July in the garden

The weather has been rather disappointing so far this year, rather a lot of rain, wind and not enough sunshine.   I have had bad germination rates early on in the season and then when my garden was looking at its very best in early June, wild stormy weather snapped stems off my Cirsium rivulare ‘Atropurpurem’,…

The biennial: Lunaria annua

With its beautiful yet confusing name, honesty is sometimes overlooked as common and dull.  However it is a fantastic value plant with long lasting vibrant purple flowers in May followed by papery moon-like seed heads for winter displays in the home.  In my garden it self seeds and contrasts beautifully in May with lemon yellow flowers…

Garden Notes – May

Despite the near constant rain, garden life has been going at full pace over the last couple of months; now you should see tadpoles in the ponds, lush growth in the garden, a lawn that needs regular mowing, birds nesting, fledglings bumping around the bushes, foraging bees, scuffling hedgehogs, scented lilac bushes, tulips, etc… There…

Composting – Part II

I understand this won’t be for everyone however if you have herbivore pets then composting will take care of itself.   Manure from plant eating animals acts as an ‘activator’ for the composting process.  The nitrogen in the manure / droppings enriches the bin with millions bacteria, these feed on the woody material in the bin and…