Taking care of a lawn is like having a big green pet. She needs you to exercise her (which is better exercise for you, or your gardener) and do a bit of grooming, or she gets mangy, the poor thing. The most important factor in lawn health is being mowed every 2 weeks or so… Continue reading Aerate A Lawn This Autumn
Ash Tree Dieback Disease Hits Somerset
It Doesn’t Seem Real Until it Happens to You Yes, folks, it finally happened to us. We had a good run, but the dieback got us, right in the Bridgwater Road, which will be closed for five days this October to take down infected Ash trees. Ash saplings infected by the Chalara fraxinea fungus were… Continue reading Ash Tree Dieback Disease Hits Somerset
Killing Yew with Feet in Clay
October can be a peak month for planting and digging. You’ve got your Spring Flower Bulbs going in the ground, a flurry of pot grown plants from soft fruit to ferns (many of which are on discount in Autumn, as newsletter subscribers know), and gardeners on their ‘A game’ will work that soil in preparation… Continue reading Killing Yew with Feet in Clay
Apple Pollination Groups & Dates
October is a Good Time to Plan Orchards October is main bulb planting time. Why am I making you think about pollinating fruit trees? Pollination happens in blooming Spring over six months away, which is literally a whole year. But the bareroot tree planting season is almost ‘pon us merry fellows, starting when weather permits… Continue reading Apple Pollination Groups & Dates
Resting behind your Laurels
Cherry Laurel is a delightful name for Common Laurel, despite not getting proper cherries off it – the birds don’t complain, though. It is such a popular evergreen hedging plant in British gardens that although it’s not native, it’s known abroad as the “English Laurel”. No one understands good old Prunus laurocerasus Rotundifolia like the… Continue reading Resting behind your Laurels
Millionaire Sustainable Hedgerow Living
Cornwall Council is Leading the World in Public Edible Hedge Planting Foraging berries and fruit from hedgerows for your breakfast is back! As we like to say around here since today: no matter how good things get, there’s always more fruit on the hedge. With the help of trend setters like the Shared Prosperity Fund,… Continue reading Millionaire Sustainable Hedgerow Living
Good Growing October Weather
October’s forecast is looking mild, with nights mostly over 7C (the temperature under which plants generally stop growing) right until the end of the month. Warm Octobers extend the growing season into Official Autumn, squeezing the best out of plants that bloom until frost stops them, such as many dahlias, repeating roses, and late flowering… Continue reading Good Growing October Weather
Homemade Fig Jam Recipe
With Homegrown Figs There’s nothing quite as jammy as the satisfaction of your own fig jam crafted from fig you grew yourself in a British Summer. Serve without elaborating, and let your dining companion ask you where this sweet, honey-like jam is from. Only then tell them that you are part of an elite club… Continue reading Homemade Fig Jam Recipe
Peat-Free Partnership’s Open Letter to Parliament
When we heard about the Peat Free Partnership’s open letter to the UK Parliament calling for a ban on peat use, we thought, ah, it has nothing to do with us; all the plants we grow ourselves have been peat free for years already, and we sell peat free composts. But then the good people… Continue reading Peat-Free Partnership’s Open Letter to Parliament
Hedgerow Jelly Recipe
Make a unique Jelly from Country Hedges & Wild Plants This recipe uses fruit commonly found in mixed hedges and wild plants (identify before eating them). Wild plums generally ripen around late summer, apples & crab apples generally ripen later, both can be found in quantity in time to mix with blackberries, and whatever else… Continue reading Hedgerow Jelly Recipe