Gardening

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 [...]

I developed an intimate knowledge of outdoor loo’s, in case you want to know, when I was 12 years of age. Poverty saw my mother send me out to work on a milk-round. I was earning, paid a [...]

Strawberry trees in Friars Cliff sounds rather like a fantasy, yet it’s true. They are fruiting now and this is the best time to identify them. The fruits tend to drop onto the path and [...]

Horticulture and global warming in Britain are rarely considered together. Horticulture is a dirty word these days, as are all jobs that utilise the land. However, it has a long history in [...]

Gardening is a sensuous hobby because it is all about fertility. Consequently, if we gardeners are not spawning vegetables and fruit then we are growing flowers. Success feeds the senses, not the [...]