In the midst of this month’s frosty weather, I am fondly remembering last summer. We spent a week glamping on the Norfolk coast, during a rare and glorious heatwave. We spent every day at the beach. The kids screamed as they jumped in and out of the surf, collected shells in buckets, explored rock pools, and made sandcastles. We… Read more →
March: What To Do Now
I just love the way gardens look this month. There’s blossom and pretty flowers popping up everywhere, and tightly wrapped, shiny leaf buds on shrubs and trees. There’s the promise of something wonderful to come in the air, and if you planted some last autumn, there’s also the gorgeous scent of hyacinths. The first of March is officially the start… Read more →
My Dahlias Have Arrived! :: Grow-Along
My dahlias have arrived. Yay! And the prize for funniest looking tuber goes to… (actually I can’t remember which one that was now). Well they certainly are strange, ugly things, and it’s hard to believe they will grow into something quite beautiful in a few months. Dahlias are tender plants and should not be planted out yet. If you have… Read more →
2016 My Year of the Dahlia
Every year I choose a new plant to have a go at growing. I felt quite overwhelmed when I first got into gardening. There are bloomin’ (forgive the pun) thousands of different plants out there! I wondered if I’d ever learn the common names of more than just a handful, let alone the Latin names and how to grow them. But… Read more →
Tiny Terrarium Gardens (Part 2)
Last summer, I wrote this post about buying a terrarium as a birthday present for my sister, Hannah (a fellow blogger – check out her latest post at Hannah’s Home). Today, we finally got around to planting it up, and did a few more while we were at it. It was super fun and I’m really pleased with our little… Read more →
February: What To Do Now
Something drew me out into the garden yesterday morning when I got back from the school run. Perhaps it was the fact that there’s a bit of warmth to the sunshine again. I let the spirit take me and didn’t even stop to change my clothes. I had a lovely time clearing out a couple of small borders, chucking all… Read more →
Big Garden Birdwatch
We had a lovely time watching the birds in our garden when we took part in the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend. The kids and I set up our birdwatching station in front of the french windows, where we had a great view of the garden. We had comfy cushions, binoculars and bird books, as well as the checklist… Read more →
January: What To Do Now
Winter landed here in a big way last week and we woke up to some stunningly beautiful frosts, the ground sparkly white, and plants and trees coated in a thick dusting of frosty crystals. I couldn’t resist wasting five vital minutes of school run time taking photos! It’s milder this week, the sun is out and we’ve got our blue, blue… Read more →
How To Bring Birds To Your Garden
It’s the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch at the end of this month (January 30th-31st). Do order a free pack and join in. This annual event is a wonderful excuse to sit (inside or outside) and look at your garden for an hour, while you watch and count the birds. I love having a garden full of birds. Watching birds hop… Read more →
D is for Digging (and Depression)
Digging is powerful therapy for me, and I could certainly do with some of that at the moment. Depression wouldn’t be in most people’s gardening alphabet. But perhaps there are more of us depressed gardeners out there than I think. It’s at this time of year, in mid-winter, that I often feel bad. The ghost at the door hovers closer and… Read more →