Category: Garden
Six on Saturday – 17 June
Fellow blogger The Propagator has a meme going with the theme of “Six on Saturday” – six things going on in the garden. I thought I’d jump on the bandwagon this week. Don’... Read More
The Joys of Alstroemeria
Do you ever find yourself in the position of having a clear favourite plant? Over some nearly 50 years of gardening (I’m not that old; I just started before I was born!) I’ve had a few. In the day... Read More
A Spring in My Steppe
At last. Spring has arrived, accompanied by a water-butt-emptying lack of rain. Just before the weekend, we were supposed to “get it”. What we got was a storm in a teacup. Well more like a... Read More
The Boring Bit
At this time of the year, most of the blogs I follow are full of stories about planting out the chitted potatoes, protecting chillies from late frosts, netting over the emerging brassicas. All the exc... Read More
Planning for Growth
‘Tis plant-growing time. We’re all madly sowing seeds (or buying plug plants or a mix of the two) with abandon. Well, the flower growers are; veggie people are probably getting ready to pl... Read More
How I Became a Gardener (Possibly)
I often wonder what it is that decides when someone will become a gardener and someone else won’t. Is it in the genes? Or is it conditioning? This is my theory about me. In my young years, lunchtime... Read More
Rewinding (Part 4)
Having got as far as I could with the raised bed thing and now waiting for delivery of the final tonne of topsoil, I decided to indulge myself with a bit of variety and demolish one of my old garden s... Read More
Rewinding (Part 3)
Ah, the joys of scheduling. I knew WordPress could do it but my approach has been to write, publish, sit back. That, I think, is one of the reasons for my inadequate output. I would think to myself &#... Read More
Rewinding (Part 2)
How many hours would it take you to complete a three-dimensional jigsaw of 1745 pieces? If your jigsaw is made of WoodBlocX, the answer is a leisurely few days. My plan for the former shrubbery involv... Read More
Rewinding (Part 1)
I failed last year! I mean failed! All my good intentions turned into failures. Well not all; only my blog and web site ones. I’d started fairly well and had even devised a little chain of posts... Read More
Aaaaaargh! Salt!
It’s that time of year when we all start thinking ahead to icy paths, slips and slides. And the magic word is “salt”. When your local council “grits” the roads, it’s actually salting the r... Read More
What June Gap?
I can never understand the references to the “June Gap”, supposedly the month of the summer in which nothing much is flowering and there is a lack of colour. Today (15 June) is more or les... Read More
Resilience
Someone I know doesn’t particularly like camellias. This may be because of their tendency to drop blooms all the time or, if you want to avoid the dropped blooms, their need for constant deadhea... Read More
My WoodblocX Adventure
I’ve blogged before about having to chop down trees and shrubs that got whacked in the winter storms. Now I’m blogging about filling the holes! I hit 60 a week ago: well, rather, 60 hit me! And I... Read More
Why Weed When You Can Tulip
I’m often surprised by the number of people for whom weeding is a real pleasure. For me, it’s just something that has to be kept on top of so weeds don’t become a problem. Far more... Read More
Adieu, Sweet Mutant
With a bit of luck, the season of storms has passed now and, in time, those parts of the country that have flooded will drain and, in even more time, will dry out. I feel very sorry for those for whom... Read More
The shameless plug
I like summer bedding. A lot! And until 2012, I grew a few thousand bedding plants every year. One large bed was religiously planted with a bit over 400 begonias; 20 large wall planters each swallowed... Read More
Spending time in the garden
At this time of year, the amount of time I can spend in the garden is limited by the weather and my energy level. But though I may not be spending time in the garden, it is nevertheless spending time ... Read More
Happy new year (I hope)
Well, here we are in 2014 and I’m glad to see the back of 2013 to be honest. What started out as a promising year ground to a sudden halt at the beginning of May when a ladder fell from under me (I ... Read More
Goodbye thug and hello stunners!
Warning – some of the links in this post are going to be VERY time limited! So be quick! Some 20-odd years ago when I was first turning a large “virgin-lawned” rear patch into something approxim... Read More
Taking things for granted – NOT!
Over the course of my nearly 59 years, I’ve had my share of broken bones, including a couple of ankles. Those lovely heavy plasters you get fitted with have nice strong feet and, with a bit of old t... Read More
Yellow has arrived
Celandine is appearing everywhere, despite all my efforts to eradicate it, the various red, blue and mauve primulas I planted around the garden are hiding while yellow ones appear in beds and borders ... Read More
Summertime, and the weather is yuck!
The British summer we’re having at the moment conveniently brings together several general pre-occupations of gardeners – rain, slugs and things not growing. At least the lifting of the last hosep... Read More
Plant labels – do you love or loathe them?
To label or not to label, that is the question! I was recently involved in a Twitter exchange about the pros and cons of labelling plants in public gardens. I suspect I was in the minority which, on b... Read More