Gardening

Spring is sprung and the tulips are out. This is one of the flower beds in my front garden. It seems to have taken ages to actually flower but now it is out in all its glory. If you plant mixed [...]

I am washing up and then suddenly laugh to myself; does everybody do this? My laugh is about me reflecting on existence, the sheer absurdity of life. A couple of years ago, when we needed to buy [...]

Whilst I was pontificating about creating a vegetable garden, it struck me that I forgot to mention turf. Firstly, it’s that green stuff under your feet. Secondly, its perhaps the one plant [...]

I am reading various publications promoting the growing of vegetables. This is to save money but also to create healthy food for us to eat. Most of us realise that supermarket vegetables are [...]

Is it possible to exaggerate the value of a tree. Yes, I know that they tie up carbon and benefit the environment by their sheer presence. However, other benefits might be more difficult to [...]

Gardening springs between joy and despair. Earlier this year I bought three online cottage garden plant collections. I knew it was late in the season, the plants were on sale and cheap and they [...]

I love trees. Sitting here, I look out at a small forest stretching up the hillside. The leaves gently wave in the winds. However, much of my current labour is about planting trees in the garden. [...]

I have created five new gardens, each subsequently passed over to the people buying our property. It was a an herbaceous garden in Wolverhampton and then a heather and conifer garden in Penrith. [...]

Can you make soil? If that appears an odd question then stay with me. I was taught this skill in the 1960’s but beware, it involves some hard labour. You might ask why soil is needed. Well, [...]

What a Spring it has been for wildflowers! I have never seen so many different species nor the sheer mass of pastel colours. In the Peak District the display started with anemone nemorosa, which [...]