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.
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 »
I think there may have been a couple of those classic dry, sunny, warm days since I last sat down to write one of these. The kind of days when it is a pleasure to be in the garden and Read more »
I really don’t know what to say. Every year is different, to state the bleedin’ obvious, but I think this has been the vilest few weeks that I can remember in all the fourteen or so years that I’ve lived Read more »