Things botanical and plant related - Hopefully helpful!
26.03.2022 The first of many planned visits to the wonderful National Garden Scheme open gardens this year. It is a fabulous chance to have a nose and get ideas from some fabulous local gardens and hopefully some further afield if we get a chance for …
I currently work in a large houseplant department, probably one of the largest in the country. I’ve definitely not come across a comparable space in any local garden centre. Nearly four years there, it means that I’ve accumulated a few rescue plants and a few …
What an intense start to the year! Not so much with the plot but with life in general… Exams for a couple of modules of RHS level 3, an interview for the Kew diploma that I fell apart in (what an absolute car crash of …
I finally have a few days of R&R. Long overdue! It’s been a surreal couple of weeks. I had my RHS level 3 exams – thanks to train & tube strikes the previous day I nearly missed the one I most wanted to do well …
April is the mad rush to get things going ready for the plot if one isn’t blessed with a heated greenhouse! My small plastic grow thing in the garden is not enough protection for a hard frost but if I keep an eye on the …
I currently work in a large houseplant department, probably one of the largest in the country. I’ve definitely not come across a comparable space in any local garden centre. Nearly four years there, it means that I’ve accumulated a few rescue plants and a few …
26.03.2022 The first of many planned visits to the wonderful National Garden Scheme open gardens this year. It is a fabulous chance to have a nose and get ideas from some fabulous local gardens and hopefully some further afield if we get a chance for …
What an intense start to the year! Not so much with the plot but with life in general… Exams for a couple of modules of RHS level 3, an interview for the Kew diploma that I fell apart in (what an absolute car crash of …
Welcome to 2022! I can’t say that I’ll be glad to see the back of 2021… it was a long year that just felt stagnant somehow. I felt totally stuck in a rut, missing my adventurer son loads and this bloody pandemic seems to have …
This year has been a struggle. The cold but sunny April followed by a wet and cold May saw an incredibly slow start to the season with low germination rates and then an invasion of slugs and snails. I’m not sure whether the bad germination …
As autumn moves towards winter and we find ourselves in a second lock down, I finally have a chance to sit and write. Having worked though lock-down one and then through the summer, I’m quite welcoming of a couple of weeks off! This summer has …
The clocks sprung forward at the weekend heralding the start of the summer; longer evenings, a chance to pop to the plot afterwork, even barbecues on warmer days – but this year is very different. Cold temperatures and bitter northerly winds, the country in near …
I didn’t post nearly as much as I should last year. It was a full year with a steep learning curve at work, through distance learning and at college. I had so much fun and met so many lovely people while doing the RHS level …
This is to record both successes and failures as I grow on my allotment and I hope that these pages will be an inspiration to those just starting out, or even just thinking of growing edibles.
I’ve had my allotment for just three growing seasons, getting it in March 2015.
Starting out with just a wheelbarrow, spade, a few pallets and a very helpful husband, I dived straight in, keeping it roughly to the layout that the previous owner had employed.
