Microplastic pollution is one of the most insidious impacts of modern living – and, yes, gardening – but natural pollution-busting solutions abound. One of the great joys of living in the foothills of Eryri – or Snowdonia – National Park is that I get to walk among the clouds. I’m at a low enough altitude […]
With increasingly wild weather the only certainty in future forecasts, greenhouse gardeners need to ready their structures for a stormy ride. Like it or not, increasingly powerful, destructive storms are now wired into the decades – centuries, unless we hit the emergency brake on carbon emissions – ahead. Everyday life, for us and for all […]
Compost fodder, plant support, greenhouse shading, mulching material, soil enricher, winter fuel, garden screen, wildlife haven… there’s no end to the potential of the versatile willow. Our first stormy autumn night didn’t disappoint: warm, lashing rain, high, cottage-shaking winds and two mini power cuts – then a proper time-for-bed blackout. My head torch-illuminated check outdoors […]
Our greenhouses are transformative, regenerative and infinitely renewable. Imagine what could happen – for people, nature and planet – if we truly embraced that potential. What if we started thinking outside of our greenhouses – the gardening equivalent of thinking outside the box? What if we could muster our collective, sun-fuelled growing power to help […]
In a dangerously overheating world, it’s more important than ever to keep it cool in our gardens and greenhouses. Twenty years ago, my garden was on fire – or, more accurately, my garden-to-be was on fire. When I became keeper of this then bracken-riddled bank, I was on a new and exciting learning curve. I never imagined […]
Even in the 2020s, gardeners could still depend on a familiar seasonal cycle. In today’s altered world, gardeners’ – and nature’s – ingenuity is needed more than ever. ‘Sprummer?’ Kris squinted at the endless blue sky. ‘So what you’re saying is…’ ‘That there’s no difference between spring and summer now, no matter what the old […]
Pernicious weed? No: beneficial insect magnet, wildlife buffet, nutrient-rich feed, compost fodder… this superpowered plant is one to welcome into your garden and greenhouse. Be sure to have some thick, sting-proof gloves at the ready – because I’m going to get you all fired up to grow arguably the most useful of all garden plants. […]
Even for an experienced composter, unearthing an old heap can offer a salutary refresher course in the need to treat ‘compostable’ claims with caution. I never imagined I would see this pair of Y-fronts again. They should be long gone by now, the threadbare organic cotton rotted away, disintegrated beyond recognition into crumbs of dark, […]
Are you impatient for the phase-out of peat, or anxious about its implications for your garden and greenhouse? With the right advice, we can all look forward to a peat-free future. Peat-based compost – along with the ecological destruction that follows in its wake – is in the departure lounge. There is no turning back. […]
Support, sustenance, shading, shelter… the humble native hazel is a sustainable, renewable powerhouse. Some plants possess superpowers. Corylus avellana, our native hazel, is one of them. It’s abundant here, growing serendipitously in and around my garden, and in the neighbouring wood. I have never deliberately grown it, and only occasionally relocate a jay-sown shrubling popping up […]
In this increasingly stressed and stressful world, we need to nurture the healing balm of gardening in the slow lane. A year ago, I decided it was time to go slower in my garden. I vowed to favour unhurried over haste, swap frantic for sedate, and make slow gardening the nemesis of fast. It might […]
Of all the gardening gifts that go on giving, there’s a clear – and solar-powered – winner. Many of us gardeners, myself included, are about to be crushed under a barrowload of gifts we never wanted – much of them little more than ephemeral, opportunistic tat. It’s easy for this season of goodwill to slip […]
