Friday April 26th 2013 Oh boy it was cold again today and my poor bees stayed indoors in spite of the sunshine that tried to warm them and me up, but the wind took everything down to low single degrees C once more. However, we were out there come what…

Another day in the Garden – 21st May 2013 Like everybody else, I’ve been waiting so long for it to warm up so I could proclaim how marvellously everything has caught up, but it hasn’t really, and some things are hanging on in there still, so I have some almost…

  Another day in the Garden – 13th June 2013 Today’s date is almost a mirror of itself, these things please me, I notice them and feel something special about that day or that thing, it creates a sense of order perhaps, who knows. But anyway this month the garden…

Not more plants -the joys of propagation This is the cry of my husband on a regular basis as the postman brings new packages which set me salivating and rushing down the garden to pot up. I do tend to get carried away with the marketing strategies of many online…

Another day in the Garden – 14th July 2013 Well a month ago I was writing about the relief that is was finally warming up and now I am sitting inside hiding from the heat until it is cooler for getting some jobs done out there – mostly cutting back…

Previous Pause Next × Click on picture to open slideshow This is the dark season, when the days are so short and the nights so long that every moment of light is precious. So when I saw the daylight creeping around the edges of my curtains this morning I got…

Another day in the Garden – Monday 19th August 2013 What a great growing year 2013 became for us here on the island, once it got started; late but not any less triumphant in its closing stages. I say closing stages because wandering down to let my chickens out at…

Another day in the Garden – January/February 2014 Hellebores etc. It is now a complete year cycle that I have written about my plot here on the Isle of Wight. Thank you if you have followed any of it. I write for my own enjoyment but am delighted to share…

Another day in the Garden – September/October 2013 What a few weeks it has been, so busy and the weather so very mixed. I wish I had already done more staking, more weeding, more cutting back and Chelsea chopping, etc . But much of what has been out in September…

It is so warm again today, and with absolutely no lack of moisture in the soil, the garden has been shooting forward as if a week is more like a month. I looked back at last year though and thought I would read something very different, memory serving that it…

Another day in the Garden – October/November 2013 Late November and early December are such a lovely time of year in the garden, well here on the Isle of Wight they are anyway. Perhaps we are spoiled here but I really enjoy the oncoming cool, dark evenings and dramatic weather…

Light and shadows, contrast and complement,plant cameos at different times of day I am a very amateur photographer but I still love to record my garden through each month and year and this month it struck me that as I walked around, camera in hand both at lunch time and…

New Garden Projects (May 2014) The new Gateway from the Veg Garden May is a good time to get working on re-designing those areas of the garden which still need attention. The cold is no longer a problem for laying dry mix paths and their setting , and this year…

Cameos, inspirations, and grand vistas -July 2014 Having been away last week visiting some of the best and most well-known gardens in the country down south, namely, Great Dixter, Sissinghurst, Pashley Manor and Merriments, I have come home and realised that my garden, although never consciously modelled on anything or…

The Lavender Bed -August 2014 The front of the house with the lavender bed in full flower a couple of years before destruction set in. Well we had the deluge all winter, then a prolonged drought in summer, but now it has started to rain again, I am looking around…

A belated note about September 2014 It was a busy month for me in so many ways but one morning I sneaked out just before the sun rose properly and snapped for about an hour, just taking whatever was there. A few things looked lovely in the early morning light,…

Sunrise This morning the alarm went off at the usual time and it was still dark outside. I usually allow the sunrise to set my time for getting out of bed, but at this time of year that is too late for me. So it is nice to be able…

These two words seem to dominate my gardening life greatly, and I have done little in regard to writing this diary, as in whether I have anything new to say, or to show you in photos, and regarding this latter point, I almost felt that I had reached my loquacious…

A Day in the Garden – Tuesday 5th March 2013 Today was a warm dry day, temperatures into double figures and warm enough to be outside in the garden working without even a jacket on, just a polo jumper. My garden in on the side of a down on the…

Front bank awash with colour – much of it self sown and allowed to stay Whooh I am pooped today, but all that is good. Having had many days of visitors who all proffered, unasked, such wonderful comments of enthusiasm for my garden, I am further inspired to get on…