For me, there are few things that make a home more happy or hopeful looking than a glass of flowers. Now, more than ever, it’s impossible not to appreciate a little glass of outdoors, inside your house. The last couple of weeks have seen the arrival of the first perennial flowers in our garden and … More A glass of flowers
Lots of vegetables can be grown from seed outdoors, when the first frosts have passed. Some plants, however, are too tender to start early outdoors, if you want them to get big enough to provide a useful crop. Instead, you can start these off from seed in a greenhouse, so you have more mature plants … More Growing vegetables from seed indoors
So is there anything we can be doing to get the most out of our gardens during lockdown? Here are a few tips: Can’t get compost? Use garden soil. It may not be ideal, but it’s likely to be good enough, especially if you’ve been working in compost over recent years. If you haven’t got … More Gardening in lockdown
Like so many other things, the impacts of lockdown on the gardening industry in the UK are already clearly going to be profound. Firstly, the garden centres are all closed to the public. For most of us this means no picking up a few things on a Saturday morning, but to the nurseries who supply … More The impact of lockdown on garden suppliers
Well, I’ve written several posts that I haven’t published this month, as events seemed to be moving faster than I could write. It’s fair to say that the arrival of the novel Coronavirus that’s sweeping the world has changed daily life in Europe and in Britain we’re still working to find a new normal. In … More What a difference a month makes
Last month included an important date in the diary of a Scot and, aside from the excuse to tuck into a plate of haggis, Burns Night also had me thinking on some of our national bard’s most well-remembered words: ‘The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, gang aft agley.’ Robert Burns It’s that time of … More The best-laid schemes
Well I’m pretty ashamed to see the date of my last blog. But a lot has happened in that time. When I last posted, our building project was finally finished and our lives became focused on finding furniture, unpacking boxes, moving my toddler into his new room and getting everything ready for the arrival of … More Gardening with a newborn
I have a new floral obsession. This is the first year I’ve grown Sweet Peas and I’m officially hooked. My wonderful book, The Origin of Plants, tells me that Lathyrus Odaratus came to Britain in 1699 by way of a Scillian monk. Since then, we’ve taken them to our hearts. They’re easy to grow, come … More Sweet peas
There’s something particularly satisfying about picking your salad, fresh from the garden and using it straight away. You can’t get fresher. But it’s also knowing that you coaxed it along yourself, from seed to salad bowl. We’ve had a good crop so far this year. Plenty of radishes, too much lettuce and a good amount … More Cropping in a family garden
Just living is not enough … one must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower. Hans Christian Andersen Last post I wrote about some of the flowers I’m growing in the cut flower bed. So here’s a brief post showing some of the results. The last few weeks have produced quite a few blue flowers, … More Flowers in the house
There are two main raised beds in our garden. The first is for vegetables, the second is for cut flowers. There are times when I feel guilty about this, as we could be growing twice as much vege, but I love having cut flowers for the house and enjoy having the space for things I … More A cut flower bed
When it comes to my garden, I have a particular weakness and that is flowers. When it comes to flowers, again I have a specific weakness and that is Peonies. I adore them. They’re top heavy, a little fussy, and take up lots of space, but only flower for a few weeks a year. It … More A note on peonies
‘Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.’ Robert Louis Stevenson This blog isn’t about keeping an allotment, or growing prize-winning vegetables that win ‘best in show’. As much as I admire both such activities, they seem far-off to me, given the number of hours in the day … More Growing vegetables for the family
I’m afraid it has been far too long since my last post. There are a few reasons for this. A working Mum, with an energetic toddler and an ongoing building project, finding the time has been a little tricky. Just washing the plates in our upstairs bathroom (no kitchen for 3 months now) is rather … More A quiet spell
My plans for filling the half-empty border in our garden are all on hold right now. The garden is filled with steels, a cement mixer and chunks of our roof, making it hard to get around, but impossible to do so was toddler safely. No more naptime gardening sessions – at least for a couple … More Gardening with a builder
It’s not always easy. It can be quite destructive. But teaching my son about plants, the seasons and where his food comes from, is one of the reasons I wanted a garden in the first place. I grew up helping my Mum in the garden and pretty much anything I know about plants comes from … More Gardening with a toddler
Blossom by blossom the spring begins. Algernon Charles Swinburne. I think it’s fair to say, spring is well and truly in progress. The first cherry blossom has appeared in our garden and other trees have fat pink buds, ready to burst open on the next sunny day. My husband and I planted one particular cherry … More Beginnings
Our garden is everything we need for our little family, but I still covet a walled garden. There’s a beautiful one at Calke Abbey, in Derbyshire. It’s a perfect place to get some inspiration, and there’s plenty of space for my son to run around in. With sunny weather and an energetic child, it seemed … More A walled garden
The short answer is yes. We’re having a very mild start to the year, as described this week in The Guardian. But what’s the ‘normal’ starting time for Spring? The Met Office describe two different dates marking the beginning of Spring. ‘Meteorological Spring’ and ‘Astronomical Spring’ are based on different calendars and start on March … More Is Spring early this year?
The flowers of late winter and early spring occupy places in our hearts well out of proportion to their size — Gertrude S. Wister I’ve been trying to avoid saying it – it seemed too soon – I haven’t written much on winter yet. But, on a mild sunny day, with a wide, blue sky, … More Spring
The Cambridge dictionary describes an acid test as ‘the true test of the value of something’. Well, that may be particularly true when it comes to assessing the pH levels in a garden. This simple test is one of the easiest things you can do to tailor your choice of planting to the conditions in … More Acid test
One of the things I love to do most in the garden is grow new plants. Whether it’s from seeds or cuttings, there’s something wonderful about going from a tray of soil to a collection of fully grown plants. I sew a lot in my raised beds, but I’ve been short of somewhere warm so … More Time to propagate
There are few things more predictable in the world of gardening than the ‘unexpected’ cold spell. Shoots are appearing everywhere, the green growth of young bulbs is thrusting upwards, life is returning and, although it may seem rather early, the warm days continue until you finally accept it – spring must be coming. You let … More A cold spell
In winter the garden is far from the heady days of burgeoning cut flowers and luscious crops, but there are still pleasures to be had. One of my favourite cut flowers is at its best in winter; the Hellebore brings an early flash of colour, each flowerhead like a jewel amongst the brown leaves and … More Little surprises
Already! Underneath last year’s growth, yesterday, I found the unexpected – shoots! Thick and waxy and with the deep enticing hue of a Malbec, the first tentative hint of my beloved peonies has already appeared. This takes us to the question of ‘cutting back’. Removing dead wood and old growth from borders is a task … More Shoots
The start of a new year and the clock is reset in the garden. Bare earth is like a blank sheet and the imagination can run wild. This year it will fill with a rambling cacophony of colour and texture, that will burst open in layer after layer of foliage and petals for months on … More A new leaf
It is only the farmer who faithfully plants seeds in the Spring, who reaps a harvest in the Autumn. B. C. Forbes And so… This is an experiment. I’m a writer. I’ll leave you to judge whether I’m any good, but what I mean to say is I’ve been compelled to fill notepads with writing, … More A seed
New leaf 