There’s a really useful little task to do in the garden this month, it won’t take long, or cost very much & you’ll get lots of flowers next year, because it’s the perfect time to sow biennial seeds. Biennials are some of the best plants around. They’re pretty, often difficult to come by in garden […]
choosing, growing & looking after plants
A Day The Hampton Court Flower Show 2017
I have hazy memories of visiting the first Hampton Court Palace Flower Show in 1993 & my how it’s changed over the years. My impression is that in those early years visitors wanted inspiration & ideas to use in their own gardens. This is still the case, but life has become a bit more complex […]
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 & […]
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 […]
English Garden Visits 2017
Visiting gardens is such a joy, it’s usually inspiring, a good day out, there may be little plants to buy, & there is always cake. Every year I have a list in my head of gardens to visit when they’re at their best. This is mostly in the spring through to late summer, which makes […]
Finding Time To Grow Vegetables.
There’s no doubt that growing your own vegetables is good thing, but when I first had an allotment I got completely carried away. In my enthusiasm I grew lots of vegetables from seed, & when they nearly all germinated, I didn’t have the heart to get rid of most of them, “Why not just plant […]
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 […]
Some Of The Vegetables I’ll Be Growing In 2017
2017 is going to be the year of growing vegetables again. Not having an allotment anymore & the new garden being re-done in 2016, meant thin pickings. I missed having freshly picked vegetables, ones that I knew hadn’t been sprayed with any chemicals. I also missed having unusual vegetables, I never got complacent with the […]
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 […]
My Vegetable Garden in November
The clocks going back & shorter days have made a big difference to the garden here, but that’s not the only big change around here. We’ve also had proper frosts, coating the ground with a dusting of sparkles. Though our sheltered garden has escaped so far. This has given me a second chance to dig-up […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
The vegetable garden in July
July is the month of long days and plenty of sunshine, and after all that rain earlier in the month everything has grown like mad. So whether you’ve got a balcony, allotment or garden, most crops do well now and you’ll be getting lovely fresh fruit and vegetables. If it’s hot and dry then watering […]
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. […]
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 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 […]
Flowers and cake for a special wedding.
May is a fabulous month, suddenly the wisteria has appeared everywhere in full bloom and the road-sides are billowing with cow parsley, and from now onwards it’ll also be the month to remember as the anniversary of my daughters wedding, Family and friends helped get everything ready on Saturday, kitting out the marquee in a […]
What to do in the garden in May
It’s hard to pick a favourite month for the garden, but with its’ fresh, vibrant growth, May comes pretty close to the best. I went to New Covent Garden Flower Market this week to put the final list of flowers together for my daughters wedding next week – I’ve got butterflies in my tummy just […]
Pretty, perfect peonies.
I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend, for those of us in the U.K. we’ve had an extra day which always feels like a nice bonus. It was lovely and warm with a fresh chill in the air, perfect gardening weather. I love this time of year, the garden is changing almost daily as plants […]
Attracting pollinating insects into your garden
I’m making an extra effort this year to have plants in the garden that attract pollinating insects, there are so many plants that fit the bill, so it’s pretty easy. This is my little contribution to help bees and all the other insects that are declining in numbers. Apparently the reasons for the reduction in […]
Currently making wild garlic pesto
I love this time of year with so much fresh, green growth everywhere, there’s a chill in the air, but the days are longer and there’s a fair bit of sunshine around. I hope you had a good weekend, did you have any sunshine? I seem to start a lot of my posts talking about the […]
Revamping the garden
Hello, how is your week going, are you managing to get outside and enjoy the sunshine? I haven’t managed to do any gardening for over a week, what with being away with the family in Dorset celebrating my eldest sons’ birthday. What a fabulous place Dorset is, a little overlooked I think. Instead of being […]
Salvias for late summer colour in your garden.
Do you ever have that feeling that your garden is past it’s best by the middle of the summer, that most plants have finished flowering and there’s a bit of a lull before the autumn colour kicks in? I think some fireworks in plant form are good for this time of year, not something that […]
The vegetable garden in April
Have you been limbering up ready for this busy veg growing time? … it’s been a slow start for me this year, mainly because I haven’t got a proper vegetable garden right now. I said goodbye to the allotment last year because our new garden is big enough – just- for 6 raised beds, but […]
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