A Gardening New Year
We are a month into the year and I am musing about when is the start of the gardening year? February certainly sees the beginning of Spring which is generally accepted as time to sow and plant and, of course, when we see new shoots and the first flowers after winter. However there is also a good argument that Autumn...
Supporting Wildlife in a small Garden
Working with small spaces is always challenging whether you are furnishing a room or laying out a garden. When you cannot fit in everything that you would love to have, it is time to prioritise and that is especially tough when your small garden has to serve both family and wildlife. An internet search for wildlife gardening quickly yields a...
Garden conifers – not just for Christmas
If asked to name a conifer tree in December most people might say “Christmas Tree” and many would know that the traditional conifer decorated indoors is a Norway Spruce. But there are very many shapes, colours and sizes of conifer tree that are rather better suited to growing in our gardens than Christmas trees or Leyland Cypress hedges. Removing side shoots...
Pointy end up – planting bulbs in autumn
Yes, I am writing about planting bulbs in autumn which I know is a well visited subject in gardening programmes and columns at this time of year. So rather than repeating guidance on planting bulbs – and to be honest you do not need to know much more than “pointy end up” – I am thinking about what happens after...
The good, the bad and the Ivy
In my previous blog post I included “a controlled amount of ivy” in my suggestions for a native mixed hedge. So this time I thought that I would talk more about this evergreen climber that appears in pretty much every garden, usually uninvited. As households try to reduce both fossil fuel consumption and energy bills, research has found that a full...