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
RHS Cardiff Show 2014
A combination of a sunny day, some old friends and some new ones contributed to my visit to the 2014 RHS Cardiff Show being an enjoyable experience. To be honest, after a somewhat less enjoyable 2013 ... 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
Has the RHS derailed itself?
Every now and again, something happens which really riles me. The usually placid me gets very hot under the collar! And today has seen one of those “nows”! The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), o... 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
A Diversion from Gardening: A Hobbit Walk on the Wales Coast Path
The renowned garden photographer, long distance walker, even more bad-tempered husband of the bad-tempered Anne Wareham and general all-round ok-fella, Charles Hawes has a walking blog which extols th... 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
The Beechgrove Garden
Sometime in 2011, I discovered a BBC Scotland TV programme called “The Beechgrove Garden”. At the time, I was becoming disenchanted with Gardeners’ World on national BBC and Alan Titchmarsh’s ... 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
Veddw through the back gate
Why this has taken me nine months to write I don’t know. Maybe I was worried about incurring the wrath of a certain garden maker. But I realised that the aforementioned garden maker (the famous ... Read More
When is a spade not a spade?
When it’s a Sukoppu”. “Eh?” I hear you ask silently, “What the ‘eck is one of those?” A Sukoppu is neither spade nor shovel. It’s, well, what it is. Most gardeners will have a selectio... 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
Camomile tea isn’t just for drinking
As well as drinking the stuff, you can use camomile tea in the garden and the greenhouse. As a “pesticide” it zaps anything that pyrethrum would zap. It’s also good for preventing da... Read More
Happy Easter
Well that’s the site backend rebuilt. If you’re using a PC you won’t see much difference but the site will now display a lot better on mobile devices (phones, tablets and so on). One... 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
Singin’ in the rain (Veddw House Garden)
In the wet, Anne Wareham’s & Charles Hawes’ garden at The Veddw takes on a decidedly international flavour. As I sang “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head” with a silly French accent, I ha... Read More
A glorious weekend
Thus far, May has been a month which is definitely not the “Month of Maying” and we’ve all been sheltering from the rain (or in the case of some I know, moving out of the flood zone) rather than... Read More
Why I disagree with Monty
Monty Don has stirred things up again, this time with a statement that picking and squishing is the only way to get rid of lily beetle. Aaaaargh! Not CHEMICALS!!!!!!! I’ll admit right out that I use... Read More
Going round in circles
This week has been “give Colin a ring” week (round here things have names which makes referring to them a lot easier). This is Colin and, in the 17 or so years he’s been resident, the grass-free... Read More
It’s my birthday and I’ll cry if I want to
Here at Chez Rivendell a tradition has evolved, centred on my birthday, of transferring the summer bedding from its indoor quarters to the beds, borders, baskets and planters. Historically, the reason... Read More
A potter here and a potter there
I have reached the end of what I’d call a pottering week. This is partly because the weather people forecast a dismal week for that just gone and so I completely knackered myself last weekend. The w... Read More
Slug it to me
When I was little, guys working on the roads in winter always started by setting up something called a brazier in which they lit a fire to keep warm. I also remember that my mother wore a brazier – ... Read More
Getting ready for spring
As spring approaches, and young men’s fancy turns to what young men are always fancying (if my memory is correct!), this old codger’s fancy turns to the approaching growing season. This season has... Read More
The birds (after Hitchcock)
At this time of year, the planting side of the garden is rather peaceful. There’s not a lot you can do after the borders are tidied up, the clematis cut down and the mass of leaves that fall off nex... Read More- 5 of 5
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