Category Archives: Gardening

Late Spring in the Garden

Posted on May 25, 2013 by

Time for a quick post before I immerse myself in the frantic, if cultured world of the Hay-on-Wye Festival. Time, too, for a quiet stroll through the garden and assessing the state of the season – and we still haven’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

Grow Your Own. On Spuds and Broad Beans: Better Late than Never

Posted on May 15, 2013 by

Is the season at last starting to catch-up? If you’d asked me that a week ago, I’d have probably said yes. Now I’m not so sure, as I sit at my desk, with the south-westerly wind howling around the rafters. … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Grow Your Own | Tagged , , ,

Forget the Nuclear Winter: It’s a Nuclear Spring!

Posted on May 3, 2013 by

I was planning to write a nice considered blog about planting potatoes and broad beans – both jobs that I would normally do in mid- or late March – but it has been such a late season. The trouble with … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , ,

At Last: Late Spring Flowers

Posted on April 27, 2013 by

Lambing has finished and yesterday we gave the last batch their protective inoculations before releasing them from the barn and out to pasture. They still have open access to the shelter of the barn, should they need it, but they … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming, Gardening, My life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Horrible Cruelty of Plants

Posted on April 22, 2013 by

Gosh! So my desk is now DESK OF THE WEEK! But most people won’t be aware that there’s a darker side to my desk. It concerns the plants above it, on the windowsill.  Now read on, and be afraid, be … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , ,

A Festive Spring (With Gynaecological Rhubarb)

Posted on March 31, 2013 by

This cold weather has held everything back, except one or two of our ewes who have had prolapses. This normally happens in the last weeks before lambing and is a result of a shortage of space in the body cavity, … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming, Gardening | Tagged , , , , ,

A Funny Old Season

Posted on February 18, 2013 by

I do apologise to my long-term followers for all the recent stuff about detectives and fiction. The thing is, a chap has to earn a living, or in my case something that approximates to a retirement, and to do that … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , , ,

Throw Off Your Winter Blues – It’s Glowing Willow Time!

Posted on February 2, 2013 by

This afternoon I was cutting back the jungle our front garden has become, after a summer where gardening was often impossible. I had my chainsaw on the go, chopping down dozens of five-year-old hawthorn seedlings that had colonised the Virginia … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening | Tagged , , ,

Grow Your Own: Part 3, Chitting Seed Potatoes

Posted on January 23, 2013 by

Outside the snow has been lying on the garden for at least a week. So yesterday I took the four-wheel-drive into the local town to buy seed potatoes. In the past I’ve bought them through catalogues, but these rarely guarantee … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, Grow Your Own | Tagged ,

DIY Garden Decoration: Wirework

Posted on January 18, 2013 by

Maisie and I share one huge advantage over the bulk of middle class humanity: we don’t have good taste. Snobby friends from London are constantly having to avert their eyes as they walk around our garden: here’s a painted concrete … Continue reading →

Posted in Gardening, My life | Tagged , , ,