here’s how you can plant up colourful festive pots to brighten the garden or give away as special yuletide presents to family and friends as Hazel Sillver explains

For seasonal sparkle, try Gold and silver plants • Whether it’s the golden flowers of winter jasmine or the silver-grey foliage of artemisia, if you want your plot to dazzle, try plants in these precious hues

Christmas Quiz • Sit down, relax and test your horticultural knowledge with AG’s bumper Christmas quiz

What to plant for A touch of frost • Wet, mild winters are now the norm, but with ‘frosty’ glaucous foliage and snowy white flowers you can still look out onto a winter wonderland.

Myths and legends of the Bramble • Long believed to be the domain of elves and imps, there are tales and strange beliefs about brambles that extend beyond hedgerow and woodland

6 issue for only £6 No Plastic! Your magazines will be sent in recyclable paper envelopes

Ask John Negus • John has been answering reader queries for 50 years

Ask Anne! • Anne Swithinbank’s masterclass on: success with gardenia

A Gardener's Miscellany • Gardening’s king of trivia and brain-teasers, Graham Clarke

Crossword …just for fun!

Disposing of wood prunings • Tim Rumball suggests ways to make good use of your woody waste

Letters to Wendy

Amateur Gardening

Drama in the Garden • a play on horticultural terms

Mistletoe and limes • Season’s greetings take a turn for the citrussy, as Toby preps for next year’s presents… Yes, you read that right!