Support, sustenance, shading, shelter… the humble native hazel is a sustainable, renewable powerhouse. Some plants possess superpowers. Corylus avellana, our native hazel, is one of them. It’s abundant here, growing serendipitously in and around my garden, and in the neighbouring wood. I have never deliberately grown it, and only occasionally relocate a jay-sown shrubling popping up […]
In this increasingly stressed and stressful world, we need to nurture the healing balm of gardening in the slow lane. A year ago, I decided it was time to go slower in my garden. I vowed to favour unhurried over haste, swap frantic for sedate, and make slow gardening the nemesis of fast. It might […]
Of all the gardening gifts that go on giving, there’s a clear – and solar-powered – winner. Many of us gardeners, myself included, are about to be crushed under a barrowload of gifts we never wanted – much of them little more than ephemeral, opportunistic tat. It’s easy for this season of goodwill to slip […]
It’s just turned December in the UK and until a few days ago there were still butterflies and bumblebees foraging on the winter shrubs. In my garden my resident wasp nest was still very much active, and there were many late summer flowering plants actually still in bloom, like cosmos and coreopsis and roses. Social […]
Plans to redevelop ‘redundant’ commercial greenhouses overlook the huge opportunity to redeploy them: the means to renewable ultra-local horticulture is standing right there. Big greenhouses mean bigger opportunities: I don’t know any gardener who wouldn’t upsize their undercover growing space if they could. In a greenhouse, bigger means more of everything: space, potential, food, flowers, […]
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow – as do hope, serenity and a sense of purpose amidst mounting political and ecological chaos. It’s time to step up and sow. Even the most sanguine gardener has their limit. I’ve just reached mine: a maelstrom of dispiriting, unsettling news – ecological, political, economic, the here and now, […]
Scratch beneath the surface, and this too is a season of new life, as the alchemical magic of leaf mouldering gets underway. Autumn may signal death and decay for some, but in my garden it’s when renewable, replenishing new life actually arrives (and no, it’s not a load of steaming manure). This vitalising, life-bringing force […]
With the climate crisis escalating and evidence of ecological breakdown all around us, it’s time to get serious about gardening’s restorative potential. What if gardening stopped being fun – and became serious fun? Emergencies are skidding at us from around every corner: social, political, economic, ecological… the list grows as we face crises near and far, in […]
With 40° heatwaves and devastating wildfires now a routine part of a British summer, cool heads are needed on the plot. Surfing the clammy, 40°-plus breeze, Lex freewheeled down the winding street, legs splayed. Even with sunglasses on, he was still forced to squint. Every building was white: white walls, white roofs, white drives. White […]
There’s a miracle ingredient that can keep your potting compost going on and on… but it comes with an environmental price-tag. This time last year, I was astounded by how well my greenhouse tomatoes were doing. Twelve months on, I’m truly gobsmacked at how well this year’s plants are faring. My astonishment has nothing to […]
Plants will salve the wounds humans have inflicted on the landscape – but a little citizen rewilding can speed the process… and sow joy. It’s taken two decades for me to fully realise it: I’m gardening – in the foothills of Eryri in North Wales – in a land of industrial, human-made scars. A buzzard’s […]
‘Expert’ advice is good for filling column inches and boosting social media profiles – but much of it is altogether less useful when it comes to getting new gardeners growing. Whatever happened to simplicity, to straightforwardness, to easiness – especially in our gardens and greenhouses? Amid spring’s usual gardening febrility, there’s a noticeable explosion of […]
