This whole move from London to the countryside in search of the good life was a massive gamble for us. We moved to an area where we knew nobody, leaving behind our friends and the town we loved. In truth, we’ve never been happier and it was definitely the right thing to do but it’s […]
Read MoreSo there I was feeling all smug about having a real patch of actual grass that worms could tunnel underneath, that GarlicBoy could feel between his toes, that I could feel good about. And then I cut the grass a couple of times and came to the conclusion that I couldn’t ignore it any more. […]
Read MoreMy side return is, by definition, narrow. And the raised beds that I have there (filled with garlic and rhubarb) are currently performing very nicely. I have eight varieties of garlic in there, and three of rhubarb. The side return is technically south facing but it’s so narrow that the sun hits it for about […]
Read MoreLast month I mentioned that I’ve cleverly broken my foot (to be exact, I’ve sustained a Lisfranc fracture which is a horrible thing that takes months to recover from). This has been difficult enough in terms of looking after the GarlicBaby (who is starting to crawl – eek!) but at least there we’ve been able […]
Read MoreBefore weeding I wish that I had a massive garden. Well, a smallholding really. That’s the eventual dream, to be able to potter out of our house and see our cows and sheep grazing our fields in the distance, to wander about lovely large veggie patches next to the house whilst the chickens burble away […]
Read MoreInconsiderate neighbours are irritating at the best of times. We have a couple of particularly bad ones. One of them rents his house out and has let the garden become so overgrown with ivy that the weeds actually reach underneath the foundations of our house! So when I wanted to put some small raised beds […]
Read MoreOne of the first things that needed to be done when we took over our garden was to fight back against the wilderness that occupied the space we so badly wanted as ours. So a mammoth pruning session ensued (tempered slightly by the discovery of a nest in a neighbour’s overhanging bush that we didn’t […]
Read MoreGreetings from a tiny, hitherto unloved patch of patio in South-West London now occupied by Mr Garlic, our two GarlicCats and I. I’ll be writing about the challenges of taking a tiny urban garden behind our Victorian house (and the side return) and growing as much edible produce as is possible. I’ll also chuck in […]
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London to Land Girl 