happymarion

How to give feedback about the new site

It is time there was somewhere on the site to remind us to watch TV programs that gardeners would find interesting.  Lots of people missed "How to grow a planet" on BBC2 last night and Sarah Raven is on tonight.

my 1st allotment!

Ask your allotment neighbours about what the soil is like - alkaline or acidic or neautral, clay or sandy or stony. any bad perennial weeds like mare's tail .  Then you can work out a strategy to get your soil ready for planting.  Find out about allotment deals on manure and seeds for your site.  Establish where to get water.  

Talkback: Gardening jobs for snowy weather

We only had a light fall of snow in Bristol, Adam but I was out there with my biscuit crumbs for the robins and my camera. Now all our snow has gone but my desktop has been changed from a summer shot of Barrington Court to the snow scene of my garden with two wood pigeons pinching the biscuit crumbs. I had to go into my potting shed for my saw as the snowfall had been too much for a 14foot yucca and snapped the trunk. Snow does beautify everything despite the damage it can do. All my large yuccas were fine in the last two severe winters but they had put on a lot of lush new leaves in the warm October weather this year. No two years are ever the same for us gardeners. I've never heard a gardener say he or she was bored!

Companions in the wildlife garden

The snowdrops really have snow now in Bristol and the wood pigeons are pinching the biscuit crumbs meant for my robin.

Talkback: Growing veg in shade

Red flowered and white flowered runner beans together up wigwams in the middle of my eight new raised beds once they are built with concentric circles around them of coloured chard, pretty salad leaves, flowers for cutting, lavender at the corners, potatoes round the edges - get the idea, Kate? A potager!

Companions in the wildlife garden

OH, that does - warm me up, I mean.  I planted my snowdrops in clumps of three or four together and they thrived and now every year after flowering I am dividing lrge clumps. I get great fun fromlooking for different forms as well as I have several species and they ae very promiscuous Here is a picture of some of my taller species.

bulbs

The so-called "botanical crocuses" are opening in the sunshine and my "Gypsy Girl" had too last week but they have now keeled over in the frost.  The ones in grass will fare better, I think.

Leggy broad bean plants

I did this last year but have reverted to sowing my seeds middle of february this year as the plants got too leggy, sowing early and each one had to be staked - a lot of work.  The beans were no earlier either or the crop any bigger.  My soil is clay but improved by me with lots of animal manure and cultivation.  This year will be interesting as my beans will be brought on in the consevatory and planted into my new raised beds when big enough not to be any slug damage.  Bean tops make a good addition to a green salad.

Companions in the wildlife garden

Scroll along the bottom to see all of her when you click to enlarge.

Companions in the wildlife garden

Siberian winds today but the fox braved the cold to visit my snowdrops.

picture difficulties

SOS 

Talkback: Gardening in Russia

Awww, it was the same for my sister gardening in Edmonton in Canada, James. It was amazing how much they could grow in their very short thr... 

Spring sweethearts

The sun shone brightly enough for my tulips to open up,something that thrills me every spring. 

Spring Spectacular

The Garden Sculpture Exhibition at the Bristol Botanic Garden  

Talkback: House sparrows

In the eighties I used to stop counting at 20 when the sparrows descended on my garden. The wild patch og groud at the back of my garden wa... 

Gardeners World new season

How was it for you 

Talkback: Blind daffodils

You would not think from seeing the wonderful display our hellebores are putting on in the Bristol Botanic Garden that they once had the dre... 

Talkback: Good things about February

Oh, and Iris unguilaris is at its height though it can flower for ten months of the year. Pancake day has just been and I made 32 of them. ... 

Talkback: Waiting for the snow to thaw

Ah. James. I already have a duck pond at the kitchen door and loads of birdseed and crumbled fat balls on the paths. lots of eucalyptus bar... 

Talkback: Learning from 2012

I have vowed only to grow early potatoes anf harvest them before the dreaded blight, and only Gardeners; Delight or similar tomatoes and yel... 

Winter wonders

What is beautiful in the winter garden 

Talkback: 2013 in the garden

Happy New Year to you too, James and my resolution is the same as it has been for as many years as I can remember for just that - to make it... 

Talkback: Winkworth Arboretum

So with you there, Pippa, as long as it is not too cold. Stretching my legs at the Brisol Bot. Garden on Thursday in between cleaning seed ... 

Grow it and eat it

A combination of gardening and cooking is long overdue. 

Talkback: December gardening jobs

I have to go up to my spinney and cut cornus sticks which are now bright red to stick into my spreads of white heather at the front gate whi...