Who switched the lights off? The turning of the seasons marked by the changing clock is always dramatic. It is amazing how just one hour brings about such change. Gardening opportunities have to be snatched at and with autumn now in full swing, there is much to do. The real priority being to get theRead More
October Gardening News
Where do the days go? This topsy turvy month has just flown away. Rain teased and brushed the ground, leaves quietly tumbled surrendering to drought and imminent autumn. It has been a strange summer, with many plants just not realising their potential. I have dahlias that have dithered about flowering and some things that justRead More
September Gardening News
Well, that was a test was it not? A sunburned, desiccated landscape stretched in every direction and little could be done to offer respite to the shrinking ground. Watering became a tease for the garden, with moisture returning to the air almost as it left the tap. We talk of memories, of past meteorological calamities,Read More
August Gardening News
Well, things warmed up a tad in July didn’t they? We deliberated on the ethics of pouring water onto the garden, we bucketed the bathwater and dropped house bricks in toilet cisterns to reduce the flush, but despite our best-efforts things crisped and many things ran swiftly to seed. Onions were very quick to bolt,Read More
July Gardening News
Well, we slipped through June without a scratch, the gardens were all planted up early as is still the norm in years of Royal celebration and the weather was ok. There was a curious undulation in temperatures almost on an hourly cycle, we would see changes that had temperatures rising and then crashing. The windRead More
June Gardening News
Another curious month. May just rolled in and out again. Nothing particularly dramatic to flag up the crossing from spring to summer. As gardeners we see May as the turning point, the demarcation that allows a confident march into safer times for planting. Through the earlier days we watch over our shoulders for treacherous turnsRead More
May Gardening News
April swept through, delivering a festival of blossom, Magnolias trumpeted with pomp and the confetti of cherry blossom held teasingly everywhere. The daffodils and tulips held on, whilst bluebells picked up the excitement and popped up everywhere. With each new day leaf bud appeared and soft lime growth unfolded to announce that spring was here.Read More
April Gardening News
Was there really a month of March? I think that I must have lost it somewhere, I guess that I was just too busy to notice it’s passing. I remember the tease of new buds and the rush to get my pruning finished, I remember the blooming splendour of Magnolias everywhere and wondering if, asRead More
March Gardening News
Another month gone already, nothing particularly dramatic about it, no stormy punctuations, just a very mild grey block of time, a chilly wind and just enough rain to disrupt. Whilst there have been a few cold nights, it’s been the mildness that has brought the greatest confusion. The squirrels have kept busy, the magpies haveRead More