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This year for the first time I strolled through to the entrance gates to Chelsea Flower Show early on Monday morning sporting a shiny Press Pass, courtesy of the RHS. How delightfully odd it was to have uncontested views of the main show gardens from any angle, odder still to
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I can't write a blog post without good photos. And I can't take a decent photo when a persistent cold wind whistles through the garden, keeping buds closed and making sharp focus impossible. But after weeks of chilly, blustery weather, today the wind finally dropped and
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This is possibly going to be the dullest blogpost I have ever published. A small percentage of you might find it fascinating. I apologise unreservedly to everyone else. Mostly I only collect seed from species plants, but some of the cultivars below are entirely stable and are routinely grown from
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Wednesday, 29th January 2014, mid-afternoon. Four degrees Celsius under a lowered, purplish-grey sky, not a breath of wind to stir the still-standing grasses in the square borders. It's fine enough weather for working outside, as long as I go hard at it and keep up a sweat. If
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So, two days, 150 or so retweets and 1000 page views later, I thought I'd update you re our campaign against the EU Plant Reproductive Material laws (see my earlier blogpost). If you've been dipping in and out on Twitter you'll have noticed several
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I wrote this as a one page summary for Fiona Hall, Leader of the Liberal Democrat MEP's. Feedback via Jenny Woods was that she had heard from domestic gardeners, but that the impact on the nursery business was news to her. That's a bit worrying... Impact
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You may have read in the press about a proposed EU regulation which, if passed, will limit the trade in ornamental plants to only those for which a formal, detailed description has been filed, (this is currently only required for plants subject to a Plant Breeder's Rights licence)
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There is no bore quite so boring as a 'look where I've just been on holiday' bore. But indulge me, this once. You see, my folks want to see some holiday pictures and it's easier to put them here. And if you make it
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As many of you will know, I'm an avid user of Twitter and to a lesser extent, Facebook. I think both are wonderful places to share thoughts on gardening, engage with the online gardening community, learn from each other, and of course, to gently promote this garden and
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My recent blog post 'The Joy of Seeds' has been shortlisted by the RHS for their Garden Blog competition. The winner will be chosen by public vote and you have until the 20th October to cast your vote. Here's the link to the entries and for
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Salvia patens - will flower its socks off until the first frosts. Will survive a mild winter. If you read my last blog post you'll know that I have been harvesting seeds from the garden with merry abandon in the last few weeks. So, what to do with
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August. A billowing month of hay and harvest, gathering and gluts, and this August is bountiful beyond recall. We have run out of imaginative ways to cook yellow courgettes and a dozen or more are fattening into golden marrows, glowing reproachfully in the veg plot. The apple trees are lowering