Sissinghurst, that iconic garden, is only a 90 minute drive from us, but it’s been at least 4 years since the last visit, so on one of those beautifully, bright autumn days last week, we finally made a return visit. Unlike other famous gardens, Sissinghurst isn’t a conventional house surrounded by land, & despite being […]
Tips & info about looking after your garden
What To Do In The Garden In October
I hope you’re enjoying the autumn colour, if you’re in this part of the world? It almost makes me happy that summer is over. I’ve got a whole list of things to do in the garden this month, there’s a mix of clearing out the remains of summer & preparing things for next year. Firstly […]
A Fabulous Garden Tucked Away In The Welsh Hills.
Arriving at Allt-y-bela feels a little like driving straight into a picture, perhaps because I know it so well from all the magazine pictures I’ve seen. Despite this familiarity, it’s an impressive arrival, after driving a mile or so down a track. We’d booked a couple of nights bed & breakfast here at the country […]
What Do We Think About Garden Power Tools?
Generally I like my gardening to be a calm activity. To maintain this calmness, any garden power tools have to earn their keep. For instance, I used a battery operated strimmer when I had an allotment, & it was a boon, quick & efficient, easy to use & did the job more quickly than hand tools […]
What To Do In The Garden In August.
August is a busy, productive month in the garden. The vegetable garden is at full tilt & we’re realising the fruits of our labours, picking vegetables for our dinner most evenings this month. So far we’ve had courgettes, spinach, beans & purple podded peas. The latter have been finally weakened by mildew, but I’d definitely grow […]
Delightful Dahlias & How To Keep Them Flowering.
We’ve had plenty of sunshine & rain here recently, & everything has taken advantage of this, growing at a fast pace. This of course, includes the numbers of pests like slugs & snails. Last year I was so disappointed when my 6 young dahlia plants were all eaten, snails I think… possibly assisted by slugs? This […]
Best Gardens At The Chelsea Flower Show 2017
The best gardens at The Chelsea Flower Show, are the ones that I find myself returning to a couple of times during the morning, taking more photos & generally just to stand & gaze at them What makes a great garden for me, is one that combines a good lay-out, has the right proportion & […]
10 Tips for Sustainable Gardening, You Know It Makes Sense.
A new season in the garden, & a very busy one at that, but I’ve made time to think about how I go about gardening. We’ve been here for 2 years, so it seemed a good time to review how it’s all going, & especially my quest for sustainable gardening. I’ve got a check-list in […]
The Garden In April
It’s all change out there, the roadsides are filling up with clouds of cow-parsley [aka Queen Annes’ Lace] & the bluebells have begun to carpet the woods with that wonderful violet-blue haze. The garden in April is full of promise, though in my garden this includes the promise of bindweed, as well as lots of […]
What To Do In The Garden In March
Hello, I’m back from a wonderful couple of weeks in India. It’s good to be back, there’s s pretty froth of blossom in hedgerows & a noticable difference in the growth of the garden. Fresh green shoots on shrubs, new growth on the roses & the hellebores are all beautifully in full flower. They’ve been […]
The Vegetable Garden in February
So what’s a good time for a vegetable gardener to go away on holiday? Of course you can’t make this the only criteria for holiday planning, but it did cross my mind when we talked at Christmas about holidays this year. Spring seems like the busiest time in the garden, there are seeds to sow […]
How to Grow Half-Hardy Annuals from Seed
How was your weekend? I spent some time looking through photos of summer gardens this weekend for inspiration , & I’m pretty excited about the flowers I’m going to grow. Last time I wrote about growing half-hardy annuals, plants that grow, flower, set seed then die in a season. This time it’s all about growing […]
Growing Hardy Annual Flowers from Seed.
Although the temperatures here are a bit lightweight compared to say Scandinavia, what I call The Big Freeze carries on. I’m not complaining, it all looks rather lovely out there. Though I’m itching to get some shrubs planted, but the soil is frozen so I’m content to be inside drinking hot chocolate, & planning what […]
My Guide to Sowing Seeds.
Our garden is frozen solid, & has been for a few days now, which is fine because staying inside & planning what to grow this year is a lovely thing to be getting on with. One of the easiest & cheapest way to get lots of plants is to grow them from seed, more than […]
My Garden In December
With the end of the year just round the corner, it seems like a good time to look back on the garden in 2016. Our garden changed a lot in late summer when the landscape people arrived & did some major work. Underground drainage pipes were the most important part of all the work. There’s […]
Organic Gardening – Making Garden Bird Food
How’s your garden, now that we’re properly into winter? This shift in the season has made a welcome change, there’s a kind of stillness in mine as everything quietens down. Generally it’s still a work in progress, so we’ll skim over that until I have more to report back to you …. except I have […]
Show Me The Way To Amaryllis
Amaryllis [Hippeastrum] are splendid, showy plants, originating in South America, they’re definitely indoor plants. I find them very cheery at this time of year. Supermarkets & garden centres sell them as gift boxes at this time of year. The box contains the bulb, a plant pot & compost. These are tall plants & the flower […]
More of My Garden in October.
According to our kitchen calendar, British Summer-time finishes at the end of the month. I’m not one for mourning the end of summer though. Autumn has been glorious here, I’d forgotten how much I like its’ soft light, fiery foliage & vivid blue skies. Gardening is a real pleasure in this weather, just as well […]
My Garden in October
What a lovely month it’s turned out to be, we were away in Suffolk earlier in the month & it really didn’t feel like October, the skies were vivid blue & we ate lunch in the garden a few times. But that time has passed, the leaves are on the turn, the days are shorter & […]
Garden Design Tips from Suffolk.
Hello, I hope your weekend was good? We’re back from a week of mostly clear, blue skies & sunshine in Suffolk. If you don’t know it, it’s a pretty county in the east of England with lovely countryside & wonderful buildings, like this house in the village we stayed in. It looked so amazing that […]
The Prettiest Onion Ever.
Have you bought all your spring flowering bulbs yet or are you, like me, just getting round to it? Either way, plant some of these & I promise you won’t be disappointed. Part of the Allium family, so not actually an onion that you can eat, Nectaroscordum siculum is an ugly name for such a wonderful […]
The Garden In September
It just so happens that September is s good time of year for landscaping to be all done & dusted & for planting to start. The construction is almost all done in our garden, there’s just the greenhouse to put up & a small summer-house is arriving in a few weeks time. The timing is […]
An inspiring day at Deans Court.
Well it’s back down to earth this week after spending a lovely day last Thursday at Deans Court in Dorset, hosted by William & Ali Hanham & Lottie Sharland. It was one of those special days that you don’t want to end, I honestly speculated about camping out in the kitchen garden, but at the […]
The Vegetable Garden in September
Hello, well these last few days have been a bit of a roller-coaster for us. If you’ve got a pet you’ll know how much a dog really means to you, they find a place in your heart & become part of your family. Bonnie is my constant companion, part of the rhythm of my day, […]
Plant of the Month- Cosmos bipinnatus
Hello there, what a difference a few days make, we’re into September & doesn’t it it feel like there’s been a big shift in the seasons? It’s probably because the school holidays are at an end & the shops are full of warm clothing, but although the days are shorter, the weather is being kind […]
Big Changes To Our Garden.
I do like growing things & pottering around in our garden, but it’s been a bit tricky since we moved here 18 months ago. The garden was a big reason for choosing this place, it’s flat, which makes it very useable, there’s a lovely old, brick wall along one side, a few David Austin roses & […]
Let’s Talk Tulips
It’s blisteringly hot here & the sky is a cloudless, deep blue, but it’s time to think about the garden next spring, specifically it’s time to plan & order tulips that’ll flower then. I love tulips in almost all their varieties & I’m excited about growing them here because all the landscape works will be […]
Getting Creative With Topiary
One good thing about not having any sunshine, I’m sure there are plenty of other reasons – like not getting too hot or having to water the plants so often- is that it’s a good time to trim box hedging because bright sunshine turns the cut edges of the leaves brown, so a cloudy day […]
Late summer flowers
One of the things that people find challenging about their garden at this time of year, is how there’s a bit of a lull as summer plants come to the end of flowering, after all they’ve flowered & spread seed & are ready for a rest. Dead-heading and feeding to keep plants flowering works for […]
Grow Your Own Cutting Garden.
September is the perfect time to start sowing seeds if you fancy having a cutting garden like this next year. These plants in the walled garden at Port Eliot were all grown from seed by Ben of Higgledy Garden. Ben has a few half-hardy flowers in this border, but to keep it really easy stick […]
The Garden In August
Hello, I hope you had a good weekend? We were busy re-building a dry-stone wall that was partially dismantled when some redundant old drain-pipes were removed. We’ve been putting it off for a while – why do we do that? – it was hard work but I’m so happy to have it all done and […]
The Vegetable Garden In August
August has had an exciting start, The Port Eliot Festival in Cornwall was fun, I rediscovered how much I like making things, and there were some wonderful people there too. We stopped off at Hauser & Wirth on the way down there which has a fabulous garden designed by Piet Oudolf. On the way back […]
An inspiring garden in Somerset.
I was going to write a post about gardening jobs for August, but that’ll have to wait for a few days because we visited a fabulous garden on our way to Cornwall at the weekend, and I wanted to show it to you. I’ve had this garden in Somerset in my sights for ages, part […]
Why We Need Butterflies In Our Gardens.
The butterfly population in the UK has declined by more than 3/4 in the last 40 years, that’s quite shocking don’t you think? I must admit that I don’t know much about these beautiful little creatures, most of what I do know comes from that iconic childrens’ book ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’, from egg to […]
How To Grow Hollyhocks
Welcome to the start of another sunny week, I’m getting used to this weather and it’s motivating me to get out into the garden and water before the sun gets really hot, especially the plants in pots by the front door. Have you noticed what a good year this has been for hollyhocks? They seem […]
My Garden & The War Against Slugs
You have to admire plants, when the conditions aren’t right they slow right down, ticking over and waiting for favourable conditions to return. This little heatwave here with temperatures up to 30 degrees C has sure slowed things down, except for the well established sun-lovers like lavender and rosemary, they’re in their element and romping […]
What to do in the garden in July
A bit more warmth would be nice don’t you think? But on a positive note, the rain is keeping everything gloriously green here. I’ve declared war on the slugs, after all the bronze fennel I planted among the roses were sheared to the ground, and applied biological slug killer to the soil. It needs moist […]
Bees’ Needs Week
Did you know it’s Bees’ Needs Week? And their needs really matter these days, so there’s this a big push to get gardeners, farmers and growers to help pollinating insects to survive and thrive. These small, precious creatures are vital for producing food, carrying pollen between flowers as they feed in our own gardens, and […]
Fabulous Front Gardens
I went to the Hampton Court Flower Show on Monday and bought a greenhouse… I didn’t actually take it home with me, just ordered it ready for delivery in September, when our garden renovation should be complete. I’m pretty excited about our little greenhouse, it’s only 2 x 2metres and it’s got a smart dark-green […]
A favourite garden at The Hampton Court Flower Show
Back home after a wonderful day at Hampton Court and keen to share one of my favourite gardens, The Summer Retreat, with you. The garden was designed by Amanda Waring and Laura Arison and inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement. There’s a lovely summerhouse, elevated to give a good view out over the garden. […]
How To Make A Bug Hotel.
It isn’t easy being an organic gardener, there are times when I’m really tempted to grab some glyphosate and blast the weeds. They do seem to be winning at the moment, mainly because I haven’t kept up with gardening, what with all the rain. But I don’t think chemicals have been used on our garden […]
Growing Vegetables In Containers
The longest day happened this week, it’s hardly noticeable … unless you’re a plant, it makes a big difference to them because light is such a big factor in their growth. The good news is that there’s still time to plant, sow and grow vegetables. Beetroot, radishes, lettuce, french and runner beans are all good […]
House-Plant Heaven
Today is Summer Solstice, the day when we have the most daylight of the whole year, there’ll be a whopping 17 hours of daylight today. It feels significant, the days will be getting marginally shorter now, so I’m hoping that the rain will stop at some stage during the day and I can get out […]
Clematis, so many plants to choose from.
I like a garden that looks relaxed, as long as it has a shapely structure, a sort of backbone to it, an informal, sprawling mass of plants is what does it for me. Gardens that are trimmed and tidied to within an inch of their lives don’t appeal, maybe you feel differently? In any case, […]
What to do in the vegetable garden in June
June is one of my favourite months, the countryside is looking lush and green, there’s still lots of cow parsley filling the road-sides and the roses in the garden are at their absolute best. Long days, sunshine and warm soil make the begining of the summer a great time for vegetable growing, and there’s more […]
What to do in the garden in June
Our total garden renovation start in a few weeks time, there’ll be less lawn which not only means less to mow -hurray!- but more places to grow plants, especially fruit and vegetables. At the moment there are limited growing spaces and plenty of clearing to do, brambles have been very happy with all this sunshine […]
Clipped into shape
Clipping plants into shape is favourite garden task, I like how it brings structure into the garden, even better if there’s some loose, wild planting nearby that makes a real contrasting shape. It’s traditionally done on Derby Day, the first week in June, though I find needs doing more often, to encourage a firm, crisp outline. […]
Ideas to borrow from The Chelsea Flower Show.
Maybe I just wore the right shoes [these things matter when you’re walking round for six hours] or got there when the light was just right, but I particularly enjoyed The Chelsea Flower Show this year. It’s such a pleasure to see beautiful gardens at peak perfection, but this year it seemed even more special. […]
Chelsea flower show 2016 gardens
It has been a slightly giddy, over the top kind of day, made even more intense by catching the first train at 5.40 am this morning. But it was worth it just to be walking along the embankment and into the Chelsea Flower Show at 7a.m. when it was all relatively quiet and the light […]
Cut flowers and my favourite vase.
Having flowers in the house always feels like a treat. They’re cheery things, making a room more lively and fresh and if you’re lucky, they’ll do their best to perfume the room. It doesn’t take much, just a single bud in a vase, a fat bunch of bluebells from the garden, recently I’ve been cutting […]
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