Grow your own

Thinking about growing your own food? We’ve got some top tips to help your produce flourish and great advice on how to get the best from your freshly grown ingredients

Children with two volunteers planting vegetables in a raised bed
Gardeners working in the Walled Garden at Gibside, Tyne & Wear

Top tips for hot-weather gardening 

When it’s hot outside, the experienced gardeners that keep our gardens looking great all year round urge you not to panic. Here are a few simple tips for keeping your veg patch happy in the warm weather.

Stay cool in the garden
A volunteer gardener with cabbages gathered from the kitchen garden at Llanerchaeron, near Aberaeron, Ceredigion, Wales

Green gardening 

Have you decided that going green is the right thing to do, but you're not really sure how to go about it? Feel guilty you're not doing more to help the environment? Well help is at hand with our series of 'how to' greener gardening videos.

Give it a go
Rhubarb Ickworth

Seasonal food and growing 

Local and seasonal food is something that we're passionate about. You'll find our month-by-month calendar of what's in season, with tips on growing your own and recipes from our chefs, essential reading for a low-food mile lifestyle.

What's in season
Wheat and grains of flour on a hessian sack

Why we champion sustainable food 

We’re playing our part to shift towards more sustainable, local sourced food. This will help support the environment, local economies and wildlife.

A member of the garden team hard at work

Gardener's tips 

Looking after more than 200 gardens has taught us a thing or two, so here our gardeners share some of their tips for a blooming beautiful garden.

Read our top tips
National Trust dressed crab with beetroot, garpefruit and radish salad

Recipes round-up 

We love food and we've got some great recipes to prove it. Take a look through all of our recipes for some culinary inspiration.

Browse all recipes

Online shop

If you're a foodie that loves to cook, you'll find some great recipe ideas in our cookbooks.

Browse our cookbooks