I cannot believe I haven't blogged since 2021! I have certainly not neglected the garden as badly as the blog, although it has been a tricky couple of years. Ill-health, deadlines on two books, a novel and a non-fiction, together with rotten weather have sapped my enthusiasm. Last summer was mainly taken up with the under-gardener building an extension to the greenhouse so the far end was more like a building site. There were some areas I couldn't even access because of piles of wood, or a workmate and bits of guttering in the way. I  concentrated on maintaining the areas near the house. A few weeks ago, I began work clearing up the winter debris. We took down a strawberry tree that was leaning over and robbing the light from a magnolia. We are hoping it will grow back. We also coppiced the ash tree again as it had grown too big. Nasty weather throughout January has hindered me  but we've had a few good days more recently and I've finally managed to clear all the winter

Well, May was a bit of a wash out, wasn’t it? The wettest May for years and the coldest, although we didn’t get the degree of frost that elsewhere suffered and have come out unscathed. I had a huge backlog of planting in the greenhouse, and we spent much of the time carting trays of plants in and out to get them acclimatised. When the weather finally calmed down I had a mammoth planting out job. I planted perennials I'd grown from seed, plus bits and pieces I'd ordered to fill up the gaps. The border we instated in the Spring still has some visible soil but once the plants get going there will be very little. There are still one of two pots wating to go in the ground but I am waiting for them to grow on j ust a little bit more so as not to be such a tasty offering for the slugs. We weren’t daunted by the weather though and as promised, the under gardener built a fabulous pergola along the back of the house. It went up much quicker than expected. he designed and built it from sc

  I uploaded my monthly video to youtube yesterday but as far as I can see not much has changed in the garden. The night time temperatures have been cold and even though it has been sunny during the day, there has been a decided nip in the air. The weather is holding me up! I have so much planting out to do but it has been so chilly I've not even planted out the hardy annuals. Every morning we haul the trays of seedlings outside and then haul them back in at night.  This photo was taken a while ago, the seedlings are a lot bigger now and some climbing out of their pots. I made such a stupid mistake and planted far too many antirhinums. They are one of my favourites but you can have too many, I've given loads away but there are so many to plant now, as well as the cosmos and stock etc. I am looking forward to a very colourful summer border. Tomorrow though the weather is set to change and not for the better. The temperature will rise but it will be wet - very wet with 48 mph win

The last couple of  years have seen some changes in the garden, not huge changes in themselves but they have impacted on the path. The insertion of a rose walk bed on the left and the widening of the sunny border on the right altered the shape of the grass and the path just looked odd. I was loath to suggest we move it, the alteration would be small but a lot of work. We are getting a bit old to be on our hands and knees relaying slabs and replacing turf but we decided to go ahead. The first photograph is the old route. Many men would blow a gasket at the suggestion of relaying a path just six inches or so to the right but my under gardener is wise. He knows I am usually right. It should have taken a few days but, as is becoming usual this cold spring, the weather intruded so it took almost a week of popping in and out when weather and work commitments allowed. We also increased the sitting area in the arbour so we can now walk past the table without muddying the grass in winter and sp

  I think we might have made a mistake, a big one! On the sunny side of the garden the border we inherited was overgrown, ramshackle planting with no rhyme or reason. At the rear a very pushy elder tree entangled with a leggy veronica constantly moved in on the other planting. We have never really decided what to do with it. The only photograph I could find of it was the one above with me and the lovely lady, Anthea of Alex Lee Audio who narrates my books (available on Audible.) As you can see it was green and provided privacy but ... that's about it. Last year (see above) I decided to keep it jungly, and add some colour with Canna and dahlias but again the monster alder continued to elbow everything else out of the way. The fence (I use the term lightly) between us and next door was rotten and collapsing beneath the assault. To add to this, next door are not gardeners and we were besieged by encroaching  ivy and bramble  from their side. I am not getting any younger and my under g

A couple of weeks ago we had a covering of snow and freezing temperatures. Then we had days of heavy rain. I thought Spring would never arrive yet quite suddenly, with no warning, it visited for just a few days. On Friday the lawn was still under a few inches of water in places, but we knew it was going to stay dry for a few days so we ordered in a ton of compost to mulch the borders. I cannot stress the importance of good soil. At our old garden we were lucky with rich loam and a plentiful supply of horse manure. Here, the soil is thin and sandy and bone dry in the summer. A good thick layer of mulch this time of year helps to trap in moisture, adds nutrients and gradually improves the structure of the soil. It was quite hard work. My trusty under gardener did the wheel barrowing while I weeded, forked the surface and spread the compost. Some people think mulch is unattractive and the surface is liable to dry out but the idea is to get your plants to grow so strongly the soil will not