It is that wonderful time of year when you start reaping the reward for your labours with tomatoes, aubergines and peppers are rapidly ripening and ready for cropping. It’s when plants are at their most ornamental. Imagine the fuss if with a slight change of mindset, glossy black aubergines and vibrant red peppers were regarded […]
A dystopian future of gardening at the mercy of climate chaos no longer needs to be imagined; it’s already happening, here and now. I’m spooked. Just over a month ago, I was imagining what gardening in the not-too-distant future might look like. My mind’s eye conjured devastating early summer frosts, 40°C summer heatwaves, and violent, plant-shredding […]
One of the best things about having a greenhouse is the possibilities it gives you to extend the seasons. It is at these moments in the year – when the seasons are starting to shift from one to the next – that mine really comes into its own. That thin layer of glass ups the […]
Pauline Quirke is a wonderful actress, and perhaps you saw her moving performance in Broadchurch playing Susan Wright, accompanied by her own Labrador Bailey. She’s more famous for Birds of a Feather and there’s a wonderful line about her missing husband, delivered with perfect comic timing, where she says that ‘Paul Daniels couldn’t put the […]
The power of plants has been instrumental in the evolution of man for centuries. Plants play a vital role for our food, our medicine, our health and our wellbeing, both physical and mental. Plants have the power to feed us, to feed our livestock and also to feed other plants. Plant protein has become a […]
I’ve been asked which greenhouse plant is top of the GYO essential list, practical, productive, with the most outstanding nutritional value? Unfortunately this would be trays of kale and watercress. However also high in the ranking is a little grown relative of tomatoes that I featured here a decade ago. Still not widely known the […]
Keeping seed-gathering and sowing close to home reduces gardening miles to footsteps – and results only in joy. This spring, one coy flower, above all others, brought me an untrammelled and deeply satisfying joy that endured for weeks on end. It wasn’t just the early dash of pink and blue it added to my borders […]
Sow Fennel, oriental vegetables like mizuna greens and Pak Choi, rocket, coriander dill, spinach, claytonia and land cress, in modules as soon as you can in August. These will germinate quickly and can be planted out by mid-August for cropping in Autumn. Continue sowing ‘cut and come again’ crops like mixed herbs, in pots, greenhouse […]
The beefsteak tomatoes have started ripening in the greenhouse, the most delicious crop of the year. I could survive all of late summer just on beefsteak tomatoes, a bit of salt and olive oil, and hunks of bread to mop up the juices, and by the way the greenhouse is looking now I most probably […]
I had rather a large birthday recently, the sort you want to keep a deep, dark secret! I’ve seen a variety of gardening styles and, although I’m not quite old enough to remember Dig for Victory, I do remember the self-sufficient gardens of the 1950s, the low-maintenance shrub gardens of the 1960s, the conifers of […]
As the climate crisis escalates, 40°C heat alerts are becoming a regular event – and that’s before you’ve factored in the midsummer frosts and greenhouse-shattering storms. Dry, rustling leaves roused Lena from her heat-induced snooze; the thick, clammy air was finally on the move. Yawning, she pressed her back against the oak’s trunk, her legs […]
Plan ahead and plant some Christmas cropping potatoes now for your festive feast, says Jean Vernon Growing your own food is a wonderful way to connect with nature, nutrition and your own well-being. There’s little more healthy than harvesting fresh, homegrown produce from your own garden, especially if it’s organic and free from toxic pesticides. […]
