And so to business! The distraction of COVID had disguised the advance of another month and there is a gentle easement on daylight. Nature teases and whispers of better days ahead. There is evidence of buds filling and bulb shoots are spearing out of the ground. In just two months we will be tweaking theRead More
A whole season swallowed up by COVID and time to think about the what to do next in the garden. The Spring in the main was pretty good and the interest in gardening lifted hugely as people, locked down sought occupation. There were many new to the task and most I suspect will be pleasedRead More
And then it was August. Completely bonkers, testing, amazing, uplifting and surreal. There are so many things that one could say about this extraordinary period and whilst it has at times been tough, I have had fun. The oft mentioned ‘playing’ has been at the heart of my journey and has reminded me of allRead More
Here we are three months into the ‘Odyssey of Covid’ an epic journey for us all. It has been both testing and at times joyously uplifting. People have talked to one another and there have been huge acts of kindness and of generosity. In parallel, there has been bubbling frustration and confusion, all presided overRead More
So, that was summer then? What a strange month August proved to be, a real mish mash of unpredictable weather, that knocked over and knocked out. It tucked into everything above three feet, pushing over canes and cages and tumbling immature fruit. Not that the fruit issue worried me too much as pests have beenRead More
Well, this year really is racing by. July has been an interesting month, the early weeks just a little too dry to bring out the best in things, but we may yet catch up. Certainly the warmth has been great for pests and when there has been a splash of rain all manner of thingsRead More
Mmmmmmm…so we waited for the rain and then it came, the perfect fillip for new plantings. The beans romped and everything puffed up and grew masses of leaves. The turn around was amazing, at the start of June, the message was that rainfall was at an all time low and then within days the newsRead More
Isn’t it great when seasons actually deliver more or less what is expected? I felt that October worked and that the season had turned. There were a few cold nights, some beautiful misty dawns, the occasional bright watery days of sunshine and some very soggy rough moments. Things just got beaten up and then theRead More
The tide has turned and how very quickly, Autumn rushed in, the brutal heat of summer bringing the early surrender from an exhausted landscape. The trees tell of a desire to shed their leaves and rest. All across the garden there is a sense of shutdown. The harvest has been mixed, the runner beans croppingRead More
Well, that was a little testing, was it not? Days and days of blistering heat and hardly a cloud in the sky, quite extraordinary, nature does know how to play with the mind. Of course it’s been wonderful if you had nothing to do and didn’t have a garden to watch over. The transition fromRead More