Back when the raised beds were first finished in our kitchen garden, I was at once utterly thrilled that they were ready and also a bit panicked that it was too late to really sow any summer vegetables. So it was in a rather lazy frame of mind that I decided on the spur of […]
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Ever since my oldest son was born, I’ve always tried to interest him in the outdoor world. We go for walks whatever the weather, we look at trees and plants and birds and investigate animal holes and tracks and calls. We also mess about in the garden, and he’s joined me in the garden since […]
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THE GERMINATOR This is a DIY that not only doesn’t take long, it doesn’t involve any tools at all and so is something I’m really pleased with. I’m always looking for new spaces to grow things in my garden but short of tine hover boards being invented in the next couple of weeks, I’ve always […]
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Poles holding a basket Unsurprisingly, the biggest challenge to the frustrated gardener when regarding their tiny urban garden with critical eyes is a lack of space. I’ve covered my fences and walls with wall planters, vertical garden planting bags and hung hanging baskets from every single supporting fence post and still I don’t think I […]
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Suspiciously similar seedlings In hindsight, I should have known that putting two types of tomato seedling (the tumbling “Losetto”and the climbing “Magic Mountain” in case you’re interested) together in a large pot separated only by a seedling tray was a mistake. It was perhaps inevitable that a cat would jolt the pot onto the floor […]
Read MoreI sometimes wonder if people with an allotment or vegetable beds in their garden face the same complications that I do when it comes to deciding what to plant where. Even if I’d been growing my own plants from seed rather than cheating and didn’t have to wait for the plug plants to be shipped […]
Read MoreLast week I was in a rush to take the GarlicBaby to the local aquarium. I was putting the babyseat into the taxi when I turned my ankle on an uneven bit of pavement and broke my foot. Apparently I have a Lisfranc injury, which is pretty appallingly bad when you consider that it happened […]
Read MoreAs it was – stuffed with plants and seedlings As I’ve mentioned before, I do think that I was a bit naive in my seed sowing. I’ve ended up with an abundance of plants, certainly far too many for my poor little city garden and mini greenhouse to handle. So once again I’ve had to […]
Read MoreI think that I made a couple of mistakes this year in my naivete and general gung-ho enthusiasm to get the garden up and running as fast as possible. 1. I planted far too many seeds. I ordered goodness knows how many packets of seeds and therefore ended up with so many seedlings that there’s […]
Read MoreGreenhouse being built (two days of my life!) With so little space in the garden, I thought that I’d have to forgo a greenhouse, which would mean a sad lack of tomatoes. Blight is so common that I didn’t want to risk growing tomatoes outside. Most of the small greenhouses I was looking at weren’t […]
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London to Land Girl 