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Another Late Holly Chop
I thought we were late doing the annual holly chop last year, but this year we are even later! Winter is the correct time to cut a holly hedge, but as I’ve mentioned before we have to wait for the perennials growing under the holly to die back. This has been getting later and later over the last few years with such mild autumns. Luckily we had a very hard frost in mid December which did for all the remaining perennials, that were doggedly hanging on. Unfortunately due to other commitments we weren’t able to get it done before Christmas, which would have been ideal. Then the weather hasn’t been…
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First snow of the year – No Gardening this week!
We’ve had the first snow of the year. I did hear someone mention snow last week, but I didn’t realise it was for our area. We don’t really get very much these days, and when we do it doesn’t normally last that long. There’s certainly no physical gardening gone on this week! The snow came on Monday night and there’s still a little around where the sun hasn’t reached. As I’ve said before, I absolutely love the snow but… I want the snow on a Friday night when I’m home for the weekend. It’s not much to ask, is it? It is a shame we can’t get exactly the right…
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The Garden Nurtures the sole
Well, it’s certainly been an strange week! Unfortunately I lost someone very dear to me. It’s a funny thing grief, one minute you feel huge, like a force of nature wanting to scream and rage at the world at the injustice of it, the next you feel so small like gravity has doubled and it’s crushing you into the ground. And so to the garden. I haven’t done any gardening, but I have trotted off down to the compost heap. Even the long walk to the end of the garden feels good for the sole. When I’m out there I can feel myself relaxing, just being outside surrounded by nature…
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New years resolution? Get rid of the weeds!
What new years resolutions have you made? And do you think you’re going to stick to them? My only thought for a resolution, is to try and get back on top of the weeds this year! No Weeds in the Flower Borders I’ve honestly never really had a problem with weeds, until the last couple of years. This is mainly because I use a mulch of bark on my flower borders. It’s something I’ve been doing for as far back as I can remember and it really works! I only do it every other year and this is the year, as it’s rotted down to the point where you can…
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Happy New Year 2023
Happy New Year everybody! Today I’m looking back at last years garden, before moving ahead with this years tasks! First Flowers These feel like the most special flowers of the year. After that bare dormant stage, they emerge like little miracles, through cold damp soil. What on earth possesses them to show their faces in January and February! Snowdrops, Hellebores, Crocus and Pulmonaria. I’ve had some gardening vouchers for Christmas and one plant that’s on my list is another hellebore. Late Winter, early Spring, brings Daffodils The Daffodils are probably the flower most associated with spring, and they are also pretty hardy, coming up when it’s still so cold. Even…
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Remembering my Gardening Hero (Dad)
On Remembrance Sunday, I think of my gardening hero (dad) more than usual. When World War Two started he was still a boy so joined the home-guard. When he turned 18 he was sent off to serve his country. Solace in the Garden He only told our mum a few of the horrors that he’d witnessed. No wonder he took solace in his precious garden. Grateful to be alive, having left friends where they lay on foreign soils. He was never happier than when he was in his gardening clothes, digging his vegetable patch and tending his flowers. Just like Monty Don his faithful dog was never far away. I…
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Gardening with Cats – The Original Stars of Gardeners World
Come Outside! The first cat we had would scratch at the back door, we’d open it and he’d just stand there meowing. We’d say are you coming in or not? – because our cats obviously understand English (when it suits them). We’d shut the door and five minutes later we’d have the whole thing again. It took us quite some time to realise that he didn’t want to come in, he wanted us to come out into the garden – because we clearly don’t understand cat talk! He wasn’t really a lap-cat, but he seemed to love us being outside with him. When we were gardening, he was never far…
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The Geese are back in town! – Autumn is around the corner!
I am now awakened regularly by loud honking first thing in the morning. Not from a car, but because the geese are back in town! I’m not at all annoyed, I love hearing them and lie there smiling. They fly over the house three or four times each morning; I never know if it’s the same flock going round and around or if it’s three or four different flocks. The Canada geese return to us each year in late August, and it starts with just a handful. You’re suddenly aware of that distinctive honking sound, and sure enough there’s a small ‘V’ formation in the sky. By mid-September though, there…
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Wildflowers – My New Border
It’s wonderful that wildflowers and wildflower meadows are being appreciated again, and so many people are planting a version of them in their own gardens. At the same time it’s really sad to know how many have been lost over the last few decades. Again it’s the gardeners of the country that are helping by growing these insect friendly plants again! I’ve loved wildflowers ever since walks with my auntie as a little girl, when she used to teach me the names. Even the cultivated varieties of flowers that I choose tend to be the more natural looking ones. When I was designing our garden, the vegetable growing area and…
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Gardening in a Heatwave – Too much Watering!
Gardening in a heatwave means gardening early and lots of watering. Watering is not my favourite job in the garden at the best of time, but especially not the amount I had to do at the beginning of last week! As we saw temperatures reach over 40C, the highest this country has ever experienced, it was a particularly big job. At it’s peak I was watering twice a day, and despite this some of the plants were still wilting in the mid-day heat. The beetroot leaves were looking like we were all feeling, wilted! I really thought the poor old Ligularia ‘Desdemona’ was done for, but amazingly she perked up…
