George
When I first met George he was the largest and most regal specimen in Colin’s pond. An old English carp – the sort that live in castle moats for years, often outliving their owners. Colin reckoned that he was at least ten years old. George was special. When Colin handed me the keys to the cottage he was handing me the keys to a dream. Seclusion and privacy in a cottage set well back from the road with a large garden and small twelve foot pond. George was a key player. He got under my skin. I had planned to get rid of the pond....
read moreThe best piece of gardening advice
“Never plant two of anything in a group. Even numbers just don’t work. Stick to odd numbers one, three, five or a drift.” Roger Sagger (R & R Saggers Nursery Garden, Newport, Essex). This is probably the best piece of gardening advice that I have ever been given. If you think about it, Roger Sagger is right. Imagine four tulips in a border and then consider how five would look. The odd number gives a natural feel to the group. Unless they are planted in a straight line. I have only one Mahonia x media Charity. It grows in...
read moreBindweed
The long period of rain and a few weekends working has given the bindweed the sort of break that it needs to really romp. In fact some more remote parts of the garden it looks as if we are deliberately cultivating the weed. We have most varieties from the dinky miniature columbine to the Jack and the Beanstalk sized plants that can smother a shrub in days and have to be attacked with secateurs. I hate bindweed. The appearance of the pretty bell shaped flowers flags the need to grab a small machete and act immediately. If the bindweed goes to...
read moreBonfires
John Coe arrived this morning looking chirpy and presented me with a bag of his own beetroot. He clearly had got over his potato blight depression. We sat drinking coffee and chatting and all was well until we tramped down the garden and I stupidly mentioned tomato blight. He stopped walking and turned to me immediately. “I had 15 plants standing out in the ground. They got the blight. Dead in three days. Disaster.” His face was grim. Last night I discovered that our broad beans had been infected with Chocolate Spot and Rust and...
read moreHoney Fungus (Armillaria mellea)
When I arrived at the cottage 15 years ago as a novice gardener, I discovered Honey Fungus. It was a bit of a blow. The name Honey Fungus sounds so gentle. It is not. Even then I knew that Honey fungus can decimate the shrubs and trees in a garden. Its progress is relentless, young shrubs and trees or old ones that are weak and diseased are most susceptible. Honey fungus is the MRSA of the garden. I had bought a cottage with a field garden, with minimal planting. What was I to do? If you discover Honey Fungus in your garden there are ways to...
read moreWhy not make your own fat balls for the birds?
Watching the birds feeding just outside the kitchen windows gives me enormous pleasure. Since the bird eating cat that used to lurk in our front garden has moved away there are many more ground feeding birds and quite often I spot mice collecting seeds. Mice in the shrubs are fine. When they come into the house they are a problem.We give the birds mixed seed and fat balls all year. We only put out peanuts in the colder non nesting months as baby birds can choke on peanuts. Finally my large tub of fat balls for the birds has run out. So I...
read moreThe Dreaded Lily Beetle
Three years ago my mother started to mutter about the Lily Beetle. It was attacking her lilies, chomping all her flowers when thery were just tasty shoots. I checked our lilies carefully. They were fine. Two years later the Lily Beetle reached our village, fifteen miles away. I didn’t notice the invasion. We had no lilies in flower that year. Lily Beetles are bad news. Generally in the first year you find the decimated lilies before you find the beetles. You never make that mistake again. They seem to have a great love life as you tend...
read moreKill your slugs with milk
I am working in Saffron Walden at the moment in my friend Anna’s new house. It doesn’t have a fridge. A pint of milk doesn’t last more than a day. Two days ago Anna cleared the kitchen of various dead milk containers and put them on the terrace outside. One container was a transparent plastic cup, half filled with stale milk. The next day I was having a break in the garden and spotted that a lot of tiny curled things were in the cup. Initially I assumed that her little girls had put a handful of gravel in it. But something...
read more
On This Day
-
2023 -
2010
-
2009
-
2008
-
2008
-
2007
FD