Once upon a time, when dinosaurs were undoubtedly roaming wild in the garden, I had a previous life as a teacher. I loved working with children - and now I'm looking forward to rediscovering my creative side with my own kids (8 and 11) as we enter this rather surreal period of living, working and … Continue reading Garden Schooling: From Small Seeds…
There is now an updated list with over 70 nurseries across the UK which can be accessed here... This list is no longer updated. While the Amazon rainforest burns, Brexit festers and children all over the world call on adults to join their strike to highlight the climate catastrophe, it can be hard to know … Continue reading Save Our Rainforests: The Peat-Free Nurseries List
Beautiful blackcurrants, deep rosy red fleshed apples, delicious patio tomatoes, and a ginger rosemary cocktail that will blow you away - all on offer at Hampton Court this week in the Edible Eden Garden, designed by Chris Smith of Pennard Plants... Edible Eden combines a formal vegetable area, unusual edibles in the forest garden and … Continue reading Fruity New Ideas in the Edible Eden Garden at RHS Hampton Court
1. Wildflower Power Everywhere you turn at this year's RHS Chelsea Flower Show, indigenous trees, shrubs and perennials are interpersed with native biennial and annual wildflowers. The gardens are awash with hornbeam, birch, willow, yew, guelder rose, cow parsley, foxglove, ragged robin and sedum. The pinks of red campion and ragged robin are particularly conspicuous … Continue reading 5 Environmentally-Friendly Ideas to Take Home from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show
In January I banished grey days by reading The Secret Lives of Colour by Kassia St Clair. It took me on a vivid journey through the history of colour, to explore the unknown corners of sepia, fallow, orchil, Isabelline and vantablack. As I read, I noticed how many of the terms are derived from plants like madder, … Continue reading 25 Colourful Crops for a Vibrant Vegetable Garden
In 2013, in a North Lincolnshire kitchen, pea farmer Ben Branson began experimenting with a copper still after reading about the non-alcoholic remedies distilled by apothecaries in the 1600s. Ben's family have been farming for 300 years and their peas are picked by hand by Ben and his team. His kitchen experimentation led to the … Continue reading In Praise of the Humble Pea: The Seedlip Garden
The attention to detail in the 2018 Chelsea Flower Show gardens surpasses anything I've seen before; I love the way the planting maintains a sophisticated and elegant feel, yet is more grounded than in previous years. Many gardens focus on naturalistic forms and soft planting with coppery tones, highlights of deep purples and pinks, and … Continue reading RHS Chelsea Flower Show Highlights
With chilli sowing season already upon us, it's time to unearth my special seedy shoeboxes to plan for the growing year ahead. One particular box contains an exciting collection of seeds - those I'm trialling for Suttons in my role as a guest blogger for 2018. I'm really looking forward to trying out some of … Continue reading Seedy Saturday: Rainbows, Crocodiles and Pearls
2018 has brought me not one but two almanac treasures, each a joy to read and written nearly 200 years apart. The first is a beautifully illustrated hardback: The Almanac: A Seasonal Guide To 2018 by Lia Leendertz which I bought a couple of months ago along with copies for friends, but hid away so I … Continue reading Year Of The Almanac
It's been a busy year of writing, studying, volunteering and looking after a young family, but the hard work is all worth it when projects and crops come to fruition. Not all our growing endeavours have been successful - we failed to get even one pear, most of our greengage fruitlets were blasted by a … Continue reading 4 Tastiest Crops Of 2017