Wow! What an exhausting month and what a difference in the weather compared with last spring, when the sun shone every day from the end of March for ten solid weeks. Like last year the ground remains dry, but the big difference has been with the daily chill. The night frosts through April were veryRead More
The spiteful wind, that has been a feature of this month has dented the enthusiasm of the keenest of gardeners. It has scythed through every fibre, whilst nature has chosen to just bash on. Encouraged by the stubborn defiance of the dormant world to get back to business, I did sow seed in February andRead More
What a difference a month makes? That said there has been a scent of it for weeks. Against the backdrop of the crisis, nature has put on an extraordinary show. The cherries have been magnificent, the forsythia glowed, and the tulips have brought real joy. I have a sentimental connection with them and try toRead More
May rolls away, a muddled month, disrupted by Bank holidays and frost. Gardening confidence stayed high and lively throughout though, whilst on a daily basis, we (growers) tripped in and out covering and protecting as the teatime news indicated another after dark crash of temperature. It was all very wearing, the tease of nature changingRead More
And the craziness continues… What a frustrating season, with gardens and gardeners all out of step. In mid-April the consensus was that we were three weeks behind with our planting and before much could be planted there was still the preparatory stuff. Every hole filled with water, so many of us have only just putRead More
Hooray, the clocks have changed and we can garden in the evening (if it stops raining). It’s actually good to see the back of March, what a month that was. The snow was totally disarming and the cold nights have been a test. Of course the thaw and the heavy rain has made the groundRead More
Well, it did calm down eventually, even if we did spend many nights on frost alert and had to deal with a couple of real corkers. I had minus four in a greenhouse one clear night. As a kid, I would walk the site after dark with my Dad, checking doors and windows were shut,Read More
Nature wrong foots us once more and demonstrates it’s extraordinary ability to improvise. At the start of the year, I expressed concern at the way that the daffodils had all decided to rush to flower early. The Cheltenham Festival was two months off and gardens and verges shone with banks of yellow trumpets. Now hereRead More
Hooray, the clocks have changed and everywhere life is returning. The weather has continued to confuse and confound, but spring is now a reality. We have come through the winter wetter than we might have wished and there have been one or two casualties. For me, most notable was the single night of minus six,Read More
What a crazy month that was, no sooner here than gone. I think that the Easter punctuation allowed extra days to pass by. It has been a fairly kind month and things have wanted to grow. The new leaf appeared across the landscape and suddenly we were into the growing season. As we move forwardRead More