Get your garden soil ready for summer
Soil is the greatest asset we have in our gardens but it is easy to overlook the importance of maintaining good soil quality and just let borders grow year after year. The rain this winter seems to have been endless and apart from obvious problems of waterlogging in heavy soil, there is a hidden problem of plant nutrients being leached...
Hedge your bets
There have been plenty of horror stories about monster Leyland Cypress hedges but what are the other choices of hedging plant for a domestic garden? I should point out here that Leylandii can be used perfectly well as long as the hedge is trimmed regularly (annually) from the start. However there are many alternatives to consider on aesthetic, wildlife or...
The Winter Garden
Even though autumn held out well into November this year with some fabulous leaf colour in the sunny days we saw between the rain, December is indisputably Winter. And whilst that means less colour in the garden, there should still be plenty of interest albeit a bit more green and with more reliance on structure and texture. It is easy to...
BBC Radio Kent
I was invited to join the BBC Radio Kent Sunday Gardening programme on December 1st 2019 to talk about Plants for Winter Interest. As a regular listener to the show it was a treat to meet Andy Garland again, the show's host and a keen gardener, and one of the Sunday Gardening resident horticultural experts Steve Bradley. Winter can easily be...
The Mindful Planter
There are many ways in which gardening can be your everyday mindful activity and not just in summer, as my blog from November shows. Contact me if you want to find your own route to Gardening for the Mind. November is not the most exciting month in the garden but I am always cheered to come home to a planter of...