Just-in-time might be an industrial concept of more historical interest than contemporary relevance thanks to Brexit but it’s alive and well in our garden…
Read moreDay 93: lady's smock
I spent a good while this morning hoeing through weedlings of hairy bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) that were enjoying their first flush of growth in a client’s flowerbed…
Read moreDay 92: don't panic
Tulips popping everywhere, forget-me-nots peeping from the bud – a growing sense of alarm at quite how much of last season remains to be dealt with…
Read moreDay 91: purple gromwell
I left it too late to get to the nursery yesterday and, having a planty itch that needed scratching, threw my principles to the wind and headed to the DIY shed…
Read moreDay 90: plus ça change
A year on to the day and this view is almost unchanged. The tulips might be a day or two behind, the roses a little better attended to…
Read moreDay 89: sun lovin' fun lovin' tulips
All tulips love the sun; it’s in their job description. It’s certainly in their genes…
Read moreDay 88: Angel's tears
The garden makes me wait for Thalia. I think it wants to be sure that I’m going to get through daffodil season without making any disparaging remarks about the colour yellow, though it needn’t worry…
Read moreDay 87: first of the forget-me-nots
First sighting of forget-me-nots in bloom this week. It feels late – but looking back over previous year’s photographs, it seems about right for the end of March…
Read moreDay 86: pricking out
Windy this morning, showery in the afternoon. I dived into the greenhouse at one point, having remembered to bring a couple of module trays from home…
Read moreDay 85: growing with gusto
As gardeners, we spend an inordinate amount of time waiting for things we shove in the ground to grow away with gusto…
Read moreDay 84: Skimmia japonica
Regularly enveloped in clouds of sweet, honeyed air at this end of March and, for some reason, always slightly surprised at the source…
Read moreDay 83: to see you, nice
That there are flowers on the forsythia this week is testament not so much to my good planning as to the fact that I ignored the plant last year…
Read moreDay 82: the fatness
There’s much talk of sap rising in springtime – both figuratively as, buoyed by brighter days and warmer weather we start to feel an increase in energy levels, and literally…
Read moreDay 81: Ranunculus ficaria
Little yellow-eye, winking up at me from your rosette of mottled green leaves – where have you been?
Read moreDay 80: spring is in
The equinox has come and gone, and here we are, undeniably in spring. Which isn’t to deny the possibility of the occasional petulant wintery echo…
Read moreDay 79: best beloved
A different kind of planting today. I dug a hole, and we sunk our hearts into the ground…
Read moreDay 78: dahlias, and humble beginnings
Lurking at the back of the shed or in a darkened corner of the garage, boxes with perhaps the most unpromising looking contents you could hope to imagine. Lumpy bits, stringy bits, and everything covered in dried mud…
Read moreDay 77: seedy shrub
It’s no great secret that I love a self-seeder. Actually, let’s stop right there a moment. I’m continually having to haul myself up for using horticultural jargon…
Read moreDay 76: nearly tulips
It feels as though it’s been an age coming, but today there was sunshine, sparkles and the very real prospect of tulips...
Read moreDay 75: Celastrus orbiculatus
There’s no denying that wisteria needs a firm hand. Whether it has anything on the round-leaved bittersweet (Celastrust orbiculatus) currently assailing the outdoor furniture of our house, I’m not entirely convinced…
Read more