I’m Martin Cole and I’m an avid gardener who loves to talk and write about gardening.
I previously lived in London and Sydney, Australia, where I took a diploma course in Horticultural studies.
I now live in now in North Berwick in Scotland.
But gardening principles are the same everywhere and I want to share my gardening enthusiasm and know-how with everybody who has been bitten by the gardening bug and wants to know more.
My gardening experience
I was actually pretty late to the garden party. I was in my early 40s when I started gardening in the early 2000s and I’d barely stepped out into the patch of ground that happened to sit behind my house in London.
Yet, when I suddenly got the urge to do something with the garden, a whole new world opened up to me.
I began looking closely at plants, flowers, trees shrubs, soil , leaves – and I almost could not believe what I was seeing.
I recall distinctly seeing a passionflower for the first time, straggling over a railing near where I worked in Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs in London. I was astonished to to see the complexity, the beauty and the symmetry of this simple Passiflora caerulea (above) – and incredulous that such a wonder was growing in London.
I was quickly bitten by the exotic, tropical plant bug and filled my small south London garden with bamboos, tree ferns, palms, cannas, dahlias, gingers and bananas (below). It was an incredible thrill to grow these stunning plants which in those days were quite unusual in the UK.
And, as a result, I can still imagine now how new gardeners feel when they start gardening.
I got so obsessed with gardening that by 2006 I was a finalist in the BBC Gardener of the Year competition. You can see the younger me below, pictured with BBC gardening presenter Joe Swift and my good friend Richard Brown, who helped me construct the garden we were judged on.
In time, I realised I liked writing about gardening too, and passing on my knowledge and experience. Gardening Step by Step is the result and it is aimed at new and improving gardeners and designed to bring you clear actionable step by step gardening advice and tips.
Whether you are looking for gardening tips relating to growing vegetables, fruit or ornamental plants, you’ll find what you need here.
Gardening Step by Step has been cited by Thompson and Morgan, the largest mail order plant retailer, as featuring expert gardening content.
Editorial Policy and Use of AI
At Gardening Step by Step, we believe in the power of innovation to inspire and transform garden and home spaces. Many of the images you see on the site (especially those on posts related to garden design) are created using advanced AI technology. This technology allows us to explore and present a range of different concepts – from the traditional to the bold and imaginative, sometimes pushing the boundaries of garden design.
These AI-generated visuals are carefully curated to ensure they reflect realism and quality, serving as a source of inspiration for your next project. By leveraging AI, we can present fresh, creative ideas that spark your imagination and help you envision the possibilities for your own home or space. We also use AI to help in the creation of our written content, but all articles are carefully edited by humans (usually by me) to ensure they are accurate and useful for readers.