My slippery descent into gardening began by taking ‘Prickly Pear’ cuttings, from Kew Gardens, while I was still at prep school. After a horticulture degree, with placements in historic gardens, and two decades making gardening telly, I’ve come full circle and returned to being a West Dorset sole gardener.
Even though days are lengthening, due to the increasing tilt of the northern hemisphere towards the warming rays of the sun, there is a huge inertia to overcome before your garden takes notice. Only the earliest of early spring bulbs Read more »
When winter has edited the garden down to its bare bones it affords you the opportunity to revel in details which are easily missed within the fully furnished garden. Grey-green euphorbias, of which there are many, may be blooming in Read more »
The good thing about November is that even though the days are short, and the clocks have gone back, the general pace of life in the garden is correspondingly slow. If it rains one day, or the whole week, then Read more »
This month it’s a case of ‘steady as she goes’. Most of the tasks that you could do last month can still be done now. Temperatures are dropping further, the chance of a really warm spell is fading fast, while Read more »
I know it’s a bit depressing to have to admit that the summer is drawing to a close, with autumn waiting in the wings, but it does signal a new period of activity in the garden. Before the advent of Read more »
It seems that daring to mention our pretty ‘fair’ summer so far, in last month’s article, didn’t jinx things as we’ve continued to have a good degree of sunshine, warm temperatures and not too much rain. Recent thunderstorms, with their Read more »
I almost daren’t mention, for fear of a jinx, that we seem to be having a pretty fair summer so far. The recent high temperatures and dry patch has highlighted certain week spots in my gardening habits. I didn’t get Read more »
As I write this the ‘Chelsea Flower Show’ has finished for another year. For about two decades I never missed a single one; now I haven’t set foot in the place for the last three years—I don’t miss it! I Read more »
As I write this it’s been sunny and dry for a good few days to the point where it’s very easy to forget just how wet the winter was. The mould blooming on my, oil-bound distempered, interior walls reminds me Read more »
Last year blossom went into overdrive following a hard and prolonged winter. It will be interesting to see how it performs this year given that it’s been so damn wet and mild – practically the opposite conditions. April is prime Read more »