Tools & Techniques

Before the first seed is sown, the work begins with tools honed by time and knowledge earned by repetition. In this section, we explore the practical side of gardening at Heligan: the spades, shears, and structures that support every growing moment, and the techniques that keep tradition alive in the soil. Read on to discover the hands-on knowledge that shapes every season

< Back to Seed Journey

Wellness & Lifestyle

To garden is to live seasonally, to return to presence through care, patience, and daily attention.

Here you'll find quiet reflections, sensory rituals, and simple ways to bring the gardens calm into your home and life.

Click here to find rest and rhythm and lifestyle inspiration through your garden

Flowers & Crafting

Some things we grow for colour, others for scent and some for the joy of preserving fleeting beauty.

At Heligan, flowers are not just grown, but gathered, dried, and woven into the rhythms of home and celebration.

Click here to learn how we carry beauty beyond the bloom

Tools & Techniques

From hand-forged blades to long-trusted methods passed between gardeners, the tools we use shape not just our soil but our understanding.

Here, you'll find the implements that bring the Heligan gardens to life and the quiet knowledge behind their use, shared by those who use them daily.

Click here to discover hands-on knowledge that shapes every season

From Garden to Plate

The journey doesn't end at the seed bed. What begins with planting often finds its way into the kitchen, into the jar, onto the plate.

Explore recipes, harvest rituals, and preserving techniques inspired by Heligan's productive gardens - carrying the gardens story into every meal.

Click here for a taste of the gardens

Tool Care Through the Seasons: A Gardener's Ritual

At Heligan, the tools we use carry stories. Many have wooden handles worn smooth by years of use, or blades that have been honed by generations of gardeners. Caring for them is not just practical-it's part of the rhythm of heritage gardening.

Our Gardeners' Top 5 Must-Have Tools: And Why

Heligan's productive gardens are full of history-but also full of hard work. Our gardeners rely on a small, trusted set of tools that have earned their place over years of use. Here are five they return to again and again, along with the reasons why.

Victorian Innovation in the Garden: Invention, Ingenuity, and Influence

Heritage gardening is often associated with tradition - but at Heligan, we know that it has always embraced innovation. Nowhere was this more evident than in the Victorian era, when the gardeners of the great estates were not just caretakers of the soil, but inventors and early adopters of technology.