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Sustainable Gardening Ideas – Two

August 29, 2020 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

I hope you enjoyed last weeks post about sustainable gardening, here’s a few more ideas to help you. Small steps and we will get there, reducing our carbon footprint and making gardens a more welcoming habitat for all those birds , bees and butterflies that are struggling and endangered. How to use less plastic in […]

Filed Under: Blog, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: encouraging wildlife into your garden, reslient gardening, sustainable gardening, the benifits of single flowers

Sustainable Gardening – One

August 22, 2020 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

August is a busy month in the garden, thankfully a lot of that is harvesting vegetables and cutting Dahlias. But I’m also thinking about the bigger picture of sustainable gardening, and how I can do more of it. One of my goals is to improve the ecosystem in our garden, so as many plants, animals, […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability, Uncategorized Tagged With: sustainable gardening, the garden ecosystem

What to do in the Garden in June

June 27, 2020 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

These long, midsummer days are blissful. But we’re just past midsummer now, and the days are beginning to gradually get shorter. Gardening needs a change of gear, as time is running out for plants to fruit and flower before the end of summer. It’s definitely not a time to dilly dally. Plants to be planted […]

Filed Under: Blog, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: sustainable gardening, what to do in the garden in June

How To Take Pelargonium Cuttings

August 21, 2019 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

Pelargonium display at Wisley Garden

For gardeners, there’s a fine balance between enjoying the present moment & planning ahead. It’s not a difficult to achieve this in August, because apart from harvesting the rewards of the previous months work, there’s not too much to do. However, one of the planning ahead things in the garden this month is to take […]

Filed Under: Blog, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: how to take Pelargonium cuttings, plants for free, sustainable gardening

How To Grow Plenty Of Plants From Seed.

May 13, 2019 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

Growing plants from seed can be an uncertain business, so let me share a simple method that guarantees plenty of plants for your garden. Sowing seeds is attractive, because it’s a cheap, easy method of growing plants. However there are many variables that easily disrupt the whole process from seed to plant. The weather here […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Growing Food, Plants Tagged With: growing flowers from seed, growing food from seed, GYO, organic gardening, sustainable gardening

What To Do In The Garden In January

January 4, 2019 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

Given kind weather, gardening at this time of year is a particular joy. I spent a couple of happy sessions having a clear-up in the garden during the Christmas holiday. Close inspection of the first border revealed small tufts of grass & baby dandelions already growing & looking settled in for the year. However, they’re […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Growing Food, Plants Tagged With: sustainable gardening, what to do in the garden in january

How To Avoid Watering Your Garden

July 9, 2018 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

  We’re right in the middle of a summer heatwave here in the UK, which has meant soaring temperatures of at least 85 degrees on a daily basis, & no rain for weeks. The hot weather, which I love, has changed the way we do things. Food is lighter, & most of our meals are […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Growing Food, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: garden mulch, mulching your garden, sustainable gardening

How To Grow Your Own Herbs.

April 19, 2018 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

Orsan Priory, vegetable beds

  Growing your own herbs is one of the easiest things to do for a more sustainable life-style, & fresh herbs straight from your garden, have so much flavour than bought ones. It’s not just about sustainability, there are many other good reasons: fresh, organic herbs a few steps from your kitchen the best tasting […]

Filed Under: Blog, Growing Food, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: how to grow herbs, sustainable gardening, window-box gardening

Three Simple Ways To Garden Sustainably

April 10, 2018 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

Hello how’s your garden (or window box) growing? Rain has limited gardening outside, so I’ve been sowing seeds & pottering about in the greenhouse. This has given me time to think about how I want the garden to look this year… & more specifically what else I can do to garden sustainably. What can I […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: green roof, right plant right place, sustainable gardening

New Garden Gear To Make Life Easy, Stylish & Sustainable

March 5, 2018 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

The view from my kitchen door, early one morning, just before heading off to London last week for the day. I love a visit to London, to walk through the city seeing the sights & people-watching is always a treat. This time though, it was head down, avoiding the slippery pavements & hoping snow hadn’t […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: bare-root hedging, Bosch power assisted secateurs, Burgon and Ball, Garden Press event 2018., new gardening products, robotic lawn mower, sustainable gardening

10 Tips for Sustainable Gardening, You Know It Makes Sense.

May 12, 2017 By Jill Anderson 9 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Growing Food, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: flowers from seed by Higgledy Garden, sustainable gardening

Grow Your Own Cutting Garden.

August 11, 2016 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

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 […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: Ammi visnaga, how to grow a cutting garden, Scabiosa Back in Black, sustainable gardening

A Vintage Garden Barn Sale

July 11, 2016 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

July is well underway and so far this summer there’ve been plenty of garden-related events. This time last week I spent a wonderful day at The Hampton Court Flower Show, the Saturday before I went to a Vintage Barn Sale at the home of Sarah Moore, winner of the Great Interior Design Challenge in 2014 […]

Filed Under: Blog, Garden Design, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: Sarah Moore vintage, sustainable gardening, vintage garden containers, vintage garden tools

Fabulous Front Gardens

July 7, 2016 By Jill Anderson 6 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Blog, Garden Design, Gardening, Growing Food, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: designs for front gardens, greening grey Britain, sustainable gardening

How To Make A Bug Hotel.

June 30, 2016 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

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 […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: bug hotel, green roof, how to make an insect hotel, insect habitat, organic gardening, sustainable gardening

What to do at the allotment in November

October 30, 2015 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

I like November at the allotment, it’s good to clear out all the old plants, pull up the bean-posts and restore a sense of order to what has become a bit of a jumble. The joy of weeding at this time of year is that most of them won’t re-grow, and if bare soil is […]

Filed Under: Blog, Growing Food, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: how to make leaf mould, organic gardening, sustainable gardening, What to do at the allotment in November

Leafmould, a free gift for your garden.

October 19, 2015 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

My list of plants for our new garden grows longer each week, the latest plant I’m lusting after is a compact climbing rose, an old fashioned type and it must have scent. But I know that the thing I have to do before anything is planted is improve the soil. The easiest ways to do […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: how to make leaf mould, sustainable gardening

How to save seeds from your own garden

October 7, 2015 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

There’s something very satisfying about collecting flower, herb and vegetable seeds from your own garden, and it’s sustainable gardening at it’s very best. The plants from collected seeds may not be like their parent if the seed was visited by pollinating insects, doing the rounds of other plants. But the fun is seeing what the plant […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Growing Food, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: plants for free, seed-saving, sustainable gardening

Tips for making a garden pond

September 21, 2015 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

pond at the Beth Chatto Garden

We haven’t had a garden pond for a long time, the last garden just didn’t have the right conditions, it was too sloping and too shady, but now we’ve got a flat garden without too many trees nearby which makes it pretty ideal. Ponds seem to add a whole new dimension to a garden, they […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: sustainable gardening, tips for making a garden pond, wildlife ponds

What to do at the allotment in September

September 7, 2015 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

I’m realising that adaptability is key to keeping an allotment, because although there’s plenty to harvest in September, things don’t always work out as expected. Some plants go into over-drive when the conditions are just right for them, whilst others are slow or get eaten by the competition. I’ll never take courgettes for granted again, […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Growing Food, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: growing winter squash, sustainable gardening, what to do about tomato blight, what to do at the allotment in September

Gorgeous gardens & plants at The Chelsea Flower Show.

May 21, 2015 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

These are just a few of the gorgeous gardens and plants that took my fancy at The Chelsea Flower Show 2015. A classic combination of clipped domes of Yew and brightly coloured flowers by Adam Frost in the Homebase garden. I love the combination of flowers and herbs. There were lovely sculptural shapes, like these […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: garden sculpture, sustainable gardening, The Chelsea Flower Show 2015

How to make nettle fertiliser

April 27, 2015 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

nettles, nettle fertiliser

Let’s hear it for stinging nettles, that may sound like a crazy idea, but they can be very useful. Like any other plant, they absorb nutrients from the soil, so this is a nice method of extracting the nutrients from these weeds and making a liquid fertiliser to use on vegetables and any other green,leafy […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Growing Food, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: how to make nettle fertiliser, oraganic gardening, sustainable gardening

Great Dixter- gardening inspiration

April 1, 2015 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

great dixter topiary

Having not visited the garden at Great Dixter for over a year, I went twice last month and it has been quite a heady experience.     The first visit was with a group of fellow writers for a look round the garden with Rachael, one of the gardeners and a talk by Fergus Garrett, […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Inspiration, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: Great Dixter, hellebores, how to garden, sustainability, sustainable gardening

How to grow Dahlias, the perfect cut flower.

September 4, 2014 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

The wisley flower show, pink-orange dahlia flowers, pom pom dahlias,

I admit that I have a bit of a dahlia obsession, along with many other I suspect, my current passion is for the colourful, geometric, little pom pom types. They’re looking beautiful at the moment, so I thought you’d like some tips about how to grow Dahlias. The National Dahlia Society have a wonderful show […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Plants Tagged With: pom pom dahlia, sustainable gardening, The Wisley Flower Show 2014

Growing vegetables without pesticides

August 18, 2014 By Jill Anderson

growing courgettes, grow your own, www.growingnicely.co.uk

  When I started at my allotment three years ago, I thought that growing vegetables without pesticides would be a real headache, and while it hasn’t all been plain sailing this year the soft fruit, carrots, beetroot and courgettes have tasted wonderful and there have been plenty of them. So let me share the two […]

Filed Under: Blog, Gardening, Growing Food Tagged With: grow your own, growing vegetables organically, how to grow vegetables without pesticides, sustainable gardening

Sustainable gardening, a perfect plant for dry shade.

April 17, 2014 By Jill Anderson

  This is one of my favourite plants for those dry, shaded areas of the garden. The sort of place, usually under trees, where plants start off well, but then flag and eventually give up. Geranium macrorrhizum Album, also known as the Rock Cranesbill is a vigerous grower, making it perfect for those challenging areas.     It’s apple-green […]

Filed Under: Blog, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: Geranium macrorrhizum Album, ground cover, plants for dry shade, Rock Cranesbill, sustainable gardening, white flowers

A simple garden task that’ll make a huge difference to your garden.

December 16, 2013 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

It’s easy to stay inside tucked up by the fire at this time of year, but since it’s so mild at the moment I’d like to encourage you to venture out into the garden to do some gardening. It’s just the right time to give your garden a treat by spreading a layer of mulch over the soil. This […]

Filed Under: Blog, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: Achillea, flowers, garden tasks, geranium, hosta, improve soil, mulch, plants, sustainable gardening

Super stylish upcycling for sustainable garden design.

April 15, 2013 By Jill Anderson 2 Comments

  If the notion of recycling brings to mind images of a higgledy piggledy garden which is well-meaning but messy, think again. I’m on a bit of a mission to demonstrate that recycling, upcycling – call it what you will – can be super stylish. This idea was admirably demonstrated in this small garden at Hampton […]

Filed Under: Blog, Garden Design, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: re-use, recycling pallets, sustainable garden design, sustainable gardening, upcycle

Planting your garden ~ Part 2

November 9, 2012 By Jill Anderson Leave a Comment

As the garden drifts slowly into it’s winter rest, you get a different, clearer view. It becomes more open as the foliage mostly disappears and it’s easier to see its’ basic lay-out. A perfect time then to decide what changes need to be made and how the planting can be improved, so here’s part 2 […]

Filed Under: Blog, Garden Design, Plants, Recycling & Sustainability Tagged With: colour in the garden, planting, Rose Munstead Wood, sustainable gardening

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Hello, I’m Jill Anderson.
This is where you’ll find good, solid information about gardening, growing fruit & vegetables and how to keep it all looking good.
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The healing, calming power of nature in one photo. The healing, calming power of nature in one photo.
These wonderful autumn colours won’t be around for much longer. But that’s ok, because now is what matters, & their fleeting beauty makes them even more precious.
It’s easy to see how being among trees & nature is so beneficial for our health & wellbeing. 
Have a great Sunday.
Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it lo Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it look spectacular with this bold front door.
Today has been hard work, after a lovely time last week in Norfolk. The north coast there is spectacular. Realising these last few months, that there are so many beautiful places here. 
Have a nice evening.
Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Vis Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Visiting to see the Anish Kapoor sculptures, which are amazing, but unprepared for the beauty of the grounds & garden. 
Such a treat, worth coming to Norfolk for this alone!
Hope you’re keeping well, & managing to smile some of the time. x
P.S. more of Houghton Hall & Anish Kapoor on my stories
We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberrie We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberries, after coffee & cake, sitting in the churchyard - the cafe was full, & the churchyard is a quiet, peaceful spot..... as you’d expect.
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One little advantage of lockdown is walking so much more, rather than using the car. Though it shouldn’t have taken something as momentous as this, for me to change bad habits 🙁
Hope you’re weekend is going well.
My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from a random clump of hazel on the garden. Now looking much better covered in winter squash plants, so you can’t see just how ramshackle it is. I like to think it has a certain home-spun charm .

Great for small space gardening, imagine how much room you need to grow these without vertical supports.

I’ve got 2 Uchiki kuri, lovely nutty flavour.
1 Turks turban, for its flamboyant shape & colours, though it also tastes good.
One unknown, grown by my grandsons in their homeschooled science lesson.
Close-ups of the squash over on my stories.
Stay cool my friends x
I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium reg I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium regale) which is flowering right outside our bedroom window. 
It gets sun for about 4 hours only, you can order the bulbs now for planting in September. It’ll reappear every year & waft delicious scent around your garden, or through your windows.
Have a very happy Monday x
It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be It’s British Flower Week, there’s a lot to be said for fabulous seasonal flowers that haven’t travelled thousands of miles ...... & are wonderful for biodiversity
A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-s A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-summer!) & it’s, mostly, all growing nicely.

Spinach, courgettes & garlic in shot here. 
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x
Hope is a decision I’ve thought long & hard abou Hope is a decision
I’ve thought long & hard about how to view the tumult in the world we’re living in now. 
The only thing that works for me, is to choose hope.

It’s a tall order, but avoiding mainstream news & speculation helps avoid the anxiety, that’s often waiting in the wings.

One day soon there’ll be grandchildren clambering over this again.
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