The best gardening tools
I inherited a lot of gardening tools from my aunt. Gradually over the last fifteen years I’ve enjoyed discovering the benefits of each one. I’ve found drawbacks too. Most garden tools are designed for bigger hands and taller people. Fostering a sizeable family of tools has taught me two things. • If you have access to the correct tool for the job you will work faster. • The range of each ‘correct tool’ is massive. Finding the perfect tool for you within this range will conserve your energy and increase productivity and overall...
read moreA guaranteed investment. Attract overwintering ladybirds to tackle aphids in your garden next year.
Just beside our front door is a small ladybird (ladybug) and lacewing condominium. It’s a simple design that seems to work well. Just a few short lengths of bamboo cane in an old terracotta pot but it does the trick – attracting these aphid eating insects to a warm sheltered spot to hibernate during the chilly winter months. Last year I spotted a selection of rather smart ladybird hotels online. When I saw the price tags I decided to make my own. I had got as far as cutting the bamboo bedrooms and didn’t have time to construct a frame to...
read moreWhy buy compost for your pots when you can make it at home?
With the “save money in 2008 challenge” gripping the reins of the cottage smallholder spending, I’d been a bit concerned about the annual outlay on seeds, grow bags and loads of compost for the large pots that are dotted about in the kitchen garden. We usually have fifteen tomato plants growing on a warm south west facing wall of the cottage. So I bought two ultra cheap grow bags from Netto and three decent ones and within seconds of planting them up, realised that the saving was a mistake. The Netto ones were rougher in...
read moreTea and roses
I realised that if I bought leaf tea rather than tea bags I could save a bit of cash and also use the sweet little tea spoon that I inherited from my grandmother. It meant a week of drinking some rather elderly mango infused tea to finish the caddy. I stuck it for a couple of days and put the rest in the compost bin – it is supposed to be a fertiliser after all. We discovered that the loose tea leaves were packed with far more flavour than the same type and brand of teabags. But dealing with the tea leaves was going to be a bit of a...
read moreA present from the wind and birds
Sometimes it’s easy to be distracted by borders that have taken years to mature and miss the dazzling surprise of unplanned flowers. Particularly those wild flowers that have quietly self seeded. Suddenly they are standing before you, like clear eyed children that have stepped out of the shadows to surprise you. I found this opium poppy in the broad bean border this morning. I hadn’t even noticed that it was growing there. There was something about its fresh transient beauty that made my heart turn...
read moreSelective views
It’s easy to be selective and just ignore areas that don’t work well in a garden. I’m trying to concentrate on these patches at the moment rather than spend hours tending and polishing my favourite corners. I must have spent a good two hours removing the brambles that have crept up through the yew hedging and were waving like valiant anarchists across the top. One specimen has evaded all attempts to restrict him and is still at large. I see him every morning, bobbing about above the hedge. So along with the daily hunt for the...
read moreHuge delights in every garden
My first very own garden was barely three strides square. I was in my mid thirties and began planting with passion. It was the size of a giant’s plant pot but small enough for me to scratch around with confidence. It could be weeded in twenty minutes and was small enough to notice and cherish every tiny detail. When my clematis Jackmanni opened for the first time, I fell hopelessly in love. The gardening bug is like a benevolent form of Malaria. It keeps on returning. You might take a year or two off but it will get you in the end. After...
read moreGardening on stones
This is a magical time of year in the garden. Borders bursting with hope and promise. Welcoming old friends who suddenly make an appearance and weave themselves to the bar so to speak. Initially half remembered and then acknowledged with open arms. There are also the plants that didn’t make it through the winter, often the ones that you keep an eye open for. Their place remains empty for long enough to prompt me to start to asking questions. Why didn’t they return? Was it the right place, aspect, soil? Sometimes I gently...
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