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How to make a perennial flower meadow (in a small space) - part 3

Chard is such a useful vegetable, especially in Spring when lots of things have gone over, and the new crops aren’t yet ready. Cooking it couldn’t be easier - braise or gently fry the stems, chopped into small pieces, and after about 5 mins on a gentle heat, add the chopped leaves, add a few drops of water and cover with a lid - simples! Chard is so incredibly good for you, packing in everythin...

Growing squashes vertically is a fabulous use of space if, like most of us, your growing space is limited. Here we have grown pumpkins, butternut squashes, and cucumbers, all of which have been pretty successful. As with normal squash cultivation, masses of organic matter and water is key, and a sunny season will really help. The increased exposure to air and sunlight helps with ripening and cu...

It’s a fabulous leafy vegetable, easy to grow and easy to cook! Keeps your gut bacteria happy too 😊. Sow in a greenhouse in March/ April or direct into the soil in April/May. Keep WELL WATERED! Nothing more to do.. Pick from the outer leaves - I tend to take a stem each from 4 or 5 plants when I pick. Cook the leaves as you would spinach - a quick wilt with a tiny bit of water, salt and garlic....

Nasturtiums, calendula, borage and dahlias - all fabulous additions to your salads and nutritious to boot! Calendula is hardy, growing best in my experience when sown in September, and self seeding reliably for years to come. It comes in all shades of yellow, and grows very happily given a bit of sun. Nasturtiums are also prolific self seeders, but will not germinate until the Spring. If you ar...

Sow your aubergines early, in February, or buy plug plants later in the year - the grafted types are exceptionally fruitful and pay for themselves many times over. Sadly I have found that the heirloom varieties are not as reliable and tend towards bitterness. You MUST keep them under cover until all risk of frost has passed as they are definitely NOT hardy! Plant them out in a greenhouse, polyt...

Here’s to the power of MULCH!👊 Mulch is the key to a water-retentive and heathy soil, and by extension, healthy plants. Here we look at sheep”s fleece, woodchip, compost and freshly pulled up weeds or other leafy growth. I put down sheep’s fleece in late spring or early summer for annuals, as it is an attractive place for slugs to hide, so early Spring encourages them too much! For perennials s...

A view of our little perennial wildflower garden (a meadow would be an exaggeration!) in flower in early June. The cowslips have been completely wonderful, and I’ve raised lots more to plant into the ground this September/October. There are a few yellow rattle plants flowering, which I am really chuffed with, having just thrown down a sack of a friend’s wildflower hay when they had done their c...

Watering in the rain - madness or logical?! I get most of our water from a specially made rainwater catching roof with a tank and battery powered pump underneath. When it’s due to rain,or even in the middle of a rainy patch, I often go and give the plot a good soaking, meaning that the rain with be absorbed easily into the damp ground, and the tank will have space to catch the rain. In our incr...

Snowdrops are such cheerful little flowers, loaded with bright orange pollen for early bees. They will happily grow in grass, under hedges, in shade, and under deciduous trees. I have them growing in all different environments in our garden, and they seem to thrive in all of them. From my unscientific observations, those growing in open, leafmould rich soil are quickest to spread - they do this...

Blackberries (and their cousins, tayberries and wineberries (all rubus family) are very easy to prune, once you understand their fruiting pattern. Year 1: Non fruiting growth Year 2: Fruit on previous year’s wood, new non fruiting wood produced Year 3: Fruit on previous year’s wood, new non fruiting wood produced Etc. So, once your blackberry has fruited, cut the cane/shoot on which it has frui...

In this video, I am pruning AUTUMN FRUITING or primocane raspberries. These fruit on wood that has grown earlier the same year. All you need to do is to cut them to the ground after fruiting (this can wait until as late as Jan/Feb if you are struggling for time). If you can manage, it is a great idea to mulch deeply after pruning - access is easy, and it will help with nutrient availability, so...

We are lucky enough to have a front garden, but we don’t have much time or money to spend on it, so it’s generally a bit of a mess! A few years ago, we decided to plant into the grass (which is actually a fine healthy mixture of grasses, yarrow, dandelions, ox eye daisies), and just give it a yearly cut with a path mown through the middle. Last year we put in Marjoram, ox eye daisies, cowslips,...

Do you look forward to the humming of bees in your garden in Spring? I definitely do, and one way to ensure it will happen is to plant up some hardy annual plants for them to enjoy. Autumn is the best moment to do this, so that your seedlings can establish strong roots and fungal connections before the stress of growing hits them in Spring. Today I transplanted some poached egg plant (Limnanthe...

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How to make a beautiful bouquet of flowers

How to grow cucumbers in the UK

Growing Foliage for Bouquets

How to make Strawberry Jam

How to make Gooseberry Fool

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Magic Aerated Compost Tea/plant tonic

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Rhubarb Crumble

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Rhubarb jam - from plot to jar

A first look at my Spring border in the UK