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that as the natural clay will - with a bit of work - make the pond watertight.The important thing about making natural ponds (and this is the same in small gardens as well as out in the countryside) is to make sure they look natural and not like puddles stranded

[brightcove exp=1463233149&vref=1604890820]It's very easy to be very worthy and very ethical, and make a rubbish garden, but Toby Buckland has avoided this pitfall...

would come to his hand - and to ours if we stayed still enough.After that I became a bit blasé on the subject: birds were just things that flew about and, in certain incarnations, tasted good.Today we get quite excited by the birds that visit this garden

who are gardeners (and, unless you have got very lost somewhere in the world wide web, I include anybody reading this) it seems perfectly reasonable.I mention this after listening to the sainted Roy Lancaster who is capable of making even the tiniest

I thought it would be interesting to use this blog as an excuse to find out more about the many slightly eccentric people who have helped make gardening as popular and exciting as it is today so this is the first in an occasional series: if anybody

to make a list. Things I need to do before spring: (i) A huge pile of manure has just arrived and I need to get that shovelled onto the borders. (ii) I have to get supports into the borders before things start growing - luckily we live in some woodland so

Think of a vegetable that sums up Christmas. Easy - except that to make things a bit more difficult I am withdrawing the noble sprout from the equation. So that leaves the humble spud and the noble parsnip, and, as far as I am concerned, the latter

that need doing, before those little green shoots in the border suddenly crack on and need attention. It is amazing how forgiving a garden can be: if you dig foundations and make a mess now, the grass will recover and the plants will bounce back by summer

anything too deeply - especially plants like this violet that is making the effort to grow already.As I have said before I make a lot of compost here but there is never enough to mulch the whole garden so, every other year I buy a trailer load of the stuff

which to see various parts of the garden and thirdly (and perhaps most importantly) because they make very good goalposts and things behind which to dodge.I like my garden to be rather chaotic so a well clipped hedge or bit of topiary lends a bit