Search - Articles

saw a note on the British Bugs email interest group that someone had found it on his allotment in Suffolk and was enquiring about its status. At least the soil is sandy there; if it can make itself at home on our heavy London clay, it can live anywhere

by the heavy rain, so it will be interesting to see what other gardeners have found, and what lessons we can learn for the future. I see from Jane's allotment blog that her spuds are suffering. Well, at least the watercress is loving it!

Rachael made in industrial quantities the first year she had an allotment and planted rather too many courgettes. Check out Hugh's Guardian column for lots of courgette ideas including 'Glutney'. And Sophie Grigson's courgette risotto is next on my recipe

woodpeckers in East Dulwich, and I've noticed them more regularly over the last few years. I often see them up at the allotments by Dulwich Woods and sometimes in Peckham Rye Park. Even at a distance there is no mistaking the distinctive undulating flight

If you ask me, there's very little that beats home-grown potatoes from the plot. They're so easy to grow, pay little heed to the vagaries of our weather and produce an abundance of lovely spuds throughout the season. In short, potatoes are one of the treasured crops of the allotm...

.So there I am digging up at the allotment last week and there are worms all over the place, much to the amusement of nearly 3-year-old who examines them all. We find the biggest and the smallest, the fattest and the thinnest, the reddest and the darkest. It

Along with the sap rising, the birds cavorting and my enthusiasm surging, the weeds are growing with a vengeance. This February has been a month of weeding on my allotment and - I'm delighted to say - the plot has never looked this good so early

It's been difficult to choose my 2009 weed of the year. Butercups and daisies continue to compete with grass in my lawn, as do those lovely rosettes of plantain. Then there are the dandelions. Oh dear, this isn't making my lawn sound very good is it? I have to crawl over it on my...

It’s been a traumatic week. We're down to the last of the home-grown potatoes, (King Edwards, and very nice they are too), and we've also just lifted the last few parsnips from the plot. It's always a sad time, as it's so long until we'll be able to eat any more.I’m rather partia...

, there are more butterflies up at the allotment. A peacock, Inachis io, greets us at the car park, but dashes off at full tilt after brief introductions.Then, perhaps my favourite of all British butterflies, an orange-tip, Anthocharis cardamines. The orange