When Caroline said that in a fit of madness, she had booked the 3growbags to give a talk at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh, my first thought was a calm and thoughtful ‘WHAT!!?!’ I was overwhelmed with questions – ‘What will we talk about? Who will come? Would we master Powerpoint? Would Caroline behave […]
Now, I realise the photograph of my chosen plant this week may not be everyone’s idea of a horticultural gem, but with each year that passes I become more fascinated with the seasonal change that is autumn. There is an allure beyond the beauty of colour; gentle decay can also be a fascinating, eye catching […]
Brrrr! It can be hard to feel keen about wading into the garden in November– too much cold, too much wind and rain or worse…….but there are still jobs to do including some cleaning and tidying, planting a pot for winter colour, refreshing the rhubarb patch…… A GOOD WASH AND BRUSH-UP Now the main season of […]
Hi folks, so sorry for a second email this week, we promise we won’t make a habit of it but we recently moved to Mailchimp to issue our weekly blog and, YIKES! some people say they’re not getting it because it’s going straight into their spam folder. We’re so sorry if this is the case […]
Ingredients: 400g rhubarb, cut into 1cm pieces 9 tbsps golden caster sugar 4 medium egg yolks 450ml double cream half-teaspoon of vanilla essence What you do: Put the rhubarb pieces in a small roasting tin and coat them with 3tbsps of the sugar. Roast them at 200 degrees for 20 mins. until they are really […]
Help! Our gardens have descended into a soggy mess and I can’t be the only one wandering around dismal piles of rain-sodden vegetation wondering where it all went wrong. It’s now that evergreens in your garden can come to the rescue. Like the bowls of cheese-‘n-onion crisps that you don’t notice at a buffet till all the […]
It is often said of plants: ‘should be more widely used’, or ‘not often seen in gardens’, and I am pretty sure I know why you could say that of my choice today. It is at its peak in October, and often into November, so it’s not going to make many sales in nurseries and even […]
Whoa, it’s properly autumn now, isn’t it! Even in the south we have had some seriously wet and windy weather recently, but there are still jobs we can do indoors, such as drying chillies and planting amaryllis, so let’s get on with them……. STRING ‘EM UP! We became very excited about our chilli crop […]
As regular readers of our blog will have come to realise, of the three of us I am the one with the most inquiring mind, the fact finder, the researcher. So my holiday reading on our recent break to the Hebrides was a copy of the recently published ‘A History of Gardening in 50 Objects’ […]
So the weather is unseasonably balmy, but The Sun is as usual predicting the coldest winter for 30 years (Elaine won’t have seen this headline, she pretends to only look at the Times ….) and there’s a restless feeling afoot that one should be doing something to prepare. It’s probably a hangover from our Neolithic […]
This year, despite having had our first frost a couple of weeks ago, October is brimming with subtle colour; in the early morning the plants are lightly shrouded in dew, often covered in cobwebs, and the grasses stand effortlessly among them all, unifying the picture. Although they have been on the gardening scene for a […]
The Wisley September Flower Show is a distant memory, Malvern Autumn Show has been and gone, the nights are drawing in and Strictly’s on the telly. But for die-hard plantaholics like me and Louise there is one last hurrah – and what a special one it is – The Great Dixter Autumn Plant Fair. Dixter’s […]
A real change in the air now as the garden takes on its autumn colours. There’s plenty to do as you pack away the outdoor furniture and make sure that your plants are ready to face the winter. Here are some ideas for tasks such as sowing Hardy Annuals and broad beans, laying a soil […]
That glorious phrase ‘hope springs eternal’ lies at the heart of every gardener’s planning. A tricky sentiment with the current political shenanigans, but when the bulb catalogues come thudding on to the doormat ….oh boy! Your mind can go soaring again imagining sheets of glistening crocuses, pools of dancing daffodils, acres of bright tulips…… I have […]
Everyone loves a daisy, but for me, this is the sweetest of them all. In very wet weather a few of the taller daisies in our garden (leucanthemum, rudbeckia, asters etc) can look a little bedraggled, whereas the Mexican fleabane always looks cheerful! Apologies to those who know it well, (however you will understand why […]
If you’re able to visit Broadwoodside garden at Gifford in East Lothian you’re a/ extremely lucky and b/ unlikely to forget it. Broadwoodside is a private garden. It only opens around once year for Scotland’s Garden scheme but Anna and Robert Dalrymple will host groups of discerning horticulturists and on this occasion made our small […]
It’s a little sad when you can’t help but notice there isn’t enough evening light to finish the list of gardening tasks you’d planned,isn’t it! But here are a few to get started on anyhow, like constructing new planting areas, cutting out dead wood in shrubs and trees, and making plans for next year……. MAKING […]
Like the pantomime sisters, Elaine and Laura hurried off this week to join erudite company (the Garden Media Guild), leaving me to start this week’s post on September. Although who actually plans for their September garden? Obviously prepping for spring bulbs is VITAL because we’re desperate for something to happen in the New Year. But […]
Wikipedia’s answer to the question ‘What is a wildflower?’, is as follows: ‘A wildflower is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted’. So, by that definition, mine are not wild as I grew some from seed and planted them in our garden. However, they are native to […]
September has such a wonderful mellow quality about it – all the summer fandango is fading but the weather is often still very pleasant for gardening, so here are some tasks to have a go at, including cutting back spent plants, giving the hedges a final trim, and taking some herb cuttings: CUTTING BACK If […]
Now is a good time to be sharpening up your hedge-lines but to be honest I’ve always considered hedgetrimming to be the garden equivalent of hoovering – just much more dangerous. It usually involves yards of heavy cable and a dodgy gadget known as a circuit breaker which is apparently there to save you getting electrocuted, […]
If you happen to be looking for a hardy, evergreen, self-clinging climber for a north wall, then look no further. This impressive relative of the hydrangea fits my description to a T; and every year as the summer draws to a close, my gardening spirits never fail to be lifted by this beautiful, exotic, yet […]
Once we’re into late August, it’s hard for a gardener not to start thinking about next summer! So some of my tips this week have something of a forward-planning theme – planting bulbs, trimming lavender, improving the compost-heap….. BULBS FOR THE FUTURE If you’ve been wowed by a stand of lilies this summer either your […]
August can be a tricky month in the garden – a real injection is usually needed between the prettiness of June and July flowers, and the mellow quality of September asters and fawn grasses. What we need is HOT COLOUR and spadefuls of it to cheer us up as another summer starts to slip away. […]
Late summer in our garden – and predominant in the beds are shades of purple, lavender, blue and pink; the hot colours of the autumn garden have yet to get into their stride. So, my subject today is the perfect antidote to fit into this misty mix. Neither yellow, nor rust, nor ochre, it is […]
‘Summertime and the livin’ is easy’, so my tasks for you this time are of the more relaxed kind – a little gentle seed-collection, pruning the rambler roses, some feedback from earlier topics…. Nothing too demanding, I trust – you’ll have time to relax and enjoy these all-too-fleeting days of high summer… SEEDS FOR SAVING […]
Which plants have the most evocative scents of summer? At the risk of being called an introverted snob again (Caroline thinks I don’t read what she puts out about me on Twitter) gardening is so much more interesting when you explore the biology behind it. Flowers produce scent to lure pollinators to their nectar. So […]
Given the heavy rain showers that we’ve had recently, and the very strong winds, I’m confident that when it is all over, there will be one plant that comes through it all unscathed. It may just be a form of our common native purple loosestrife, but it is one that can withstand any weather and […]
August, and the hot colours of late summer are starting to glow in the garden. Holidays are in full swing, but there are still a few garden tasks to be getting on with, such as tending to tomatoes and vines, taking some conifer cuttings and picking pears….. TOMATO TIPS Tomatoes that have been looked after […]
It’s that time of the year when you need to rely on a core backbone of plants to burst onto the scene and provide volume and colour through the hottest months. Here in the south east where each summer seems to be warmer and drier than the last (sorry Caroline but it was your choice to […]
This foxglove is a jewel! I know I’m on to a winner when each time I pass a plant I find myself stopping and staring at the wonder of it, and my selection this week is no exception. It is also an absolute magnet for every passing bee which just adds to the interest. The […]
Once July really kicks in, the goodies keep coming if you’ve done all your earlier spadework – early crops to pick, fruit ripening and flowers everywhere! But no time to rest on your laurels – let’s have a go at pruning the plum trees, taking semi-ripe cuttings and harvesting courgettes, amongst other jobs ……. PRUNING […]
Whether it’s our warming planet or the welcome introduction of new cultures to our society, interest in creating a ‘tropical’ or hot weather garden is definitely ‘in’. As you would expect I’m way ahead of my sisters here, having spent 10 years on a project in Madeira, so let me share some tips…. First, create the right microclimate. […]
I made a happy accidental choice when I planted ‘Étoile Violette’ at the foot of our Amelanchier lamarckii: at the time, I hadn’t realised that for many reasons it was the perfect clematis for growing in a large shrub or small tree. Now, our snowy mespilus never looks dull, but there are certain shrubs that, however […]
Now the gorgeous lazy summer days have arrived our gardening tasks are mostly of the gentler and easier kind – hurray! So let’s get going on some deadheading, planting for later summer colour and thinning fruit among other jobs……. Deadhead for a better bed One of my favourite summer tasks is to wander among the flower […]
As you get more into gardening you may start daydreaming about a greenhouse to maximise your horticultural potential, but will this be a sound investment or a white elephant? Perhaps a greenhouse isn’t what you need, and a sunny porch, cold frame or a full blown orangerie is the structure that will make your garden […]