We have bumped our way through another messy month, with the weather at its treacherous best, if it were to figure in a Shakespeare play, it would be cast as the villain and carry a knife. Each evening I have ventured onto the site, checked doors and boilers and smelled the air as my fatherRead More
We’re under starters orders and still pondering over what the weather is going to throw next. Is it possible, that I am already scribbling notes for the February gardener? January has been weird, in the main cold and very wet. It is amazing how in just a few months we have gone from scorched toRead More
Well that was a tricky few days wasn’t it. A good fall of snow with no advance notice and a period of bitter cold, with silly low temperatures which just blocked any hopes for a quick thaw. Nature is the greatest leveller, and it was actually quite special to get a smell of winter beforeRead More
Each month’s musings begin as the last, a confounded outpouring as once again the shape of seasons is disrupted. Once upon a time, we would catch a couple of big frosts at the end of September and would set about repairing and replanting, removing bedding plants that had performed all summer long. Today those beddingRead More
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
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
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
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
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
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